Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA is an avid thrill-seeker who enjoys dirt biking, skydiving, and snowboarding. In the following article, Devon Dias discusses how snowboarding has evolved from a niche sport in the 1970s to a mainstream culture that has impacted fashion, music, and language, while being characterized by a sense of freedom, creativity, and a connection to nature.

Those who love snowboarding, live for it.

And for many, it’s not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle, with a language and attitude all its own. Long seen as a cool younger cousin of skiing with clear inspiration derived from surfing and skateboarding, snowboarding still has an appealing air of rebellion.

It’s flashier than skiing with fewer boundaries — literal and otherwise.

Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA says that snowboarding still has a look and feel all its own, with an associated culture that just keeps growing while staying dietetically unique.

Snowboarding History

Though snowboarding as a sport really took off in the 1980s, it has earlier origins. The original snowboard didn’t go by that name. Instead, in 1965 Sherman Poppen called it the snurfer (combining snow and surfer) and created it by joining two skis from Kmart together through cross-bracing.

Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA reports that Poppen and his children weren’t the only ones who loved it, though it was something of a “cult sport.” After patenting the board and licensing it, over 750,000 snurfers were sold over the next 15 years.

A decade after the snurfer, Dimitrije Milovich, Renee Sessions, and Don Moss created the Winterstock Company, the first snowboard store.

Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA explains that as time went on, more snowboarding advocates emerged, including Jake Burton in Vermont in the late 1970s and Tom Sims, who was known as a skateboard god on the West Coast. Both Burton and Sims started selling their boards, but it wouldn’t be until 1982 before the first snowboarding competition, which was called the National Snow Surfing Championship.

The publication of International Snowboard Magazine launched soon after. But the real turning point came in the mid-1980s through 1990 when most ski resorts began to change their policies and allow snowboarders to join skiers on hills across America.

It was even featured in 1985’s “A View to Kill,” a James Bond film. And, in 1989, snowboarding officially hit the mainstream when it was named an Olympic sport.

A Distinctive Look

Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA says that it wasn’t just the speed of the sport that made it controversial to skiing traditionalists. The culture was already firmly rooted in the mid-1980s, with its hard-to-ignore flashy clothing and colorful equipment.

Snowboarders were seen as young and aggressive, prone to trying out new, high-speed moves. It’s a culture that in many ways roughly aligns with skateboarding. Part of the cultural appeal is snowboarding’s fundamental support of self-expression since there are numerous ways to snowboard.

That grew into snowboarding’s reputation for attracting nonconformists and that showed in popular clothing and gear, too. The common, minimalist, and, to some, boring ski clothing and equipment looked very old-fashioned next to the clothing of snowboarders influenced by hip-hop and grunge music explains Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA.

Fascinating Fashion

Go to any snowboard shop and you’ll see what we mean. Fashion is arguably the most essential and recognizable part of the sport’s culture.
While snowboarding apparel often compares to ski wear, (including pants, coat, helmet and goggles), there are many snowboarders who go strikingly casual, wearing just hoodies or T-shirts and helmets. Many took to a snowboard in flannel or bright neon. Some wore jeans. All gravitated to what made them feel individualistic and rebellious.

Similar to skateboarding, professional and amateur snowboarders alike gravitate to such clothing brands as Billabong, Burton, and Volcom, which all sell clothing emphasizing a youthful, alternative style.

Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA explains that these styles are widely showcased through events geared toward teens and 20-somethings, including the Winter X Games, a niche alternative to the Winter Olympics.

Expressive Language

All sports are known for having their own unique languages. Snowboarding lingo is just as expressive. It shares some commonalities with surfing and skating, such as using words like “crunchy” or “gnarly” or “sick” – all referring to terrain conditions or impressively “shredding” the slope.

Ever-Evolving Ethos

Today, Devon Dias of Easthampton, MA says that snowboarders account for nearly 30% of all visitors to ski resorts in the United States. In 2021, there were about 8 million snowboarders shredding the slopes.

Though it’s increasingly mainstream and still seen as youthful and even anarchic at times, those who fell in love with the sport in the 1980s as young adults now have children all their own, and snowboarding runs have become more family-friendly, both in speed and style.

The rebellious nature of the sport may have softened, but its value as a vehicle for self-expression has not.