Encyclopedia of Sport: Every sport from around the world
Topend Sports Logo

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a winter sport that involves descending on a snow-covered slope using a single board (snowboard) attached to both feet. The riders wear special boots that attach to the snowboard. Snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing, and skiing - it is like a combination of each of these four sports.



The origins of snowboarding traces back to the 1960’s, it was believed to have been developed in the United States. The sport is now included in the Winter Olympics.

snowboarder actionsnowboarder action

There are different styles of snowboarding. Three common styles of snowboarding are freeride, freecarve, and freestyle.

Freeride is done in areas off the main trails. The equipment used for freeride snowboarding includes a stiffer boot and a stiffer directional snowboard. A stiffer setup should be used to maintain stability in the snow, as the snowboarder may face different kinds of snow conditions.

Freecarve, also called Alpine Snowboarding, usually takes place on hard packed snow and focuses on carving linked turns with little or no jumping.

Freestyle is basically performing various tricks while snowboarding, utilizing natural and man-made features such as rails, jumps, boxes, logs, and rocks to perform tricks. One of the freestyle snowboarding events is Slopestyle. See more about freestyle snowboarding.



Similar Sports

Related Pages

send us a comment Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.

Sport Extra

Check out the 800+ sports in the Encyclopedia of Every Sport. Well not every sport, as there is a list of unusual sports, extinct sports and newly created sports. How to get on these lists? See What is a sport? We also have sports winners lists, and about major sports events and a summary of every year.

 → How to Cite