Yesterday’s Snow Skate post with Archie was so unpopular that I decided to follow it up with more research just to spite you, the reading audience. These snow/ski/skateboard patents started showing up as applications in 1977. Curiously, I couldn’t find anything going back earlier that had a skateboard as the foundation. I would have expected something to show up around 1965 but no dice. We’re focused on snow, leaving ice for a later post. At least two of the patents I found are so similar to the finished products in yesterday’s post that they must have been filed by the inventor or manufacturers of those products. One surprise was finding a 1977 patent for the modern day snow skate, the kind with a skateboard deck attached to one small ski.

The cover of Archie #270 (published in April of 1978) features Archie predicting the invention of the Snow Skate, a product that would first be announced in 1979! I’ve seen ads for the 70’s version snow skates before, and I keep looking for them on my hard drive and online like it’s Groundhog Day. I wasted a good 30 minutes just now doing the same until, hold on, what’s this under a pile of crap on my desk? Oh yes, the February 1978 issue of Skateboarder Magazine, complete with an ad for the Snow Skate. That’s the one in the middle. The black and white version comes from Cal Streets. This post is going to cover some of the snow skates over the ages with the exception of the ones that are just a regular board, and those that have one ski mounted to the bottom.

Here’s two winter board sports products from the April/May 1979 issue of Skate magazine. Surprisingly, there were no ads for these products in this issue, just the product announcements. First up is a Snowboard from Elite. It’s 1979 and this is a far cry from what was right around the corner in the snowboarding industry, say 1982. This one looks like a Snurfer with the addition of a couple of very shallow surfboard-style fins on the bottom. Meanwhile, the Snow Skate is a set of 4 skis that strap on to your wheels.

Costco has skateboards, and not just some schleppy pile on the shelves, they’ve got a nice display of Jaseboards, a brand from Hawaii that only appears to be available the website or at Costco for the time being. And because it’s winter time, they’re also carrying those snow runner wheel replacements. (See Railz) For the summertime they’ve got LED light up wheels from Puka, a brand that I can’t seem to find an online presence for. – Thanks to Stephen B for the photos.

Carl Warren sent in a photo of on again, off again contributor Mike Estes on some sort of contraption called a snow skate. I’ve seen pictures of these things, couldn’t see how they would be rideable, but apparently they are. Are there truck-like mechanisms on these things? No bindings either. It looks like a tiny ski mounted to a skateboard like a hydrofoil. This is exactly why we kicked him off of Skate and Annoy. What’s that? I’m being told here that he actually quit. See the full frame shot after the jump.

Here at Skate and Annoy, we recognize that many of our readers, particularly in the Midwest, are facing a difficult time in the life of a skater: the preparation for winter. Many are squeezing sessions in before the snow, ice, or rain sets in. The winter alienates many riders who recognize snowboarding and snow skating, as pictured above from The Snow Life, as insufficient substitutes for skateboards. Each year, skaters fall out of practice and even quit skateboarding after they recognize that their “summer legs” have atrophied into wonky and clumsy appendages by the end of the winter. Many tears are shed over the tremendous task of re-learning even simple maneuvers, such as ollies. For those who are considering measures to simulate a real skateboarding experience, check this out. The folks at wikiHow.com were kind enough to the skateboard community to post an instructional on how to create a diy pseudo-skatespot in your own backyard. Unfortunately for skaters, however, this idea is crap.

Some enginerds have built a low cost version of an existing skateboard/snowmobile hybrid. It’s basically a skateboard with two tank treads replacing the truck assembly. Even though they might have even used drills to power it, it’s still a step above this, but lowering the cost also lowers the perofmance, as the Sno Deck seems to have a top speed of 2 MPH. It’s no Scarpar, that’s for sure. The best part of the video is when the Beastie Boys cut into the super lame OPM Heaven is a halfpipe song. (Q: Sugar Ray wannabes, how lame is that? A: Very!) Then the action kicks into… well, low gear. These guys can barely stand up on damn thing! Also, look for their semi-embarassed “Engineering”battle cry. Catch the vid after the jump.

Railz may look familiar to anyone who remembers Ice Blades from the late 70’s and 80’s. Another company called Zema made a version in the late 80’s and 90’s. This decade has even seen a few replacement trusses with two inline skating wheels instead of the ice skating blade, not to mention a host of other wacky wheel replacements. Now you can buy Railz as a conversion or a complete board. Basically little snowboards that you attach in place of wheels. There’s an additional suspension kit that does something, I’m sure. Railz look like they’re made for hard pack, and apparently there are a few resorts that allow them. As if snowboarders didn’t have enough of a stigma using chairlifts, Imagine toating your snow-railz-board with a leash. It’s embarassing to find out about these products from the mainstream media. Come people. Step up! Gizmodo doesn’t cover these things nearly as obsessively as skate geeks demand.