Last 20 years of snowboarding

Rise (since 1987)
In 1988 three World Cups were held, one in Ennsdorf (Switzerland), one in Livigno (Italy) and the third in Breckenridge (USA). Since snowboarding had fascinated more and more people and the number of boarders had continuously increased, ski resorts were forced to open their slopes for snowboarders. At various competitions, the Americans received serious competition from Europe. They had the rubber loops, which then served as the binds, exchanged for touring ski bindings and retracted one title after another.

Urs Meier (Switzerland) and Earl Miller (USA) developed security ties in 1989, which should reduce the risk of injury, since the sport was still rather uncertain. To arrange technically competitive games for the discipline, in the same year the International Snowboard Association (ISA) was founded.

By the following year, the ISA had been replaced by the International Snowboarding Federation (ISF), whose task was to maintain the sub-cultural mentality of the sport while developing competitive criteria and also lead an international ranking.

The Federation Ski International (FIS), showed keen interest in this sport, probably because snowboarding was, at that time, the only alpine discipline which was not in the regulations attached to the FIS and also enjoyed great popularity.

The winter sports areas adapted slowly to the snowboarders and accepted the new influence in the use of the slopes. Thus, even more snow vehicles were equipped with special devices for the construction of half-pipes. In the shops, extra service machines were first created for snowboards.

The approval of snowboarding for the Olympics in 1994, but based on the FIS rules, was a topic of conversation and discussion. The first Air & Style Contest was held at Innsbruck Bergisel Stadium, which introduced the straight jump as the freestyle discipline. The competition was later to become one of the most important freestyle snowboard events in the area.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided, in 1995, to include snowboarding in the competition program for the first time at Nagano in 1998. Slalom and halfpipe for snowboarders were now Olympic sports.

A new form of competition emerged in 1996, the snowboard cross. It was built next to the freestyle disciplines (halfpipe, quarterpipe, straight jump, etc), slalom and giant slalom. Here, several boarders start simultaneously in a course with jumps, bumps and banked turns.

A hassle broke out between the ISF and FIS in 1997. It was a question that, under a decision by the IOC, the drivers who wanted to participate in the Olympics had to qualify for FIS races. Most of the drivers of the ISF disputed there were only a minimum number of FIS races to collect the necessary points for Olympic qualification.

At the Games, there was also what amounted to the first scandal, when tetrahydrocannabinol (marijuana) was detected in the urine of Canadian Ross Rebagliati. His gold medal was initially withdrawn. It was later returned to him, as the drug was not on the list of banned doping substances.

The sport was also marred by the fact that at this time, Terje Hakonsen, valued as a favorite athlete, refused to participate in the Games because he could not agree with the rules of the IOC. In the snowboarding scene he is regarded, among other things, as an influential figurehead because of this decision. The halfpipe competition was won by Gian Simmen of Switzerland.

The hype around snowboarding reached its tragic climax in 1999, when, after the Air & Style Contest in Innsbruck Bergisel, five people lost their lives in a mass stampede. The venue was then moved and the event carried out on a much smaller scale.

In the 1990s, the snowboard market, the fastest growing market in the sports sector, saw up to 68 percent growth per season. This period saw a massive turnover among producers, of which only a few were able to become established.

The ISF had been struggling both financially and politically, and in 2002, had to file for bankruptcy. All tasks, competitions and regulations were therefore covered by the FIS. In the same year the World Snowboarding Federation was organized and launched a new venue (the Ticket to Ride World Snowboard Tour).

Today, snowboarding is one sport that has grown from a small “faith community” to millions of supporters. Ski areas have recognized this trend for quite some time, and have invested heavily in adapting their slopes, or at least parts of it, to the needs of snowboarders.

So-called “Fun Parks” are now found in every larger ski area; they contain mostly rails, half pipes, quarter pipes, ramps, corner jumps, straight jumps and the like.

This sport has developed in its professionalism and the competition, in all its disciplines, continues to grow.