Snowskates: A sport of the Future?

Snowskates—not to be confused with skiboards—are mini snowboards that ride like skateboards. They are slightly longer and wider than a skateboard, and they do not have bindings. There are two basic types: single decks with grooves on the bottoms, and bi-level decks with a mini-ski on the bottom.

Snowskates are great for doing tricks just about anywhere. Many kids build ramps and jumps and just use the skates in their backyard after a snowfall. But to accommodate those kids yearning for more excitement than the backyard can offer, several resorts are opening mini terrain parks.

At present the number of snowskate parks is small, but more and more resorts are looking into building permanent snowskate structures, and excitement for the sport is building. Loon Mountain in New Hampshire has had a snowskate park for the past three years. Okemo just built its first snowskate park during winter 2004 at the base of its new Jackson Gore area. Copper Mountain in Colorado has been active in snowskate events, and California’s Bear Mountain has also been a hotbed.

Events are starting to crop up as well. “If you have a sport and don’t offer a competition within that sport, it is destined to fail,” comments Rick Frost, director of alternative sports at Loon Mountain, N.H. “The events satisfy a need—kids need to show off—every kid wants to be a hero. If you don’t give them an opportunity to showcase what they’re doing and give them a chance to compete, they’ll lose interest.”

Timberline Ski Area in Oregon held the first U.S. Open of Snowskating last summer. Loon held the second event in February 2004. The United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) held a snowskating competition at Blue Hills, in Massachusetts, this past winter, and for the last two winters, snowskating has been an exhibition sport in the U.S. Open of Snowboarding at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. At the Winter X Games, there was a snowskating exhibition park, which was so popular kids were waiting in line to get in. In Montreal, some schools have even made snowskating part of their recess program.

Support from Product Suppliers

There are several versions of snowskates, ranging from cheaper plastic models (which can be found at toy stores, department stores, etc.) to sturdier types with metal edges and leashes found at ski and snowboard shops. These latter types are intended for ski resorts. There are also skate shoe brands, like Vans, getting into the business by offering specific shoes.

Although it is still a new category, the snowskate market has become somewhat saturated because several snowboard brands now sell some sort of snowskate. Burton, one of the first in the category with its snowdeck, says by bringing its prices down, the company may get more takers.

“Our sales goal with that product category is to keep our sales dollars flat, which would mean increasing the units,” says Chris Copley of Burton, who said the brand would reduce the price of its Approach model for 2004-05 to bring it down to a more affordable price (from approximately $80 to $60 retail). “There will definitely be more snowskates sold next year.” Burton has introduced a new model with a longer subdeck so it can ride faster on groomed snow.

Just where this market is headed, nobody knows. “I wouldn’t want to say it’s a small niche, because it could explode. We’re leaving the door open to see where it can go,” says Copley, who adds that sports like snowskating usually happen organically—they can’t be forced.

Perhaps, but suppliers want to support it in every way they can. Burton will showcase snowskating again this year at the U.S. Open of Snowboarding. Premier Snowskates (the original manufacturer of snowskates), Universal Ramps, and other manufacturers also organize events (like the U.S. Open of Snowskating) in order to build awareness of snowskating. Burton encourages kids to send in video clips of their snowskating adventures in backyard or town environments which they post on the Burton website.

Building a Park

To promote the sport of snowskating and to show how quickly a resort can build a snowskate park, PBL Enterprises, Inc., distributor of Zaugg America (www.zauggamerica.com), took its new Snow Beast on tour during February 2004. A walk-behind, self-propelled snow blower, the Beast is designed to build features quickly. It is powered by a 54-hp turbocharged diesel engine and hydrostatic drive. The company built snowskate parks at a number of New England resorts, including a special competition park for the U.S. Open at Loon. The Snow Beast East Coast Demo Tour also featured demos of Premier snowskates and feature elements by Universal Ramps.

“Premier and Zaugg have teamed up to take snowskate parks to the next level,” says Andy Wolf of Premier Snowskates.

For snowskate parks, the Beast can also shape mini-quarterpipes and mini-halfpipes. It can install park elements like boxes and rails, using the snowblower attachment to bury and stabilize the elements and eliminating the need to dig large holes to secure them. “It saves manpower and speeds up the whole process,” says Matthew Murray of Zaugg America.

Details, Details

Resorts typically keep the snowskate area separate so kids can buy relatively cheap tickets (Loon charges $10) to play in the park. Users with lift tickets can often use the parks for free. Rentals for the day usually run about $7-$10; Loon reports that it sold out of snowskates at its retail center this past season. Some parks have lift access (but make sure leash laws and foot traffic laws are followed) and some are built on flat areas so they don’t even need lifts—kids will gladly hike them. Parks do need to be fenced in and patrolled, and waivers should be signed for liability reasons.

Snowskate parks may be ideal for small resorts because they can be built in flat areas. “It doesn’t take much snow to build the parks because the elements are much smaller,” says Murray. “A lot of smaller resorts have lights, and snowskating is something kids can do when they get out of school.”

There is really no definitive answer on where the sport of snowskating is headed. But it has gained momentum during the winter of 2003-04, and more fun events are planned for next season. As resorts continually add more terrain parks and other family-fun stuff to keep business fresh, snowskating is one more thing for kids to do.

“It can be done at night at the bottom of a tubing hill, so if kids get bored with tubing, they can come in, take a break and then go out and snowskate under the lights,” suggests Murray. “It’s another outlet that allows for creativity on the mountain.”