In the winter, longboarders often put down their boards and move on to other activities. In many places11, temperatures drop below freezing, roads freeze, and soon everything is covered in snow.
Will you be able to longboard on snow if you don’t have access to the mountains, a budget, or the desire to ski? You can longboard if it is drizzling and there is still no snow on the roads. In that case, the only problem is water entering the rig from the wet road surface.
However, longboarding becomes more difficult if there is ice on the road surface or a thick layer of snow. A strong cyclist should be able to ride with extreme caution, using high-grip wheels and reliable safety equipment.
Regardles of the situation, you can always try to skate even if it is snowing, here we can appreciate a video of landyachtz riders enjoying their time while it is snowing, you can see that one is sliding with longboard wheels and other has an special equipment that we will talk about later
This video is awe-inspiring. Even if you are used to going fast on a longboard or sliding on it, it is complicated to get used to the feeling of skating over snow. Here we will make the first decision, should you try to skate on snow with longboard wheels, or should you try a snowskate? In the next section, we will find the answer!
Snowskate Vs. Longboard wheels
Skatesnows are gadgets you add to your longboard to mimic the feeling of a snowboard without investing a significant amount of money. They substitute the wheels, an excellent option for trying new experiences.
History of Snowskates
The history of snowskate goes back to a model called the Snorfer in 1964. The Snorfer is said to be the first snowboard to appear on the market, and since it had no bindings, it could be called the first snowskate. Joshua Luther first introduced the term “snowskate” because he had to cross town in a snowstorm.
Around 1970, local toy and sporting goods stores began selling “snow skate” products. They resemble modern-day Hughes sleds. Two ski-like pieces were attached around the cart of the skateboard so that the skateboard could move on the snow. The skiing part of the snowskate was made of hard plastic and was held in place by rubber bands over the ski wheels. Other early sled brands included Skeeter and Snodland. Designs during this period varied from two ski boards on the bottom deck, as in the Skeeter model, to four on the bottom tier. Early snodads used metal pulleys, like ice skates, which allowed them to glide well with power.
The “snodad” came much later, created by PNW skaters to skate without bindings in fresh snow. Unfortunately, it disappeared shortly after its official launch. It exists only as a historical “memory” of their pioneering snowskating without bindings.
What types of snowskates are there?
After researching snow skating, we have discovered that there are three types of ways of building a snow skate and we will list them from our least favorite to the one we liked the most.
4x4 mountable Kit
The first option we discovered was the 4×4. It is the least common type of snowskate; the 4×4 snowskate features four small skis in place of each wheel, most resembles a skateboard, and is usually slightly thicker and longer than a regular skateboard.
The most knowledgeable product was: Fuse Snowskate 4X4 Kit. It has a price of 60.95$, which makes them the cheapest option, and they are great for trying snow skating for the first time.
The product description is as follows:
Winter is here and you sit around inside waiting for the snow to go away so you can get back to boarding. Fret not! The solution is here – Fuse Snow skate kit. Replace your wheels with this kit – and you are ready to shred on the snow!
You can use it on either cruiser boards, longboards or skateboards. The hub width is approximately 24mm which is the same as on most skate wheel. The length of each ski is 10.2” (26cm).
You can see that this option is great for skating at your local spot when it is snowed, but we would not recommend going to a ski station with them. The biggest con we have found with this option is that they might feel more like sleds than a snowboard.
It seems like the product is sold out on the site right now, but here we have seen this other option that might also work.
The problem is that Fuse costs 60.95$ for a pack of 4 sleds, and this option costs around 37€ but doesn´t specify if the price is for one sled or a group of 4, so if you want to buy it, under your luck!
Bideck
The second option we have is the complete mountable kit, which is pretty similar to the previous option, but the difference is that this one is just a giant board that you can mount under your skate or longboard. The difference is that this option mimics the snowboarding experience much better than the 4×4 kit.
Bideck skates are a type of snow skate with a deck on which the skate stands and a lower ski deck that is in contact with the snow. The large deck consists of one or more blades. The bideck sled is said to have been conceived by a local Stevens Pass, Washington resident named Steve Frink, who came up with the idea of a skateboard with blades after burning his skateboard while riding in 1994. 2001 saw the creation of several prototypes, eventually leading to the “Bi- Deck,” and completed the product called the “Bi-Deck. The company sold the snow skate trademark.
Around the same time, snowboard manufacturer Burton Snowboards released the Snow Deck. Burton has since discontinued the production of skis. In many parts of the world, skis are being tendered for sale. Bidecs adapt to different skiing styles. Longer bidecks are preferred for uphill skiing, and shorter bidecks for tricks and stunts.
Modern bidecks manufacturers include Hovland, Parol Board, Squampton Snowskates (environmentally friendly and hemp-based), Harfang, Ralston, Pioneer, Fuse, Florida Power Skates, 0910, Minus 7 Lilly, Chiller, LibTek, Boyd Hill.
Companies that still exist and are selling snoskates
The highest peak of Snow Skating was similar to longboarding; they had the most riders from 2009 to 2017, especially from 2011 to 2015. We have dug into all the companies, and we have mostly found articles about them, social media accounts without uploads for over five years, outdated web pages, and a lot of sadness.
But between all that emptiness, we found four brands that are still working to this day, they are selling their bidecks, and if you are interested in buying one for this winter, you should contact one of them! You can also press the images below, leading you to their websites.
Hovland
Lib-Tech
Body Hill
Land Yachtz
Single Deck
The last option to try skating in the snow is the complete snow skates. Since the discovery of this discipline, companies have developed a lot of accessories to mimic snowboarding. But, for the last few years, some brands have grown around snow skating, making unique products and specializing in the industry.
Single-ply snow skates are usually made of laminated wood or hard plastic with a plastic sole. There are grooves on the bottom of the board, usually seven or five cut out. Single-ply skates are preferred in toboggan parks and urban areas, but they can also be folded for use down the mountain. However, they are rarely permitted on ski slopes. This type of snowboard is best suited for winter skiing tricks.
Single-ply skis were first manufactured by Premier Snowskates and marketed by Andy Wolfe, a former member of the Nitro Snowboard Team, in 1998.
Some snowboarders were drawn by comparisons of surfing and skateboarding – promises of achieving something similar, but on snow. Along with their expectations, these new powder hounds brought a new attitude and a plan to test limits.
Snowboarding added an alternative vernacular to the mountain, a new style. In 1998, it became an Olympic sport. Along that route, some claimed the sport lost its identity. A sense of subversion was gone.
Today the leading manufacturers are Ambition Snowskates, Icon Snowskates, LY Snow, and Krown Skateboards.
The luge fleet became plentiful when single-story sleds began to be sold in stores; single-story sleds quickly became the talk of the town, and toboggan parks sprang up all over the United States.
Luge parks transformed skiing from an underground urban winter sport to a mass winter sport. With the advent of snowboarding, many resorts closed their toboggan parks, and the luge returned to its roots as an underground winter sport.
