Early Snowboards: The Tools of the Trade for the First Shredders

Many people don't realize the intricacies that go into making each and every modern snowboard. These aren't just pieces of wood with nice designs: snowboards and snowboard designs have changed and evolved radically over the past several decades into the finely engineered boards that we know today.

Early snowboards were not nearly as well designed, and were often very hard to control, and didn't allow nearly the amount of moves that the designs to follow would. It's arguable what exactly makes the first snowboard, but the first product that was definitely heading in that direction could be considered the "Snurfer."

The "Snurfer" was designed by Sherman Poppen in 1965 for his kids, and was basically a skateboard without wheels that had a hand-held rope for steering. These were very popular, but also very hard to control.

While the "Snurfer" would be the earliest snowboarding-like product, the earliest actual snowboards were developed in the early 1970's, and changes continued into the 1980's as new designs were tested and improved upon. Dimitrije Milovich and Jake Burton, founders of some of the earliest snowboarding companies, designed some of the early snowboards that appear like modern day boards. Mike Olson was another pioneer who came up with new boards and new designs.

This was critical because early snowboards were very hard to control, and because of that (among other reasons) they were often banned in most slopes across the United States and Europe in the 1970's and the early 1980's. As the designs became better and the sport grew in popularity, this changed and by 1990 the far majority of ski slopes allowed snow boarding.

The changes in snowboard designs that allowed for more control and more fluid movement helped snow boarding go from a sport that was on the fringes to one that has seen wide spread acceptance even as it's remained cutting edge. There's no doubt that as the board designs continue to evolve, better and better snowboards will be the result.

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