On Tuesday we got a nice covering of fat, white snow here in Portland. It came down pretty good for a couple hours in the middle of the day. It even stayed solid on the streets, which usually doesn’t happen here. But, by the end of the daylight it had pretty much been replaced by rain, and it melted away. I looked outside at about 5:00 and it all seemed like a pleasant dream. Over the weekend I went to a kids birthday party (with my kids, not to abduct toddlers…) that was at an ice rink. It was the firsttime I’d had on ice skates since grade school. I go to thinking about those old ice board kits that were for sale in the back of Thrasher.

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.

We thought we might be able sneak in a quick session at the end of the day. Local streets had dried up so we went for it. The closer we got, the wetter the windshield became. When we got there, a few kids were camped out in the pipe. More pics of this momentous session after the jump.

Ok, so living in the Columbia River Gorge town of Hood River, Oregon isn’t exactly the best weather I’ve experienced so far for skateboarding. So yesterday I had a nice break from my office duties and decided to go skate the park.

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.