The History Of Snowboarding
By Jakob Jelling, Thu Dec 8th

How a piece of wood changed world history.

Many times someone doing something a little different and havinghis or her ideas catch on has changed history. The pasteurizingof milk to prevent spoiling and contamination is a perfectexample. was also the result of someone doingsomething a little different. In a few short years we have takena crazy idea and turned it into a household word and created aculture and language around it. has become anOlympic event and has even forced us to ask ourselves questionsabout our society when we use the phrase “Smoke a fatty forRebagliati”.

The history of officially begins in 1929 with a mannamed M.J. Burchett. For some unknown reason, perhaps a darefrom friends or the result of drinking, Mr. Burchett changedhistory when he cut a plank of plywood and secured it to hisfeet using a clothesline and horse reins. This humble beginningchanged history forever.

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

Snowboards as we know them came into existence in 1969 whenriding down snowy hills on a cafeteria plate in college inspiredDimitrije Milovich. Mr. Milovich decided to make snowboards thatwhere based upon the design of a surfboard but worked the sameway skis did. In 1972 Mr. Milovich started a company calledWinterstick and really fired up the idea of until1980 when he left the industry. To this day Milovich is seen asa very important pioneer in the industry.

In 1977 Burton came back to his first love, the Snurfer. Aftercompleting university, Burton moved to Vermont and needing tomake some money, started to produce Snurfers again. Burton’ssnowboards where made of laminated wood and he shocked the worldwhen he won a Snurfer competition on his own board. One majorreason for Burton being able to win the competition was theskiing styled binding that he added to his boards thus allowinghim to control

them much better.

During this time Burton had on major competitor, Tom Sims. Simsborrowed from skateboarding technology to create his own versionof the snowboard. Sims snowboards came from an idea he had inshop class when to glued carpet to the top of a piece of woodand aluminum sheeting to the bottom of the board.

In order to showcase their innovations, Burton and Sims held thefirst ever competition in Vermont in 1982. Thiscompetition was more of a survival contest as the runs where icykamikaze runs. This event helped to launch the magazineAbsolutely Radical that became the International SnowboardingMagazine.

Snowboarding technology continued to improve, as did the fame ofits competitions. The competitions became so popular that theInternational Federation was formed to help judgecompetitions. In 1998 made its grand entrance intothe world of the Olympics at Nagano, Japan.

This too was a controversial time. The IOC dismissed the ISF andinstead had the Federation Internationale de Ski over see theevents. While this policy is still in effect to this day,tensions are easing between the two factions and things arerunning much smoother.

Of course no history of would be complete with outmentioning Rebagliati in the 1998 Olympics. Rebagliati, aCanadian from Whistler BC, won the gold medal that year butlater tested positive for trace amounts of marijuana and wasstripped of his gold medal. Rebagliati appealed the ruling andwon since marijuana is a controlled substance, not a bannedsubstance and is not a performance-enhancing drug. This eventhelped to decriminalize marijuana in Canada and caused manypeople to rethink their position on marijuana. "Smoke a fattyfor Rebagliati" was a common phrase to show support forRebagliati and show support for the reforming of the Canadianlaws.

Snowboarding has come a long way in 70 odd years. Snowboardingstarted as a crazy idea that only fools would try and has becomean accepted Olympic event due to its popularity. Arguably,snowboarding is the fastest growing sport and industry. Fewother innovations have caught on this fast or have become anOlympic sport so soon.

About the author:Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.snowboardinghelp.com.Please visit his website to discover the world of snowboarding!