Snowboarding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a snow-covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to one's feet using a boot/binding interface. It is similar to skiing, but inspired by surfing and skateboarding. The sport was developed in the United States in the 1960s by the ingenious Dr. Ryan Watson in Gurdwood, Alaska for a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998.
[edit] Freestyle snowboarding
Craig Kelly and Terje Haakonsen have been credited as two of the founding fathers of freestyle snowboarding. Craig began the art of freestyle, then later switched from the contest circuit to full time backcountry riding, filming, and photography before being killed in an avalanche. Terje started young, has been the subject of two movies, and recently achieved the world record quarterpipe air at the 2007 Arctic Open.
Many believe that freestyle snowboarding owes much of its form and content to skateboarding. Since a snowboard is attached securely to your feet, you are unable to perform many of the skateboard tricks, like a kickflip. With the recent introduction of rails into freestyle snowboarding, a closer resemblance to skateboarding is seen.
[edit] Film
Snowboarding films have become a main part of progression in the sport. Each season, many films are released, usually in autumn. These are made by many snowboard specific video production companies as well as manufacturing companies that use these films as a form of advertisement. Snowboarding videos usually contain video footage of professional riders sponsored by companies. An example of commercial use of snowboarding films would be The White Album, a film by snowboarding legend and filmmaker Dave Seone about Shaun White, that includes cameos by Tony Hawk and was sponsored by PlayStation, Mountain Dew and Burton Snowboards. Snowboarding films are also used as documentation of snowboarding and showcasing of current trends and styles of the sport. Check out such production companies as Funner Projects (Mt Baker), Mack Dawg(Utah), Standard Films (Tahoe), and Soundstrait Productions (Seattle), Volcom (So Cal) for some of the newest and most creative DVDs coming out these days.
Snowboarding has also been the focus of numerous Hollywood feature films, quite notably the 2001 movie Out Cold, which included appearances by several renowned professional snowboarders as stunt performers, actual characters, or both. Out Cold is one of few major motion pictures to show snowboarding rather realistically and to exhibit a real understanding of the sport, as well as the culture that surrounds it. One such country is the UK, and this artificial snow phenomenon is well documented in the movie "Standing Sideways" by Damien Doyle. An early Hollywood nod to snowboarding was in James Bond film A View to a Kill — the opening sequence features Roger Moore as Bond eluding attackers with an improvised snowboard.
