Skibiking comes to Winter Park Resort

Skibiking came to Winter Park Resort about four years ago.

What's a skibike you ask? We'll they've come along way in the past decade. Ski bobs with the little foot skis have been around commercially since the 1940's. Those are fun but sometimes one needs a little more excitement.

In the past decade, a number of mountain bikers have taken the wheels off their bikes and put skis on them. Some use ski bike conversion kits while others have redesigned downhill mountain bike frames from the skis up.

There seems to be resistance to skibiking from many ski resorts. Some mistakenly think they take up more room than skiers while others lack the imagination to see that they can be compatible with all chair lifts.

A really fun place for skibikes is the terrain park. A full-suspension peg skibike can do anything a skier or snowboarder can do. That includes backflips, barrel rolls, jumps, halfpipe, rails, and rock drops. Don't believe me - I can send the Vimeo and YouTube links to you to prove it.

Many ski resorts use licensing to control access. That's fine - they did that when snowboarding was just starting out. Not that that resulted in snowboarders being in control even today. Lessons aren't required before skiers or snowboarders hit the slopes. I wish they were - the slopes would be much safer.

Anyway, Winter Park Resort has embraced all skibiking. Skibikes are allowed everywhere except the terrain parks. Ski bobs and peggers can ride wherever they want to. Rentals are available for both types.

Before one can rent a ski bike at Winter Park Resort, one must take a 2.5 hour lesson and earn their skibike license. Once earned, one can come back anytime and rent a bike. Before scoffing - lessons have been going out twice daily almost everyday at Winter Park this season.

If your ski resort needs more revenue, why not consider skibiking? You can either lead the charge and help shape the sport or be a me-too in another decade. Winter Park Resort isn't dropping its skibike program anytime soon.


© 2011 G. Kunkel and A Colorado Skibiker Goes Skibiking. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to G. Kunkel and A Colorado Skibiker Goes Skibiking with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.