Inside the 8-by-10-foot global headquarters of Wolverine Snow Products, Joey Vosburgh is holding a set of powder baskets. The smallest, at 90mm, is the industry standard; it is dwarfed by the largest, the company’s trademark 120mm “Wolverine Paw.”
“Wolverines are super-efficient because of their large paws floating on the snow,” Vosburgh, a 47-year-old splitboard guide, tells me, gesturing toward the oversized basket. “That’s where the ethos of the name comes from. The efficiency of the wolverine finds its way into everything we do here.”
Vosburgh guides in the rugged Selkirks, which soar above his home in Revelstoke, British Columbia. The range is both a skier’s haven and highly complex. Extremely steep valleys and intricate terrain demand careful navigation and strategic line selection. Learning to move smoothly through the undulating landscape pushed Vosburgh to master efficient transitions from board to split skis and taught him how to use poles to keep flow flowing effectively.
– Joey Vosburgh
For years, Vosburgh frankensteined an odd assortment of pole parts, combining extended grips. This resulted in efficient touring and traversing, with three-piece poles easily stowed while riding. As friends and clients asked about his MacGyvered kit, Joey saw an opportunity for a small but growing market.
In 2021, Vosburgh launched Wolverine with his business partner and longtime friend, Chris Payne. The company officially sells “split sticks”—likely the first ever poles specifically designed by split boarders for split boarders. (Vosburgh and Payne prefer the term sticks but say poles are acceptable as long as they’re not called ski poles.) The Selkirk split sticks come in two- and three-piece configurations, each with extended foam grips and oversized baskets. They’re designed to nest and easily tuck behind a rider’s pack—keeping the poles accessible always is a hallmark of efficiency and something the founders hope to share with the industry.
When Vosburgh is riding, the poles are compacted and stowed. As he approaches a flat, he pulls them out and extends them, maintaining momentum across the plateau until the next rollover, where he collapses them and tucks them away again. The transitions are seamless and fluid. He doesn’t need to remove the poles from his bag; he doesn’t even need to stop riding. “With many snowboarders, efficiency wasn’t always part of the culture,” Payne explains. “They’re sitting down, doing their bindings up. It’s not lazy,” he adds with a shrug, “but as far as efficiency, everybody was just sloppy.”
– Joey Vosburgh
Vosburgh’s performance features numerous first descents in Rogers Pass, often alongside prominent ski mountaineers. His fast and smooth style has profoundly changed the story around snowboarding in the backcountry and has inspired a new generation of young hard-booters. Last season, Joey led what may be the first-ever “Advanced Split Skiing” seminar at an Arc’teryx Academy event in Whistler.
“I’ve been promoting split skiing through my social channels for years and teaching it to guests,” Vosburgh says. “Seeing how quickly people catch on and improve is incredibly rewarding.”
Maintaining a steady flow through the mountains is the core value that established the brand. However, managing the flow of daily life while running a small business is essential to Wolverine’s sustainability.
Assembly mainly takes place in the small shipping container converted into a production workshop in Joey’s backyard. The stock of raw materials is stored under an outdoor stairwell. Various small 3D-printed parts decorate the workbench beside a few machine tools. Custom stands, racks, and dispensers are carefully built to improve efficiency.
Payne, who moved to Revelstoke around the same time as Vosburgh about 15 years ago, runs Wolverine’s direct-to-consumer website and ships from a spare bedroom on the other side of town. It’s a bootstrap operation, but the founders prefer it that way.
“I can wake up, and my morning coffee is just filling orders and shipping,” Payne says. “Even right before I go to bed, I can just glue up a whole bunch of stuff so it’s all ready to go in the morning.”
Vosburgh nods in agreement. “If all of a sudden, we’re meeting at the shop, I don’t think we’d be nearly as efficient,” Vosburgh says. “I wouldn’t operate in a more structured and corporate way—it doesn’t suit us. We want our own space to integrate our life into Wolverine.”
When they find time between riding, assembling poles, and working their full-time jobs, Vosburgh and Payne often meet up for frisbee golf to discuss business. The friends have known each other since high school but saw less of each other after both moved to Revelstoke in 2008 and connected with different crowds. When Joey called Chris to ask for a logo, and Chris asked if he wanted a business partner, Wolverine reconnected them.
“We talk daily, whether he wants to or not. Some days, I’m calling at 7:00 AM, but it’s been a nice reconnection to our friendship.”
– Joey Vosburgh
