The dudes at the World Snowboard Tour have partnered up with Swatch to produce this 7-part documentary series focussed on the history of competitive snowboarding. Pretty interesting stuff, check it…

Shred documentaries filled with archive footage seem all the rage these days – this series follows hot on the heels of burn’s nostalgia-heavy We Ride – The Story of Snowboarding – and this is no bad thing. It’s always rad to dip into snowboarding’s history to see how far we’ve come and also throw some high fives to the guys and girls responsible for pushing the boundaries. With this season’s World Snowboard Tour almost a wrap, the crew have launched this 7-part series charting the evolution of contest riding from the titular straight line runs to today’s mind melting barrage of hyper spinning.

This first episode looks at the inception of the first shred contests over in the US back in the 80s, spotlights the likes of Jake Burton, Tom Sims, Craig Kelly and Terry Kidwell, and is, to coin a phrase from a magazine of the time, absolutely radical.

Burton released a method-only clip, and it features them all: Their current heavy hitters like Jackson, Piiroinen, Clark as well as legends such as Jeff Brushie or Craig Kelly!

Suitcase, Grasser, Northwest or Euro; there are many ways to do a method and everyone adds their own flavor to it. Many riders would trade in the ability to flip and spin for a solid method because nothing is more stylish when done well. Here are a few examples from Stephan Maurer, John Jackson, Peetu Piiroinen, Terje Haakonsen, Christian Haller, Shaun White, Kelly Clark and even some throwback methods from Jeff Brushie and Craig Kelly. Stretch the back out and watch as everyone puts their own spin to this timeless trick.