Featuring Cardiff Founder Sam Bawden and our sales+community manager Justin Morgan

Where did Cardiff Snowcraft come from?

In the first episode of Cardiff Chronicles, JMO sits down with Cardiff founder and shaper Sam Bawden to dig into the story behind the brand—and the unlikely chain of events that started it all.

Sam grew up riding the Cottonwoods, spending his winters chasing snow around Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Canyon long before splitboarding, avalanche gear, and backcountry technology looked anything like they do today. A lifelong snowboarder, mountain biker, architect, and self-described gear nerd, Sam became obsessed with understanding what makes equipment perform—and how it could be made better.

That obsession eventually followed him to Japan in 2016.

On the first day of a bucket-list trip to Hokkaido, Sam dropped into a run filled with deep Japanese powder, only to snap the nose off a brand-new snowboard on a simple terrain feature. Frustrated that the equipment he had spent years researching and testing had failed him when it mattered most, Sam made a decision that would change everything:

“I’m just going to do this myself.”

At the time, he had no intention of starting a snowboard company. He simply wanted to build the board he believed should exist.

That moment became the spark for Cardiff Snowcraft.

Episode 1 explores Sam’s early days in the Wasatch, his obsession with performance and splitboard technology, the Japan trip that changed the trajectory of his snowboarding, and the broken board that ultimately set Cardiff in motion.

This is where the story begins.