Michael Millbank asked:




Snowboarding is an exciting fast paced sport that can take several forms. You can race down the hills or mountains maneuvering quickly or glide and slide down in a rough free style. Snowboarding itself is loosely based on other similar sports like surfing, skateboarding and skiing. Developed just prior to the 1980′s it became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998.

Initially, there was a little animosity between skiers and snowboarders, but over time as the popularity of snowboarding has increased this has been resolved. In most resorts where you find skiing you will also have access to snowboarding at least in one form or another.

Free ride snowboarding is the most common style of the sport. This is in part to its versatility since any terrain available will do. You can do tricks where you catch as much ‘air’ as possible in the jump then do tricks. You can jib, which is, in fact a method of sliding or gliding down rails or other terrain obstacles, however this is done far less than in other styles like free style. It is during free ride snowboarding that the sport shows its relationship with surfing the most. Just as you might see a surfer glide down a wave doing tricks on the board this closely resembles the power of free ride snowboarding.

In free style there may or not be a hill or mountain, but there is grace as the participants find ways to utilize man made terrain features to perform jibs and glides. These features can be anything from jumps, boxes, rails, to any object a track designer can dream up. Jibs and glides refer to how the rider will build power and speed then slide across objects for either a short or long duration frequently performing some other physical stunt while doing so.

The boxes used are objects used that have highly polished surface that allows the rider move very easily. Naturally, this also means that while on the box, rail or other object the rider has no traction so the snowboarder will need to be extremely skilled.

Free style can also be done in half pipe, which is a type of man-made trench-link ditch made of snow. Tricks done in the half pipe are customarily done as the rider moves from one side of the pipe to the other. Free style unlike free ride snowboarding has a look that puts most spectators in mind of skateboarding.

Since there is so much need for balance in free style a soft boot with a very flexible board is the one preferred. Free style riders also prefer shorter boarders and sometimes even file down the edges. The shorter length gives them the ability to make quick moves, change direction and rotate the board faster than with a regular board. Free style takes a lot of practice, but participants who love this activity do not complain much.

Both these styles are part of a fast growing intensely popular sport in which the practice necessary to become a better rider is the fun part.