Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a snow-covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to one's feet using a boot/binding interface. It is similar to skiing, but inspired by surfing and skateboarding. The sport was developed in the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998. Some of it's pioneers include: Craig Kelly, Tom Sims, Ben Kenison, Alex Burton, and Terry Kidwell. It is constantly increasing in popularity.
Although many snowboarders do not wear any protective gear, helmets and some other devices are gaining in popularity. Wearing protective gear is highly recommended due to the dangerous nature of alpine sports (especially freestyle snowboarding). The body parts most affected by injuries are the wrist, tailbone,the head, and the ankles. (also knee ligaments amongst professional riders). Useful safety gear includes wrist guards, padded or protected snowboard pants and a helmet. Snowboarding boots must be worn. It is best that you wear boots that fit you, which means your toes do not touch the end of the boots and they are not too tight but not too loose. Goggles are used by most people, and are very crucial at high altitudes on bright days to prevent snow blindness. Goggles also protect riders from temporary vision loss due to snow getting in eyes that can result in impact into terrain or obstacles. Padding can be useful on other body parts like the hips, knees, spine, and shoulders.
Snowboarding has been the focus of numerous Hollywood feature films, quite notably the 2001 movie Out Cold, which included appearances by several renowned professional snowboarders as stunt performers, actual characters, or both. An early Hollywood nod to snowboarding was in James Bond film "A View to a Kill"— the opening sequence features Roger Moore as Bond eluding attackers with an improvised snowboard.
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