Snowboarding
From peaks to pavement: how snowboarding took over the streets
In the early '90s, snowboarders ditched the mountains and turned city streets into their playground. Inspired by skateboarding, they pushed the sport into an era of raw creativity and urban rebellion.
Part of this story
01
The background
The unconventional creativity that had propelled snowboarding since its inception was, in the early-to-mid 1990s, expanding further, taking cues from skateboarding toward the unique – and rideable – architecture found all over cities. Riders began to see handrails, stair sets, and ledges as new terrain to conquer.
Urban centres with hills and stairsets were playgrounds for snowboarders who gravitated toward the freedom of filming video parts instead of the judged scores of the contest scene. Plus, it was accessible. No lifts, no lift tickets, heck, no mountains – all you needed was your snowboard, a couple of friends and snow-covered stairs to get a session going. This opened up snowboarding to regions where elevation wasn’t as high, but standard city elements – like metal handrails and concrete ledges – created opportunity. Careers were built on down-flat-downs, retaining walls and other unique features found in city sprawl far from big mountains.
Snowboarders really got creative with the urban environment
© Pasi Salminen/Red Bull Content Pool
As street snowboarding became more and more beloved among snowboarders, the Twin Cities became a mecca because what Minnesota lacks in mountains, it makes up for with plenty of snow and lots of hills (Saint Paul, alone, has more than 60 public stairways scattered all over the city). It was in this Midwestern city sprawl that videos were filmed, careers were built and legends were secured. There are few places on Earth with such a robust history of street snowboarding.
But with all the genuine hype in the snowboard community, street riding was generally misunderstood by people who had jurisdiction over the urban grounds where it went on. Getting kicked out of a spot by security or police and sent home unfulfilled after hours of set-up was common heartbreak. But despite this, snowboarding’s gravitational pull toward steel in city streets increased, though generally outside the purview of mainstream understanding.
02
Here comes Red Bull Heavy Metal
Austin Vizz smashes it
© Ashley Rosemeyer/Red Bull Content Pool
This is where Red Bull Heavy Metal comes in. Since 2022, the revival of the infamous contest has worked with municipalities to allow access to iconic spots that have historically been hard to ride. The goal is to showcase street snowboarding in a contest format that is as true to the pursuit as possible – offering prize money and recognition in the process. Sometimes this unlocks locations that are beyond the imagination of spot checks, like the Minnesota State Capitol Building in Saint Paul - the perfect place to honour the legacy of street riding while simultaneously propelling it forward.
“We don’t have big mountains to snowboard here, so every kid, myself included, was riding street rails that we saw in videos,” explains Joe Sexton, legendary Minnesotan pro and Heavy Metal contest director. “This really was the only discipline that we could connect with and that the young kids are still connecting with, I think, because that’s all we really have accessible. And to see the city welcome everyone for this contest, it kind of legitimizes street snowboarding in its own way, I think.”
This really was the only discipline that we could connect with and that the young kids are still connecting with
Big, fluffy snowflakes filled the sky as Melvin Carter, the mayor of Saint Paul, stood in front of the State Capitol Building ahead of the 2025 event. Next to him were wide lanes of snow with manicured take-offs leading to rails, ledges, and a hefty light pole gap. Sanctioned space to snowboard on a government building with the blessing of the mayor – who deemed it officially Heavy Metal Day – seems like a fever dream, but it was officially open season for boarding.
“There are some people that think when the weather gets cold like this, we go inside,” the mayor exclaimed. “But we don’t do that, do we?!” The Twin Cities crowd roared. Cold temps and snow were welcome here – and on the grounds that typically hosted government meetings and the passing of laws, snowboarding was, too.
Veda Hallen slides to victory
© Bob Plumb/Red Bull Content Pool
Much of the snowboarding that's broadcast to a large audience is done in the halfpipe or on a slopestyle course. The riders in these disciplines are amazing, but snowboarding is unique as a sport because there are so many ways to do it – both for elite professional and everyday rider. Heavy Metal and other similar rail contests create an opportunity to expose this part of snowboarding in a rider-driven, true-to-form – and two-fold impactful – way.
First, the contest provides a platform for the invited riders to elevate snowboarding. Proper set ups, collaborative energy, high-level tricks – this uplevels the sport itself, and watching back the past years of Heavy Metal provides plenty of proof of the current vanguard continually raising the bar in Duluth, Detroit, Saint Paul and Boston. This year will see that influence pushed wider still, with qualifiers in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, plus the first international events in Montreal, Canada and an as-yet-unnamed overseas venue. Of course, this also contributes to momentum for the riders, adding accolades, prize winnings and exposure that is helpful especially for emerging careers.
Heavy Metal exposes the way that we all snowboard in the streets to the general public, which is huge for everyone
Second, the event showcases possibility. While the tricks that Austin Visintainer and Veda Hallen landed to win the 2025 overall Heavy Metal titles require high-level talent, the fact that they’re making this magic happen with just their board, their friends and a stairset covered in snow is attainable in a way that other aspects of snowboarding often are not. Yes, riding untracked powder or taking laps through a spring pipe are super fun – but if you don’t have access to big, stormy mountains or a resort with a Zaugg, it’s valuable to see another way that you, too, can be a snowboarder.
“Heavy Metal exposes the way that we all snowboard in the streets to the general public, which is huge for everyone,” said Vizz, who has competed in every Heavy Metal since 2022. “To see us just having a good time – and we’re playing in the snow – I think it exposes the best side of snowboarding.”
Every part of the event, from the set up to MCs to the judges, is considered with care in an effort to make for the best experience for the riders. For the audience, it’s as solid a representation of street snowboarding as possible.
“I think this event is really important for showing what our sport is all about,” said Darrell Mathes, an influential street rider has been one of the event’s judges. “It highlights insane tricks and features for people who may not know much about street snowboarding. By showcasing top riders in a fun and exciting way, we can inspire more people to appreciate the skills involved. This not only helps street snowboarding grow but also encourages younger riders to explore and see what our community is like and how much fun everyone is genuinely having.”
Part of this story