A Brief History of How Snowboards Began

The exact history is kind of unsure, but what is know is that the first snowboard showed up around 1929 by M.J."Jack" Burchett who cut a piece of plywood and fastened his feet by some clothesline. Snowboard really became mainstream in 1965 when Sherman Poppen created a toy called the "Snurfer" for his daughter. Other people saw this toy and wanted one too. He started selling these things which were a pair of skis fastened together with a rope on the front to hold on to. These toys became very popular with competitions and Poppen sold half a million within a year. In the 70's many new people started to revolutionize snowboarding with their own, with one of the most popular being Jake Burton, who continues to make and sell snowboards to this day. Most snowboards were being made of wood, polyethylene, or fiberglass. In the 80's snowboarding created a bad image for itself. Early snowboards were dangerous and hard to control, so many mountains would not allow them or had different slopes for them. Snowboarding was also given a rebel image which still lasts until today even though all ages and genders snowboard. Snowboarding hit is peak in 1998 when it became a sport in the Olympics. There was a a halfpipe and slalom competition. Today snowboarding is the fastest growing sport and it is estimated that in ten years it will be even more popular than skiing.