Snowboarding

History of snowboarding

Snowboarding is a winter sport using equipment in the form of a board to drive on snow. The rider stands sideways to the direction of travel on the board. Since 1998, snowboarding is in several Olympic disciplines.

(1900-1963)

In 1900, the Austrian Toni Lenhardt first invented the precursor to the snowboard, the Mono Glider. These were so successful that Mono glider competitions were organized in 1914 in Bruck an der Mur. It is said that the American Jack Burchett, in 1929, made the first board capable for use on snow by tinkering with chipboard, horse bridles and clotheslines, and a mobile base. His idea was purely private and never reached the market.

The intellectual roots of snowboarding are in the surf. The two surfers Tom Sims and Sherman Poppen (both of the U.S.) experimented in 1963 with old doors and large wooden planks on which they mounted brackets to reconstruct the surf feeling on the snow.

Development of the snowboard (1970-1985)
Dimitrije Milovich, an avid surfer, in 1970 started to use steel edges on the sides of the board as additional stabilizers. The technique, though in daily use at the time, was not helpful and was therefore soon discarded.

Two years later, Jake Burton significantly advanced the principle of the binding, by using adjustable rubber belts as straps and anti-slip surfaces mounted on the board so as to increase the stability.

In Utah in 1975, Milovich adopted the production of snowboards, with the name embroidered on, for the winter. Today’s models were still far away, but he developed a board with a patented Swallowtail (dovetail) in order to achieve better maneuverability. The steel edges of his former board disappeared. Even Mike Olsen, who later founded the company Gnu and Lib Tech, began to produce boards in his garage.

In 1977, Burton was the first to produce a small series of his own creation, after he had founded the company Burton Snowboards the previous year. With a price of $88.00, the price was too high and his product was at that time not a commercial success.

That same year, Jake Burton and Dimitrije Milovich rented a small booth at the Snow Sports Industry Show (SIA show), which is considered an important trade fair for the sports business. Their only success was to make several distributors aware of their products; they could not sell even one of their boards.

That same year, Tom Sims developed a board with laminated layers of wood. This board will sell much better because it could be built with less effort. Thus the selling price fell by about half, to about $40.

Above all, the problem with sales at that time was that snowboarders were not welcome in ski resorts. They were forced to climb the slopes or ride at night on the groomed slopes. In 1985, only seven percent of all U.S. ski resorts welcomed the “Snurfer”.

Burton and Sims, in 1980, used so-called P-Tex linings for their snowboards, and thus were the first to integrate technologies from the ski industry. This development was far ahead of the recent “Snurfer” and allowed better control and new maneuvers. Also, Europe was beginning to produce boards, as those imported from the U.S. were more expensive. However, in the same year, winter stick got major financial problems and had to withdraw from the business.

Gregory Stump and Warren Miller produced the first snowboard movies, and the sport gained public attention.

Chuck Barfoot, who had designed various boards (skateboards, surfboards and snowboards) in 1978 for Tom Sims, in 1981 independently founded Barfoot and experimented with various construction technologies.

In Germany, two students develop the Swingbo. It consisted of two skis, which were connected to a stand. Overall, it worked like a skateboard. Through its steel edges, is could be controlled better than a snowboard. Not much later, most snowboards were again fitted with steel edges. The Swingbo disappeared quickly from the mountains. Also this year, in a small way, the first competition took place in Leadville, Colorado.

Paul Graves, in 1982, organized the first national Snow Surfing Championship in Vermont, which consisted of slalom and downhill. For the first time snowboarders from all over America came to each other, including rivals Jake Burton and Tom Sims. This incident aroused the interest of the media, and snowboarding for the first time was an issue that gained nationwide coverage.

In 1983, competitors Sims and Burton organized official championships in their hometowns, but that split the snowboarder community: Sims built the first halfpipe in his competition and was boycotted by some drivers, because they did not accept snowboard as a freestyle discipline. In 1984, the first European snowboard company, Hooger Booger, developed race boards with asymmetrical waists, a pioneering step for the future.

At around the same time, Stratton Mountain (USA) developed the first snowboard-specific boots. Prior to this, snowboarders used moon boots or hiking boots. The film Apocalypse Snow by Regis Rolland appeared in the same year and documented the rapid growth of snowboarding. Due to the huge success, two sequels followed.

Burton and Sims produced its standard board from 1985 with P-Tex base and steel edges, making the constructive influence in surfboards that continues today. Sims presented the first promo, which bore the name of Terry Kidwell and accented the amazing freestyle area. The board was equally rounded on both sides, and had two equally intense raised ends.

In the same year, in Senales (Alto Adige), the first competition on European soil was conducted. The year 1985 also saw the birth of the soft boots – special shoes which were adapted to the needs, stresses and strains of snowboarders. In Soda Springs, the first halfpipe competition was held.

Freestyle became the major topic of snowboarding, as it was for skateboarders. The first to earn money in this sport were Jose Fernandes, Peter Bauer, Petra idle, Jean Nerva, Craig Kelly and Burt Lamar.

By 1986, snowboarding managed to catch, and European manufacturers such as Fuzzy Garhammer and Hooger Booger overcame the previously existing gap in technology and development.