The closed ski resort - free fun in a tough economy!

While most folks replace their skis for golf clubs or whatever spring/summer sport, don't forget about your local ski resort.  Since my kids are too little to actually ski (2&4), this presents a unique opportunity for the little ones to enjoy snow and sunshine!  And guess what - it comes without the lift ticket prices and freezing children screaming for hot chocolate.  Here in the PacNW, there will be snow for weeks to come.  From last weekend my daughter made a snowman:

 

For the adult (me), I enjoy hiking up the mountain for some early morning runs.  Again, it's great and costs very little (gas money).  In one instance (last spring), I was able to combine the both of them:

The possibilities are endless!

What about you?  Do you creative free ways to entertain your rugrats?

Snowskating is the least expensive way to the snow

What do I mean by that?  It's all relative, but in comparison - let's break down some numbers.  

The specific cost of entry to snowskating is cheap when comparing to gearing up for snowboarding or skateboarding.  For a snowboarder or skier, you need to buy boots ($$), Board ($$), and bindings ($$).  This can set you back $500-$1000 (or more).  Most snowskaters have just converted some boots or skateboard shoes, plus most of the snowskate shoes are almost the same as skate shoe prices (especially on sale!).  Obviously we don't need bindings.  A new snowskate runs about $300.  That's roughly the cost of just a cheaper new snowboard (without bindings).  The same thing goes for skiers.  To that "we are cheaper" point, we have the PBR inspired graphic on a new snowskate from FUSE:

Yes, you can rent snowboards and skis.  Yes, waterproof or at minimum water resistant clothing is still required.  Yes, lift tickets cost you a day's work.  But still! 

There you have it - the cheapest way to get on the slopes without spending all your dough.

Agree, disagree?

 

Snowskate shoes

While at the Roundup, I made a mental note to ask people or look at what shoes they were wearing.  It turns out that at least half of the crew were wearing some form of normal skate shoes.  Some had adapted by wearing either wool socks, waterproof socks or just dealing with it.  Their were still lots of folks rocking the older Vans designs (Motley, Ico).  I'm still wearing the same Vans Motleys I got on clearance for $40 many years ago.  I've added Sno-seal on them to reduce water permeability.

BTW, Sno-seal is amazing stuff.  It really makes things waterproof.  And it's just a natural formulation of beeswax.  And it's been around for 80 years or something ridiculous. I recommend putting this on all your leather/pleather winter shoes - especially if you are adapting regular skate shoes.

What no snowskate shoe has really figured out well is how to reduce getting snow in your shoes.  The older vans had a built-in neoprene gaiter, but even that wasn't perfect.  I'm thinking these might do the trick:  Dirty Girl gaiters.  These were originally designed for trail runners trying to keep debris out of their shoes.  They are cheap, easy to install, and they come in lots of patterns (see skull version pic).  Although not waterproof, I think they will keep enough snow out and dry quick.

What have you done to adapt your shoes?

In case you are looking, the following shoes have been recommended by folks:
DVS Militia (water resistant version)
Nike ACG Woodside or Air Force 1 duckboot
Sorel Chesterman Chukka
North Face Back-to-Berkeley boot
Vans Mtn Edition
Keen Snow Rover (for pow)

Snowskate Roundup 2012 - Steven's Pass (April 15th)

After some "will it or won't it happen" drama, the Roundup went down at Steven's Pass on April 15th. It was the same day as Spring Fest at Steven's, so there were lots of crazy outfits, pond skimming, and cardboard box racing.  We however, had our own agenda!  Photos courtesy of other people's cameras (Gergis, Brian Wilson, more).

After procuring a group rate via the group sales dude, we headed up to take some cruising runs to get the blood flowing.  Then we headed up to the terrain park to familiarize ourselves with obstacles.  Due to the "drama" we didn't have any snowskate specific obstacles built, but we quickly dialed in a few items.

The contest format:  It evolved into a jam format wherein all the riders would focus on one particular obstacle at a time.  Mark showed up to judge even though he was completely wrecked with a broken collarbone.  We started with some mellow to moderate kickers.  It's hard to recall, but some folks (Ted, Tyler, Jordan, Joachim, others) hit the jumps and others used it like a quarterpipe (Shag, Ted).  Tyler and Jordan also hit the big handrail - that thing was gnarly.  Good for them - I gave up on rails a long time ago - and I should have listened to my own advice...  Here's Jordan killing a rail (not the one I was talking about, but this was butter).

The second obstacle was a larger kicker with a gap.  Lots of big air going on with this, but you needed to carry a lot of speed.  I was able to get one solid, bolts on landing of an indy air over this gap (see pic).  That felt good.  Jordan was doing a nice varial air over the gap, too.

The third obstacle was the triangle wall.  With some speed, we were doing little wall rides on either side.  Here's 3rd Place Tyler doing a creative Acid drop off this thing.

I made the mistake of thinking I could ride up, railslide, then ride down the other side... I went too fast and the board hung up.  Epic crash.  Ouch.

Fourth obstacle: Picnic table - since I took off to nurse my wounds (advil and Redbull), I will have to let the videos do the talking:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=340052959390430

#5:  Updown rail:  Ok, the guys were good, but the ladies deserve special credit.  They were killing this obstacle while most of us (well, especially me) were flailing all over the place.

Final event - Chinese Downhill!   This was a unique downhill since the run that was chosen was steep in one section, but very flat in most of it.  With spring conditions in effect, this meant one thing: RUNNING.  This was really fun to see and I look forward to posting videos from this.

We all took a cruiser to finish the day and head back to the parking lot for some well deserved drinks and hotdogs.  Prizes were awarded and everyone walked away with something.  There were many smiles to go around.  Special thanks to Victor Zurn for setting this up.

I'll re-post more stuff once all the folks with cameras start posting.

Women's
• 1st - Randi Rae Rettke
• 2nd - Angela Vaughan
• 3rd - Katie Nailer
Men's
• 1st - Joachim Bronzich
• 2nd - Jordan Armstrong
• 3rd - Kyler Lee

Videos so far: 


 Video 1.  Video 2 (crashes)