\u201cPurgatory was at the center of where this sport got going again,\u201d said Jim Cameron, chairman of the American Ski Bike Association. \u201cRoy Meiworm started the festival, and Mike Sparkman<\/a> has helped make Durango an epicenter of what I would call the rebirth of ski biking in the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n Ski biking got its start in the 1950s. Cameron said it made a run in the late 1960s and early \u201970s before dying down as resorts resisted the movement and the sometimes questionable equipment. When it made a return in the late 1980s and early \u201990s, Purgatory was one of the mountains that embraced the sport. Now, roughly one-third of ski areas in the U.S. allow ski biking.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sport of ski biking is really growing all over the U.S. as well as in Canada and Europe. It\u2019s taking off as a sport for all ages and abilities, and it\u2019s great for adaptive skiing,\u201d said Sherry Rawls-Bryce, one of the American SkiBike Association board members who got her start in the sport with a lesson at Purgatory Resort in 2013.<\/p>\n Technology improvements have helped in that process. No longer are ski bikes \u2013 also often called snow bikes \u2013 made of converted mountain bikes and old chopped up skis. Frames are specifically made for ski biking purposes. Companies have also standardized the fittings to attach skis so customers can use a variety of skis on their frame from numerous manufacturers.<\/p>\n Powder skis will be in demand this weekend with up to 10 inches of snow in the forecast for Saturday and another four inches Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will have two brands of new powder skis we will be showing at the festival,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t realize how the industry has standardized some things now. It\u2019s like when snowboard companies all aligned and decided on a universal way of attaching bindings to any brand of board.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bikes are much better since the old days of conversion kits.\u201d<\/p>\n Several ski bike manufacturers will be at Purgatory Resort this weekend showing off the latest equipment.<\/p>\n Cameron said he expects a slightly smaller gathering this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, he knows some ski bikers will come from as far as Seattle and the Midwest to partake in the action. The stop at Purgatory Resort is the third of five official events the American Ski bike Association has scheduled around the country this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, we have had races. But we aren\u2019t going to do races this year,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cBut everybody is coming to ride. It\u2019s a great networking event and a chance to check out the latest and greatest gear from the manufacturers. It\u2019s like a big ski bike summit, and everybody is jazzed to be in Durango again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Cameron also will be working on filming an instructional video this weekend at the base area. And while there won\u2019t be any official racing, Cameron said some riders will hit up the Purgatory NASTAR course<\/a> Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cSki biking results are captured in a national database,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of the people who go to Durango have qualified for nationals in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n