Snowboarding has become winter’s equivalent to extreme warm weather sports like in-line skating and skate boarding. Since 1989, snowboarding has experienced an unprecedented boom in the United States and across the world. During its early stages, there were less then 75,000 snowboarders across the U.S. As an initial estimate this number may seem significant, but it hardly compares to the predicted 12 million at the end of 1996. This group is not entirely made of men either, as females help make up a major part of this growth in participants. In 1989, the ratio was close to 9:1, males to females where as today it is closer to 3:2. There was also a period of time where the ski resorts were worried about the decline in guests and ski-related activities. Things have changed! Snowboarding has been credited with bringing the young and old alike back to the mountains in overwhelming numbers.