The Growth of Snowboarding
Some people predict that snowboarding will become more popular then skiing in the next 10 years, but it wasn’t always this way.
Although the first recognised attempt at making a snowboard-like contraption was in 1929, it wasn’t until the late 80s that it really took off, and became an official sport in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Once banned from 93% of ski resorts, snowboarding is now growing at a rapid pace, with an estimated 5.1 million snowboarders world-wide.
Nowadays, the two winter sports have learnt to coexist, with many people practicing both. The earlier reluctance of ski resorts to allow snowboarders was because of their laid-back, ‘grungy’ style – similar to that of skateboarding.
The skateboard was largely the inspiration for the modern versions of the snowboard, as designed by the likes of Jake Burton Carpenter (of Burton snowboards), Tom Sims (Sims snowboards) and Mike Olson (Gnu snowboards). The growth of these two sports was also closely aligned.
The first snowboarding magazine came out in 1985, Absolute Radical, but today there is an amazing selection of snowboarding mags. Snowboarding was the subject of the 2005 Hollywood movie ‘First Descent, is featured in video games across most consoles and many snowboarding films are now produced. The major events, such as the Winter X-Games, the US Open, and, of course, the Winter Olympics are now televised.
After surviving early adversity, and transitioning from subculture to mainstream, only time will tell what else is in store for this exciting, dynamic sport.
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Although the first recognised attempt at making a snowboard-like contraption was in 1929, it wasn’t until the late 80s that it really took off, and became an official sport in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Once banned from 93% of ski resorts, snowboarding is now growing at a rapid pace, with an estimated 5.1 million snowboarders world-wide.
Nowadays, the two winter sports have learnt to coexist, with many people practicing both. The earlier reluctance of ski resorts to allow snowboarders was because of their laid-back, ‘grungy’ style – similar to that of skateboarding.
The skateboard was largely the inspiration for the modern versions of the snowboard, as designed by the likes of Jake Burton Carpenter (of Burton snowboards), Tom Sims (Sims snowboards) and Mike Olson (Gnu snowboards). The growth of these two sports was also closely aligned.
The first snowboarding magazine came out in 1985, Absolute Radical, but today there is an amazing selection of snowboarding mags. Snowboarding was the subject of the 2005 Hollywood movie ‘First Descent, is featured in video games across most consoles and many snowboarding films are now produced. The major events, such as the Winter X-Games, the US Open, and, of course, the Winter Olympics are now televised.
After surviving early adversity, and transitioning from subculture to mainstream, only time will tell what else is in store for this exciting, dynamic sport.
Home - About - Buy Here