Snowskate Bait

There’s a new phenomenon hitting the parks: It’s called snowskating. Innovator Andy Wolf, a professional snowboarder, was never entirely satisfied with the snowboard because the bindings limited his ability to do certain tricks. He wanted the thrill of skateboarding combined with the powder of snowboarding. Because no one else had done it, he went into his garage and designed just the right board to fit his needs.

With his snowskate, Wolf has kicked off a new craze that’s quickly spreading through the resorts. Those who live the lifestyle, who live for powder, know that the addiction doesn’t stop at snowboarding. After you’ve been bitten by the bug, you want to try anything that offers a similar thrill. Snowskating bridges the gap between snowboarding in the winter and skateboarding in the summer. When you practice one, you’re automatically getting better at the other as well.

One of the first resorts to incorporate a snowskating park was Oregon’s Mt. Hood, one of the mountains you can tackle in Amped 2—and now snowskating is part of the Amped experience.

Snowskate?
Snowskates are based on the idea of a skateboard designed for snow, but of course they have no wheels. They are shorter and narrower than a standard snowboard, but longer and slightly wider than a skateboard. They also come with a variety of special features, such as a foam top-sheet so your shoes don’t slip and a channel grooved into the base for tracking on rails. You’re not bound to your board, so you can do all the tricks with a snowskate that you can do with your skateboard. Do kick flips, stalls, shuvits, and nose slides. Ride the rails, or perform one-footed tweaks and ollies.

Snowskates meld the design, physics, and sensations of skateboarding and snowboarding for a unique experience that falls somewhere between the two.

You can take a snowskate anywhere there’s snow and enough of an incline to slide.

In the Beginning ...
Snowskating hit the big time in 2003, when Mt. Hood hosted the US Open of Snowskating (on July 5, no less). Event coordinators built a huge snowskate park that allowed more than 20 contestants to show off their tricks. The event was a huge success. After four heats. during which contestants attacked a course consisting of table tops, fun boxes, kinked rails, and s-rails, two skaters came out on top: Tad Hihari and Joel Maxey. There were four hours of intense competition burning up the rails, and that’s the kind of icy heat that Xbox has captured in Amped 2.

Before and after the Open, skaters came out of the woodwork to practice their tricks—hanging, falling, and falling again—until finally they got it right. That’s what it’s all about: hanging out with friends and repeating tricks until you pull them without a wobble.

Diversity
The snowskate feature on Amped 2 gives players a chance to learn a different skill set and practice moves that aren’t possible on a skateboard. Players will find that the challenge and diversity extend gameplay, long after they’ve conquered the snowboard parks. Skateboarders, meanwhile, can now feel right at home in the winter wonderland. It’s easy to learn snowskating in Amped 2. You’ll get used to the controls quickly because they’re similar to those used for the snowboarding mode. Of course, when snowskating, style will get you further than technical prowess, so you may as well go for the big drama.

Take a break from the stress of pursuing a professional snowboarding career in Amped 2,and hit the snowskating feature. You’ll still be practicing your moves, with a little added flair and some extra options thrown in for good measure. Before you know it, you’ll be tearing up the rails!

By Violet Leigh