About Snowtunnel®

The Snowtunnel® Story

20+ years in the making, we’re snow mad technology nerds who are passionate about our mission: Bringing the Snow™ and making people smile.

Snowtunnel is an R&D and technology licensing startup founded by Darren Visser (Inventor) and Chris Northwood (MD and CEO), Snowtunnel® brings to life Darren’s dream to give snowboarders, skiers, and other snow sports lovers all over the world the chance to shred all year round, anytime, in any weather and close to home.

In 1999 Darren first conceived the Snowtunnel® concept. A few years later, he went out to his backyard shed, built the first prototype from scrap metal parts, started testing and lodged a patent application. This first version was good for hundreds of hours of fun for his family and the local shredders, but Darren knew he had to scale it up to make the rider experience more amazing to appeal to the emerging action sport technology market.

Over the last decade, the explosion of indoor snow fields, man made wave pools, standing waves, indoor skydiving and other adventure sports venues shows that we’ve been on the right path for over 20 years. We know people want exciting, unique and accessible action sports experiences all year round that are good value and close to home. And we know that there are over 125 million snowboarders and skiers worldwide, who until now, have had to wait most of the year to get just a few short months to enjoy the sport they love before the snow melts again.

Snowtunnel® is 10 meters in diameter (33 feet), which we reckon makes it the largest rideable full-pipe in the boardsports world.

After being introduced to Darren, Chris saw the vision and got involved full time. Co-founding the commercial business in the middle of 2022, he set up the company, funded the startup and joined Darren in completing the build of the R&D tunnel.

The latest version of Snowtunnel® is 10 meters in diameter (33 feet), equivalent to 3 stories high, which we reckon makes it the largest rideable full-pipe in the boardsports world. The transition’s the same as an Olympic snowboard half pipe and the rotating action makes it feel like a combination of snowboarding, surfing, and skating. Snowtunnel® is a revolutionary new snow sport that is easy for beginners to learn and can also be amped up to an elite level snow experience to push the limits.

The Founders

Describing himself as Mr Fix it, long time snowboarder and holder of a world tractor land speed record, Darren is an inventor, machinist, fabricator and second hand machinery dealer. He also builds and races hand crafted classic cars and motorbikes in his spare time. He is the inventor of the Snowtunnel and has led the build of the R&D tunnel in his own backyard.

Chris, a life long snowboarder, surfer, and kite-boarder, has decades of experience in startups, product development, global sales/distribution, corporate advisory and finance. He co-founded Theeve Titanium Truck Co after inventing the world’s first 6/4 titanium skateboard truck hanger and co-founded and ran an action sports branding & distribution business in USA & Australia for over 10 years. He founded Activ8 Capital/Activ8 Ventures in 2017 and has raised over $45m for startups and early stage businesses. Co-founding the Snowtunnel® business in 2022, he is spearheading the funding, commercialisation, R&D and global rollout of this revolutionary Australian invention.

We’re excited to be leading the global Snowtunnel® revolution and can’t wait to session your local Snowtunnel® with you soon.

Snowtunnel® Foundation

We’re snowboarders, skiers, surfers and kiteboarders and we rely on water for the sports we love to do and believe in “clean water for all”. So we support organisations that care for our waterways or provide clean water for people around the world, by making contributions to the following groups:

Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. To achieve this objective, we have to work on a combination of closing the sources of plastic pollution and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean and doesn’t go away by itself. https://theoceancleanup.com/

WaterAid

When people have access to clean water, a decent toilet and can practice good hygiene they’re less likely to get ill. WaterAid works with the poorest and most marginalised communities to set up practical and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene projects that meet their real needs. Hardware, such as taps and toilets, is always backed up by education about good hygiene, making sure that the health benefits of clean water and decent toilets are maximised. https://www.wateraid.org/au/