Ski biking at Sun Peaks.
Image Credit: Photo by KJ Miller Media
February 09, 2024 - 6:00 PM
Ski bikes are a unique way to hit the slopes that are becoming more popular around the world, but ski hills around the Thompson-Okanagan region have fallen behind the trend.
Ski bikes are exactly what they sound like, bikes with skis instead of wheels. The original version, called a ski bob, came out in 1949. Ski bobs had a strange bike frame with small foot skis for balance, then came along regular bike frames with no foot skis and eventually tricycle frames.
Stefano “Babo” Babich became a pioneer of modern ski biking in the BC Interior when he took over a relatively unsuccessful ski bike program at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops.
“I was working at the activity desk and I was the guy who took the bookings. I had a number I was supposed to call to get the guide or the instructor but nobody was answering or caring about the ski bikes,” he said. “For the couple of bookings we got no instructor would show up and I would have to refund the customers.”
He ended up taking over the program and decided to make it his own.
“Seven years ago I started to run the ski bikes. I gave it one try for a year and I realized the way they look and the way they ride is a little bit not as good as it could be and I had to find something different. I took over the business and I bought five ski bikes,” he said.
Business was going well as one of the only places for people to get introduced to ski biking in the Thompson-Okanagan, but things took a turn for the worse when the pandemic hit and Babich had to close up shop.
READ MORE: Powder returns to Thompson-Okanagan ski resorts
“I wasn’t working for a year and then when I tried to reopen and spoke with the insurance company it had gone up from $3,000 per season to $11,000 per season,” he said. “I asked why and they said it was because of the forest fires and the war in Russia. I said are you kidding me? I’m a small business operator out of a ski resort. What does that have to do with me? They said the insurance world is all intertwined so insurance for every business went up.”
Babich says things are up in the air at the moment but he would like to get the business going again so people could have a different way to enjoy the slopes. He says there have been discussions about partnering up with other mountain sports businesses in the area to get ski biking back on the menu.
“If I reopen, if I have one more shot, I could put all my time and energy into getting another year,” he said.
The sport has been growing around the world for the past ten years, but Babich says Canada is lagging behind.
“Ski bike rallies in Italy and Croatia are sponsored by Redbull and (Jeep), they’re sponsored by big companies. The quantity of people makes a difference,” he said. “In the states it’s getting bigger, they're getting more rallies with 60 to 100 riders. Canada is the only place that is not up to date with the growth.”
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