In 1964 Sherman Poppen fixed to skis together as a toy for his daughter. His wife came up with the name Snurfer by combining surf and snow, he called his invention the Snurfer. The Snurfer was binding-less, and a rope at the nose for control. The Snurfer went into production the following year, and was sold over half a million times in 1966, but was only seen as a toy for kids, even though Poppen organized competitions with this new board. Jake Burton took part in those competitions and became really interested in the snurfer.

During that time, Snowboarding appealed initially to a small group of surfers, skateboarders, and back-country enthusiasts. They were not even allowed to ride the regular skiing slopes. Consequently, Snowboarding started Off-Piste. Over the next decade, early pioneers like Jake Burton, Demetrije Milovich and Tom Sims created more specialized and refined board designs.

The real change was made in 1970 when Dimitrije Milovich gets an idea after sliding on cafeteria trays. Milovich, who was a surfer on the east coast, started developing snowboards based on surfboards and the way skis work.

In 1972 Milovich started a new company called Winterstick. He produced several boards, and even got articles in the Newsweek, which helped to make snowboarding better known. Milovich left the snowboarding business in 1980 and is still recognized as a very important pioneer of the sport.

In 1977 Jake Burton, moved to Vermont and started building different versions of the Snurfer. His first boards were made of laminated hardwood. Burton shocked all the Snurfer riders by winning a Snurfer competition with his own board, which had the first binding.

Tom Sims produced his first snowboards in 1977. Being obsessed with skateboarding, Sims tried to go out in the snow and slide down the hill with a snowboard he built. He just glued some carpet to the , top of a piece of wood, and put an aluminum sheeting on the bottom.

Officially the first real ski technology for snowboards was introduced by Burton 1980. The new prototype had a P-tex base and combined more of the ski technology into snowboards with that.

In the early 80's a handful of snowboard brands were on the market, including Burton, Winterstick, Sims, Barfoot, Avalanche and Gnu.

In 1982 the first National Snowboard race was held in Suicide Six, outside Woodstock, Vermont, on a steep icy downhill run, called The Face.

In 1985 still only 39, of the approximately 600 ski areas allow snowboards. Today, Snowboarding is now accepted in most Ski Resorts Worldwide and its popularity is growing.

Snowboarding is one of the fastest growing winter sports Today.
This is just the Start.