SNOWBOARDING

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 surfingskateboarding. The sport was developed in the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998.

The first modern snowboard was arguably the Snurfer (a portmanteau of snow and 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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

Whether just learning to link turns or pushing the limits of an Alaskan descent, freeriders prefer the all-mountain experience: open terrain, fresh powder, dropping off cliffs and cornices, backcountry chutes and tree runs - essentially favouring natural terrain over man-made obstacles. 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.

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.

In Boardercross (also known as "Boarder X"), several riders (usually 4, but sometimes 6) race down a course similar to a motorcycle motocross track (with jumps, berms and other obstacles constructed out of snow on a downhill course). Competitions involve a series of heats, traditionally with the first 2 riders in each heat advancing to the next round. The overall winner is the rider that finishes first in the final round.

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.