Love snowboarding? Then you’ve probably heard of Transworld Snowboarding, one of the best reads out there for all lovers of the sport.
This is the most popular snowboarding magazine there is – over 1.3 million copies are sold per year, a lazy 500,000 more than its nearest competitor.
The magazine has been around for over 30 years now, plenty of time to perfect its content.
Its four editions per year focus on a range of entertaining info for snowboarders.
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Their featured stories provide in-depth coverage of all sorts of snowboarding-related topics, while their resort guide lets readers know the best spots to check out.
They provide info about the best snowboarding gear, as well as what upcoming events you should check out.
Basically, the magazine covers it all.
Aside from just being a good read though, Transworld Snowboarding also played a major role in the development of the sport.
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Ever since its launch in 1987, magazine staff realized the need to grow the sport and created their own platform from which to do so.
Rather than simply producing the magazines and hoping for the best, they helped to bring attention to both themselves and snowboarding in general by petitioning, hard, to have snowboarding allowed at ski resorts.
At the time, snowboarding hadn’t yet built the reputation it has today. It was a sport in its infancy, trying to compete against its sometimes mean, often arrogant big brother; skiing.
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TransWorld snowboarding challenged this, even creating a mysterious figure through which to challenge the status quo in the mid-late ’90s.
The Chameleon was a ‘secret agent’ who didn’t care for the rules.
The mystery man would bring attention to ski resorts refusing to allow snowboarding by riding the lifts with a splitboard, which he would put together as a snowboard at the top of the runs.
Then, he would fly his way down the mountain on his snowboard, undoubtedly causing plenty of shocked skiers to stop and take notice.
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The Chameleon didn’t care who he upset – TransWorld penned articles written by this symbol of rebellion, in which he expressed a general disdain for anyone who got in his way.
He referred to the IOC as ‘fascists’, security guards as ‘sumos’, and International Ski Federation employees as ‘dictators’.
He reflected the mood of a snowboarding community frustrated by a lack of recognition.
More recently, TransWorld snowboarding helped to continue the sport’s development by creating the TransAm amateur contest series, which kicked off in 2003.
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The contest aims to showcase some of the more creative elements of snowboarding, and has been a great platform for local talents to get their names out there.
Matt Ladley, Winter X gold medallist in 2016, was a past winner of the contest, as were Chas Guldemond and Gabs Viteri.
The competition has proven a great pathway for talented amateurs to develop their snowboarding careers, and still runs today, 15 years after its inception.
So synonymous with the sport of snowboarding has this magazine become that in 2002, a snowboarding video game for Xbox was developed using its name.
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Reviews of the game weren’t always the most positive, but hey, having a video game named after your magazine is a win in itself.
It’s not often that a magazine plays such a major role in the development, culture, and lifestyle surrounding a sport, but TransWorld magazine does that.
As one of the first major snowboarding mags, and the most successful, it has helped to shape the sport into what it is today.
Any snowboarder worth their salt knows all about TransWorld; it’s got info, it’s got tips, it’s got features.
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TransWorld Snowboarding is a name which almost transcends the sport itself, and it’s no wonder nearly one and a half million snowboard lovers subscribe to it.
Have you ever purchased a Transworld Snowboarding magazine? What did you learn from it? Comment below and as always make sure to share this article on Facebook and Twitter.
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