The modernized version of snowboarding began in 1965, when Michigan engineer Sherman Poppen attached two skis then fastened a rope to one end, allowing him to control the board as he slid downhill on the homemade contraption. Poppen’s wife called the invention the snurfer after joining the words snow and surfer. Poppen licensed the idea to the Brunswick Corporation – the manufacturer sold a million snurfers in the 1960s and 1970s.
By the 1980s, the snurfer transformed into the snowboard with specialized bindings and boots. The International Snowboard Federation was established in 1990. Eight years later, snowboarding became an official Olympic event at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano. Although snowboarding claims parentage from skiing and surfing, the sport is also related to skateboarding. Skateboarders such as Zach Creighton of Calgary became snowboarders soon after trying the sport on the ski hills.
“I started snowboarding because of a youth community event through the church,” Creighton said. The church group had gathered at the Sunshine Village ski hill near Banff, where Creighton gained his first snowboarding experience at 14. Two years earlier, he started skateboarding at the age of 12. He found snowboarding more interesting than skiing because there were similarities with skateboarding, yet there are significant differences too.
“The style is similar, but the feel of the way you control the board is different,” Creighton explained. “The feet are attached when you’re snowboarding – there’s a fixed range. Skateboarding involves more fine motor skills in the feet, because the feet are controlling the board, especially when you’re in the air.”
Skateboarding also has a cost-effective edge to snowboarding. “Skateboarding is more accessible to snowboarding,” Creighton said. “There’s more prep with where you’re going and what you’re going to wear.” Creighton also described the snowboarding community as being more exclusive, where specific equipment and hill passes are required purchases. “With skateboarding, all you need is a pair of boots and a board, but snowboarding can cost $1000 on the low end, or $1300 to $1500 if you’re buying everything at once.”
Creighton portrayed snowboarding as an activity that allowed him mental freedom. “Snowboarding gives me a creative space where I can do what I feel led to do.” But as with any outdoor sport relying on velocity and gravity, mishaps can easily happen. “This time last year, I was laid out on the couch with a concussion.” Creighton had an accident when he was doing a trick out in Calgary’s Olympic Park. “I hit my face on the ground – there was a fear of my brain bleeding, but I couldn’t recall what had happened.”
But despite this bruising incident in December 2018, Creighton still loves snowboarding. He especially likes boarding in the Rocky Mountains with his friends at springtime. “I’m content and relaxed after a day of riding, goofing around and being silly.”
Creighton is employed as the media content creator at SHREDZ SHOP – a skateboard and snowboard store in Cochrane, Alberta. He also works with United Youth Outreach as a program director.
