There are more then six million snowboarders today. In the early eighties only seven percent of ski resorts even allowed snowboarders. Today snowboarding is a mass phenomenon. It was all started by an East Coast surfer named Sherman Poppen. His wife was credited with naming his invention the snurfer or “snow- surfer” (The History of Snowboarding). This set off a revolution of design and improvement, which started companies like Burton, and Sims snowboards. The first snowboard was an invention that changed winter sports forever.
A chemical gas engineer, Poppen built the first snurfer in Muskegon, Michigan out of two skis bolted together and a rope at the nose so the rider could control it. He built it for his daughter's birthday party in 1964. The invention soon became a hit in his neighborhood. After finding out that all of his daughter's friends wanted a snurfer he got the idea to sell it. In 1965, the snurfer was first sold to the masses. Sherman Poppen teamed up with Brunswick Corporation, a bowling ball company (Snowboarding History) and sold half a million units in the ten years that it was in production. The snurfer was to be sold for 10 to 30 dollars. After that the snurfer disappeared due to poor advertising, but many innovators saw potential in the snurfer and set out to develop it into a sport.
After sliding around on cafeteria trays, Dimitrije Milovich, another East coast surfer started to develop snowboards in his garage, and started what is considered the first snowboard company “Winterstick” in 1972. Throughout 1975 his Snowboards were mentioned in magazines like “Newsweek” and “Powder.” (The Beginning of Snowboarding). Dimitrije made many innovations to the snowboard like steel edges, and swallow tailboards. Due to lack of interest from the public and ski resorts not allowing snowboards, Winterstick went bankrupt in 1980. Even so, he helped change the snowboard from a small uncontrollable kids toy, to a controllable sport.
When Jake Burton Carpenter rode the snurfer for his first time he was 14 and it was down a golf course hill. He broke his thumb but was obsessed with the snurfer ever since. In 1977, after dropping out of college and getting stuck in a job he hated, Carpenter decided to start a snowboard company named Burton. Carpenter like Milovich made many innovations to the sport of snowboarding like foot straps for control and fins for stability. Burton sold his boards for thirty-eight dollars a piece, which was expensive at the time. Ski resorts, however, still did not allow snowboards on their slopes, so selling them was even more challenging. Carpenter discuses this in his interview with HP computers, “I remember going out to sell 27 snowboards and coming back with 29 because the shop had said nobody wants these take "em back.” (Burton for Your Business) Since then Burton has developed from a small company making snowboards in a garage to into the largest Snowboard Company in a world.
At the same time a championship skateboarder was developing snowboards on the West Coast. Just like Burton and Milovich. Sims and his friends changed many things about the snowboard. Sims and his friends borrowed skateboard technology. They developed what they called the “Yellow Banana” (The History of Snowboarding) which was a board made out of polyurethane with a carpet added to the top of a snurfer so it would stick better to the riders feet like a skateboard. It also had sheet metal attached to the bottom. After that he focused on skateboards, but with the help of his friend Chuck Barefoot, he returned to snowboards in 1977. Tom Sims named his boards the skiboards. Like Burton, Sims started in his garage and is now a large snowboard company.
The first snowboard competition was held in 1981 in Leadville Colorado. One year later, the first national snowboard competition was held in Woodstock, Vermont. Racers were clocked at 60 miles per hour. This started the creation of the first snowboard magazines like “Absolutely Radical” and the “International Snowboard Magazine,” and launched European competitions. In 1990, the “International Snowboard Federation” or ISF was formed. Finally, snowboarding was catching on and in 1998 after 33 years of development the snowboard was finally an Olympic sport. In 1998, there were four new events with men and women"s halfpipe with Gian Simmen of Sweden taking the gold medal in the men's and Nicola Thost of Germany winning in the women's halfpipe. Also there was men's and women's slalom. In 2002, slalom was replaced with a larger giant slalom and longer bigger superpipe (All… About… Snowboarding). Later in 2006, at the Torino Olympics a third event was added called boarder cross.
Since the first snurfer that Sherman Poppen built out of two skis for his daughter, snowboarding has come a long way. It's in the Olympics, there is a snowboarding tour, and there are 6 million snowboarders (The History of Snowboarding) and many snowboarding companies to satisfy the needs of consumers needs. Snowboarding has gone from an uncontrollable toy to a stable controllable sport.
