Board certified: Spokane-based professional snowboarder gets own board

Austin Visintainer was 5 years old when the kids from his block let him have a whirl on their snowboard, the thought never crossing his mind that maybe one day he’d be riding a board with his own name on it.

More than two decades later, the 29-year-old’s name will soon be spotted on boards shredding the slopes across the globe.

In November, Visintainer and his wife, Jaymie, headed to the West Side for what he thought was a video premiere at evo Seattle in Fremont.

The screening turned out to be a surprise event for CAPiTA Snowboards to announce three new additions to their pro team: Benny Milam, Miles Fallon and Visintainer.

In a room filled to the brim with friends and family, there were speeches, beer showers and the reveal of the new pro riders’ boards.

Visintainer’s board features a beat-up Mazda sedan with his nickname “Vizz” spray painted on the back, paying homage to the early days in his snowboard journey.

“It feels just kind of surreal. I kind of even blacked out when it happened,” Visintainer said. “It’s like, whoa, am I dreaming right now?”

While the announcement came as a shock for Visintainer, those who have followed his career knew it was only a matter of time.

Whether it had a waxy surface or wheels, Visintainer was always on a board growing up in Spokane. If weather permitted, Visintainer would search town for skateparks to try out new tricks. He went pro in skateboarding in 2022.

The winter weekends of Visintainer’s childhood were spent on the mountain. By the time he graduated from Lewis and Clark High School, he was a household name among lifties and riders alike at Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park.

Snowboarding is woven into Visintainer’s DNA. It takes him to a place where outside noise fades away and self-expression takes the form of boardslides and backflips.

“I think it’s been so important to me because it’s really an outlet for me to express myself in like a creative way. It really gets a lot of like my anxiety and angst out and I feel a lot better,” Visintainer said.

The crew of close friends he rode with was packed with talent, but it was clear early on that Visintainer was operating on a different plane.

“I’ve basically dedicated my whole life to it,” Visintainer said. “Everything I’ve done has kind of been to get to this point that I’m at now.”

He dominated various rail jams and slope style competitions at local mountains, including Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park’s Jam 4 Cans Charity Event in 2020.

The sport has taken him to Finland, Norway and Sweden. In 2024, he got to the X Games Street Style final. That’s also the year he got his first snowboarding pro deal, with the boot company thirtytwo.

His moves won him first place in Red Bull’s Heavy Metal competition in St. Paul last January. He was riding a CAPiTA board.

He became local rep for CAPiTA in 2016, using their boards exclusively since. Being part of the pro team now, he’ll be paid and marketed globally as a team rider for the brand.

CAPiTA was founded in Seattle in 2000 and has become one of the biggest names in versatile and premier snowboards. They are still based in Seattle but manufacture their boards in Austria. They have only nine athletes on their pro roster.

CAPiTA marketing director Mark Dangle noticed Visintainer early on.

“He is really technically sound but also has a lot of progressive new tricks. And especially at that time it was pretty exciting to see,” Dangle said.

One of the first times Dangle met Visintainer was at the Superpark event Crystal Mountain was hosting for Snowboard Magazine in 2018. Visintainer rolled into the parking lot in his battered Mazda, the backseat overflowing with gear. A casual photo was snapped of the CAPiTA team as they posed in front of the car.

“It’s just a photo, but in some ways it’s kind of memorable,” Dangle said. “It’s a representation of the hard work that he’s put into snowboarding and to his dedication to trying to make it an avenue and pathway and career for him in his life.”

Visintainer’s story is far from over. Other snowboarders may feel pulled to set their roots down in cities where the snowboard scene is impossible to escape.

But Visintainer recognizes the support Spokane has offered throughout the years and couldn’t be more content with the life he and his wife have created here.

“I feel like I’m going to stick around, man,” he said.