Here you will find lots of useful information and links
about the latest sport to hit the snow-covered mountains of the world - ideal for all those who cannot ski or snowboard
due to physical limitations or disabilitiies, or who can't or just don't want to ski or snowboard, but still
want to experience the delights of freely riding down all the same ski runs as everyone else, as well as off piste, feeling
safe, secure and smiling from ear to ear!
If you have finally decided that skiing is just too difficult, or you are just too fearful
to carry on trying anymore, or your knees won't take the strain, but you still want to enjoy the slopes and everything
else that a ski holiday offers, this is the alternative for you. Advantages: very short learning curve of 2 hours, no previous
experience needed, no special equipment (just usual ski grear and ski boots), and you can use them in any resort worldwide
that accepts them. If there is no hire shop in the resort of your choice, but they are accepted on the slopes
and lifts, the bikes can be transported to your hotel, or lodgings, from a central depot in Austria for a small
fee. If you want to check out which resorts are bike-friendly, and which offer renting and tuition, go to the English
Some
of the contacts on the list are out of date, so email the contact first, check where you hire from and the costs involved.
You then need to contact the Tourist Office of the resort, and the Lift Companies, and keep all the emails that say you
can use the lifts and runs and take them with you. Laws do change and a resort that may have been bike friendly one year,
may not be the next season! Sometimes the bikes are accepted on chair lifts, gondalas, and cable cars, but not T-bars and
Button drags, so do some research, the tourist office websites usually have all the contact details and I have always
found them very helpful.
From our own personal experience, we learnt to use Brenter Snowbieks in
Obertauern, Austira, under the instruction of Ski School Koch.
Obertauern is one of Austria's highest resorts, with a really good snow record from October
to May. . In this resort all the lift attendants are very obliging, even slowing lifts down if you are new to biking, but beware
of flat areas, these are labour-intensive wearing small skis, and having a bike to push...but this applies to all resorts!
Although there are other Snowbikes, Ski bikes and Skibobs, we can only recommend the Brenter one as this is the only
one we have personal experience of. It does what it says on the packet, and is very easy to collaps down. Make sure you use
a style that has the small footskis, otherwise you will not be allowed to use the lifts at all. Lifts in winter are geared
for skiers, not foot passengers (or Peggers - riders that don't use footskis)
Wherever you go to use a
bike, you will need to produce a license to prove you have reached a safe level of competance using the lifts and on
the runs; this license will be issued on completion of your course. On production of this license, you will
able to hire and use Brenter Snowbikes anywhere in the world.
Check out Stalmach Ski-bobs as an alternative.
  These are the 2 types of short Foot Skis that are worn on the
feet; fixed bindings and step-in bindings (like the ones on skis) . These are adjustable to fit any size ski boot.
Obviously the release ski-type ones are easier use. The fixed ones require a strap to be worn around the ankle, as they
do not have any breaks and can run off when released from the foot.
Below are the 4 types of Brenter
Snowbike, including one for children. Each model has an adjustable seat hight, and they can all be quickly collapsed
for transport; even folded into a bag for air transport.
When you book an initial 2 hour intructional course,
you will shown how to all the various lifts in your resort, and how to collapse the bike for using on a gondala. You can also
have more advanced lessons to improve technique, but the basics will get down just about every pisted run you are likely to
want to do.
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