Snowboarding grows beyond its rebel roots

By Diana Taylor

hucking: throwing oneself wildly through the air but not landing on one's feet
kicker: To build your own jump. "We built a sick kicker in the back country"

January 21, 2005 | Words like hucking and kicker used to be a mystery to the general public, but because of snowboarding's popularity the code can be cracked at www.abc-of-snowboarding.com. Longtime snowboarders such as Adam Christensen are beginning to resent mainstream snowboarders.

"Nothing beats the feel of a snowboard on a powder day when you're floatin' above it; when you're carving wide turns, when you've got giant 6-foot curtains coming off the bottom of your board. It's epic," said Adam Christensen a junior at Utah State University.

Christensen began snowboarding 1995 in Twin Falls, Idaho. His older brother was his inspiration to start snowboarding. Christensen watched his brother and his snowboarding tapes and thought it looked like a lot of fun.

"When I started snowboarding there were just a few people. There were only two in my class -- me and a redhead named Jed," said Christensen.

When he was 18 he put away his snowboard and gave downhill skiing a try and enjoyed it. Although skiing is much faster than snowboarding, after a while he got bored of it.

"I wanted to do jumps (while skiing). I hate to admit it but it I was scared to do it," said Christensen.
Snowboarding is more extreme but a skier will spend their whole life trying to master the sport something Christensen wasn't ready to do.

Christensen stuck with snowboarding because he felt that he had to be true to it, and he already had the equipment for boarding.

"I liked it because it was a rebel sport," said Christensen.

Snowboarding wasn't mainstream in the early '90s, and ski resorts such as Beaver Mountain, The Canyons and Alta Ski Resort wouldn't allow boarders. Today Alta still restricts its resort to skiers.

Snowboarding was added to the 1998 Winter Olympics, and after that the sport's popularity saw a dramatic increase.

In 1998 3.6 million people over the age of 7 participated in snowboarding. In 2003 6.3 million people participated in the sport, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

The Outdoor Recreation Center (ORC) at Utah State University began supplying snowboards for rental in 2000 because of the growing popularity of snowboarding. The ORC provides students with outdoor equipment for rental at a low cost. It has 26 Burton snowboards for rent, including 16 that are new this season.

"We carry them (Burton snowboards) because that's what people who rent from us prefer," said Leah Ronnow, a junior who works in the ORC rental shop.

When Ronnow was in high school she said that snowboarding was the cool thing. Ronnow remembers skier snowboarder hostility that was intense as the New York Yankee and Boston Red Sox Battle.

"The skier/snowboarder hostility has really simmered down," said Ronnow. "Some places like Alta (Ski Resort) still don't allow snowboarders; I guess it keeps the skier elites happy."

The 7 million people who snowboard today all have a reason for why they do, some are in it because it's an extreme sport others because they want to be different. Ashley Carver always loved snowboarding but for a whole different reason then most might expect.

"I love my snowboarding clothes, for me getting ready for a day on the slopes is just as important as a first date," said Carver.

Carver began snowboarding in 2001, her parents who are avid skiers always encouraged her to ski but when her friends started snowboarding and Carver laid eyes on snowboarding fashion she chose to rebel against the skiing that was in her blood.

"My parents were disappointed that I chose snowboarding," said Carver. "It was funny because it was almost as if I had decided to drop out of school or something."

Carver is currently working to save money for college where she plans to study fashion design.

Carvers equipment is perfectly coordinated. Her Burton Board is Black and pink, jacket pink and purple striped, pants baggy bleached white, boots black with pink laces.

"Snowboarding is fun, but for me it's more about fashion. I hope to have my name on the label someday not Burton," said Carver.

People like Carver are the type Christensen would like to see off the slopes.

"When it became an Olympic event, people saw the rebellion of the sport and when the self proclaimed rebels started to snowboard, it became an epidemic," said Christensen

Christensen was not the only one who regrets the Snowboard addition to the Olympics. Terje Haakonsen was known as the master blaster of the half-pipe in 1998, but he didn't win Olympic gold in Nagano because he chose not to participate. He told Sports Illustrated, "snowboarding is about fresh tracks and carving powder and being yourself, not being judged by others. It's not about nationalism, politics and money."

Christensen believes that when snowboarding joined the Olympics, it went mainstream and the individuality of snowboarding vanished.

"When I started snowboarding, pants fit," said Christensen.

Oversized jackets and voluminous pants are the more modern snowboard dress code. Snowboarding gear has even been featured in magazines such as Seventeen. Christensen said it makes him sad seeing all the changes that have occurred since he began snowboarding. And it's not just the dress code.

"The music for snowboarding videos is different too. It was a Seattle grunge sound, like Metallica, but now it's rap," said Christensen.

There are kids out there snowboarding because it is a rebel thing, Christensen explained. Some people are into it just because it's a rebel sport.

"Nothing is greater then hucking yourself off a kicker," said Christensen. "Knowing you're not going to land, but knowing you are going to be safe just ‘cause the snow's so deep so you try anything you want. It's that feeling you're in the air spinning upside down…"

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