What is mountain boarding ?

Last few snowboarding days of this season I spent at Summit Central's Terrain Park. I saw a video on Youtube, and thought I could still compete with those kids. I mean , how hard can Ollie , Nollie or Shifty can be ? An hour later, with broken board, all bruised up ( I think I had a concussion )... I didn't give up. The problem was, the next 5-6 months without waist-deep powder, death-defying drops, high-flying half-pipes and a board would make me go nuts.

Then I read this:

In 1992, after having snowboarded at Heavenly Valley Resort in Northern California, friends Jason Lee, Patrick McConnell and Joel Lee went looking for an alternative for the summer season. Not finding anything suitable they co-founded MountainBoardSports (MBS) in 1993 to build boards that they could use to carve down hills.

Sounds like a plan ! But what exactly is mountain boarding ?

Mountainboarding is essentially snowboarding but done on grass, dirt or pavement. With a mountainboard your terrain is limitless and you can ride ALL YEAR LONG! Although it draws a lot of similarity from snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding, mountainboarding has developed into a sport in it’s own right with it’s own culture and history and includes racing, freestyle, freeride and kiting disciplines.

The board itself is part snowboard and part skateboard. Mountainboards include a snowboard-like deck, adjustable turning system, air-filled knobby tires and an open-heel binding system. Also it can be outfitted with a hand-held V brake.

I checked out the prices, and ...it's not cheap. MBS boards ( "the founder " of the sport in U.S ) range from $ 150 -500+.
Amazon.co wasn't cheaper.

MBS Atom 95X with new F1 bindings and brake goes for $ 160



Can't wait to get my hand on one of those ATB's ( All-Terrain Board ) !