Archie #270 – The Snow Skate Then and Now

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 the cover of the Archie #270 comic book. Unfortunately there are no other skateboarding related stories in this issue. Before I implemented my tracking system, I discovered I had accidentally bought 3 copies of this comic book. Please take one off my hands.

UPDATE: See the patent for the Snow Skate and a few of other of the rides in this post on the Snow Skate Patents Addendum.

Here’s a real life Snow Skate, seen below in the product announcement section of the April/May 1979 issue of Skate magazine.

Here’s the color advert for the Snow Skate. And now I’ll never have to search for it again.

Now soak in the actual product! Thanks to Keith Yost for the photos. These look like they are probably slow as hell under 90% of the conditions you’re expect to ride it in. Those rubber straps seem like they might be prone to popping off in moments of extreme radness…

On the left is alternative Snow Skate ad from Cal Streets that looks like might have been in an industry publication because it seems to be targeting skate shop owners. No idea about the date of this one as the gallery says 1979-1983, but check out those shoes! Now for the competition, it’s “Snow Pro Skateboard Skis.” That dude looks pretty 80’s to me though. This one looks a little closer to what Archie is riding, as the illustration and the ad copy says that that the skis are attached directly to the axel. Snow Pro is patent pending while the Snow Skate ads make no mention of any patent. We do know that Snow Skates were actually produced however. Snow Pros came out of Sheboygan, Wisconsin as opposed to Snow Skates, which were from Irvine, California. I have not been able to find any other visual evidence of the Snow Pro product.

It’s never as simple as digging up a few pictures for S&A, there’s always hidden things you never knew existed, such as the Skeeter. The Skeeter pics come from the Michigan Snowboarding Museum which dates them to some time in the 80’s. You’d think they would have something on the Snow Pro given the geographical proximity but they don’t. The Skeeter is almost like a plastic banana board attached to two oddly wide skis.

Here’s some more Skeeter action from a couple of defunct Ebay auctions. Luckily, we can see some detail of the modified skateboard truck used to mount the sleds. These are too fat to be called skis, and they look slow too.

My search for better Skeeter pictures turned up a French product called the Rollet Snowskate, as seen at Pacific Coast Vintage Skateshop, which is somehow located in Paris, France, and not on, you know, the Pacific coast. California invented everything…

Here’s an auction for one that is still active. It includes a photo from an unnamed publication that dates the initial release to 1978! A year before the Snow Skate! I guess California didn’t invent everything. Instead of strapping the skis onto your wheel, the Rollet version bolts onto the axle when the wheels have been removed. This approach means you need a specific width of truck. Notice the Sky Hooks.

Here’s some really well done pictures of the Rollet from Museo Italiano dello Snowboard. So nice that I probably should have skipped the earlier pics. Looks like Rollet may have invented Skyhooks too. The earliest Skyhooks ad I’ve seen (so far) dates to 1978. There are some really good views of the mounting system here.

Do you remember Railz from 2006? Their web site is defunct (surprise!) But you can still by these at auction.

What about more recently? Here’s a product called Fuse Snowskate that came out circa 2012. They are still showing up in some of your off-brand extreme sports online retailers, but they are all out of stock.

I would have guessed these as slow too, but check out this vid!

The idea is not dead! Check out Slede, a Finnish company whose passion for winter sports doesn’t prevent them believing they invented this concept in 2023. To be fair, this is probably the most fully realized execution of the concept. These are in fact actual little, skis. that can and should be waxed. One bit of innovation on the Slede is a blade on the outsides of the skis that should help you at hold an edge in theory. They make them in two different depths. Surprisingly, you still have attach these to wheels, although it looks like they may be some sort of non-functional bespoke wheels? Very odd. There’s an elastic band attached to an anchor that probably helps straighten out your deck so you don’t get… I guess you call it ski bite. You would think they would have just made them attach to the axles so they could be sold separately as well. Well they don’t, so you’ll need to shell out about $340 USD for the complete setup.

Hard pack snow seems to be the way to go with these. Slede is still going if you’re in the mood to buy. Check out thier video. Ahhhh, snow days….

UPDATE: See the patent for the Snow Skate and a few of other of the rides in this post on the Snow Skate Patents Addendum.

Now that this invaluable national treasure has been preserved on S&A, you can help Kilwag's quest to document more skateboarding culture by buying this artifact, which might also have the added benefit of preventing a mostly unnecessary divorce.