The Prior Story
| 1990 |
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- Chris Prior began making snowboards in the winter to compliment his well-known sailboard manufacturing business in Lion's Bay, BC, Canada.
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| 1996 |
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- Athletes riding Prior snowboards win several world cup events.
- Chris moved the Prior operation out of his garage and began making premium, handcrafted snowboards full time.
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| 1998 |
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- Prior now offers a complete line of snowboards, including one-off custom shapes.
- Custom projects in 1998 included squalls (very narrow snowboards) and skis for a disabled sit-skier. These projects reflected the fat skis that became popular shortly thereafter and set the initial groundwork for future ski development.
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| 2000 |
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- Prior moved its manufacturing facility to Whistler BC - its testing ground for the last decade. Factory upgrades and quick access to research and development on Whistler's mountains bring continued product improvements.
- Prior Backcountry Splitboards are introduced.
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| 2002 |
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- March - Prior begins prototyping and testing skis.
- AMF and Magestic snowboard styles released
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| 2003 |
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- Prior does continuous testing on ski prototypes.
- Prior introduces quadraxial carbon weave fiberglass as standard upgrade to all splitboards.
- Prior snowboard athletes win several national and international titles.
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| 2004 |
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- January 1 - Prior moves down the street into a brand new custom board making factory/store in Whistler - all Prior snowboards and skis are now made in this new facility.
- Khyber and Khyber Splitboard released.
- October 1 - New Prior ski released in 6 lengths; hereafter called the "Original".
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| 2005 |
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- January to April - Prior does extensive Research and Development of a new powder ski and women's specific ski.
- October - The new Doughboy and Sister skis are released in several sizes.
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| 2006 |
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- August 17 - The new, bigger Sister ski is released.
- World Cup Race Alpine metal race snowboard is released.
- All winter 0607 skis now made with UHMW shatterproof sidewalls.
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| 2007 |
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- September 6 - The Overlord Ski for aggressive, big mountain freeriders is released
- March 9 - Spearhead snowboard and Carbon Khyber Splitboard are released
- August 24 - Spearhead Splitboard released.
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Prior continues to be driven by a singular goal: "to make the best performance snow riding tools as determined by its customers." That vision and the Prior story continue...
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