The history of snowboarding

Okay, the history of the snowboard is a little murky and there are various claims about who invented what and when. There are reports going back hundreds of years of people travelling down mountains on a single board and we can be fairly sure that someone, somewhere did try it at some point.

However, Sherman Popper is the official hero of our story. He was a Michigan engineer and surf dude who had a dream about riding the snows of the Rocky Mountains in the same way he rode the waves. He built a prototype snowboard as a present for his daughter which was essentially two plastic skis bolted together. He called it the ‘snurfer.’

It was a massive hit with the kids and Sherman realised that he might have a winning product on his hands. He attached a rope to the front and licensed his idea to a company called Brunswick. Over the next decade, hundreds of thousands of snurfers were sold and the sport began its rocket-powered ascent to worldwide acceptance.

Popper's invention quickly gained popularity, especially among children, and even led to Snurfer competitions. Although it was originally intended as a toy, the Snurfer laid the groundwork for snowboarding as a legitimate winter sport. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, pioneers like Jake Burton Carpenter, Tom Sims, and Dimitrije Milovich began modifying the Snurfer and designing new types of boards, adding features such as bindings and metal edges to improve control and stability.

By the late 1980s, snowboarding began to gain recognition as a serious sport, and resorts started opening their slopes to snowboarders. In 1998, snowboarding made its Olympic debut at the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, solidifying its place as a mainstream winter sport.

Sherman Popper may not have envisioned the massive snowboarding culture that exists today, but his simple creation sparked a revolution, giving birth to a sport enjoyed by millions around the world.

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