Snowboarding set to shred the slopes of

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 241, 3 May 1988, Page 22 (Supplement)

Snowboarding set to shred the slopes of

Ruapehu is fast becoming a huge snow wave for a growing number of new sensationers - the snowboarders. Whakapapa looks set to become a real snowboard centre with its gullies and varied terrain. Similarly Turoa has a very positive attitude toward the 'snurfers'. Nearby Challenger Sports shop, in Taupo, have some key players in the snowboard world. They will be co-or-dinating some demo days this winter and plan a snowboard fun day for Whakapapa later in the season. A simple definition of snowboarding?: surfing on snow.

A big difference, the wave is huge, normally a thousand or more vertical feet, the water frozen to varying degrees. And it's more. With the alpine aspect of skiing it can suit the crash and burn aerial mentality of the skateboarders. The snowboarders can hook into tight arcs bashing as many lips and lifting off as many ramps as the mountain can offer. Riding with hip forward in smooth motion to parallel the mountain fall line is a similarity snowboarding has with windsurfers at speed in lumpy water. Shredding the slopes, carving the limitless faces and

taking the drop over and over all in one wave. No prizes for guessing that analogy. Skiing has a more technical feel about it and has the advantage of a more general mobility, for example "traversing". Snowboarding on the other hand has a wonderful freedom about it with no poles, just snowboots and your board, you the snowboarder are ready to go. It's a new sensation. Snowboarding first began in Michigan in the mid 1960's, known then as "snurfers". Sherwin Poppen the original creator, followed by the Brunswick Co (known better for bowling balls) and then Jake Burton Carpenter, the young entrepreneur who has made Burton the largest snowboard manufacturer in the world today. Now there are 200,000 participants world wide, particularly in France and the United States. Naturally in that time technology has come forward in leaps and bounds. Snowboarding has followed the lead of skiing and now fully utilizes wood, foam and glass laminate techniques with sintered P-tex bases with steel edges. And, just as in the ski world, full ranges of snowboards exist for the learner through advanced. Specialised designs now cater for the fair weather cruiser to the extremely hard packed bowl of the icy half pipe for the boarders who want to mimic their skateboard counterparts. Longer stiffer snowboards (175 -180cm) with flat edges to the tail characterise the boards designed for speed while upturned edges and smaller boards (150-165) characterise the all round and learner models. The edges are turned up near the rear which facilitates easy turn and a floating feeling. But who is going to do snowboarding? the sport appeals to a large cross section which is generally outlined by the rtnge of snowboards available, along the lines of those described above. One personal viewpoint by a Taupo enthusiast goes as follows: "I'm 19-years-old and view myself as a radical, go for it person who finds windsurfing and surfing too cold in winter. I'm also a skater who's half pipe is near frozen then. "I love to catch air and shred, snowboarding is my favourite sport. No paddling, no rigging, just a chairlift and an excellent frozen swell. Natural pipes, lips and banks to shred."