Snowboarding history runs deep at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Here’s how it pushed the ‘rebellious’ sport into popularity in Colorado — and the world.

Carl Scofield Photography/Courtesy photo
Just over forty years ago, the snowsports industry saw a major shakeup.
After years of only allowing skiers to rip down the slopes at major resorts, Breckenridge Ski Resort broke the mold in 1984 and became the first major Colorado resort to allow snowboarding.
The decision not only pushed other ski areas to change their rules — it forever changed the landscape of snowsports.
A couple of the top trailblazers in the snowboarding movement at Breckenridge were Paul and David Alden — a father-son duo representing the North American Snowboard Association.
“I worked for Burton during those days, but that is neither here nor there,” Paul Alden said. “This was not Burton doing this. We had set up an organization named NASBA. … I had nothing to do with Breckenridge other than being a salesman at that point, trying to get snowboarding allowed at a very, very important mountain in the United States.”
According to the Colorado Snowsports Museum and Colorado Snowboard Archive, Paul Alden used his business background and abilities to bridge the gap between the fiercely anti-establishment snowboard culture, skeptical ski resort industry and cautious insurance industry.
1984: Breckenridge Ski Resort becomes the first major Colorado resort to allow snowboarding.
1986: Breckenridge hosts its first major event, the 1986 World Snowboarding Championships in March, known as “the Worlds.” Legendary filmmaker Greg Stump (“Maltese Flamingo”) stops by to catch early superstars like Shaun Palmer in the hand-dug halfpipe on Peak 9.
1989: The nation’s first permanent halfpipe debuts on Peak 8. The halfpipe was 200-feet long and had six-foot walls.
1991-92: Breckenridge cancels the Worlds when big-money sponsors like Swatch show little interest. In turn, the resort opens its first “snowboard garden” with rails, logs and small kickers.
1996: The International Ski Federation gets into the snowboard game with a Snowboard World Cup qualifier at Breckenridge. The contest includes halfpipe, slalom and giant slalom events.
1998: Snowboard halfpipe debuts at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Golden native JJ Thomas takes bronze behind Switzerland’s Gian Simmen and Norway’s Daniel Franck.
1998-89: Breckenridge opens Freeway Terrain Park on Peak 8. The resort also announces the inaugural Breckenridge team roster, led by JJ Thomas and Todd Richards.
1999: The Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding becomes Breckenridge’s first early-season contest. Male and female riders compete for a $10,000 purse split among superpipe, snowboard-cross and big air. The unstoppable Ross Powers wins pipe gold with a string of switch backside 720s.
2000: Breckenridge becomes the first resort in the nation with a Super Dragon superpipe cutter. The Peak 8 pipe now boasts 18-foot walls, the largest in the country. The Vans Triple Crown purse jumps to $125,000.
2002: The Breckenridge superpipe boasts 22-foot walls when the 2002 U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team is announced in town.
2008: Winter Dew Tour fills the early-season slot left by Van Triple Crown, adopting an X Games format with snowboard and freeski events. The $1.5 million purse is split among three events at three resorts.
2010: Thanks to Dew Tour, Breckenridge unveils its first permanent 22-foot superpipe. Louie Vito wins in a pounding snowstorm with a frontside double-cork 1080, cab double-cork 1080 and cab 720.
2014: Breckenridge boasts four terrain parks, a 22-foot superpipe and more than 75 jib-friendly features.
After hosting a snowboard demonstration at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Alden continued to remain fixated on getting snowboards on a mountain and turned his focus to Summit County’s Breckenridge Ski Resort.
“Breckenridge was owned by Aspen Skiing Co. in those days, and we knew at that point in our quest … that we had to get one of the big boys early on,” Alden said. “We had to get one of the most respected areas early on so that the other resorts would have to take a look at them.”
Alden says he received advice from Winter Park’s Jerry Groswold before approaching Aspen Skiing Co. president Jerry Blann. Alden pitched snowboarding to Blann, who was relatively receptive to the new idea.
Some of the biggest problems Alden faced was the insurance aspect of the equation. With a widespread belief that snowboarders were riskier than skiers, Alden had to find a way coax insurance companies into allowing snowboards on the mountain.
“We had pretty well persuaded the insurance guys that a snowboard fit the definition of a ski,” Alden said. “When we went to Jerry (Blann), he bought it. In those days, skiing was in a steep decline. We demonstrated to him that snowboarding was going to bring incremental revenue to the resorts and a whole number of departments.”
With Blann on board, snowboarding was introduced at Breckenridge Ski Resort in 1984. Other resorts would soon follow suit, including Vail in 1988.

“Breckenridge was probably the first big name ski area to allow snowboarding,” former editor of International Snowboard Magazine and Summit County resident Wiley Asher said. “Look what that did. That perpetuated a whole series of events after that. After that year, everyone came here.”
With little instruction on how to ride a snowboard available to the public, David Alden served as the main demo rider for the sport. David Alden showed Breckenridge executives and employees how to ride a snowboard and eventually co-wrote the first Professional Ski Instructor Association manual for snowboard instructors.
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“He was the demo guy,” Paul Alden said. “I did not know how to snowboard in those days. I was a skier. I learned very quickly thereafter, and I eventually wound up being a Level 2 certified instructor at Targhee for 22 years.”

It was partly because of David’s demonstration of the sport that Breckenridge Ski Resort general manager Jim Gill was receptive to welcoming the revolutionary sport onto the mountain. After allowing snowboarding on the mountain in 1984, Breckenridge soon released a snowboard policy on Feb. 11, 1985, and then hosted the World Snowboarding Championships in 1986.
The groundbreaking event featured filmmaker Greg Stump, who shot Shaun Palmer as he did tricks in the hand-dug halfpipe on Peak 9. Not only was the event attended by some of the biggest names in the burgeoning sport, but it was also a pivotal moment in terms of the growth and acceptance of snowboarding.

Lifelong Summit County resident and former professional snowboarder Todd Franzen was just 8 years old when snowboarding was first introduced at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Although Franzen’s memories of those years have started to fade, he distinctly remembers in 1986 when Breckenridge hosted the World Snowboarding Championships.
“I remember when the halfpipe was at the bottom of the freestyle area on Peak 9,” Franzen said. “I think everyone was a bit in awe — seeing all the riders, from Craig Kelly to Terry Kidwell. Seeing all these guys do stuff on these snowboards was really cool and to see it grow at that point.”
After much of his early adolescent years skateboarding at his home and throughout Summit County, the introduction of snowboarding provided an outlet for Franzen and his younger brother, Chris, in the winter time.
“It was such a young thing at the time that I don’t think we truly understood,” Franzen said. “Snowboarding had a rebellious side to things, and we were happy to support places that supported us.”
Transferring his skateboarding skills onto the snowboard, Franzen fell deeply in love with the sport.
Franzen went on to win the 1991 USASA junior national championship at age 15. Franzen was then subsequently named to the original Bonfire Clothing pro team at 16 and had an unlimited travel budget from Morrow Snowboards when he was 17.
Franzen feels fortunate that he was able to grow up in Breckenridge with a front-row seat to the explosion of the sport in the years following 1984.
“I feel fortunate that I grew up in Breck and had the opportunity to be involved in snowboarding at a really fun and really crucial time in the sport’s infancy,” Franzen said. “I was a young kid in the whole crew of all these guys that came in, but I was real fortunate to meet all my heroes and even ride with a large chunk of them.”
Editor’s note: This story previously published in the winter 2024 edition of Explore Summit magazine.

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