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Birth of snowboarding? So when was that then?


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Just been reading the thread on goofy, and ivo was talking about the term been around from the "birth of snowboarding".

 

When exactly was that? How long have the boards been around as a serious sport? Anyone know?

 

Thank you fellow readers

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Here you go, ii:

 

It is hard to say who actually "invented" the first snowboard. People would have always figured out how to slide down a hill on some sled, thus it would be unfair to point out one specific person, who came up with "the first" snowboard.

 

There were some people, though, who built snowboard like sleds before. One of them was M.J. "Jack" Burchett. He cut out a plank of plywood in 1929 and tried to secure his feet with some clothesline and horse reins. Burchett came up with on of the first "snowboards". Before the next step for the snowboard was taken, it had to wait over 30 years until 1965. In this year Sherman Poppen, a chemical gases engineer in Muskegon, invented "The Snurfer" (his wife came up with the name) as a toy for his daughter. He made the Snurfer by bounding two skis together and putting a rope at the nose, so the rider could hold it and keep it more stable. Many of his daughters friends wanted one of those new Snurfers, and soon Poppen lincensed his new idea to a manufacturer. The Snurfer was sold over half a million times in 1966, but was only seen as a toy for kids, even though Poppen organized competitions with this new board. Jake Burton took part in those competitions and became really interested in the snurfer. For him it was a cool thing to do, not having the oppurtunity to go surfing (his parents would not buy him a board). But Burton was really seriuos about skiing. After breaking his collarbone in a car accident, he was not able to take part in skiing competitoins anymore. While Burton was into riding the Snurfer, Dimitrije Milovich started making snowboards in 1969. After sliding down some hills on a cafeteria plate in College, he comes up with the idea. His boards were based on surfboards combined with the way skiis work. In 1972 Milovich started a new company called "Winterstick". He produced several boards, and even got articles in the "Newsweek", "Playboy" and "Powder" which helped to make snowboarding better known. Even though Milovich left the snowboarding business in 1980, he is still recognized as a very important pioneer of the sport. In 1977 Jake Burton, who now finished NYU, moved to Londonderry, Vermont to make some money by building different versions of the Snurfer, which he still remembered. His first boards were made of laminated hardwood. Burton shocked all the Snurfer riders by winning a Snurfer competition with his own board, which had the first binding. This first binding made a big difference fro handling the board, and thus made it easier for him to beat the other riders. After that, in 1979, Poppen stopped producing the Snurfer and went back to his old profession. He was out of the business, and never came back. Parallel to Burton, Tom Sims produced his first snowboards in 1977. Beeing obsessed with skateboarding, Sims tried to go out in the snow and slide down the hill with a "snowboard" he built in a junior high shop-class. He just glued some carpet to the top of a piece of wood, and put an aluminium sheeting on the bottom. After he focussed on producing skateboards in his garage, with the help of his friend and employee Chuck Barfoot, he started making snowboards in 1977. Barfoot, who actaully made the snowboards, came up with the "Flying Yellow Bannana". It was just a skateboard deck on top of a plastic shell with skegs.Oficially the first real ski technology for snowboards was introduced by Burton 1980 (it is said Winterstick already used a P-Tex base in 1974). The new prototype had a P-tex base and combined more of the ski technology into snowboards with that. In the same year Sims signed a skate- and snowboarding deal with a big mainstream company (Vision Sports), which helped him solving his financial problems. Barfoot was left out, and tried to built his own firm. He did not succeed agianst the big competitors Sims and Burton. In 1982 the first National Snowboard race was held in Suicide Six, outside Woodstock, Vermont. The goal of the race apeared mostly to be "survival" because the race consists of a steep icy kamiaze downhill run, called "The Face". In 1985 still only 39, of the approximatly 600 snowboard areas allow snowboards. The same year one of the first (there was another one in 1981, called "Snowboarder") Snowboarding magazin comes out. It's name is "Absolutely Radical". Later on the name is changed into "International Snowboarding Magazine". In 1986 Regis Rolland, a French snowboarder, stars in "Apocalypse Snow". His staring launches a new European Snowboarding generation of fans who organize their own regional events, such as the Swiss championship in St. Moritz. Snowboarding is becoming a more and more popular sport.

 

In 1994 Snowboarding was declared as an Olympic Sport. Now it finally became accepted as a real competetive sport, not only a new trend which would disapear again. In the 1998 Olympics it was the first time ever that Snowboarding was in the Olympics. The new sport snowboarding was a huge success, but there still was something what made some people think they are right with the bad things they thought about snowboarders before: When the canadian boarder Ross Rebagliati ( second picture on the left) won the gold medal in the giant slalom he had to submit an urine sample. This sample showed that he was positive for marijuana with 17.8 nanograms per milliliter. Rebagliati said he did not smoke marijuana since April 1997. He said, he probably ihaled smoke on one of his friends parties in Canada. His gold medal got taken away on the first day, but he got it back afterwards. The International Olympic Committee, lacking an agreement with the International Ski Federation on marijuana use, could not strip Rebagliati of his medal. This event was bad for all snowboarders, because it showed them in a very bad light. Many people now think that Snowboarders smoke Marijuana and that they were right with the things they thought about them. Two years before, in 1996, Mike Hatchett released a new video, called TB5, featuring riders like Noak Salasneck and Johan Olofson. The riders did incredible stunts and tricks. Filmed in Alaska with its awesome footage the film is state of the art. In 1998, snowboarding is almost 50% of all winter activity. Most of the ski resorts now accept skiers and snowboarders. Snowboarding is finally accepted by everyone !

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