Local snowboards ride from Big Mountain to Bolivia

Brittan Ellingson has been running a world-class snowboard and wakeboard shop out of his Whitefish home for almost a decade, but a lot of locals still haven’t noticed.

Ellingson doesn’t mind keeping a low profile. He thinks his business, Notice Snowboards, has something that is virtually impossible to find in the world of board-making: the perfect setup.

“Working in Whitefish is awesome,” Ellingson gushed as he walked around his workshop, which is disguised as just another residential garage in a Whitefish neighborhood.

“My commute is like 80 yards,” he pointed out. If his three children need to be home from school, he can be there. If a lightbulb of an idea for a new board comes on at 3 a.m., he can be working on it by about 3:05.

Born in Great Falls, Ellingson grew up between Montana and Colorado. His wife’s family has always called Whitefish home, so it made perfect sense for him to start his snowboard outfit under the shadow of Big Mountain in 2012.

There’s a reason, though, that the “Made in Montana” designation on his products is such a stamp of pride. Ellingson admitted it isn’t easy running a full manufacturing center in Northwest Montana.

“Sometimes I guess it’s frustrating because it is a smaller community,” Ellingson noted. “But it’s a small sacrifice to pay.”

ELLINGSON HONED his craft working for big-name brands in wintersport hot spots, including Never Summer Industries in Denver and Teton Gravity Research in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Notice Snowboards in Whitefish doesn’t have the mass following that those prominent players have generated. But that isn’t a big concern for Ellingson, who prefers to use subtle touches on his designs and let the custom-made boards speak for themselves. Still, it’s a challenge for his three-man shop to keep up with bigger, more centrally located manufacturers.

Whitefish’s location is great for getting tons of powder and zipping through tight trees, but it isn’t quite as well-situated for a manufacturing hub. Ellingson said it can be tough to get various parts to make his boards, and that struggle has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This season, he’s had to be very selective about which projects he takes on to ensure he can put everything together, in light of manufacturing shortages.

And he’s faced dilemmas that other manufacturers might never consider. Before he upgraded to a new printer for his graphics, for instance, Ellingson had to drive his old device to the nearest service provider in Spokane any time he needed maintenance.

That’s the kind of personal dedication that is probably lost on most people when they see Ellingson’s one-of-a-kind designs flying down Toni Matt or dangling above them on the Big Mountain Express chairlift at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

NEVERTHELESS, THE small business is growing. Ellingson’s clients are a mix of locals and world-renowned athletes. He’s made boards for everyone from the team at Flag Nor Fail in Columbia Falls, to a crew filming a commercial in Bolivia.

His specialty designs range from the Lil’ 156, a compact board specifically made to navigate the tight trees on Big Mountain, to the Mothership, an approximately 178-centimeter behemoth that might just be the biggest snowboard ever made.

“I’m the only guy in the whole world who will build a fully custom board,” Ellingson said. He promised he’ll put together any specifications a client asks for—even if he knows a customer’s grand idea might not work as well as what the pros can come up with.

In order to keep himself busy year-round, Ellingson also started making wakesurfers three years ago.

Shaping the foam blocks to float behind a boat is a completely different process from putting together a snowboard, but Ellingson has dived headfirst into the growing watersport. He said he likes the artistic possibilities that are available with wakesurfers, but not snowboards — like a wakesurfer completely covered in glitter.

“It’s fun to push the envelope and see what else is possible,” he said. “It never gets old.”

The transition to wakesurfers really boosted his business this year, because the COVID-19 pandemic drove a surge in interest for watersports. “With COVID, no one really traveled. Everyone bought boats,” Ellingson said. “I couldn’t make wakeboards fast enough.”

When things finally slow down and Ellingson gets some free time, he’d like to eventually open a retail shop in downtown Whitefish, so he can introduce people in the community to the work he’s doing locally. Ideally, Ellingson envisions a joint retail and manufacturing center, where he can expand his apparel line and take visitors through the workshop, all in one spot.

“It really drives it home that this thing was made here,” Ellingson said of the concept for his future development.

But before he expands the business, Ellingson will probably use his free time to break out one of his boards and do a few runs of his own.

Notice Snowboards can be found online at http://www.noticesnowboards.com.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.