Got Deck?/ Snow riding takes a turn, with part-skateboard, part-

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 31, 2002 | by Deb Acord

Snowboarders proved they could fly in the half pipe. Skiers work their anti-gravity magic as well. Even motocross riders got into the act at the recent X-Games in Aspen.

But it was all so . . . X. Just what were the Ys (as in Generation Y, the Next Generation) doing during the X-games? Ollies on their snowdecks, of course.

Snowdecks are snowboards without bindings, or perhaps more accurately, skateboards without wheels. They cost between $150 and $250, and require no special boots or other equipment.

On a snowdeck, a rider can maneuver through terrain parks, do tricks and jumps and spins, and then carve down the slopes, just like a snowboarder..

But a snowdeck rider can also play on a hill in the backyard, or on the neighborhood street.

They've been around for a few years, but this season they have taken off - exploded, really - at skateparks, in backyards and on ski slopes throughout the country.

But probably no snowdeck crowd was as savvy about the decks as the one that took over Aspen for the X-Games.

"It was amazing," says Aspen spokesman Jeff Hanle. "We put up a snowdeck park at Buttermilk, and at the beginning of the day, there was like one rider on it. By the end of the X-Games, there were times when there had to be 200 riders there. It exploded. Snowdecks were everywhere."

Dylan O'Neil was there. A 15-year-old sophomore at Palmer High School, O'Neil knows a great trend when he sees one. And he often gets to see them before most other Colorado Springs teens. That's because he works part-time as a ski technician at The Ski Shop, 1422 S. Tejon St.

O'Neil says he bought his snowdeck - a Burton model called the Junkyard - at the beginning of the season, "because it looked cool."

He's an avid snowboarder who usually rides his Volkl Conquer or Atlantis Two Face boards. He favors trees and back bowls, but with his Junkyard, he sticks to less-steep terrain. He went to Aspen to watch the X-Games, and spent some time on both his snowboard and his snowdeck. "We used (the decks) around town, on little hills and sidewalks and stuff," he says.

Jeremy Spader spotted the snowdecks at the X-Games, too. A snowboarder who works at Christy Sports in Colorado Springs, Spader says the decks "are a lot like skateboards. You definitely don't go charging down a hill. They're great for little tricks."

Spader was in on another skateboard revolution a few years ago. He worked for MountainBoards, a company that started in Colorado Springs with an innovative design that took skateboards to the trails.

Snowdecks are different, Spader says. Instead of replacing a rider's favorite device, "they seem to appeal to snowboarders who might want a break from their boarding."

And they are being marketed to potential snow-riders who don't want to pay for a board and boots and bindings.

Plenty of options

Several companies make versions of the snowdeck. The Burton Junkyard and two other models, the Link and the Source, are actually two decks. The top deck is shaped like a skateboard with a concave shape. The sub-deck is shaped like a snowboard, with metal edges. The two decks are connected with a set of risers. Salomon's model, the PP3, is also two boards connected with risers.

A single-board model called the Snowskate was introduced in 1998 by former pro skateboarder Andy Wolf; it's manufactured by Premier. A company called Santa Cruz makes another version, called the Winterskate.

Boarders knew about the snowdecks, but it was probably Jake Burton, owner of the pioneering snowboard company, who contributed most to their popularity. He introduced the decks as a Christmas gag to employees a season ago. Employees loved the riding device, and since then, Burton representatives have traveled the country, building impromptu snowdeck parks and offering demo days.

At first, resorts were slow to accept snowdecks. Without bindings or special boots, the original models had no way to attach to the rider, so they didn't meet resort leash requirements for their lifts.

But Burton now includes a cable leash with each board, and daring riders have taken to the slopes throughout the country.

In Colorado, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge have welcomed snowdecks. When Telluride opened its new Prospect Bowl recently, there were snowdeckers up there, says David Perry, president of Colorado Ski Country U.S.A., the trade organization for nearly all of Colorado's resorts.

"We identified this trend some time ago, and have been encouraging resorts to welcome snowdecks and even build facilities for them," Perry says.

Perry says resorts needn't worry about snowdecks taking over. "They weren't intended to replace skis or snowboards or even to be taken all over the mountain. They're great for small parks and gentle slopes."

The folks at Burton remember what it's like to introduce a new product to the ski slopes (flashback to the advent of the snowboard). That's why the company has been working with individual resorts, says Phil Grieco, who works for the company that markets Burton products.

"Burton tells them, 'we understand it's new' and it works well to have a little park off to the side."