Like the most of great human inventions, snowboard has been discovered by accident. Sherman Poppen is generally considered to be an inventor of this snow one-track. The simplicity of his invention is that two classic skis were put together into one. It’s very easy, isn’t it? Poppen wasn’t content about this and he improved the snurfer (that is how he defined his invention). In order to operate his desk in some easier way, he drilled a hole on the nose and he stretched a string through this hole. At the end of this string there was a handle. And one more very important thing- snurfer didn’t have any bindings so anyone, who wanted to use it, had to be very careful. All of these took place in the beginning of 60s in the United States of America.

Snowboard precursors

In 1968 Jake Burton, snurfers fanatic, improved the Poppen’s invention. He installed ribbons for boots on the desk. In 1977, when Jake Burton graduated from college, he started production of patented by himself desks with bindings and named them Burton Boards. Snurfer went to the past, and Burton desks pointed out a new quality- they were first real snowboards. Parallel and irrespective of Burton, Tom Sims, the star of skateboarding, was working on the other snowboard. He wanted to skate his desk all year so- in winter- he unscrewed wheels from his skateboard and he went on the slope. Bit by bit he was improving his snow skateboard, he also moved to another board- longer and easier to ride, and in1978 he opened together with Chuck Barfoot, quite big workshop of skiboards (it means that they had bindings). Presently Sims Snowboards and Burton Boards belong to the most important producers of snowboard equipment. We can say that snowboard was born in pain (a lot of bruises and broken limbs), but it was really worth of this- the effect of constructive actions of Burton, Sims and many other men, surpassed the boldest expectations. Sowboard becames more and more popular almost everywhere in the world; now snowboard is one of the olympic disciplines; everybody wants to practise this interesting sport.

Ideology

Writing about Polish subculture of snowboarders is rather difficult task. Popularity of this sport caused, that nobody talks about hermetic, one-dimension, closed circle- almost everyone rides a board. All the same, we can enumerate some common, characteristic elements. People practising this sport are very cheerful, frank and life- content; all the same they can not be suspected of boundless hedonism. On the slope everybody can rely on other snowboarders who always offer very kind assistance. It isn’t a secret that snowboarders have tendency for some stimulants but they rather don’t prefer hard drugs. Snowboarders don’t like decadency- leeway and fun are basic. The most important thing is to make fun from riding.

What should you wear to be nice, cool and trendy?

It is very easy to recognize a snowboarder, especially by his dress which is very characteristic for freestylers. On the slope it’s obvious: very, very wide trousers, very large, loose sweatshirt (they make moving on the slope easier), sunglasses and something for your head. It may be a nightcap, possibly warm, woolen cap creeped maximum on the eyes. But there is one reservation- no ridiculous pompons. Everything, of course, shoud be trendy coloured. After getting out of the snowboard it is enough to change comfortable, freestyled boots for a little less comfortable Martens’s. In spring and summer, when the temperature is above 10-15 C, dress of the real snowboarder is a little bit different. In 1999 very popular were trousers made of every possible kind of material or very wide, large cords, best in natural colours. On the top you can also choose what to wear: T-shirt with the logo of your favourite band, too big sweatshirt with a hood or a flannel, checked shirt- remains after postgrunge. When the sun is shinning too much the best idea is to put on your head a baseball-cap (with your peak turned on the back), and on your nose there should be sunglasses, especially from the collection of Oakley, Smith or Ray Ban. Very nice addition is a tasteful watch (Shaun Palmer model), discman or some stylish knapsack. All this description can be modificated of course- it depends on your own taste, fashion and on the weather.

What do we listen to?

Another very important thing for every snowboarder is music. Trends in music are still changing, very much faster than in fashion, but there is some area of music which is still popular among snowboarders. This music must be rather fast, based rather on the rythm than on the melody, and it should have more basses than guitars. Text (if only there is some text) concerns on parties, great fun and stimulants. Snowboarders favourite kind of music are: hip-hop, funky, hardcore, post rock. For a large number of snowboarders the most important band is Beastie Boys, and the other very popular- Cypress Hill. A few years ago, in Poland, Rage Against The Machine, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins were very popular. Nowadays it’s very good to listen to Fatboy Slim, Tortoise or Funky Porcini.