Retirement doesn't come easily for many pro athletes. For example, what happens when you're the quintessential big-league lifer, who only knows ballparks and batting practice, and you just can't knock ‘em out of the park anymore? What do you do? Open a used car dealership? Go fishing every morning, and golfing every afternoon? Take a lot of naps?

Pro skaters and snowboarders arguably have it tougher than most, since their lives are an unusual mix physical adrenaline and mental creativity. And when your knees can't take the impact anymore, or your sponsors have hung you out to dry, many riders are at a loss with what to do next. Where do you direct that passion and drive when filmers don't want to point their lens at you anymore? Fortunately Jon Cartwright, one of Canada's most-published pro snowboarders, didn't face this dilemma. Instead of waiting around to be forced out, Jon opted out by choice - earlier than anyone expected.

Jon Cartwright, circa 2006.

"My shred career provided me with more than I ever thought possible," Jon explains, looking back on his decision. "I traveled the world, cat skied with Craig Kelly, was on the cover of all the mags, met people from other countries, bought a loft, got a university degree, and most amusingly, learned that if you set your mind to it, you can do the craziest stuff."

The "craziest stuff" Jon refers to is that he went from being a team rider to straight-up running a company in less than two years. After being sponsored by Westbeach, he transitioned into a marketing role while still bagging lots of riding time, which ultimately led him to sacrificing riding for the opportunity to take on the biggest challenge of his life.

And while Jon says he snowboards, "enough to keep me happy, but not enough of those really ‘going for it' days," he's also running Westbeach at a very significant time: The venerable Canadian brand, originally founded by Chip Wilson (who went on to launch the wildly popular Lululemon), is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and is commemorating the passage of time with The Heritage Project, which Jon describes as "taking a moment to reflect." With the first part of a documentary video series now online, and a book called Out West: Snowboarding, Westbeach, and a New Canadian Dream on the way, The Heritage Project is already garnering a rave reaction for how it's encapsulating not just the history of Westbeach, but of Canadian snowboarding.

Oh, and the "new" Westbeach isn't just about looking back. The brand is also turning out some of the best-looking outerwear you'll see on shop racks this fall. We caught up with Jon to get his take on the past, present and future of an iconic Canadian snowboard brand.

The Heritage Project:
"We wanted to do something special and a little different. Snowboarding is all of a sudden all grown up with some fascinating history; a lot of it Canadian, in fact. Since Westbeach has been along for the ride, we thought it would be cool do a retrospective using our archives and emphasize Canada's contribution to snowboarding. That in a nutshell, was how the idea of the Heritage Project was born."

Pages from Out West: Snowboarding, Westbeach, and a New Canadian Dream

The Contributors:
"Looking through our archives we had so much content we knew we couldn't limit ourselves to one medium. The Heritage Project really came to life when we recruited Dano Pendygrasse to do the book. He's a legend of Canadian snowboarding, was a former Westbeach team rider, and has seen it all. Dano and Sean Coggins tackled the book; we recruited the Underexposed crew of Lenny Rubenovitch and Brian Hockenstein for the videos, and we were off to a good start! The book Out West: Snowboarding, Westbeach, and a New Canadian Dream will be available in shops in early September, released in flip-book format online, and have supporting video releases accompanying it."

The Westbeach Archives:
"We unearthed snowboard gloves from the late ‘80s that look like something you could make at home in 20 minutes, chukka boot look-a-like Westbeach shoes, awesome Westbeach shades, denim pants with neoprene waistbands, pictures of Avril Lavigne doing promo shoots in Westbeach clothing... the list goes on and on."

Pages from Out West: Snowboarding, Westbeach, and a New Canadian Dream

The Chip Factor:
"Chip Wilson has been incredibly supportive of the project with his time and stories. Dano interviewed him and he lent us archive materials, and a perspective on being a snowboarder in the early days that makes you appreciate how much the sport has grown. Chip designed some of the first snowboard-specific outerwear in the ‘80s, which was really quite visionary. Through Westbeach he also supported and created momentum for the Canadian scene that got a lot rider's careers started: Devun Walsh, Trevor Andrew, Kevin Young, Chris Brown, Dionne Delasalle, Roberta Rodger to name a few. He started the Westbeach Classic, which was one of the biggest and best comps anywhere and that really put Canada on the map, too. He's one of the guys who did so much for snowboarding in Canada in its formative years."

The New Energy:
"We have a lot of work ahead in our vision, and thankfully we have great staff, team, and retailer support. A lot of shops and ultimately snowboarders keep telling us the product is great, which is encouraging. This is great since the new product is even better than what they have all seen... In terms of new energy, all I can say is it appears that a lot of brands are out of touch with snowboarding. Our goal is to be as involved as we can, have lots of fun, and stay keen that way. Snowboarding has lots of great people with great ideas involved in it, and I think we get a good dose of these people."

Westbeach rider, Matt Belzile.

The Inspiration:
"I have my opinions on style for sure, as do our team guys and our design team. We get inspiration from mags, travelling, shredding, people watching, the sales guys, and lots of it comes down to asking how we could make an idea our own or cooler. At the end of the day some ideas are too far forward and not commercial enough, even though the cool kids love it. At the end of the day we always have to vote on if it's going to sell and I have to say our designer Cherie has lots of the ideas for our product."

The Philosophy:
"There are only two types of problems; ones you have a say in and ones you don't. Focus on things you can change, and quit worrying about the rest."

Westbeach Heritage Series: The Westbeach Classic

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Related:
Westbeach Heritage Series: Teaser (video)
Private Alterna Shoot At Grouse (Matt Belzile, video)
The Westbeach Timeline