Colorado business touts snowskates

park it is cool to break a board. You can walk to your car and leave, but if you break a board at the terrain park you have about a mile walk down. It sucked.”

BY CODY JONES SUMMIT DAILY NEWS

It was not that long ago when the only way to get down a mountain was on a pair of skis. Skiers used to dominate snowsports with no other competition and could have a ski day without having to worry about another “strange form” of getting down the slopes.

However, in the late ’80s, slopes started seeing rapid change with the rise of the snowboard. Turf wars ensued at ski areas across the country. e snowboard craze eventually leveled out at the end of the 20th century, and it is now common to see skis and snowboards in almost equal numbers on a chairlift. Nearly 40 years after snowboards emerged onto the snowsports scene, a new method of cruising down the mountain has arrived, and a Breckenridge-based company — Aloud Snowskates — is trying to make snowskates the next biggest trend on the mountain.

Much as snowboards were rst met with confusion and opposition from skiers, snowskates currently have both skiers and snowboarders not quite knowing what to think of a skateboard-type deck — with no bindings — fastened to the top of a ski.

Former professional skateboarder and Summit resident Eddie Sixberry was inspired to start Aloud Snowskates after riding several other companies’ snowskates. Sixberry, 60, enjoyed the concept of hauling down a piece of wood while only being attached by a leash fastened around his waist, but did not enjoy the feel of the snowskates currently on the market.

“I started snowskating around 2009, like all the time,” Sixberry said. “ ere weren’t many available and there were only a handful of people doing it. I was a ski and ride instructor (at Breckenridge Ski Resort) and I was allowed to ride my skate in uniform. I didn’t like how the other skates per- formed. I started modifying stu .”

One of the biggest problems Sixberry ran into while riding other versions of snowskates is that the wooden top deck of the board would snap when he tried to land tricks o of terrain park jumps or natural side hits.

“I was breaking the tails on the jumps,” Sixberry said. “At the skate-

As a result, Sixberry started designing a snowskate that was durable, strong, fun to ride on and could handle any terrain on the mountain.

Sixberry designed a more durable board by changing the trucks of the board and partnering with Denverbased Folsom Custom Skis to provide a smooth-gliding ski for the subdeck.

Sixberry then assembled a crew consisting of his two sons — Andrew and Matt — along with other Summit County residents who all helped him o cially launch in 2019.

Each member of the “fun-having” and hardworking crew has their own role, with Eddie Sixberry being the main mastermind and fearless leader of the company, Andrew Sixberry being in charge of screen printing merchandise and overseeing online sales, Matt Sixberry designing the trucks of the snowskate, Rich Fisher of Rocky Mountain Tattoo Emporium designing the art of merchandise and skates, and both PJ Parkinson and Jim James (Eddie Sixberry’s roommate) serving as the media, sales and events organizers.

With each member of the team helping to make Aloud Snowskates the next big name in the snowsport market, the team now has six di erent snowskates for sale to the public.

Each board o ers riders a di erent experience, with some boards being geared towards fast and owy groomers while others are ideal for terrain park riding or moguls. Another aspect that makes Aloud Snowskates unique to skis and snowboards is that they are easily interchangeable to any rider