snowboarding

A young woman snowboarding in Colorado, USA. Snowboarding is a recent development on the winter sports scene. The single board is wider and shorter than a normal ski (more like a small surfboard), and the snowboarder usually performs complicated jumps and twists, similar to skateboarding.

A snowboarder in California. Snowboarding began in the USA in the mid-1960s, but it was not until the 1990s that it grew dramatically as a recreational and competitive sport. In 1998 it was included for the first time at the Winter Olympic Games.

The sport of riding across snow standing on a snowboard, a wide single ski resembling a small surf board, with bindings to secure the feet. Snowboards can be ridden at speed on downhill runs and slalom courses, as in Alpine skiing, or used to perform jumps and other manoeuvres, a discipline known as freestyle or half-pipe riding (a half-pipe being a banked course carved out of snow).

Originating in the USA in the mid 1960s, snowboarding was developed by surfers and skateboarders. In its early years it was banned at many ski resorts, but in the 1990s it grew dramatically both as a recreation and as a competitive sport. It was included for the first time at the Winter Olympic Games in 1998.