Alpine Skiing vs. Snowboarding

When most people think about the two most prominent alpine winter sports downhill skiing and snowboarding are the first that come to mind. Downhill skiing has been the traditional, most popular form of winter recreation ever since its' inception. Snowboarding on the other hand has only very recently been adopted by the masses. Snowboarding arose from the fusing of two skis to create a single, long board much like a surfboard. The original premise for snowboarding came from surfing. The idea was to create a board that you could literally "surf" on snow with. This founding concept of snowboarding obviously entailed a no binding form of riding. As founding members and original proponents of the sport soon realized though "surfing" on snow without bindings was much harder than they had originally anticipated. Snowboards with bindings was obviously the next step in the evolution of the sport. The first primitive form of bindings were invented by Jake Burton in 1982. They provided little support or security for riders but increased the popularity of the fledgling sport dramatically. This blog isn't dedicated to the ascendance of snowboarding though but to the joys of skiing and how it compares to snowboarding. Skiing still dominates the slopes of mountain resorts worldwide, with two skiers only resorts still in existence in North America. Skiers have always been viewed by the public as being much more courteous and polite, while snowboarders have built a reputation of being crude, garish thugs who act recklessly. Snowboarding has always had a certain culture associated with it, one involving rebellion and illicit behavior.