Snowboarding has been around for 51 years. In 1964 a young surfer named Sherman Poppen was dreaming about surfing the Rockies. As a result, he built a surfboard for the snow. His first prototype was a long plastic plank; it was made from two kids' skis bolted together with a rope tied to the front to make it easier to steer. It was a present for his daughter Wendy which soon was a winner in the neighborhood. One year later, in 1965, his idea was put into production and called the "snurfer" which is a combination of two words: snow and surfer. 20 years after that in 1985 there had been many changes, but Burton finally came out with a snowboard with no rope, but two bindings for control with only your legs. it was created with a foam core and a fiberglass exterior. Nine years later in 1994 they created a twin tip snowboard for snowboarding in each direction. This lead to people riding "goofy", which is riding with your right foot in front at the nose of the board, and regular with your left foot in front.
Since then, there have been many slight changes and new styles of snowboards. Those styles include freeride, freestyle and alpine or free carving boards. All these can be used for different purposes. The freeride board was created for all mountain terrain, including trails and terrain parks. This is preferred for beginner to intermediate snowboarders. The freestyle board was created for performing tricks at the terrain park and on a halfpipe. It is more stable and easier to control making it the best board for beginners. Finally the alpine or free carving board was created to go fast. They are not suited for tricks or all around riding and are not recommended for beginners. They have a pointed nose and a squared off tail, it is skinny and looks like a bigger version of a ski.
I love snowboarding and there are many people who inspire me to keep going including Chloe Kim and Shawn White.
