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History
The
history of snowboarding is unlike that of other
winter sports, some of which are thousands of years old. It has only been within
the past 30 years that snowboarding has caught on, with the credit going to
Sherman Poppen, of Muskegon, Mich. In 1964, Poppen built a snowboard after watching
his daughter try to slide down a hill while standing on her sled. His invention
became popular enough to attract the attention of the Brunswick Corp., who manufactured
the "Snurfer" for about $10 each. It was 14-year-old Jake Burton Carpenter who,
after using the Snurfer, decided it could use some adjustments. By the time
he was 23, in 1977, Carpenter, using an inheritance he had gotten from his grandmother,
had founded Burton Snowboards, now the world's largest snowboard manufacturer.
By the mid-1980s, snowboarding's
popularity erupted. According to industry estimates, snowboarders spent more
than $150 million on boards and gear in 1997. The first National Snowsurfing
Championship took place in 1982 at Suicide Six Ski Area in Woodstock, Vt. Downhill
and slalom races were featured, and, a year later, the halfpipe was introduced.
The first snowboarding World Cup was held in 1987, with two events in both Europe
and America. On Dec. 5, 1995, the International Olympic Committee announced
that snowboarding would become a medal event at the Nagano Games.
Athlete Viewer ( USSA)
Alpine Athlete
Viewer (FIS)
Ski
Museums / Ski Museen / Musee de Ski
New England Ski Museum
Norvegian Olympic Museum
Schwarzwälder
Skimuseum
U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame and Museum