The history of snowboarding

Written by Jakob Jelling


How a piece of wood changed world history.

Many times someone doing something a little different and having his or her ideas catch on has changed history. The pasteurizing of milk to prevent spoiling and contamination is a perfect example. Snowboarding was alsorepparttar result of someone doing something a little different. In a few short years we have taken a crazy idea and turned it into a household word and created a culture and language around it. Snowboarding has become an Olympic event and has even forced us to ask ourselves questions about our society when we userepparttar 133027 phrase “Smoke a fatty for Rebagliati”.

The history of snowboarding officially begins in 1929 with a man named M.J. Burchett. For some unknown reason, perhaps a dare from friends orrepparttar 133028 result of drinking, Mr. Burchett changed history when he cut a plank of plywood and secured it to his feet using a clothesline and horse reins. This humble beginning changed history forever.

Not much changed for snowboarders until 1965 when Sherman Poppen invented a toy for his daughter and eventually marketed it. His “Snurfer” consisted of 2-ski bound together with a rope atrepparttar 133029 nose ofrepparttar 133030 skis to hold on to. This idea caught on fast and Mr. Poppen sold half a million of his Snurfers by 1966. Mr. Poppen helped create demand for his product by holding contests for Snurfers. Jake Burton took part in many of these competitions until he broke his collarbone in a car accident.

Snowboards as we know them came into existence in 1969 when riding down snowy hills on a cafeteria plate in college inspired Dimitrije Milovich. Mr. Milovich decided to make snowboards that where based uponrepparttar 133031 design of a surfboard but workedrepparttar 133032 same way skis did. In 1972 Mr. Milovich started a company called Winterstick and really fired uprepparttar 133033 idea of snowboarding until 1980 when he leftrepparttar 133034 industry. To this day Milovich is seen as a very important pioneer inrepparttar 133035 industry.

In 1977 Burton came back to his first love,repparttar 133036 Snurfer. After completing university, Burton moved to Vermont and needing to make some money, started to produce Snurfers again. Burton’s snowboards where made of laminated wood and he shockedrepparttar 133037 world when he won a Snurfer competition on his own board. One major reason for Burton being able to winrepparttar 133038 competition wasrepparttar 133039 skiing styled binding that he added to his boards thus allowing him to control them much better.

Alpine snowboarding

Written by Jakob Jelling


Alpine snowboarding is for those of you who are a little more extreme about speed than most. Alpine snowboarding encompasses more than just speed. Other areas often included are racing and extreme carving.

Alpine snowboards are uniquely designed for their purpose. An alpine snowboard has a longer, narrower and stiffer construction than any other snowboards. This design allows for higher speeds, very sharp turning, and aggressive edge holding power on hard snow and excellent high-speed stability.

Alpine snowboarding is generally done on hard packed snow or groomed runs. Hard packed snow usually isn't good for snowboarding but is exceptional for high speeds,repparttar heart of alpine snowboarding. With other styles of snowboards maneuverability is impossible on this type of terrain. Thanks torepparttar 133026 aggressiveness ofrepparttar 133027 edge ofrepparttar 133028 alpine snowboard, fast, snappy control isrepparttar 133029 least of your problems.

Sincerepparttar 133030 riding is so different from other types of snowboarding it only stands to reason thatrepparttar 133031 gear would also be slightly different from normal. The gear for alpine snowboarding resembles skiing equipment more than it does snowboarding equipment.

In order to protectrepparttar 133032 rider and maximize control at high speeds an alpine snowboarder will userepparttar 133033 following things. First is a helmet and eye protection. Thanks torepparttar 133034 laws of physics we know that a hard surface becomes even harder at higher speeds. This means that a helmet and eye protection are an absolute must if you wish to stay safe when ripping down a hill at blazingly fast speeds asrepparttar 133035 impact from any mishap can be more than normal.

The next thing to consider is your boots. You must use a hard-shelled boot that resembles a skiing boot. Sincerepparttar 133036 speeds on an alpine snowboard are so much higherrepparttar 133037 forces required to maintain a tight turn are also higher. In order to make shape-cornering possible you must use a hard-shelled boot to leverage your power withrepparttar 133038 snowboard.

After thinking of your boots you must also think ofrepparttar 133039 stance that you wish to use when riding your alpine snowboard. There is basically only one choice but there are subtle variations for each rider. Traditionallyrepparttar 133040 front foot should be set at about +70' andrepparttar 133041 rear foot at about +35'. Withrepparttar 133042 advance of technology andrepparttar 133043 improvements ofrepparttar 133044 snowboardsrepparttar 133045 degree ofrepparttar 133046 feet has become less important. More commonlyrepparttar 133047 stance is determined byrepparttar 133048 width ofrepparttar 133049 board as long as there is a difference of at least 5'.

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