Snowboarding
The first real snowboard hit the market during the 1960's in the form of Sherman Poppen’s Snurfer.
As Snowboarding became more popular in the 70's and 80's, true Snowboarding pioneers such as Dimitrije Milovich, an East Coast surfer, and Jake Burton Carpenter came up with new snowboard designs, materials and machineries that has slowly developed into the Snowboard we now know.
Today, Snowboarding is now as accepted as Skiing in most ski resorts worldwide and its popularity and fan base is growing at an enormous rate. Snowboarding gained Olympic status in 1998.
The snowboard is usually constructed out of wood, fiberglass, “p-tex”, and metal edges. Snowboards vary in their size and shape, but an average snowboard is 150cm long and 25cm wide. There are boots specially designed for snowboarding and the riders’ feet are attached to the board with bindings that typically strap across each boot.
People learn snowboarding at all stages in life. Although fairly demanding physically it is possible to learn snowboarding with a moderate fitness level. There is a typical progression that is taught by all snowboard teachers around the world and the learning curve is usually fast and fun. Once beginners master the art of stopping and basic directional changes they can progress quickly to longer and more challenging slopes.
There are four snowboarding events in the Olympic Games – men’s halfpipe, women’s halfpipe, men’s parallel giant slalom and women’s parallel giant slalom. The halfpipe competition takes place in a half-cylinder-shaped course dug deep into the hill. Using speed gained on the slope, snowboarders come up over the rim of the pipe and perform acrobatic aerial tricks. The object of the halfpipe is to perform difficult tricks with perfect form. Parallel giant slalom is an exciting version of Alpine snowboarding. It features head-to-head matches on the mountain. After the qualification round, a 16-person tournament is established and competitors contend on two side-by-side courses until there is a winner.
The design of the Snowboard makes it ideal for the off-piste. By having a larger board and putting more weight on the tail side of the board, it makes it easier for the board to float above the powder instead of digging itself in. You do not want your snowboard to get stuck in chest deep powder in the off-piste.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN TO SNOWBOARD ?
If you want to learn to Snowboard then refer to any of the snowboard professionals above.
» SIMPLY SELECT YOUR SKI RESORT ABOVE
» SELECT YOUR SKI / SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR / SKI SCHOOL
» THEN SEND YOUR MESSAGE ENQUIRY DIRECT
We wish you a safe and fun experience snowboarding.
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