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Snowboard History

The first Snowboard like invention was made in 1929 by Jack Burchett. He cut out a plank of plywood and secured it to his feet with a length of clothesline and some horse reins. Before the next step for the Snowboard was taken, it had to wait over 30 years until 1963. In this year Tom Sims, a Student in eighth grade, constructed what he called a “Ski Board”, for a class project. Two years later Sherman Poppen invented “The Snurfer” as a toy for his kids . He made The Snurfer by bolting two skis together. Later on he organized competitions with the Snurfer.

The real change was made in 1970 when Dimitrije Milovich gets an idea after sliding on cafeteria trays. Milovich, who was a surfer on the east coast, started developing snowboards based on surfboards and the way skis work. In 1975 Milovich and his “Snowboard”, called winterstick, got a write up in the March edition of “Newsweek” and a two page article in “Newsweek”. Inspired by Malcovich Jack Burton Carpenter moves to Londonverry, Vermont and started making Snowboards with steam bend wood and another version with fibreglass. In 1977 Mike Olsen built his first Snowboard in a High school Wood shop.

He kept experimenting with Snowboards until he quit college in 1984 to form his co-operation “Gnu”. For a long time snowboarding was ignored and excluded from ski resorts but the growing popularity managed to gain acceptance. On March 18, 2008 Taos Ski area officially welcomed the first snowboarders to their resort, after years of exclusion. Founder of Bonfire Snowboarding, Brad Steward, joined Transworld Snowboarding Editor in Chief Kurt Hoy, Java Fernandez, Ryan Thompson, Josh Sherman and a local advocate for the first legal turns.

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