25 Years Of Rome Snowboards

May 21, 2026Jake Sullivan

Story // Jake Sullivan.
Cover Photo Above // Joey Leon Shot by Max Lyons.
May 22, 2026.

Jake Sullivan. Photo: Paddock. Snowboard Mag. Nov 2007.
"The Shop Kid Perspective"

I can remember nearly every detail from the first time I heard about Rome Snowboards. It was upstairs at the original Darkside in Killington sometime during the winter of 2003. I was walking through the board zone toward the boot room in the back when Doug Letendre, the shop GM at the time, came out of the office with two guys I didn’t know.

Doug pointed at me and said, “This is Jake. This is the kid you need.”

One of them reached out his hand and introduced himself as Josh. The other was Paul. They told me they were starting a new snowboard company called Rome SDS.

Everything I saw that day, from the art to the slogans, hit me in a way nothing in snowboarding ever had before. When I saw the image of the guy smashing a snowboard — a nod to The Clash’s "London Calling" cover — I was hooked. I hadn’t even ridden a board yet, and I was already all in.

Letter from Josh Reid to Jake during his first year riding for Rome.
Never made it to Tuckermans that spring, unfortunately.

It’s hard to believe that was over twenty years ago.
When Rome announced their 25th anniversary earlier this month, I realized I really am getting old.

Over the last quarter-century, Darkside and Rome have built a relationship that always felt bigger than just a shop and a brand. From the beginning, Darkside backed Rome hard, and Rome always gave that support right back through riders, events, product feedback, and years of good times. Having Rome based in Waterbury, right between our Killington and former Stowe shops, only strengthened that bond.

This connection hits close to home for me as well. Darkside and Rome have both been part of my life for over half the years I’ve been doing this life sentence on Earth. Weird to think about, but they’ve probably been the two most consistent things in my life.

So, as we celebrate 25 years of Rome Snowboards, what better time to share a few stories and memories from my perspective on the Rome x Darkside connection.

Sully. Deleo. Jake. Billy. SIA Las Vegas. 2006.

When I met Josh and Paul in 2003, I was 18 and trying to navigate the increasingly corporate world of competitive halfpipe snowboarding. Most of what I remember from that era is being alone — riding pipe all day, sitting in hotel rooms all night, wondering why I felt so disconnected from the thing I loved most.

Then Rome barged onto the scene, flying the “Corrosion of the Corporate” flag, and I couldn’t have connected with something in snowboarding more.

Corrosion of the Corporate.

I dove in headfirst, slapping stickers on everything I could reach and refusing to support brands that felt like the antithesis of this new Snowboard Design Syndicate.

I even developed a 20-year habit of wearing plain white cotton socks while snowboarding just so there wouldn’t be a “B” logo anywhere on me — even inside my boots where nobody could see. I was so down that they could’ve told me to spray paint their logo across the carpet in the Killington Grand lobby, and I’d have the cap off the can before they finished the sentence.
(What are the statutes of limitations on vandalism anyway? Asking for a friend.)

On top of it all, the boards were next level. Paul Maravetz was designing some of the most progressive snowboards of that era. Agent. Artifact. Ravine. These weren’t just boards; they became institutions within the brand.

I still remember getting on the Design for the first time. At the time, nobody was making a high-end stiff twin like that. It was built for Jonaven Moore to ride switch in the backcountry, but that thing rode pipe better than anything I’d ever touched. I clipped the deck on a frontside 7 once, and the board just powered through it into the next wall as if nothing happened.

Jake's Design 155 on the wall above the boot room at the shop.
Nearly snapped in half.

For those first few years, it felt like everyone walking into Darkside walked out with a Rome board. Doug let me handle the pre-book one year, and I ordered literally everything in the catalog — boards, bindings, bags, gloves, and more apparel than the shop probably stocks now. Burton had ruled Vermont forever, but suddenly this loud, youthful, middle-finger-to-the-industry brand from just up the road was everywhere across the Northeast.

The only photo I could find from the first-ever Dark Park session.
Rome Outerwear fashion show. December 2006.

Fun Fact: The first session ever held at what would eventually become the Dark Park actually happened during a Rome sales meeting in December 2006. Rome was introducing outerwear for the first time, so we set up boxes on the hill outside the newly opened shop and did an on-snow fashion show. All I really remember is it being kind of cringey. LNP and I were freaking out because there were no tight pants, and Teeta kept telling me to stop wearing skinny jeans.

Transworld Snowboarding Mag Ad. 2007. Darkside x Rome.

Somewhere around then, I realized my connection to Rome only existed because of Darkside, and that Darkside had given me a front row seat to watch the brand grow from the beginning. Right place, right time.

Over the years, as the next generation of riders came up through the shop, the Rome banner still held strong with everyone at Darkside. I stepped away for a bit while my little brother from another, Bo Clark, stepped into my role and kept the brand in the spotlight. When he moved on, Ricker and the next gen took the flag and ran with it. He and Mills introduced groms around the shop, like Joey and Maggie Leon, to the brand through the classic trio of late-00’s Rome videos.

Maggie Leon. Pro AF for Rome Snowboards. Photo: Shaina

Now, in 2026, seeing Joey and Maggie riding for Rome alongside Casey Savage and Poly feels like a continuation of the brand's original ideals: raw, DIY, unfiltered snowboarding. Their Swarm video not only won Video of the Year, but also helped shine some long-overdue light on the overlooked talent coming out of the East Coast.

Casey Savage. Photo: Max Lyons.

When I moved back to New England after disappearing from snowboarding for years, both Rome and Darkside welcomed me back with open arms. Even after a handful of moments where I probably should’ve been thrown to the wolves and left for dead, both the shop and brand were still there to pick me back up and laugh about it later.

Shops close, brands disappear, people drift away. But this connection never did.
Twenty-five years later, both Rome and Darkside are still here.

And somehow, so am I.

*Editor's note - this is just one person's account of their experiences with the shop and Rome. If you have stories or memories you want to share, please email us at darksidesnowboards@gmail.com, and let's do a follow-up piece!*