What Is Snowboarding ?

For those of you who’ve never heard of snowboarding, well it’s a combination of surfing, skateboarding and skiing but much more fun. Its roots take us back to the 1960s when a young Sherman Poppen created a toy for his daughter, which he eventually marketed to the rest of the USA as the “snurfer”. It was with these humble beginnings that snowboarding rapidly grew to what it is today, a fully fledged olympic sport (first olympics Japan 1998).

Now despite their being some basic similarities between snowboarding and skiing (i.e. both require you to negotiate slopes in the snow) the two sports are actually quite different both in terms of the equipment needed right up to the way you balance and manoeuvre yourself.

The most basic form of snowboarding is referred to as freeriding (i.e. travelling down slopes) the other style is known as freestyling and is the more popular and commercial aspect of the sport involving cool jumps, spins and various ariel acrobatics.

Snowboarding is here to stay, and with most snow resorts catering for snowboarders, more people than ever before are trying their hand at snowboarding. Not only is it a great alternative to skiing, it actually works out to be cheaper. All you need to get started is a decent board and your basic snow gear, other than that with a little practice you’ll be snowboarding in no time.

If you still can’t visualise what snowboarding is all about, check out some of our snowboarding videos for the bigger picture.