Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a winter sport which 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 actionThere 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
- Freestyle Snowboarding — competitors ride on a snowboard and do tricks along while descending snow-covered slopes.
- Boardercross — a snowboard competition on a course similar to motocross (also called Snowboard Cross)
- Slopestyle Snowboarding — athletes on a snowboard perform on a course with a range of obstacles.
- Slopestyle — involves skiing or snowboarding down a course of obstacles.
- Skiboarding — like snow skiing, but with shorter and wider skis.
- Snowkiting — a snow based, kite powered sport, while riding on a snowboard or on snow skis.
- Sandboarding — involves sliding downhill on sand while standing on board.
- Wakeboarding — riding a board and doing tricks on the wake behind a boat.
- Skysurfing — a skydiver attaches a board to his feet during freefall.
- Surfing — participants stand on a surfboard, and use the waves for propulsion.
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