[video=youtube;zI08pL13e9o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI08pL13e9o[/video]
Snowskate hype is back.
[B]
What is a snowskate?
[/B]Snowskates are basically skateboards on snow. There are four different snowskate designs today, but the most used ones are single- and bidecks. Snowskates are intended primarily to allow for skateboard-style tricks on the snow.[B]
Singledecks
[/B]
These are the ones they use in the video. While you can ride at some mountain resorts with them, they are primarily designed for street riding. Tricks are easiest to do with these kind of snowskates. For you to be able to steer and control the board on the snow, there are 7 or 5 grooves at the bottom of the board to keep the board straight. The bottom is made of the same material as snowboards so they are as fast as snowboards. There are two companies that actually know how to make good singledeck snowskates: Icon Snowskates and Ambition snowskates. Main difference with their snowskates is the base of the deck. Icon cuts the grooves out of the wood, and then prints the sintered UHMV-PE base onto the wood and Ambition's grooves are cut out of the extruded UHMW-PE base, thus making the board thicker and a little bit heavier. There are pros and cons to both of these techniques: Icons are a little bit faster and lighter, but do not track( steering is harder ) as well as Ambitions do, because Icon's groove-cutting technique only allows for 5 wide grooves where Ambition's technique allows for 7 sharp grooves. Also Icons should be waxed every other day to keep them fast, when you can just scrap your Ambition's base to make it smooth and fast again.
[IMG]http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/img/products/2012/gerlach.jpg[/IMG]
[I]Ambition's Alan Gerlach pro model [/I]
[IMG]http://cdn.sportsvibe.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Icon-Snowskates-2.jpg[/IMG]
[I]Icon snowskates 2012 line. Notice the 5, wider grooves.[/I]
Snowskating is an insanely fun sport. You are able to bomb mountain resorts and offroad hills if you want, and you are also able to throw some sweet tricks off 10-stair sets. Longboarding and skateboarding combined, who could possibly want more?
[IMG]http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/img/upload/yeti10_phil_hardflip.jpg[/IMG] hardflip
[IMG]http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/img/upload/sotw24.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/img/upload/sotw21.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.iconsnowskates.com/documents/gallery_photos/401.Munising_Josh_5050.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://kendrawilsonnv.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/anatomy-of-a-snowskate.jpg[/IMG]
[B]Bidecks[/B]
Bidecks are the snowskate equivalent of a snowboard. They are primarily designed for riding ski resorts, although it is possible to ride street with them too. Bidecks feature a top skateboard-style deck, and below that, a ski that is thinner than the top deck and that is in contact with the snow. Between these there are things called trucks or rocker trucks, which are flexible and allow the snowskate to pop easier.
Why bidecks are better for ski resorts is because carving is almost as easy on them as it is with a snowboard. This allows the rider to control the board even on very steep hills, where with a singledeck you would be in deep trouble.
Bideck riding:
[video=youtube;WP2ZRNPobP4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP2ZRNPobP4&feature=related[/video]
Some good websites:
[url]http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com[/url]
[url]http://www.iconsnowskates.com[/url]
[url]http://www.ralstonsnowskates.com/[/url]
Full snowskating movies:
Ambition Snowskates - [URL="http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/video/truecolor/"]True Color 2005 - 2009[/URL]
Ambition Snowskates - [URL="http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/video/snosk8_aliens/"]Snosk8_aliens 2010[/URL]
Ambition Snowskates - [URL="http://www.ambitionsnowskates.com/video/"]Skrill Clinton 2011[/URL]
Icon Snowskates - [URL="http://www.iconsnowskates.com/media/video/72/something-to-be-said"]Something To Be Said 2011[/URL]
[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1439792/minecraft/kdas.png[/img]
That explains it.
Here in the southern US, we don't have snow
Looks pretty damn rad, but I prefer the control that snowboard bindings give me.
True, but I mostly like the feeling of freedom. I don't like having my feet strapped down to 2 exact positions on the board, with the snowskate I'm able to ride however I want.
Also with the bideck snowskates( which I have to try out ) you can carve just like with a snowboard. Here's Alan Gerlach snowskating the Northstar mountain resort with a bideck: [video=youtube;32oQDCnsURY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32oQDCnsURY[/video]
Snow Sports look like my dream come true. I live in central Illinois. It doesn't really snow that much, and there aren't any really good places to ride a Skateboard/Longboard. Snowboarding/skating looks like awesome.
I don't get it, why not just snowboard?
[QUOTE=FPKawaii;33908329]I don't get it, why not just snowboard?[/QUOTE]
You don't have the same freedom, you can't do flips as easily etc.
Most of us Americans got screwed on snow this year.
[QUOTE=JustGman;33908422]Most of us Americans got screwed on snow this year.[/QUOTE]
Yea what the hell is up with that?
I've got a snowskate deck, but I've only used it once when I was in New York.
Yeah but in Finland there hasn't been so much snow either( except the very northern parts ). In fact, it's raining water here at the moment.
[QUOTE=FPKawaii;33908329]I don't get it, why not just snowboard?[/QUOTE]
no flipping for you
So this is how they can perform kickflips in the SSX games..
Looks damn badass, but i suck at skateboarding and have never used a snowboard so the combination will not make it easier.
I'm surprised I haven't seen this before. It's snowy most of the year In my state. I definitely want to try this since I can't try skateboarding right now.
[QUOTE=Boarta;33908394]You don't have the same freedom, you can't do flips as easily etc.[/QUOTE]
I'm assuming you mean like kickflips, which are impossible on a snowboard considering you have your feet strapped in. If you mean like front flips and back flips though I'm pretty sure they'd be easier on a snowboard (because you don't have to worry about the board leaving your feet), but I've never attempted one.
also I have a cheap-o plastic snowskate kickin' around somewhere, might drag it out again if I feel like it. But I just picked up snowboarding this season so I'll probably be spending all my time doing that.
All the plastic snowskates suck. Only good singledeck companies are Ambition and Icon snowskates, the other ones aren't good as they break easily and lose their speed fast. Also plastic snowskates lose their pop after a few sessions because the plastic loses it's form over time.
I agree with you though on the snowboard vs snowskate argument, there haven't been any decent front-/backflip attempts that I know of on a singledeck( afaik Alan Gerlach is trying to get rodeo flip on tape this year ), and some lame backflips have been pulled off on a bideck. Also the bindings bring you more stability, so hitting big stuff at great speed is much easier on a snowboard.
Still I prefer snowskating.
I used to ride down hills on my old skateboard deck all the time. Worked for the most part, but really sucked when it got away from you or the snow piled up.
These look like a bit more complex version of that.
[QUOTE=whitespace;33913307]All the plastic snowskates suck. Only good singledeck companies are Ambition and Icon snowskates, the other ones aren't good as they break easily and lose their speed fast. Also plastic snowskates lose their pop after a few sessions because the plastic loses it's form over time.[/QUOTE]
yeah I know haha, I'm pretty sure it was only like $20 and I got it 4-5 years ago.
can you get enough speed for half-pipes on snowskates? If you can I'd say a rodeo wouldn't be too hard (well easier than it would be to do one off a kicker imo)
I always thought snowskates were those short stubby skis?
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;33914624]I always thought snowskates were those short stubby skis?[/QUOTE]
I think they're snow blades or something like that.
[QUOTE=JustGman;33908422]Most of us Americans got screwed on snow this year.[/QUOTE]
you say it like it's a bad thing
[QUOTE=hula whoop;33913703]yeah I know haha, I'm pretty sure it was only like $20 and I got it 4-5 years ago.
can you get enough speed for half-pipes on snowskates? If you can I'd say a rodeo wouldn't be too hard (well easier than it would be to do one off a kicker imo)[/QUOTE]
I think that yes, with a bideck. You can't ride skate verts with these as you don't maintain enough speed on snow for the transition. For the rodeo flip, I just remember seeing a video where Alan tries it out off a dry snow( or w/e it is ) big air ramp onto a big flubby cushion filled with air.
Like this: [IMG]http://thumbs.newschoolers.com/index.php?src=http://media.newschoolers.com/uploads/site/news/13195876887273/bag_1.jpg&size=600x564[/IMG]
[QUOTE=whitespace;33916175]I think that yes, with a bideck. You can't ride skate verts with these as you don't maintain enough speed on snow for the transition. For the rodeo flip, I just remember seeing a video where Alan tries it out off a dry snow( or w/e it is ) big air ramp onto a big flubby cushion filled with air.
Like this: [IMG]http://thumbs.newschoolers.com/index.php?src=http://media.newschoolers.com/uploads/site/news/13195876887273/bag_1.jpg&size=600x564[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Holy shit that thing is huge
Looks like something you need snow in order to use.
Rodeo flip try is at the start of the video: [url]http://vimeo.com/27569282[/url]
I think he is trying to pull one off this year
Nice, I was about to hate on you thinking these were those stupid snowblades lol.
Looks pretty cool, I'll have to try it sometime. Don't know if they would allow it at my ski area though, the ski patrol here are real nazis on anything that moves faster then 20 mph and has no brakes.
I'm surprised that bi-decks are as easy as snowboarding -I saw one a while back and it looked hella difficult
But then I'm a pretty shitty snowboarder too so who knows
Good thing they're not snowblades
is snowskating easy to pick up? i suck at every snow sport there is, but am likely gonna be going to colorado this spring and might try it out.
Well if you have any experience with longboarding/skateboarding, snowskating is easy to pick up. Otherwise it's the same learning curve as with a skateboard. Some actually say that snowskating is easier than skateboarding, but the best thing with snowskating is that eating the ground actually doesn't hurt.
I think that making the transition from snowboarding to snowskating would be easy too.
Would it be possible to convert a skateboard into a snowskate?
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