27/01/2026
We often get asked: how did Torched Peaks come to be?
The original concept for the first wooden ski map was the spark of our founder, who came up with the idea back in 2015 while staring at vintage posters. Ski art felt stale—posters and canvas everywhere. He wanted something natural, something raw for his office. That’s when the fire was lit, and the first wooden ski map came to life.
Long before Torched Peaks, our founder Shawn Orecchio was strapping-in to a snowboard in 1984—teaching himself on the hills of New Jersey and poaching the icy trails of Vernon Valley (now Mountain Creek), two years before the resort allowed snowboarding.
Amid the chaos of Action Park and Vernon Valley to Tahoe peaks, our founder’s story is a kid from Jersey fueled by snowboarding, a sport on the rise, and a generation that refused to follow the rules.
Torched Peaks maps are born from a lifelong love of mountains, years in the ski industry, and a relentless drive to create unique art of the mountains that move us. They celebrate the peaks we live for and the fire that pulls us back, run after run.
The first few slides show our founder in his early snowboarding days, including him striking an awkward pose with his very first board in 1984, and some early images from the first days of Torched Peaks maps.🔥
