I found this worth reading
 

And I thought you guys might too. We all know that YoBeat isn't known for it's seriousness. Well, shit just got serious for a minute. This is a well written interview of a man more people should probably know about. YoBeat: Making Fun of Snowboarding Since 1997 » A Hump Day History Lesson with Brad Steward Enjoy. :)

Awesome article dude. Love his description of Jake Burton. Also, "if you want to know what's happening next year in skiing look at last year's snowboard catalogs". priceless

so true, snowboarding made skiing what it is today, period. In the mid 80's at Mt BAKER, it was rare to see skiers ride powder, then Craig Kelly, Carter Turk, and a handful of locals started tearing up the frequent thigh deep stuff. I remember a time when skiers used ask us " why do you guys grab your boards when your in the air, you have bindings ?", now look who's grabbing their ski's, not to mention twin tips, wider ski's, rocker etc

I'm glad that someone else found it entertaining besides me. I guess if it was a video instead of written, it'd be more poular with the kids. :rolleyes:

Cool article. I think he makes a couple great points:

1.) The Burton narrative on the origins of snowboarding is not the only history out there. No, I'm not bashing Burton and I won't bash Burton. I rode their boards for years, starting in the late 80's. I still use many of their products, and got into the sport emulating their pro riders(Craig Kelly RIP!) and respect Jake Burton for what he built. Yet, as I've aged I've come to really appreciate that so many others had a major impact on the birth of snowboarding. Many I'm just learning about, like Brad Stewart!

2.) Snowboarding needs to get its soul back in a way (my opinion, not Brad's). It has become media events and celebrities. I'm not knocking the success, I love seeing how much this sport has grown. Yet, to borrow the Harley Davidson example Brad uses - where is that hand wave? Where is that sense of brother/sisterhood amongst riders? That gut-level "we are different and together" vibe that used to exist? Maybe because we've moved so far past the early skier/snowboarder hostility that we no longer have that common bond?

Anyway, thanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed it.

This article was great, learned some new things about the support, and it was kind of inspirational too!

Really enjoyed the points on Burton as well.