All About Snowboarding : Room9

Snowboarding is a boardsport on snow, similar to skiing, but inspired by surfing and skateboarding. Snowboarding is an increasingly common winter sport throughout the world where participants attach a composite board to their feet and slide down a snow-covered mountain.

A snowboarder's equipment consists of a snowboard, snowboard boots, bindings to attach the boots to the board and snowboarding-specific winter clothing. Snowboarding became a Winter Olympic Games medal-eligible sport in 1998. Other events that focus on snowboarding are the annual U.S. and European Open Snowboarding Championships and the Winter X-Games. These events are hosted by various winter resorts in the United States, Canada and Europe.

History

The snowboard evolved from early pioneering work by people such as Sherman Poppen (who invented the "Snurfer" in his North Muskegon, Michigan home), Tom Sims and Jake Burton. For more on the history of snowboarding, see

Disciplines

There are four primary sub-disciplines or sub-styles within snowboarding with each favoring a slightly different snowboard design.

Freeride

Freeriding is using the natural terrain of the mountain for recreation, without focusing on technical tricks or racing. Most snowboarders aspire to be freeriders and will explore the mountain through trees, in powder bowls or anywhere else they feel comfortable riding. Freeriding is also known as all-mountain snowboarding. A variant of freeriding focusing on extremely difficult lines is extreme snowboarding.

Freeride snowboarding, where the focus is on riding cleanly and enjoying the freedom to go and explore anywhere is influenced significantly by surfing. Many freeride purists attach an almost spiritual connotation to carving down the mountain.

Freestyle

Freestyle snowboarding is the practice of doing different kinds of tricks on a snowboard. Tricks can either occur on the ground (e.g. jibbing, bonking, grinding, pressing, etc.) or in the air (e.g. spins, flips, grabs). Freestyle snowboarders typically use shorter, softer boards and softer boots than other snowboarders. The shorter board length reduces the weight and moment of inertia, making it easier to spin and maneuver. Softer boots and boards are more forgiving, to allow more control for the particular demands of freestyle riding, such as slower speeds, high landing impacts, quick turns, and imperfect landings. Softer boots and boards also allow riders more flexibility in body movement and the ability to reach very convoluted or stretched out, stylish body positions (known as tweaking it).

Freestyle snowboarding is very popular, and is certainly the focus of most of the lifestyle marketing in the snowboarding industry.

Freestyle snowboarding is influenced greatly by skateboarding. Many Ski resort operate terrain parks which often simulate the urban skateboard environment, complete with handrails, funboxes and machine-formed jumps.

Alpine

Alpine snowboarding is the practice of turning by carving the snowboard (such that the board is tracking along the edge of the board), as opposed to skidding the snowboard (where the board is travelling in a different direction than it is pointing). Both traditional snowboard racers (though not necessarily boardercross racers) and recreational carvers are alpine snowboarders.

Alpine riders use hard plastic snowboarding boots, which resemble ski boots, except that they tend to be less stiff in the ankles and have a shortened heel, to minimize hanging over the edge of the snowboard. They tend to angle their feet much more forward than other snowboarders, and so also ride narrower boards. Alpine boards are usually, but not always, longer and much stiffer than freeride boards, as the particular demands of carving usually require as much usable edge length as possible. The hard plastic boots stiffen the ankle joint up significantly. This makes it more difficult to make small ankle adjustments through skid turns, but makes the board much more stable at the higher speeds and Centripetal force experienced by an alpine snowboarder in carved turns.

An analogy made by some alpine enthusiasts is that freeride and freestyle snowboards are like dirt bikes, and alpine/carving snowboards are like road bikes. (Hence riding a freestyle snowboard on groomed slopes is like riding a dirtbike on a road track).

A common misconception is that alpine snowboarding necessitates riding very quickly or racing. In fact, the only real defining characteristic of alpine snowboarding is that alpine snowboarders turn often and very hard while engaging the board in a carve. Short slalom boards with very short sidecut radii, for example, are alpine boards but can only be carved at slow speeds.

Alpine snowboarding is significantly less popular than other kinds of snowboarding, especially in the United States.

Backcountry

This type of boarding started out with fresh powder-craving snowboarders who, most likely, didn't have the cash to spend at crowded upscale ski parks. In fact, before snowboarding was allowed at resorts, this was the only form of snowboarding; Jake Burton, one of the original pioneers of snowboarding, never even considered resorts; backcountry was what he envisioned as the future of snowboarding. Today, backcountry snowboarding is often for those who have enough to cash to afford trips to Alaska or the mountain ranges of the West, to ride outside resorts. Donning snowshoes or a split-board with skins, the backcountry snowboarder cuts a new path up the side of the mountain in search of the very best vistas and untouched snow. Some of those more cash-endowed riders can even hire snowcats or helicopters to take them where they want to go; this is known as catboarding or heliboarding respectively.

The split-board is exactly that, a snowboard cut right down the middle. When apart, the two halves can be used like cross-country skis to shuffle up the hill. At the top of the run, the halves are recombined, and the bindings rotated back into their sideways positions. Those that don't make use of the split-board will usually strap their board to their back and hike with snowshoes.

Snowboarders also use snowmobiles to ride in the backcountry. If the hill is too steep a snowmobile may not make it up the hill. Often snowboarders use snowmobiles to make jumps into the powder.

Safety is key when hiking and riding in the backcountry, especially after a fresh 'dump' of powder. Snow can be extremely unstable, often leading to avalanches. Backcountry riders are advised to take extreme caution in all conditions, to carry avalanche equipment including a probe, beacon, and shovel, and never to ride alone in the backcountry. Avalanche equipment can be purchased or rented at outdoor equipment stores. Courses in avalanche safety are also available and are strongly advisable before venturing into the backcountry.

Instruction

Snowboard instruction is available at almost every ski resort from certified snowboard instructors. Professional instruction is useful for learning proper technique and avoiding injury, as well as for learning other tangential information, such as mountain etiquette and general ski safety rules.

Snowboard lessons, as with ski lessons, are either group or private lessons. Group lessons are cheaper, and are taught by an instructor to a large group of students, and private lessons are either one-on-one or taught to a very small group of friends.

Typically, beginning snowboard lessons focus on very basic, common snowboarding skills, such as getting on and off the lift properly, skating with only one foot strapped in, sideslipping, and proper technique for falling. Later lessons may progress to linking turns, better edge control, and proper methods for dealing with bumps or choppy snow. As students progress in ability they are usually able to get more specialized instruction, in areas such as terrain park skills, mogul technique, off-piste riding, powder riding, or, more rarely, carving.

Safety

Wearing safety gear is highly recommended. The body parts most affected by injuries are the wrists, the coccyx and the head. Useful safety gear includes wrist guards, padded or protected snowboard pants and a helmet.

Padding can be useful on other body parts like hips, knees, spine and shoulders.

General safety tips for winter sports, alpine conditions and skiing should also be respected.

Many professional snowboarders find safety gear to create a false sense of invincibility. This can lead to brutal accidents. Some professionals choose to not wear safety gear because it keeps them at a higher sense of alertness.

Safety gear can enhance and/or hinder your snowboarding fashion style. Fashion is an important part of snowboarding. Be sure to take this into consideration before you strap on a helmet and knee pads.

Snowboarding vs skiing

There is a known culture clash between skiiers and snowboarders. Purist skiiers find snowboarding a less technical and primitive version of skiing. In exchange purist snowboarders often find skiing less exciting and "uncool." Snowboarding's growing popularity combined with efforts from the Professional Ski Instructors Association (PSIA) that provides a certificate for snowboard instructors has helped the sport to gain increasing credibility and respect among the ski community.

Videos

Snowboard videos have become a huge part of the sport. Each season, many different snowboard films are released, usually in September. Production companies work all year developing these videos.

With the price of video cameras dropping, videoblogging is also becoming more popular. Ridertech.com was the first ski and snowboard video blog, which launched at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. A user can subscribe to video blogs by adding their RSS feed to an aggregator.