20 years

So obviously it's not my photo..............

Turns out i've been snowboarding for over 20 years! Twenty Years, which is kinda scary when you think about it. It doesnt seem that long in some ways, i can still remember the nervous thrill of sideslipping down Gloucester dry ski slope in rented ski boots set at some ridiculous angle, still remember cautiously linking turns on snow for the first time in Tamworth snowdome, just after it opened, still remember spending far too long on a national express coach up to aviemore sat next to a real life Rab C Nesbitt, it seems like yesterday in some ways. Yet in others it doesnt, snowboarding has changed so much, the kit is SO advanced compared to 1993/94, it's an olympic sport with national teams and icons, not the slightly disreputable brethren of skateboarding feared by ski resorts the world over that it once was. It's gone from fringe counterculture cool to massive boom mainstream popularity, from anti establishment to accepted. The thought of beng gently ridiculed by fellow package tour skiers as a "gay on a tray" now seems ludicrous.

If this all seems a little nostalgic, it's been brought on mostly by Lib-Tech launching a little mini-site here celebrating 20 years of sponsoring Jamie Lynn. Jamie was one of the first rock stars of snowboarding and after Craig Kelly was perhaps one of the most influential. His smooth but raw skate influenced style was adored and emulated the world over. His method air (see pic above) is still held to be the definition of the perfect example. I'm not ashamed to admit, i'd still kill to be able to style one out like that. My first decent snowboard was jamies "blue man" pro model from 96 and i've always loved lib's boards since. If you've been snowboarding as long as i have, you'll be nodding your head by now and heading for google to watch some old video clips from TB2 or the garden. If you're a more recent rider, this probably wont mean much and its hard to retrospectively explain how small snowboarding was back then.

This (volcom's the garden) perhaps sums up snowboarding in 1994 and is vintage jamie.......