The Development of New Technologies Surrounding Snowboarding

Abstract

A recently new sport with its introduction to the 1998 Winter Olympics, snowboarding has come an exceptionally long way since the first boards were crafted in 1976, aided by advancements in materials, board shapes and super progressive riders. Jake Burton who founded Burton Snowboards and Tom Sims who founded Sims Snowboards a couple of the original manufacturers of snowboards.

To lessen the impact this sport has on the environment, companies like Arbor and K2 are using bamboo, Burton and Forum have specialised forests and Lib-Tech use a unique bio plastic as a pose to normal plastics. These companies also pursue different board shapes with camber, reverse camber and boards with both as well as rail designs and board sidewalls. Like Lib-Tech’s Magne-traction edge which provides better traction and grip by cutting into the snow, and Burton's Mid-Spoon edge which makes the board more catch-free when sliding rails in the park.

Since Burton and Sims were founded, most snowboards were shaped like skis, with the tip and tail on contact with the snow and the middle of the board off the snow. In the last few years snowboard shapes have changed dramatically, giving rise to reverse camber, the middle for the board touches to snow and the tip and tail are off and boards with both camber and reverse camber, giving the benefits of both shapes.