Mountainboarding

Mountain boarding, also known as dirtboarding, or all-terrain boarding (ATB), is a new board sport, derived from snowboarding. It was originally intended to take the place of snowboarding during warm months while there was no snow available.

From the early days there has been a competitive element encompassing racing and freestyle. Competitions have been organised in USA since 1994 and in the UK since 1997.

Tracing its roots to the 1970's, the sport is actively participated in by over 1 million athletes worldwide (Wall Street Journal, April 16th 1998).

Board description

A mountain board is similar to an oversized skateboard. The size of the deck is shorter than the average snowboard, approximately 110 cm in length with four wheels. The deck varies with each manufacturer, giving a potential buyer a wide range of options. The wheels consist of small plastic or metal hubs with tires of between 7" and 13" diameter. There are also three-wheeled boards such as the "Outback", as well as the two-wheeled "Dirtsurfer" and "Surfari" inline boards. The latter can be described best as, "riding a bike with no hands... the faster you go, the more stable you are." Dirtsurfers and Surfaris use 20" spoked BMX wheels.

Wheels, Trucks and Suspension

The wheel size dictates the riding style. For example, the 8" wheel has evolved into the best choice for freestyle riding and jumping. Larger wheels are more useful to the downhill rider; granting him access to high-speed runs and more stability while traveling at these blistering speeds. Bindings are another option available to riders. They resemble traditional snowboard bindings. These ratchet style bindings hold the rider and board together while allowing room to move his feet.

Board length is important to take into consideration when in the buying process. The length of the board determines many factors such as terrain one is able to ride, weight of the board (extremely important for kite landboarding), and how much weight the board can support. For example MBS© has a line of boards that vary in length from the 108 cm Vixen all the way up to 124 cm Comp 26. Most mountain boards are equipped with 'channel trucks' which are similar in appearance to a skateboard truck but are spring-loaded to stiffen up turning. Urethane "Egg Shocks" can be inserted inside the spring coil to both stiffen the "feel" of a board and also to prolong the life of the suspension system.

Other truck designs are used such as regular skate style trucks (Typically used by junior riders because they are lightwieght and inexpensive), "Bionic" trucks, "Revo" trucks or other designs such as those found on a NoSno or Howla.

Riding styles

The two main styles of riding are downhill (freeride & racing) and freestyle.

Freeride is done on a variety of terrain, from ski resorts, when the snow has melted away, to downhill mountain bike courses, to woodlands and forests. More and more dedicated centres are being opened around the world specifically for the sport of mountain boarding. Racing tends to be either of slalom, two riders weaving between poles, or boarder cross, a category of racing that is similar to BMX courses, with berms and jumps.

Freestyle riding consists of ramp jumping; performing tricks which can be rotations (180, 360 and more degree turns), inverted tricks (back flips, front flips), board grabs (tail grab and front grab) and one foot variations (or even no foot variations like "supermans and superman fingerflips".

A variation on mountain boarding is kite landboarding. This involves using a power kite to pull the rider on a mountain board and gives them the ability to use the kite to generate enough power to get some lift, normally several feet up in the air and perform tricks.

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