They call it “airboarding” and the device with the Lilo appearance more normally associated with the swimming pool is the latest thing in the snow sports world this winter.
Already there are international championships and rankings as well as demonstrations at various resorts across Europe. As usual when somebody discovers a different way of getting down the mountain, a debate has begun over whether it will ever become a winter Olympic discipline.
There are divisions among ski resorts over whether to encourage it amid fears that the hard-to-manoeuvre airboard that can attain speeds of up to 80mph might cause lethal accidents and become a source of endless litigation. Others argue that, properly regulated, it could prove a popular sport for the masses.
“We’re not allowed to use the pistes yet,” said Julien Janin, a French expert and runner-up in an airboard championship on Thursday in the French Alpine resort of Valmorel. “It would be pretty dangerous to mix with skiers because we don’t have much control.”
The French authorities seem to agree, having placed the airboard in the same category as the luge or toboggan since that, effectively, is what it is. Mercifully for skiers, this means that it can be used only after the ski lifts have closed. For the time being that is.
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Just as they once frowned at the arrival of the snowboard, purists at the French ski school were dismissive of the airboard, insisting that it was just a passing fancy among the sledging fraternity.
“Our vision of this sort of thing,” said a spokeswoman in the upmarket resort of Courchevel, “is that it should be done in specified areas, remote slopes away from the main pistes, otherwise it is far too risky and dangerous.”
Not all airboarders — and according to the Swiss manufacturer’s promotional blurb, at least, there is a growing army of them — seem to agree. The Alpine ski patrols may have their work cut out this winter as they endeavour to keep away from the main slopes these pointed sledges that also resemble inflatable surfboards.
One irresistible attraction for airboarders is likely to be the resort of Val-Thorens, which boasts a 6km (almost four-mile) piste, the longest in France. But Valmorel is perhaps the capital of French airboarding where airboards can be rented at ski shops. They are also available for sale over the internet where advertisements promote learning how to use the airboard as “child’s play”.
They sell for between £100 and £200 and come in a range of colours. But the main appeal of the device developed by Switzerland’s Joe Steiner — an “alpiniste” who nevertheless failed to master the art of skiing — is its simplicity.
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According to experts, it takes just five minutes to learn how to drive this sawn-off airbed by shifting one’s body weight. It can be steered from a sitting position or lying face down and the enjoyment — or terror, perhaps — of hurtling at full speed down an icy slope can be supplemented by performing jumps and “pirouettes”.
Another advantage is the airboard’s portability once deflated. “It comes with its own rucksack and pump,” explained Alex Barjau, responsible for its marketing in Spain where ski resorts are staging demonstrations over the next few weeks.
The sport is also becoming popular in Germany and Austria. “It’s ideal for carrying up a mountain and then letting yourself drop down on it once you reach the summit,” added Barjau.
A big drawback is the difficulty of using it on the piste. “It can go over all sorts of obstacles,” said Barjau, “and there is plenty of padding to absorb the shock, but the real danger lies in bumping into a skier, his boots, his bindings, his skis and poles.”
A 90-degree flip is required to stop the airboard in its tracks but Thomas Kaules of Germany might have needed more than that when he set a world record speed of 78.38mph on his airboard in the European X-Games in Austria last February.
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“It is really for people in search of strong sensations, new sensations,” said an enthusiast in Valmorel. “It gives you a real thrill.”
Switzerland’s Laurent Matthey, the undisputed king of the sport, would not argue with that. His accomplishments include an airboard jump of 75ft and being dropped, head first, out of a helicopter with his airboard from a height of 43ft.
For this feat, a helmet is recommended.