Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a snow-covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to one's feet using a boot/binding interface. It is similar to skiing, but inspired by surfing and skateboarding. The sport was developed in the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998.
History
The first modern snowboard was arguably the Snurfer, a mixture of snow surfer, originally designed for his children by Sherman Poppen in 1965 in Muskegon, Michigan. Poppen’s Snurfer started to be manufactured as a toy the following year. It was essentially a skateboard without wheels, steered by a hand-held rope.
During the 1970s and 1980s as snowboarding became more popular, true pioneers such as Dimitrije Milovich, Jake Burton (founder of Burton Snowboards from Londonderry, Vermont), Tom Sims (founder of Sims Snowboards) and Mike Olson (GNU Snowboards) came up with new designs for boards and machineries that had slowly developed into the snowboards and other related equipment that we know today.
Dimitrije Milovich, an east coast surfer, had the idea of sliding on cafeteria trays. From this he started developing his snowboard designs. In 1972, he started a company called the Winterstick; by 1975, The Winterstick was mentioned in Newsweek magazine. The Winterstick was based on the design and feel of a surfboard, but worked the same way as skis.
The growing popularity of snowboarding is reflected by recognition of snowboarding as an official sport: in 1985, the first World Cup was held in Zürs, Austria. Due to the need for universal contest regulations, the ISA (International Snowboard Association) was founded in 1994. Today, high-profile snowboarding events like the Olympics, Winter X-Games, the US Open, and other events are broadcast to a worldwide audience. Many alpine resorts are now setting up terrain parks. It is also notable that the sport has had a significant impact on such countries that are largely without snow, such as Australia and Afghanistan.
Although many skiers and skateboarders took up the sport, the vast majority of ski areas didn’t. Many of the early snowboards were extremely difficult to control and they were generally banned. Only 7% of U. S. ski areas allowed snowboarding in 1985 and the story was much the same in Europe . As equipment and skill levels improved, though, snowboarding gradually became more acceptable. Most of the major ski areas had separate slopes for snowboarders by 1990. Now, about 97% of all ski areas in North America and Europe allow snowboarding and more than half of them have ramps and pipes.
Today, more than 3.5 million people have taken up snowboarding. That is around 20% of all visitors to US ski resorts.
Styles
Both terrain parks and backcountry have grown in popularity with advances in equipment and mountaineering technology. "Terrain park" boarding is when you are snowboarding in an area marked by the resort for terrain parks. Terrain parks usually consist of jumps, most commonly referred to as "kickers", rails or boxes. There are also two different ways to "ride" on a snowboard, regular style (left foot forward) and goofy style (right foot forward).
Freestyle
Craig Kelly and Terje Håkonsen have been credited as two of the founding fathers of freestyle snowboarding. Craig began the art of freestyle, then later switched from the contest circuit to full time backcountry riding, filming, and photography before being killed in an avalanche. Terje started young, has been the subject of two movies, and recently achieved the world record quarterpipe air at the 2007 Arctic Open.
Many believe that freestyle snowboarding owes much of its form and content to skateboarding. Since a snowboard is attached securely to your feet, you are unable to perform many of the skateboard tricks, like a kickflip. With the recent introduction of rails into freestyle snowboarding, a closer resemblance to skateboarding is seen.
There are many different Freestyle disciplines including big air, slope style and the half pipe. In the big air event, competitors launch from a hill or ramp and perform stunts whilst in the air. They're judged on distance, height, difficulty of the trick and their landing. In slope style competitors ride down a course while performing tricks off the many jibs(rails), kickers(jumps), and quarter pipes.
Slope Style
Competitors perform tricks while descending a course, moving around, over, across, or down obstacles. The course is full of obstacles include boxes, rails, jumps, jibs (includes anything the board or rider can slide across), and quarter pipes (a half side of a half pipe, although usually not as long).
Half-pipe
The half-pipe is a semi-circular ditch or purpose built ramp (that is usually on a downward slope), between 12 and 21 feet deep. Competitors perform tricks while going from one side to the other and while in the air above the sides of the pipe.
Freeride
Whether just learning to link turns or pushing the limits of an Alaskan descent, freeriders prefer the all mountain experience: open terrain, backcountry chutes, fresh powder, trees, as well as an afternoon spent in the park or in a freshly cut pipe. This is the realm where pros can show what they are really made of.
Freeriding is the most general style of snowboarding and has correspondingly versatile equipment. Like freestyle, freeride equipment uses a soft boot. Boards in this category are relatively longer and more directional in their shape. If you don't know what kind of terrain you like, or know that you like everything, this is your category.
Racing / Freecarve
This often overlooked style of snowboarding focuses on carving and racing. Sometimes called alpine snowboarding, freecarving takes place on hard-pack or groomed runs and focuses on the ultimate carving turn. Little or no jumping takes place in this discipline. Freecarve equipment is comprised of a hard boot and plate binding system, while the boards are stiff, narrow and relatively long.
The racing events are slalom, giant slalom, and super G. In slalom, boarders race downhill through sets of gates that force extremely tight turns, requiring plenty of technical skill as well as speed.
Giant slalom uses a much longer course with gates set further apart, resulting in even higher speeds. Super G is the fastest of all, with speeds of up to 45mph.
Snowboard Cross
In snowboard cross, several riders race down a track that has jumps and other hazards in the way. The winner is the rider that finishes first.
Safety and precautions
Although many snowboarders do not wear any protective gear, helmets and some other devices are gaining in popularity. This was of course a natural progression in a sport which has such a possibility for injury during tricks. This natural progression of protective gear can be also attributed to many pro riders wearing protective gear (namely helmets), Shaun White being on the front of this list. Wearing protective gear is highly recommended due to the dangerous nature of alpine sports (especially freestyle snowboarding). The body parts most affected by injuries are the wrist, tailbone, the head, and the ankles (also knee ligaments amongst professional riders). Useful safety gear includes wrist guards (snowboarders often land on their hands and knees, to break a wrist is a common injury), padded or protected snowboard pants and a helmet. Snowboarding boots must be worn. It is best that you wear boots that fit you, which means your toes must be snug in the end of the boot, as to minimize movement inside the boot (too tight is better than too loose). Goggles are used by most people, and are very crucial at high altitudes on bright days to prevent snow blindness. Goggles also protect riders from temporary vision loss due to snow getting in eyes that can result in impact into terrain or obstacles. Padding can be useful on other body parts like the hips, knees, spine, and shoulders.
Films
Snowboarding films have become a main part of progression in the sport. Each season, many films are released, usually in autumn. These are made by many snowboard specific video production companies as well as manufacturing companies that use these films as a form of advertisement. Snowboarding videos usually contain video footage of professional riders sponsored by companies. An example of commercial use of snowboarding films would be The White Album, a film by snowboarding legend and filmmaker Dave Seoane about Shaun White, that includes cameos by Tony Hawk and was sponsored by PlayStation, Mountain Dew and Burton Snowboards. Snowboarding films are also used as documentation of snowboarding and showcasing of current trends and styles of the sport.
Snowboarding has also been the focus of numerous Hollywood feature films, quite notably the 2001 movie Out Cold, which included appearances by several renowned professional snowboarders as stunt performers, actual characters, or both. Out Cold is one of few major motion pictures to show snowboarding rather realistically and to exhibit a real understanding of the sport, as well as the culture that surrounds it. One such country is the UK, and this artificial snow phenomenon is well documented in the movie "Standing Sideways" by Damien Doyle. An early Hollywood nod to snowboarding was in James Bond film A View to a Kill — the opening sequence features Roger Moore as Bond eluding attackers with an improvised snowboard.
Snowboarding has also been featured in the more recent film, First Descent (2005). This movie features snowboarders Shaun White, Hannah Teeter, Shawwn Farmer, Nick Perata and Terje Haakonsen. First Descent documents these snowboarders heliboarding into remote locations and doing big mountain riding. This film is also a documentary on the history of snowboarding, giving the history on the first snowboarders up to those of the present day.
Magazines
Snowboard magazines are integral to the sport. Photo incentives are written into many professional riders' sponsorship contracts; therefore when they have a photo published in a magazine, the rider receives not only necessary exposure needed for their career, but financial support as well. Snowboard magazine staff will travel with professional riders throughout the winter season to generate content. Coverage will typically include travel, contests, lifestyle, rider and company profiles, and product reviews. Snowboard magazines have recently made a push to expand their brands to the online market. See also Transworld Snowboarding Magazine.
Contests
There are five major types of contests: rail jam, slopestyle, free ride, halfpipe, quarterpipe and boarder cross. Some of the biggest contests include: the U.S. Open, Shakedown, the West Coast Invitational, Vans Cup, X Games, and the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, Chevrolet Revolution Tour and Race to the Cup series. There are also many other smaller division competitions, some are listed in the USASA.
The Ticket to Ride (World Snowboard Tour) is the largest culmination of independent Freestyle events acting under one common Tour Flag. Officially recognized as the TTR World Snowboard Tour or simply ‘The TTR’, this culmination of Independent Freestyle Snowboard events has witnessed dynamic growth over the last four years, revitalizing competitive snowboarding while firmly establishing its credibility as a globally recognized Tour. Now in its 6th year, the TTR boasts an impressive 10-month competition season including top rated snowboarding events over four geographical zones. The Tour includes events like the TTR SIX(6)STAR Air & Style (Munich), The Arctic Challenge and the crowning event, the US Open of Snowboarding.
References
- Hart, Lowell (1997). The Snowboard Book: A Guide for All Boarders. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-31692-0
External links
- U.S. Snowboarding - Bio information and stories on U.S. Snowboarding riders
- "Three Revolutions Have Equaled a Transformation in Snowboarding". The New York Times. December 27, 2005.
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- TTR World Snowboard Tour - Official Homepage: Swatch Ticket to Ride (TTR) - World Snowboard Tour