Snowboarding History

It is very difficult to actually prove who first invented the snowboard. You can find traces of cultures trying to get around in the snow all over the world. It can be a hotly debated subject depending on what part of the world you are in.

In the United States you can trace the snowboard back to the 1920’s and a man named M. J. “Jack” Burchett. The story goes that he made a snowboard out of a piece of plywood back in 1929. He supposedly secured his feet with rope from a clothesline and some leather horse reins. In these early days in Canada and the United States, getting around in the snow was imperative to stay alive and work.

This story is very similar to the creation of the ice skate. Cultures have used anything they could to help them get around in the snow. The first real modern snowboard in America was created by a man name Sherman Poppen. Poppen was a chemical gas engineer and he loved to surf.

Poppen was said to be day dreaming about surfing one day in the winter wonderland of the Rockies. He bolted his daughter’s two skis together and made the first snowboard. His daughter was using the board to frolic in the snow and soon all the kids wanted one. Poppen’s wife named his creation “Snurfing”.

Poppen did not stop there and this is why he is generally believed to be the creator of the snowboard. He took Snurfing to the next level. Poppen, with a bowling ball manufacturer began to make the first Snurfing snowboards in 1965. Back then they were called “snow surfer”. The snow surfer became a hit. You could purchase a snow snurfer for $15. Poppen sold over one million snurfers over a ten year period.

The snow snurfer disappeared almost as fast as it had appeared. This would have meant the end of snowboarding as we know it if not for two men; Dimitrije Milovich, and Jake Burton Carpenter.

Milovich was an East Coast surfer. He was sliding around on cafeteria trays in New York and had the idea of creating a short surf board for the snow. He formed what many consider the first snowboard company, “Winterstick”. The company and the new snowboards were given notice in newsprint and magazines everywhere in the U.S. It was super hot in 1975, mentioned in Playboy magazine. Sadly, in 1980 the company went bankrupt.

The snowboard mantle was then picked up by a young Jake Burton. Jake still had his snow snurf and was constantly tinkering with it to make it better. He applied foot straps to help keep him on the board and fins for stability. In 1977 he formed his snowboard company and charged $38 for them.

In and around the same time frame Tom Sims, Bob Webber, Chuck Barfoot were all developing their own style snowboards. Tom Sims had been addicted to the snow snurf also. He was also a former skateboard champion. This experience game him terrific insight into how to create a good snowboard. Mr. Webber created the now famous “yellow banana” snowboard in 1977. The yellow banana was made of polyethylene. Chuck Barfoot brought in a new age with the first fiberglass board in 1978. These boards did not have foot bindings and usually had a control strap. They were the beginning of what snowboarding would become. Many contribute bindings to Burton. He was the first to use them in competition.

Over these years there was also a snowboard revolution happening in Europe. Many boards were exported to Europe and reverse engineered. The best boards have always been made in the United States; the birthplace of the snowboard. The rest is history.

Snowboarding is one of the most popular winter sports worldwide today.

You can read more about it at Wikipedia over here.

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