An air of vindication hovers as Richards and fellow snowboarders Mike Jacoby, Sondra Van Ert and Lisa Kosglow discuss their sport, which was born in 1965. That's when a man named Sherman Poppen fastened two pairs of skis together for his children to surf on the snow. He called the contraption a Snurf. Many snowboarders consider skiing the bespectacled, stuffy uncle to their sport, and sports such as the biathlon even more dreary. Snowboarding can best be described as a cross between surfing and skateboarding, with the major difference that snowboarders wear boots that clamp securely to their boards.
Giant slalom involves racing down a course for speed.
We've integrated the skateboard style into the freestyle aspect of it. Statistics show that snowboarding appeals to a young, largely male audience that also enjoys mountain biking. Ninety percent are single and 48 percent, he said, also participate in mountain biking. The essence of snowboarding is riding powder. It's way too much work on a pair of skis, as far as I am concerned.