OMS and Smith Optics Know Your History: Bryan Iguchi

Last season, the OMS coaching staff decided that it was time for the kids to gain some proper knowledge on the legends of our sport who bootpacked the trail for the snowboarding and made it what it is today.  We deemed it “Know your History.”  In year two, we’re collaborating with Smith Optics and have left it up to their infamous TM Nate Farrell to dish out some og’er names for our kids to research, grow to know, and to ultimately develop a deeper and richer appreciation for the sport they all love.  The legend, Bryan Iguchi written by OMS Snowboarder Jack Valentine (17')

Bryan Iguchi was born on September 10,1973 and grew up to be a talented skateboarder and surfer in southern California.  When he was only 13 years old he was a sponsored skateboarder and was in his first photo shoot for Transworld in 1989.  Snowboarding was an emerging board sport so he decided to give it a try.

Bryan Iguchi started riding at Bear mountain.  Being a talented skateboarder snowboarding came easy to him.  He decided to move to Bear and live out of his Jeep.   He quickly becoming a local legend and was one of the first snowboarders out of Southern California to really make a big impact on snowboarding.  Iguchi helped build one of the first snowboard parks in the United States.  They didn’t know how big or small to build the jumps so they simply just took a chainsaw and built a park just like they would build a skate park.  Their first rail was an old piece of a chairlift that they simply just stuck in the ground.  The word spread quickly across the country and many pros started appear on the mountain.  

Two months after he moved to Bear he entered a pipe contest.  He had many successful practice runs and was feeling good about the contest.  Unfortunately halfway down his first run his binding broke.  He didn’t finish the contest but was greeted by a Burton rep at the bottom of the pipe.  He wanted to have Bryan on his team and Bryan was pleased to ride for Burton.  At this point Iguchi had become a sponsored snowboarder competing in many different events across the country.  He was sponsored by Electric, Bluebird, Volcom, etc.  Bryan even helped develop a new snowboard for Burton.  But Iguchi found himself much more interested in making films  than competing.  He then moved somewhere no one would expect him to go.

In 1991, Bryan Iguchi decided to move to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Despite losing most of his sponsors Iguchi wanted to live out in the big mountains close to what he loved.  After he lost all of his sponsors and wasn’t competing anymore he printed t-shirts for Bluebird and was a sushi chef in order to make ends meet.  At the time, Jackson Hole was not as well known as it is today and had a very quite community.  Before moving out to Jackson Hole Iguchi didn’t know a lot about big mountain riding and soon realized how dangerous the white fluffy stuff you love can really be.  Bryan decided to focus on making films and learning about the mountains in Jackson Hole.

Today Bryan Iguchi still lives in Jackson Hole and continues to learn about the mountains.  He has been taking advance avalanche courses for the past few years.  He wants to learn the more scientific side of the snow and mountains so he is more aware of what is happening around him.  He has helped riders such as Travis Rice become well known back country riders.  To this day Bryan Iguchi still snowboards everyday at Jackson Hole continuing to progress back country riding.