The Sport of Snowboarding with Chris Hardin

Segment 2, January 20th, 2024 It’s winter time in the Carolinas and that continues our conversations about some of the sports of winter.  Previous segments have had us visiting with some of the North Carolina Resorts (listen to the podcast) where skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, tubing are all taking place but we wanted to delve a little bit into the history and growth of one of those sports. Chris Hardin, a former professional snowboarder & current manufacturer’s representative with Southeast Territory Sales recently joined Bill Bartee, host of the Carolina Outdoors to speak about the history, growth, & success of snowboarding. Things You’ll Learn by Listening: Show Highlights: Snowboarding began with the invention of the “Snurfer” in 1965.  Between ’65-’75 over a million were sold for $15 each Burton Snowboards began in the late 1970s with Jake Burton Carpenter working to improve his Snurfer Televised X-Games & personalities helped grow the sport in the mid-1990s.  This attracted teens at the time, like our guest Hardin became a professional at age 19 & competed all over the country Many snowboarders ski but many of the people that identify as skiers don’t snowboard One of the last resorts that allowed snowboarding in North Carolina was Appalachian Ski Mountain that is now Hardin’s home mountain The Carolina Outdoors is powered by the local, independent fly shop, Jesse Brown’s.