Who invented sliding rails?

[NickSkisGood]

I've been thinking back to the history of our sport, and if I'm not mistaken surfing is the og sport that evolved into skateboarders ripping up backyard pools. Skateboarding and skateparks (and snowboarders) seems like the obvious reason we have rails and features on the mountain.

But were urban street skaters in the 80-90s really the first to hop and a rail? Maybe we gotta give more credit to froot booting inline skaters as being forerunners to modern park skiing. Or maybe some old timey skier in your grandfather's era used to impress the ladies skiing a picnic table or down a wooden handrail. Or did Tom Wallisch just invent sliding rails when he started the universe with the big afterbang?

 

[Icant_kfed]

They want us to thibk that k2 started park skiing but really it was t wall

 

[CatdickBojangles]

The first skier to slide a rail was Sonny Bono. They were so angry when they saw him do it they killed him and made it look like an accident.

 

[r00kie]

Pretty sure it was skierman but Idk.

 

[ski_salmon69]

I did it first, they just didn’t have the cameras on

 

[WoFlowz]

It was actually Isaac Freeland

 

[_IRRELEVANT_]

 

[jakeordie]

Gonz and Natas

 

[pofwel]

I've been thinking back to the history of our sport, and if I'm not mistaken surfing is the og sport that evolved into skateboarders ripping up backyard pools. Skateboarding and skateparks (and snowboarders) seems like the obvious reason we have rails and features on the mountain.

But were urban street skaters in the 80-90s really the first to hop and a rail? Maybe we gotta give more credit to froot booting inline skaters as being forerunners to modern park skiing. Or maybe some old timey skier in your grandfather's era used to impress the ladies skiing a picnic table or down a wooden handrail. Or did Tom Wallisch just invent sliding rails when he started the universe with the big afterbang?

probably came from skating idk

 

[switchlip2]

Nateshredz

 

[CammyP]

me

 

[Dan-Man]

skateboarderz

 

[MarkusFin]

It's ingrained in our DNA.

 

[HaydenB]

someone told me it was [tag=242938]@Jems[/tag] back in the day but I'm not sure

 

[a_burger]

Gonz and Natas

you could get into semantics and argue what actually constitutes a rail, I’m sure some skier 50-50d a snow covered log before the early 80s, but yeah these 2 are probably the right answer

 

[gfanuckaa]

Line originally made ski boards which was in the x games before freestyle skiing, we are all really ski boarders

 

[@LANTASKI]

Maybe some of the other old heads can contribute to educate you Gen Z shits, but I believe the first documented "rail slide" or "grind" was published in Freeze Magazine in 1998 or 1999. It was an urban handrail and I believe it was either Mike Nick or Skogan Sprang who did it.

If JD May is still around, I'm sure he would remember it

 

[gfanuckaa]

Line originally made ski boards which was in the x games before freestyle skiing, we are all really ski boarders

 

[nkloss4]

from what i can find the first documented picture was [tag=17763]@JLev[/tag] hitting an urban rail on the og line skiboards
https://www.google.com/amp/s/jasonlevinthal.com/1998/11/01/first-photo-of-skier-sliding-rail/amp/

 

[@LANTASKI]

from what i can find the first documented picture was [tag=17763]@JLev[/tag] hitting an urban rail on the og line skiboards
https://www.google.com/amp/s/jasonlevinthal.com/1998/11/01/first-photo-of-skier-sliding-rail/amp/

yup this is it ^

 

[Logi]

this monolith slid the first rail

 

[NickSkisGood]

Ski Boarding looks dope as hell! Thanks for the video this is the critical historical context, or "missing link", I was looking for. That JLev rail shot is sick too!

I finally shook the rust of my old snowblades recently and took em ripping those things are too fun! (Not that it's about size anyway but my snowblades are way shorter than those ski boards)

 

[FruitBootPro]

But were urban street skaters in the 80-90s really the first to hop and a rail? Maybe we gotta give more credit to froot booting inline skaters as being forerunners to modern park skiing.

First documented rail grind on blades was done by Chris Edwards in 1991. Skateboarders were probably doing it earlier (or not idk), but this was definitely the first rail grind done with the same overall motion as on skis. I'm not sure if the first skibladers just derived skiing grinds from this or what.

[video]https://youtu.be/WMIYW0f-vSc?t=60[/video]

 

[jakeordie]

you could get into semantics and argue what actually constitutes a rail, I’m sure some skier 50-50d a snow covered log before the early 80s, but yeah these 2 are probably the right answer

I hear you, but everything before happened less deliberately. A skier or a surfer or a pool skater got there just shredding, even lip tricks on a halfpipe with metal coping are a natural evolution of basic moves like a kickturn. Gonz and Natas made the choice to start sliding rails, and then started making it happen.

It might seem like semantics, but it's a quantum leap in approaching freestyle activities as performance art. Terrain parks will never be a blank canvas, even when Red Bull builds stuff for Jesper 'cos the feature is tailored for the trick. Gonz and Natas made street work the other way.

Sorry for ranting.

 

[Lippamani]

It was the afterbang

 

[MarkusFin]

First documented rail grind on blades was done by Chris Edwards in 1991. Skateboarders were probably doing it earlier (or not idk), but this was definitely the first rail grind done with the same overall motion as on skis. I'm not sure if the first skibladers just derived skiing grinds from this or what.

[video]https://youtu.be/WMIYW0f-vSc?t=60[/video]

Wow dude, that whole movie was super cool to watch even though I don't blade