Thanks to snazzy marketing campaigns, improvements in technology and the cool style of the snowboard culture, snowboarding has reached a new podium in the participant stakes. Last year, the industry clocked up a record sale of 1.4 million day ski passes. It seems everyone wants a piece of the once shunned sport.

And perhaps this is where all the sourness for the commercialization of the sport comes in and ruffles a few feathers. Over crowding, amateurs that dress like pros, people riding for the money not the love of it and rising pass prices are just a few points where the topic can take a more pessimistic turn.

One of New Zealands early snowboarding pioneers of the late 80's and one of the countrys first snowboarding instructors, Jim Hoare has seen the change over the years.

There is a lot more money being pumped into the industry now then there was 20 years ago. It is so much more commercial. A lot more people are spending a lot more money and getting money out of it.

Heck even McDonalds has sponsored a few rail jams in the United States and perhaps that shows the full extent to the commercialization of the sport leaving a few up in arms about where the sport maybe heading.

The good news in all this commercialization and mainstreaming is that resorts are pumping big bucks into their fields specifically for snowboarders every year. They employ local and overseas terrain park professionals to maintain and entertain riders all season.

Money for professional riders is on the increase and the sponsors are handing out the support like never before. The Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour pays out US$250,000 based on the end of season ranking, above and beyond the $2 million plus event prize money on Tour making it the largest ever of its kind in snowboarding.

New Zealands biggest prize pool is $50,000 for the Burton New Zealand Open, also a TTR event.

You could say that commercialization even brought snowboarding to the Olympics for the first time in Nagano in 1998. Even the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) announced the release of the first circulating 25-cent Olympic coin of 2008 featuring a snowboarder.

Developments in technology and snowboard designs even changed the way that skis were designed in the early 90s. The sidecuts on the skis all developed from deep snowboard sidecuts. There is now the parabolic, twin tip skis which mean skiers can approach tricks like boarders can, explained Jim.

Thanks to its quick success, the diverse fanbase that snowboarding now encompasses has caused the breakdown of previous stereotypes from the more sophisticated skiing community no longer are riders just troublemakers and stoners.

And neither has mainstreaming meant that the main essence of the sport has been lost in the shuffle. I dont think there is anything bad about the growth really. It is still a soulful sport. People still go out in the back country and still get that good feeling of freedom with it. It is just making it easier for people to learn because all the gear is getting much better.

And undoubtedly, snowboarding still projects the soughtafter, laidback attitude of steeze a certain style and ease that sees more and more people coming back every year and new ones being sucked into the game.

But whats in store for the future? How far will it go? Be prepared for a whole lot more technology, even a heated hoody with a coil heating system and batteries to boot (seriously).

Jim takes the last guess saying In a sense I dont know if you can push it any much more than it is being pushed at the moment, but to where its going to go a lot more money and a lot more events.