Michigan Invented Snowboarding, and You Didn’t Even Know It

When you get as much snow as Michigan does every year, you have to find ways to have fun outdoors. Sledding is a rite of passage for every kid in the Midwest, and for those of us who are a bit more adventurous, you can always "hit the slopes" and go skiing or snowboarding.

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However, few people realize that snowboarding, a world-renowned sport and heavily featured in the Olympics, wouldn't exist if it weren't for one man in Muskegon, whose niche 1970s creation went on to be the catalyst for snowboarding, allowing all of us to pretend we were surfing on land.

This is the story of Snurfing.

A Snowy Christmas Day

On Christmas Day in 1965, the "Grandfather of Snowboarding," Sherman Poppen, was seeking a way to entertain his children on what was otherwise a rather dreary holiday. According to the documentary "Made in the Mitten", which you can view below, Poppen took his daughter's K-Mart skis and "braced them together" to create one long board to stand on. Poppen's prototype can be seen here.

READ MORE: Best Free Sledding Hills in Grand Rapids

When he tested out his contraption, his wife exclaimed, "You're surfing!" and the Snurfer was born. Later prototypes added a rope at the tip of the board to help the rider maintain their balance. He saw the potential this board had; he reached out to Brunswick, known for its bowling supplies, to help mass-produce his product.

Initially, things were going well. Sales were okay, kids around the country had taken to snurfing, and competitive tournaments were being held. However, Brunswick poorly marketed the Snurfer; its poor marketing led to a decline in sales after one million units were sold. Its inability to innovate led people like Jake Burton Carpenter, who started snurfing at the age of 14, to introduce a revamped version of the Snurfboard.

Carpenter's version featured footholds made of inner tube parts that allowed him to stay on the board more easily and provided better handling. These went on to become the Burton Snowboard as the sport knows it today.

Carpenter's and many others' better-designed boards caused the sport of Snurfing to skyrocket; however, it was at the expense of Poppen's claim to the board and sport he created. Carpenter always credited Poppen for laying the groundwork.

It's fascinating that, while Michigan receives plenty of snow, the act of "snow-surfing" originated here, and it's equally surprising that it remains a relatively new sport. Skiing has been around since 8,000 BC, and skiing as we know it today since 1850, but only in the last 50ish years has "snowsurfing" or snowboarding been commonplace.