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To: Proximity Teams From: Finn Ramsland Subject: Emerging Technology in Snowboarding Date: January 19, 2010

New technology is gradually taking over the snowboarding scene. This technology takes the age old treatment of snowboards as a large ski and turns it on its head. This innovation into the sport is expected to further draw Generation-Y consumers away from skiing and toward snowboarding.

The primary problem this technology addresses is the concept of camber. Camber is used in skiing to help manage packed snow and keep skis rigid at high speeds. The problem is that when camber is translated to snowboards it creates a 'dead zone' between the boots of the boarder. The creation of the rocker, placed between the boarders feet, remedies this problem and allows the transfer of energy from nose to tail and edge to edge as you make cuts in fresh powder in the west or on the ice packed slopes of the east.

These new rocker style boards have been adopted by the worlds major snowboarding manufacturers including Burton, Flow, Ride and Forum. The boards are generally priced anywhere from $500 to $1200. Relatively this new design is expensive but the price should drop as the technology becomes more widespread.

What this means for Gen-Y is simple. Snowboarding, already one of the fastest growing sports of our time, will become more enjoyable and appealing to members of Generation-Y. Sport legends like Danny Cass and Shawn White have already gotten on board and it appears this technology has nothing preventing it from becoming one of the greatest, sport related, innovations in recent times.

Sources:

Transworld snowboading: http://snowboarding.transworld.net/2008/10/29/gone-bananas/