ALPINE SKIING & SNOWBOARDING

New Snow Toys Are Fun on the Slopes

by Ron Farra

Snow sports enthusiasts wear mini-skis while seated on ski bikes. Photo by Ron Farra

A recent issue of Boys' Life magazine, the official publication of Boys Scouts of America, featured a collection of toys under the title "The Future of Fun." One of the unusual items of sporting equipment, called a "Snow Glyder," was actually a converted scooter. For $35 you can buy a set of skis to attach to your street scooter and take it to your favorite hill or alpine ski area for a day of winter ski scooting.

If you have been skiing or snowboarding during the past few years, you are most likely aware of some major changes, not only in the equipment, but also in the words used to describe what's happening in the world of winter sports and recreation. For example, you probably noted that such terms as "ski area" and "ski center" no longer describe the mountain locations where people go to ski and snowboard. These are now "winter resorts" or "mountain resorts," offering much more than just skiing.

In fact, it seems the enormous ski industry itself no longer exists. It is now the "snow sports industry," an inclusive term designed to embrace the various facets of winter sports and snow activities. With the large influx of snowboards filling the mountain trails and slopes, the new ski resorts now market programs for "riders" as well as "skiers."

The winter trails also are filling with lots of other snow sport enthusiasts using a variety of new devices to experience the speed and other sensations involved with sliding on snow. Now people on snow scooters and other ski-like toys such as snowblades, mini-skis, snowbikes and ski dancers have joined the skiers and snowboarders on the slopes.

For more than 50 years, professional ski instructors have been accumulating knowledge to help people learn how to go down the snowy mountain trails on skis and other toys without brakes. They have developed basic principles for teaching participants to be in control while gliding on snow. Such gliding requires more skill than the carefree fun of sliding downhill on snow toys like toboggans, rubber tubes or plastic saucers now available for rent at most winter resorts. While these can be great fun, participants are at the mercy of gravity and have little control over where they go or how fast they get there.

Controlled gliding however, is accomplished on snow devices carefully designed with edges, now referred to as "snow toys." These include skis, snowboards, skiboards, snowbikes, snow scooters and Ski Foxes. All have long flexible steel edges incorporated into their designs making each a kind of cutting-tool capable of slicing the snow and putting the user in control of his or her decent on the winter trails. Snow toys are engineered to provide you with fun and allow you to go wherever you want to go on snow, as fast or slow as you wish. They make it possible to control your speed by making curves in the snow, back and forth across the hills.

Some mountain resorts have invested heavily in snow toys for the enjoyment of their customers. "The introduction of snow toys is part of our company's effort to widen the opportunities of things-to-do for people who come to our resort," said Dave Anderson at Loon Mountain Resort in New Hampshire. Loon and other winter resorts that offer skiing and snowboarding also offer rentals and instruction in other diverse activities like winter horseback riding, snow tubing, snowblading, ski dancing and cross-country skiing throughout the day and evening.

Snow sliding devices now available at winter resorts include:

Skis have been in use for centuries as toys and transportation for gliding over snow. With one ski attached to each foot, skiers have four steel edges to grip the snow and control the ride. Modern skis have become "high-tech carving instruments" with extreme sidecut and the hourglass contour changing how they move and slice the snow. These shape skis are designed to carve a turn with the tail actually passing along virtually the same turning arc as the tip. The shaped ski technology has spurred the opportunity for everyone, from beginner to experts to enjoy a whole array of fun, exciting and new sensations while gliding down the slopes.

Skiboards, a cross between mini-skis and skates, have turned-up tips and tails making it easy to ride them backward as well as forward. Like skis, they are attached to each foot with bindings, but are shorter and wider than skis. Skiboarders usually do not use poles preferring to have their hands free, making it easier to use the skiboards for tricks. Some couples use them for "dancing" down the slopes imitating ballroom dancing and ice dancing.

Snowboards, an on-snow adaptation of surfboards and skateboards, have evolved to become highly technical and effective snow carving devices. Both feet are attached to the single board with boots and bindings. Like skiboards, they can be ridden forward and backward. The running surface is much wider than skis allowing boards to float comfortably in deeper, softer snow. Snowboards can also be tilted on a very high edge and bent into arc curves making them very powerful snow carvers.

Snow scooters, such as those described in Boys' Life, are ridden like the very popular street scooters. The Snowscoot model is basically a BMX bicycle frame attached to two short snowboards resembling a scooter. The Snowscoot is maneuvered using both the legs and the arms. It can be ridden with the feet pointing forward on the main board or with feet more sideways as on a snowboard. Curving Snowscoot riders resemble cornering motorcyclists and motocross riders in high-powered performances on snow.

Ski Fox is a modern day version of a former snow toy called a "jack-jump." The Ski Fox features an extreme shaped ski with a cushy seat and highly effective suspension bracket developed by a German cabinet-maker. In the past, non-skiing lift operators screwed a two-by-four vertically to an old ski, mounted a seat and rode the device downhill at the end of the day. Ski Foxes are ridden with a mini-ski on each foot providing one of the most thrilling rides of all the snow toys available. They have lots of turning power for carving both long and short curves in the snow. Beginners can control the device almost immediately.

Skibikes, originally called "skibobs," have been around the snowy slopes for decades, especially in Europe. With mini-skis on both feet, riders sit on the seat and steer the bike with the handlebars attached to a longer lead ski. Skibikes are lightweight and easy to maneuver with some models quickly disassembled for transporting uphill on ski lifts by their users.

Officials at Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) have recognized what they call "the proliferation of alternative sliding devices" and established a series of Snow Toys Workshops for its members. "Ski areas are becoming a literal carnival of snow sports," said PSIA Education Director, Cherisse Rabl. "The snow toys clinics are designed to keep our instructors on the cutting edge of all snow sports. Now a person can go for a week-long vacation to a winter resort and try a different snow sport each day," Rabl added. "We must be prepared to explore the features of the different toys available, the skills involved and most of all, the fun factor."

For information on snow toys and instructional programs contact PSIA Eastern Division, headquartered in Albany: (518) 452-6095 or www.psia-e.org.

Ron Farra (farra@capital.net) lives in Saratoga Springs and enjoys hiking, biking, kayaking, snowshoeing and skiing. He is co-author of Winter Trails New York: The Best Cross-Country Ski & Snowshoe Trails (Globe Pequot).

©2000-2003 Adirondack Sports & Fitness. All rights reserved.