Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow. Snowboards widths are between 6 and 12 inches or 15 to 30 centimeters. Snowboards are differentiated from monoskis by the stance of the user. In monoskiing, the user stands with feet inline with direction of travel, whereas in snowboarding, users stand with feet transverse to the longitude of the board. Users of such equipment may be referred to as snowboarders. Commercial snowboards generally require extra equipment, such as bindings and special boots which help secure both feet of a snowboarder, who generally ride in an upright position. These types of boards are commonly used by people at ski hills, mountains, backcountry, or resorts for leisure, entertainment, and competitive purposes in the activity called snowboarding.
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games.
Boardsports are active outdoor sports that are played with any sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrains, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considered action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. Some board sports were marginalized in the past. However, many board sports are gaining mainstream recognition, and with this recognition, they have gotten wider broadcasting, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games.
A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding.
A terrain park or snow park is an outdoor recreation area containing terrain that allows skiers, snowboarders and snowbikers to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in skateparks and many of the features are common to both.
Mountainboarding (MTB), also known as dirtboarding, off-road boarding, and All-Terrain Boarding (ATB), is a well-established, but little-known action sport derived from snowboarding. The sport was initially pioneered by James Stanley during a visit to the Matterhorn in the 1990s, where snow was not available. A mountainboard is made up of components including a deck, bindings, four wheels with pneumatic tires, and two steering mechanisms known as trucks. Mountainboarders, also known as riders, ride specifically designed boardercross tracks, slopestyle parks, grass hills, woodlands, gravel tracks, streets, skateparks, ski resorts, BMX courses, and mountain bike trails. It is this ability to ride such a variety of terrain that makes mountainboarding unique from other board sports.
Vail Resorts, Inc. is an American mountain resort company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The company is divided into three divisions. The mountain segment owns and operates 42 mountain resorts in four countries. Vail Resorts Hospitality owns or manages hotels, lodging, condominiums, and golf courses, and the Vail Resorts Development Company oversees property development and real estate holdings.
Burton Snowboards is a privately-owned snowboard manufacturing company that was founded by Jake Burton Carpenter in 1977. The company specializes in products aimed at snowboarders, such as snowboards, bindings, boots, outerwear, and accessories. The company, whose flagship store is in Burlington, Vermont, was privately owned by Jake Burton Carpenter, until his death in 2019, and by his wife, Donna Carpenter, who has been active in the business since 1983.
Blue Mountain is an alpine ski resort in Ontario, Canada, 10 km west of Collingwood. It is situated on a section of the Niagara Escarpment about 1 km (0.6 mi.) from Nottawasaga Bay, and is a major destination for skiers from southern Ontario. The local area forms the newly incorporated town of The Blue Mountains, Ontario. On average, Blue Mountain sells more than 750,000 lift tickets per year, making it the third-busiest ski resort in Canada, after Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia and Mont Tremblant in Quebec. It is one of the largest resorts in Ontario and has been extensively built out, featuring 42 runs, 16 chairlifts and three freestyle terrains.
The Snurfer was the predecessor of the snowboard. It was a monoski, ridden like a snowboard, but like a skateboard or surfboard, it had no binding. According to the 1966 patent by inventor Sherman Poppen, it was wider and shorter than a pair of skis, with an anti-skid foot rest. Like a sled, it had a lanyard attached to the front.
Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) is a ski resort in the western United States in Park City, Utah, located 32 miles (51 km) east of Salt Lake City. Park City, as the ski resort and area is known, contains several training courses for the U.S. Ski Team, including slalom and giant slalom runs. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, it hosted the snowboarding and alpine giant slalom events.
Wilmot Mountain is a ski area in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. It is located in the community of Wilmot and lies in both the Town of Randall and the village of Salem Lakes, just north of the Illinois border. Located in the southern region of Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine, Wilmot Mountain is the result of glaciation. The self-proclaimed "Matterhorn of the Midwest" was founded by Walter Stopa in 1938 after a thorough research of the area's topography. It has a vertical drop of about 200 feet (60 m). It is also one of the few hills where the mountain is wide open, with few trees or barriers to crossing the hill. A skier can transverse several runs while skiing downhill. Night skiing is available on the entire hill.
Liberty Mountain Resort is a resort located in southern Pennsylvania. During the winter months the resort offers skiing, snowboarding, and snow tubing. The onsite hotel and lodge is open year-round and offers 114 rooms and multiple options for weddings and meetings. During the spring, summer, and fall the 18 hole Carroll Valley Golf Course at Liberty Mountain is open for a round of golf.
Powder surfing, also known as powsurfing and often spelled as one word e.g. "powdersurfing", is the act of surfing on snow free of any form of bindings and without the aid of ropes, hooks or bungee cords. Powdersurfing is performed on "powsurfer" which is a specially designed board engineered to be controlled using only the rider's feet and balance. This birth of style of riding was inspired by powder snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding. The lack of any bindings or bungee ropes along with the design of the boards allow riders to bring movements and tricks from surfing and skateboarding onto the snow. Much like surfing, the only connection between the board and the rider is a leash to prevent runaway equipment should the rider fall. Powder surfing is closely related to snowskating in its fundamentals, style and required skill. Powder surfing was sometimes confused with Noboarding while in its infancy but the two are quite different both in fundamentals, equipment used, and the skill required to ride them. Noboarding is performed on a typical snowboard using a kit that includes a rubber pad and bungee cords that are anchored to the board and held in the hand of the rider to hold the board to the riders feet and make the board turn. Noboarding and the kit called the "noboard pad" was pioneered by Greg Todds. In contrast, powdersurfing and snowskating are performed completely binding free and hands free on specially crafted boards that are designed to be ridden without the aid of any ropes or binding.
Backcountry snowboarding is snowboarding in a sparsely inhabited rural region over ungroomed and unmarked slopes or pistes in the backcountry, frequently amongst trees, usually in pursuit of fresh fallen snow, known as powder. Often, the land and the snow pack are not monitored, patrolled, or maintained. Fixed mechanical means of ascent such as ski lifts are typically not present, but alternative means such as splitboarding, hiking, snowshoeing and helicopters ("heliskiing") are sometimes used to reach the mountain's peak.
Seven Springs Mountain Resort is an all-season resort located in the borough of Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. It has a relatively high elevation for a Pennsylvania ski area, at 3,001 feet (915 m) above sea level. Activities include biking, canopy touring, ziplining, sporting clays, fishing, hiking and golfing in the summer and skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing in the winter. The ski season at Seven Springs typically begins on the day after Thanksgiving and continues to mid-April, weather permitting.
A freeboard is a specialist skateboard designed to closely simulate the behavior of a snowboard. Freeboards were developed to allow snowboarders to transition to skateboarding without the need to adapt to a smaller deck and narrower wheel-base.
The Dew Tour is an extreme sports circuit organized by Coalition 375 LLC, an alliance of elite action sports experts.
Onewheel is a self-balancing electric skateboard with a single tire, used as a means of transportation and for boardsports. Riders place their feet on either side of the tire to face sideways, leaning forward to accelerate and leaning backward to slow down. The board was engineered to emulate the feeling of snowboarding on powder.
This glossary of skiing and snowboarding terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon used in skiing, snowboarding, and related winter sports.
