Back in 2013 I did ride and love my monos, which were a nice collection of recent models from the few remaining manufacturers which still believed in monoski (especially J.P. Thevenot, who helped us monoskiers trough this dark times) .
But there was always something missing. I was jealous when i saw my skiers friends having a new riding style with their modern skis (dual planks) while i was still limited to oldschool monos. For me the parabolics (already invented in the late 1990s) are oldschool, I am not talking about the ancient pintails!
I begged to my friends in the mono business, but nobody did want to try something in the direction I had in my mind: big rockers, dual rocker, multi radius sidecuts, carbon,… One reason is that the marketshare is too small and the investment to develop new models is quite steep, especially when you leave the proven paths. And most of them did not believe in changes. I had conversations like that: Monoski dont need rocker … Did you ever try one?.. No.
So I decided to do it by myself. My background of shaping surf- and kiteboards and designing waterskis helped me to try the start from zero. And I love and practice monoski, and only monoski since more then 30 years... The idea was: Monos for advanced freeriders without compromises… Well I have to admit its not completely true, the basic idea was selfish: Monos for ME ;)
So in 2013 I started to experiment with new materials and shapes and did test the first boards in 2014 with great success. It was the first (pre)production monoski with big dual rockers and multi radius sidecut. It was named ‘First Cut’ and is till today my favourite pow board.
Many riders tested and loved the boards and asked me to produce them for others, how can I resist to that request?
The following years we did a lot of testing, done by some of my french monoski friends and me. My homebase for riding and testing is the famous non-resort of La Grave in France. Some of the boards where punished there for several seasons and they proved themselves, surviving the usual La Grave lifespan of a production board with ease. For those who do not know the place, La Grave is one of the most demanding spots for riders and material, so we always say … if it survives there it is ready for everywhere.
During the last years I had so many ideas to realise, I ended up with more models then initially planned. From the basic idea of building just modern freeride boards it evolved to a full monoski range containing freeride boards, all mountain boards, slope machines, extreme carving monoskis, split monoskis and monos for speed skiing.
All Hattori Hanzo monoskis are custom made with the best materials i can get (see Environment), tailored to the rider (see Handmade). There are no compromises to costs, production time or something else, the perfect monoski is the ultimative target. The time a factory finishes a complete ski is not enough to just build and glue one of our cores…. Its done like Stefan Eekenulv (Monoski Sweden) says "FOR THE LOVE OF MONOSKI".
Finally you may ask why I did choose this name? First since I saw one movie some years ago, I really liked the name. And second I adore the japanese craftsmenship. The combination of performance, functionality, beauty, respect for the materials and the skills of the japanese wood & steel craftsmen is just mindblowing.
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