If you’ve seen kids scudding around snow-covered town parks or the base area, jibbing your parking-lot railings on what appear to be skateboards without wheels, then you’ve witnessed the birth of a new bindingless sliding toy. Even if you haven’t seen them, it might still be wise to anticipate a possible explosion of the new devices and come up with a policy for their use next season.
You could see hordes of teenagers showing up with their new sliding apparatuses looking for places to ride. At best, it means a potential new market of skateboarders will be taking to the snow. At worst, they’ll probably be demanding to take their contrivances on the lifts.
Snowskates, Snowdecks and numerous similar products, each based around the concept of a skateboard designed for snow, are making a big retail impact. Premier, whose Snowskate is an enlarged plastic skateboard deck that sits directly on the snow, has sold 50,000 units the first season. Retailers across the country are screaming for more product and are facing back orders of several months as Premier runs its presses at all hours, seven days a week.
The company expects to sell 125,000 sets next year and perhaps double that the year after. Snowskates retail for around $50. Meanwhile, snowboard giant Burton is set to launch its Snowdeck, a skateboard with trucks that are, in turn, attached to a mini snowboard rather than wheels. Other brands such as Dynastar/Rossignol-owned Original Sin are also set to release their own versions in the fall.
“Ski areas need to think hard about how they are going to deal with the product,” says Andy Wolf, designer of the Snowskate. “But above all they should be thinking of this as another opportunity to drive revenue and improve the resort experience. Some kids will spend the whole day on these things, while others will consider it an alternative to skiing or snowboarding for a few hours. It’s ideal for base areas or as an evening activity.”
According to Wolf, the main concern for ski and snowboard resorts will be how to control and contain the riders of the new gizmos. “The answer will be a self-contained terrain park,” he says, “that is more fun than the trash cans or rails scattered around the main lodge.”
Several ski areas have already expressed enthusiasm for the emerging snow toy and are building small level terrain parks. Currently, Copper Mountain, Colo., Mount Hood Meadows, Ore., and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., are in the forefront of development. In fact, Premier will offer drawings and instructions for custom-made terrain parks on their Website at www.snowsk8.com.
“A Snowskate terrain park is very easy to design,” says Wolf. “You don’t need elevation so you can use a far smaller area than a snowboard terrain park. You really don’t need much more than a couple of picnic tables and a couple of benches. And most existing insurance policies appear to cover it once it is written into the policy.”
Management at Mammoth has been talking about creating a small park next to one of its lunch areas at the base, but a lift policy has yet to be established. It’s possible the ski area will issue a special lift ticket requiring users of the toys to ride back down by lift after visiting as-yet-undeveloped parks on the mountain.
While Snowskates are designed for park use, Burton’s Snowdeck, with its metal edges, is designed for use on the slopes as well as in terrain parks. Apparently they are so easy to use that rank beginners have been able to link turns the first time out.
“Obviously there will be a need for a retention device for using Snowdecks on slopes,” says Burton Marketing Director Dave Schriber. “But it’s an intriguing question as to whether someone in the maze with one is considered foot traffic. The issue hasn’t been addressed.”
Mountain High Resort, Calif., a ski area usually in front of such trends, has yet to make a decision on the new gear. “So far, I think we would have liability problems if we allowed them on lifts,” says Brad Wilson, marketing director for Mountain High.
The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) has yet to formulate its own policy, but according to Education Director Tim White, the topic is likely to come up at the NSAA’s annual conference in May.
“If users of the devices are deemed foot traffic,” says White, “then lifts will need to slow down to the loading speed of a detachable quad. . . . Then there will need to be a retention device for the hand as well, in case people drop them.” But White sees potential in Snowskates, Snowdecks and their ilk. “I’m personally intrigued as to whether the Burton product has a role in helping people learn to snowboard,” he says. “I think operators . . . will be open-minded to anything that increases traffic without risk.”
As the devices are in their infancy, it is also probable that whatever rules are established now will need to cover their likely evolution. Some people have already suggested that a tether extending from the tip will give riders more control and allow for easier carving. But Sherman Poppen already thought of that 30 years ago: it was called the Snurfer.
