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Snowboard
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 70's and 80's as snowboarding became more popular, true
pioneers such as Dimitrije Milovich, Jake Burton (founder
of Burton Snowboards from Londonderry, Vermont), came up with
new designs for boards and machineries that had slowly developed
into the snowboards and other related equipment that we know
today.
Tom
Sims (founder of Sims Snowboards and creator of the first
snowboard in 1963), Mike Olson (GNU Snowboards).
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 skateboards 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. By 2015 it
is predicted that the number of people who snowboard will
outweigh the number of skiers.
We Got What you need!
Whether you're new to the sport or been riding
since the beginning we’ve got products to suit you.
Our extensive range of brands include: Atomic Snowboards,
Burton Snowboards, Forum Snowboards, K2 Snowboards, Ride Snowboards,
Flow Bindings, Drake Bindings, 686 Clothing, Special Blend
Clothing, Foursquare Clothing, Anon Goggles, Oakley Goggles,
Spy Goggles, Smith Goggles and Red Protection Products, just
to name a few.
Check out our online store to see products and prices.
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