Pioneers of Snowboarding - Summit County, Colorado
Pioneers of Snowboarding, Summit County, ColoradoA background of the forefathers of snowboarding and the "snurfer". Read about Sherman Poppen, Jake Burton, Dimitrije Milovich, Tom Sims, and Regis Rolland. |
Pioneers of Snowboarding, Summit County, CO
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Pioneers of Snowboarding Determining the first individual to ride down the hill on a snowboard is hard to place since many crazy characters from history rode their sleds down hills on their feet. One gentleman named Jack Burchett cut out a plank of plywood and tried to secure it on his feet with clothes line and horse reins. This took place in 1929 and not until 1965 was the next emergence of the snowboard coming to shape. A chemical gas engineer, Sherman Poppen invented “the snurfer” for his daughter to play with. A “snurfer” was made by bounding two skis together and putting a rope at the nose for the rider to hold on to. Poppen’s idea took off and sold over half a million in 1966. The new board was thought of a toy for kids yet Poppen organized competitions with his new idea and one of the competitors was Jake Burton. In 1979 Poppen stopped producing the Snurfer, went back to his old job, and never came back to the sport. Jake Burton, unable to go surfing, took part in snurfer competitions. He loved skiing, but after a broken collarbone in a car accident, he could not compete in skiing anymore. Burton finished school at NYU in 1977 and moved to Vermont to make money building different versions of the Snurfer. Jake would compete and win Snurfer competitions with his own board, which had the first binding, making it easier to win. Officially the first real ski technology for snowboards was introduced by Burton 1980 with binding and steel edges. Through the years, Burton kept improving his design and is now the owner of Burton Snowboards, a forerunner in the industry and one of the top snowboard manufactures in the world. Burton Snowboards manufactures two-thirds more snowboards than any other snowboard company in the world. In 1969 Dimitrije Milovich, after sliding down some hills on a cafeteria plate in College, he came up with a company called “Winterstick” and the first idea of the term snowboard. The company got written up in “Newsweek”, “Playboy”, and “Powder” which propelled the knowledge and understanding of this new radical sport called snowboarding. It is said the Milovich used the first P-Tex base in 1974. He left the snowboarding business in 1977, but made his mark as one of the pioneers of the sport, educating individuals of this revolutionary sport. Having a background in skateboarding, Tom Sims produced his first snowboard in 1977. Obsessed with skateboarding, he tried to go out in the snow and slide down the hill with a "snowboard" he built in a junior high shop-class. The board was put together with carpet to the top of a piece of wood and aluminum sheeting on the bottom. Sims and his friend Chuck Barfoot started making snowboards in 1977. Barfoot came up with the "Flying Yellow Bannana", a skateboard deck on top of a plastic shell with skegs. The prototype had a P-tex base similar to the ski technology. In 1980 Sims solved his financial problems and signed a skate/snowboarding deal with a big mainstream company, Vision Sports without his friend Barfoot. A French snowboarder, Regis Rolland, who starred in "Apocalypse Snow" thrilled youngsters into the sport. This film launched a generation of European Snowboarding fans and competitions sprung up throughout Europe. |
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