Snowboarding the Great White
Snowboarding has great
similarities to surfing and skiing: It’s like surfing in that
it is a board sport, and like skiing because it is performed in
the snow.
Snowboarders – or riders, as
they are called – strap boards to their feet and slide down
snow-covered slopes. It is an increasingly popular winter sport
across the world, wherever there is snow. In 1998, it became an
eligible medal sport in the Winter Olympic Games. Other major
events include the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championship and the
Winter X-Games in Canada and the United States.
No one knows exactly when
snowboarding was invented, but it is
widely accepted that it was created around the 1950s by a mix
of surfers, skateboarders, and skiers – who were able to
transfer their skills to the cold mountains. Snowboarders
during that time used hand-made boards. Because snowboarding
was new and crude at that time, many skiers largely frowned
upon the sport. In fact, many ski resorts would not allow
snowboarding.
However, the sport began to gain more popularity in the
1970s and ‘80s, and snowboarding equipment became more
sophisticated and advanced. By 1997, almost all of the ski
resorts in the United States allowed snowboarding. Today, the
sport is attracting an ever-growing fan base (more than 3.4
million people), so much so that the number of skiers has
actually declined. Some people attribute this to the
comparative ease of snowboarding.
Today, standard snowboarding equipment includes snowboards,
boots, bindings, and warm clothing. The sport has three main
sub-styles: freestyle, freeride, and freecarve, with each style
distinguishable by the equipment used and the desired
terrain.
Freestyle riding is currently the most
popular style among snowboarders. It is characterized by a lot
of jumps, tricks, rail slides, and switch riding. Freestyle
equipment includes soft boots and relatively short mobile
boards, which are ideal for the frequent jumps in this style of
riding.
Freeride, the most general style of
snowboarding, is performed on most mountain terrains including
open terrain and backcountry chutes. As with freestyle
snowboarding, freeriders wear soft boots; however, the actual
snowboard is a little longer and directional than the one used
in freestyle snowboarding.
Freecarve – also known as alpine
snowboarding – focuses on carving and racing. Freecarving is
performed on hard-pack or groomed runs. In this style, there is
little or no jumping. Equipment includes hard boots and plate
binding system; and the boards are stiff, narrow, and long.
Within each of these sub-styles are more variations,
including sandboarding, heli boarding, kite snowboarding, and
mountain boarding.
Ashley Barnard is a great outdoor explorer and apart from
climbing mountains around the world he also enjoys snowboarding
and skiing. For a brief insight into snowboarding and where it
came from you can visit his site at http://www.winter-skiing.com
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