Skwal


A skwal is the main piece of equipment used for skwalling, a hybrid sport combining the carving of skiing and riding feel of snowboarding. It is similar to a snowboard or monoski in that both feet are attached to the same board. On a skwal the feet are one in front of the other, in line with the direction the skwal is pointing in. This differs from snowboards and monoskis.

History

The skwal was invented by two French ski-school instructors :fr:Thias_Balmain|Patrick "Thias" Balmain and Manuel Jammes, with the first prototype appearing in 1992. They envisaged it as a way to offer different sensations to what skiing and snowboarding could offer, at a time when 'carving' skis were only just starting to take off. A French company called Lacroix took an interest, recruited :fr:Thias_Balmain|Patrick Balmain, and started producing skwals. A few years later, :fr:Thias_Balmain|Patrick left Lacroix and started his own skwal-making company. There are now several other makers of skwals, though the sport has never gained the widespread popularity its creators predicted - possibly due to the perceived difficulty of the sport. The sport is nonetheless gathering a few more adepts every year.