04/07/2026
People often ask me "Why is Riverboarding illegal on some
rivers?"
I tell them that I am old enough to remember when skateboarding was outlawed in many places and when snowboarding was outlawed at many ski resorts. Why was snowboarding and skateboarding outlawed? Here's what AI says is the real history behind both bans:
Skateboarding -
In the late 1970s and through the 1980s, cities across the U.S. began banning skateboarding on sidewalks, in parking lots, and in public spaces.
Youth = suspect. It was a youth-driven, countercultural activity with no institutional lobby and no organized sport structure to defend it.
Snowboarding -
Through most of the 1980s, the majority of ski resorts in North America banned snowboards outright. The reasons:
• Safety assumptions (largely unfounded). Resort operators assumed snowboarders were more dangerous to
other skiers — they sat down on runs, moved unpredictably, and weren't trained in "ski etiquette."
• Culture clash. Snowboarders were younger, louder, and associated with skateboarding and punk culture — not the affluent, established skiing demographic resorts catered to.
• No proof of legitimacy yet. Without competitions, governing bodies, or Olympic recognition, there was nothing to point to and say "this is a real sport." -FYI The first riverboarding contest was held during the Payette River Experience in 2010 and won by Mike Bloomquist.
The Pattern:
Both bans followed the same arc:
a new activity emerges, institutions don't understand it, culture clash drives prohibition, and then — once the activity proves it has staying power, economic value, and a safety record — the bans quietly disappear.
The legitimacy came first through culture, then through sport structure, then through institutional acceptance.
Riverboarding is earlier in that arc than either of those was when they faced their bans — which actually makes the comparison more powerful, not less.
We made a bumper sticker about it.
If you know, you know. 🤙
EVENsurf.com
