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10 Most Followed Pro Snowboarders on Instagram

Young pretenders may snap at its heels from time to time, but Instragram remains the most popular, and most relevant, social media platform for snowboarders.

It’s probably down to the fact that sharing great (and, lets face it, mediocre) photographyis something that everyone, from the winningest pro to the weekend warrior, can feel compelled to do when surrounded by beautiful mountains.

It’s also a handy tool for keeping on top of what’s happening in le monde de neige, in the same way that other, more mainstream journalistic outputs now use it as a catch-all, popularity o-meter of who and what is hot right now.

“Who has the most followers, and what does one have to do to make it to the top?”

With Insta using today to tell us who ruled the platform in 2016, we thought we’d take a fresh look at how the snowboarders stack up on the Insta-charts. Who has the most followers, and what does one have to do to make it to the top?

*Enter Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love*

(All stats correct on 05/12/2016)

10) Torah Bright – 195,198

All Bright in a sea of white ???? @roxy #roxybrightedition

A photo posted by Torah Bright (@torahbright) on

Who better to kick off the top 10 than one of WL’s all time favourite snowboarders and human beings: Torah Bright (@torahbright)?

The multi-disciplined Aussie’s account is heavy on the smiles, either in the pow or at the beach. There’s plenty of family cameos too, and general adventuring – Torah’s living the good life, and she knows it.

9) Stale Sandbech – 195,815

???? Photo: @tengsphoto

A photo posted by Stale Sandbech (@stalesandbech) on

If you had an Olympic Silver medal and a few X Games gongs, you’d probably have almost 200,000 followers too. But there’s more to the popularity of Stale Sandbech‘s feed than his results.

With both a brother and a best friend being internationally lauded photographers, he’s got no difficulty keeping up a good stream of photos for his Insta-feed (@stalesandbech). There’s clearly some effort that’s gone into this; it’s low on spontaneous selfies and high on quality shots.

The riding pics are all top drawer, which is no surprise given that Stale is one of the most stylish riders out there.

 

8) Torstein Horgmo – 256,217

Stories..

A photo posted by Torstein Horgmo (@torsteinhorgmo) on

An extended break due to injury didn’t slow Torstein Horgmo down – and now that he’s back on his board, his feed (@torsteinhorgmo) is chock-full of bangers.

Now with added dog.

7) Hannah Teter – 267,663

Give a little…. Get a lot! ☀️We'll donate a pair for every pair sold! #socks #beebetter www.bombas.com

A photo posted by Hannah Teter (@hannahteter) on

Whilst we’re sure the two (well-earned!) Olympic medals played their part in getting Hannah Teter (@hannahteter) this high up the list, it’s more than likely that her (seemingly now defunct) underwear company and its accompanying shots might have boosted the follower numbers a little.

There’s not a huge amount of shred pics, but wanderlust in general is well covered.

6) Silje Norendal – 276,989

Tuning my boards for cold Colorado weather!! Breezy days, but not much snow falling down! #-16C ❄️#freezing #Moresnowplease????????

A photo posted by siljenorendal (@siljenorendal) on

Her todeo-7 is still a thing of beauty, and she is the proud owner of two back-to-back women’s X Games slopestyle golds – but again, we’re betting that’s not what got Silje Norendal this many followers.

Her ratio of ‘riding shots’ to ‘other’ is comfortably the lowest out of all the riders on this list – finding banger action shots on @siljenorendal required sifting through glamourous selfies like you’re panning for gold.

Not that we’re keen to knock the relentless positivity that she seems to carry with her – the world needs that now more than ever.

5) Sage Kotsenburg – 331,672

Cranking one out at the Bone Zone! #Misty ???? @brendondrury

A video posted by Sage Kotsenburg (@sagekotsenburg) on

Of course Sage Kotsenburg (@sagekotsenburg), Olympic gold medalist was going to make this list. His is one of the best Insta-feeds, increasingly popular and full of fun.

Almost every picture or video clip is from the mountains, as he continues to prove to the world that he’s no flash-in-the-pan. Plus now that the five rings are a distant memory, there’s less of the chat-show couch shots  and even more shredding.

4) Travis Rice – 377,583

This right here is my favorite type of riding…but it doesn’t come easy. @Gopro @victordelerue #thefourthphase @libtechnologies Edit:@rodophoto

A video posted by Travis Rice (@travisrice) on

Since last we checked, Travis Rice‘s feed (@travisrice) has jumped in popularity. Must have been something to do with that movie of his…

Fans of The Fourth Phase can get several behind-the-scenes clips on Travis’ feed, as well as general adventuring in the sea as well as the mountains.

He also regularly takes the time to big up his fellow riders to his massive audience, posting their best bangers and generally spreading the good word. Good man.

 

3) Jamie Anderson – 408,165

@xgames 2016 | What trick am I doing? ????

A photo posted by ॐ Jamie Anderson ॐ (@jamieanderson) on

If, like Cartman, you wished the hippies would just give up and die, probably best to avoid this. However, if you love rad snowboarding and yoga then be sure to get signed up to Jamie Anderson‘s Insta-account (@jamieanderson).

With the winningest competition record in all of women’s snowboarding, an Olympic gold and one of the best switch back 540s in the game, she was always going to be popular. Her appearance on The Celebrity Apprentice USA clearly had an effect as well, as she’s gained a significant amount of followers since then – enough to break into the top three.

2) Shaun White – 440,980

???? @gabe_lheureux

A photo posted by Shaun White (@shaunwhite) on

Shaun White gave his Insta-feed a bit of a reboot in 2016, ditching the spontaneous (and often endearing) snapshots of the past in favour of a carefully curated collection of composite images – most of which promote his fashion line at Macy’s.

The pic above is one of the few that makes sense out of context, and even that is part of a sequence. Head to @shaunwhite for the full ‘experience’.

 

1) Mark McMorris – 521,335

Tune in now to ABC to watch the full episode of "The Process"

A video posted by Mark McMorris (@markmcmorris) on

There’s no shifting Mark McMorris from the top spot – even after a lengthy absence from snowboarding brought on by a broken leg, @markmcmorris is still the most popular shred-related feed by far.

He’s managed to get his face out there more than the average snowboarder, be it on the post-Olympic chat show circuit, with his Wal-Mart clothing line, or promoting the Mark McMorris Infinite Air video game. There was even a TV show about his recovery from that nightmare injury.

Of course, he’s also won more medals than just about anyone, and fills his feed with epic shots from the world’s biggest contests.

 

So in summary…

How To Have A Successful Snowboarding Instagram:

(Tactics in order of successful-ness)

1 – Have your own TV show
2 – Have your own clothing range
3 – Be a hot girl
4 – Have an Olympic medal
5 – Have an X Games medal

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