A Bottom-Up Look – Snowboarding Gear

by Rick Nightshade on August 28, 2010

Snowboarding is arguably the most popular winter sport in the world. In the few decades that snowboarding has been in existence, it has gone from a highly maligned, ugly cousin of skiing to a premiere event of the Winter Olympics. The sport continues to attract thousands more devotees every year.

In the 1970s and 80s, a few men founded snowboarding companies that would produce some of the most innovative designs ever conceived for the sport. Jake Burton Carpenter is probably the most famous of all. He founded Burton Snowboards in Vermont. This is one of the most respected and widely used brands in the history of snowboarding.

The snowboard itself has undergone a several technological advances since it was first invented. The earliest snowboards were basically flexible wooden planks to which straps, or in some cases, water ski bindings were attached. Soon thereafter, fiberglass was added to these boards, greatly increasing their flexibility as well as their durability. Further adaptations taken from ski manufacturing allowed these boards to glide much easier, and their controllability was greatly improved as well.

After some protests about the different design, it was decided that he should be permitted to race with his model. Jake ended up winning and that race is now considered to be the birth of competitive snowboarding as we know it today. His designs caught on, and things have never been the same since.

One of the more overlooked pieces of snowboard gear is the helmet. While helmets are recommended for anyone wishing to slide down a hill, snowboarders tend to be a little more “adventurous” and as such, helmets are extremely important. Modern helmets are designed with a variety of features, not the least of which is safety. Many helmets include built-in headphones which can be plugged into most music players, and most are equipped with a variety of ventilation features as well.

The sport of snowboarding is something the whole family can do. You can never be too young or too old to snowboard, you heath permitting of course. There is nothing better that you can do for your family than just getting them outside. Have your children go outdoors and experience this amazing earth we live on. Maybe they’ll become fanatics about it and will stop watching so much MTV

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