What’s so innovative about a new downhill board hitting the slopes this season made by Arcadia sports company Dual Snowboards?

It’s not one – but two – miniature snowboards; one for each foot.

You might say that sounds an awful lot like skis, but Scott Rickett, chief executive at Dual Snowboards, said the squat boards are more akin to snowshoes.

“With the snowboard, your feet are strapped together,” he said. “Dual snowboards separate your feet, giving you two individual snowboards that you can use to hike and climb and use like snowshoes to traverse. It’s really a whole new way to play and ride in the snow.”

While riders on skis move downhill face first and steer by leaning side to side, riders on snowboards – dual snowboards included – go downhill side first and steer using heel or toe pressure.

Rickett co-founded the snowboard company about a year ago with business partner Bruce Yeh after a career writing and producing music at independent label Soul Surfer Records in Huntington Beach. The duo partnered with Albert Mendoza, who invented the dual snowboards and agreed to license his patent to the company for 10 years. The company manufactures the miniature boards in Utah and in China and has subcontracted distribution rights around the world. Suggested retail price for a pair is $299.

Rickett said the company has focused its distribution on mountain resorts and specialty ski and snowboard shops rather than attempt to get into big-box retailers such as Sport Chalet Inc. or Big Five Sporting Goods Corp. right away.

“We haven’t really even attempted to approach them,” he said. “We don’t think the boards are in that place in the product cycle yet.”

– Bethany Firnhaber