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In Northern California the winter can be, like - boring for surfers, dude!

So in the 1960's, with nowhere else to go, a group of surf and sun enthusiastics headed for the snow-covered California slopes. In no time at all, it seemed, snowboarding became the hip winter scene in California.

Media attention soon followed as millions around the world witnessed surfboarders riding the frozen "surf" in spectacular moves executed by a few of the world's first snowboarding pioneers.

The sport's popularity skyrocketed, (as did skateboarding) while snowboarder demand resulted in a shorter, stronger redesign of the traditional surfboard to fit the harsher conditions of mountain snow.

Throughout the early 80's, local amateur contests led to a national US competition in 1983, followed by the first World International Snowboard Federation Championship in Ischgl, Austria in 1993. A year later, the FIS hosted its first World Cup, and at FIS urging, snowboarding was finally introduced to the Winter Games at Nagano in 1998.

In addition to the Half Pipe and Giant Slalom competitions, the Parallel Giant Slalom was introduced at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

Perhaps the most spectacular competition of all is yet to come at the Turino Games in 2006 with the debut of the Snowboard Cross, consisting of four riders executing moves such as whoops, waves, banks, spines and kickers in a NASCAR-like race to the finish.

U.S. Olympic snowboarders we watched in 2006:

Lindsey Jacobellis - aka "Lucky Lindsay" has been nearly unbeatable in the snowboardcross event for the past three years and is a best bet to take home gold. An attractive blond with a big smile, Jacobellis drew the notice of Seventeen magazine who featured her in a photo spread in 2004...

Seth Wescott - Often photographed with Lindsey Jacobellis holding up their respective wins in the women's and men's snowboard cross (SBX) competitions, Wescott has taken four U.S. national championships and is a seven-time SBX medalist at the X Games. In 2005, he became SBX world champion, and goes on to the 2006 Winter Olympics as an odds-on favorite to take the gold.

Chris Klug - A bronze medal winner at the Salt Lake City Games, Klug made history by becoming the only liver transplant patient to win a medal at the Olympics when he took bronze for the Parallel Giant Slalom in 2002. Today, he uses his noteriety as a spokesperson for donor awareness. A broken collar bone at the 2005 Winter X Games in snowboardcross has slowed his pace, but odds are he will battle back for a shot at the 2006 Olympics.

Hannah Teter - She is tops on the snowboarding halfpipe circuit, and family genes play a part in her success - with mom and dad both amateur halfpipe snowboarding enthusiasts, and brothers Abram and Elijah members of the U.S. National Team.

International Olympic Committee - Snowboard - Overview of the snowboard competitions, list of events, Olympic records, athlete profiles, picture gallery, related links.

FIS Ski - Snowboard - The International Federation offering snowboard news, rules and regulations, results and standings, athlete biographies, pictures, Olympic medal winners.

United States Olympic Committee - Snowboarding - Keep up to date with hotdogging headlines, feature stories and news releases.

United States of America Snowboard Association - News and information, results and standings, links to host resorts, photo gallery,

U.S. Snowboard Team - Latest news, feature stories, photo gallery, athlete profiles, downloadable wallpaper.

also see feature story -> Snowboarding - Snow Sports Turned Upside Down

also in Winter Olympics -> Alpine Skiing | Biathlon | Bobsled

Cross-country Skiing | Curling | Figure Skating | Freestyle Skiing

Ice Hockey | Luge | Nordic Combined | Short-Track Skating

Skeleton | Ski Jumping | Speed Skating