Jerry Swope for The New York Times  Heidi Bellemore, left, an airboarding instructor at Smugglers’ Notch in Vermont, demonstrating how it’s done for Courtney Lanning, 10, of East Haddam, Conn.  A NEW snow sport is showing up at winter resorts that might seem like a bore for hard-core kamikaze skiers and snowboarders. But for anyone who ever suffers periodic pangs of terror from the unnatural act of strapping razor-edged boards to their boots and attempting a graceful dance with gravity down a steep, snowy slope, it’s a nice diversion.  It’s a bravery booster for wimps like me, a kinder way to tear down the mountain, turn and stop before you hit a tree. You can soar over snow bumps and land on a cushion of air, even bail (meaning fall on purpose if you feel out of control), without the breaks and bruises of typical board-sport wipeouts.  It’s called airboarding, a misleading name because there’s no board involved  precisely what makes it so sweet. Also known as snow body boards, Airboards (the Swiss company Fun-Care holds the trademark) are inflated raftlike sleds with underside grooves and side handles that allow you to turn using forearm pressure and shifting body weight. You grab the board, take a few running steps, plop down on your stomach headfirst, and you’re off. (Helmets are required.) When you want to stop, you just lean hard enough for a 90-degree hockey stop or dig your boots into the snow or simply roll right off the raft.  “I’m not doing that, no way,” my husband, Sandy, said when I told him I was going to check out airboarding with our 12-year-old son, Alex, and his friend, Bryce, 13, during our weeklong stay at Smugglers’ Notch here in early February. “I didn’t drive 300 miles up here to go sledding.”  This was our fifth year of coming up from Connecticut to vacation at the resort, and I didn’t exactly expect Captain Curmudgeon to come flopping along like a golden retriever. But come on, I implored, try something new?  Airboarding was invented in the 1990s by Joe Steiner of Switzerland, who injured his leg while snowboarding (surprise) and wanted a safer way to get the thrill of the hill. It had its debut in the United States in 2004 at the Hoodoo Ski Area in Oregon, and now it’s offered at about a half-dozen resorts across the country.  “It’s starting to catch on because once people try it, they realize what a total blast it is,” said Ann-Elise Emerson, president of Emo Gear, the Airboard distributor in North America. “There was some skepticism when it was introduced, just like there was with snowboarding. But the interest is growing, and ski areas are listening.”  Since 2003, 8,000 boards have been sold nationwide, including some to ski areas that rent them to multiple visitors, said Ms. Emerson, who estimates that 20,000 people have taken up airboarding in the United States.  Adults are getting hooked after taking their children for what they think will be just a nice little sled ride, she said. “They get to the bottom and go: ‘Wow, that’s no Flexible Flyer. Let’s do that again.’ ”  Airboarding is also becoming big with “thrill seekers and the young at heart” at terrain parks like the one at Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia, said Joseph Darmofalski, the resort’s snow sports director. “The airboarders particularly love our whalebacks, which are big piles of snow, 20 feet high,” he said. “They go up and over; they literally look like they’re flying.”  My husband, though, is not yet convinced. This is a man who still skis on archaic, orange, skinny, straight boards he bought used in 1978. He did agree to ski down to the airboarding area lodge to meet us for a cheeseburger and root beer, then disappeared on the chairlift to ski near-vertical trails with the other lunatics while the boys and I took the requisite 30-minute lesson for first-time airboarders.  Our instructor informed us that airboarders have their own trail, separate from skiers and snowboarders, which settled my fear about our faces being at boot level with all those high-speed hotdogs.  He did, however, warn us that near the end of the run our trail, called Hibernator, merges with the skiers’ and boarders’ trail, called Log Jam. “So watch out,” he said. “These Airboards cost $350 apiece. You don’t want a ski or a snowboard plowing into it and rupturing it.”  I looked at Alex and Bryce. “Boys, your heads and torsos might be worth even more than that. So really watch out.”  I could see it clearly: all of us piled up with a bunch of skiers and boarders in one big logjam, with who knows what ruptured.  All right, enough. Remember what the smiling instructor said on the local skiing channel as I watched by the fire in our condo last night, all cozy with my glass of wine. “Success largely comes from your state of mind. If you’re feeling confident and having fun, you’ll ski well.”  So up the lift we went, holding our boards in front of us. This, it turned out, was the hardest part: trotting off the lift in snow boots rather than simply standing and gliding off as you do on skis. Some of us fell the first time, but it was easy after that.  Unlike skiing and snowboarding, where you can spend major money on gear and flashy winter wear, all you need for airboarding is a helmet, which is included in the $25 cost for instruction and one hour of riding on your own. (Once you’ve had instruction, subsequent airboarding passes cost $20 for two hours of riding.)  We took turns following our instructor down the mountain, looking like a pack of penguins gliding across a glacier. Soon we had it down and were racing top to bottom, even hitting little moguls on purpose and loving it when we landed on something soft. Sometimes we’d miss a turn and sail over a snow bank, landing on the other side in fits of laughter.  “It’s like skiing and tubing at the same time,” Alex offered. “It’s epic.”  By the end of all this, something happened that I thought would be possible only if I holed up in the lodge for successive shots of liquid courage: I got up the gumption to try skiing Smugg’s tallest mountain, Madonna.  “Airboarding can be a confidence booster for skiers and snowboarders who are freaked out by speed,” Ms. Emerson had said. “You’re so low to the ground on an Airboard, you can really fly and have fun with it. Then you get on your skis or board, and you feel more comfortable.”  That was true even for me, carving wide turns down Madonna, all smiles. Until I hit ice.  “If you hit ice, hold your edge and don’t change direction, just slide through it,” Sandy shouted, snapping me from my reverie. What about the fact that when I did hit ice, my direction happened to be straight for a cliff? I grinded so hard I sounded like a 10-ton snowplow scraping bare highway.  Alex and Bryce high-fived me at the bottom, and I did feel a little rush of accomplishment. But mostly I felt my knees shake. “Want to go again?” they asked.  “Uh, maybe tomorrow,” I said. “I’m going airboarding.”  Here are some resorts and businesses that offer airboarding.  Smugglers’ Notch, Jeffersonville, Vt. One designated airboarding trail, 2 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Rentals: $25 for first-timers (includes lesson); $20 thereafter. Must have valid lift ticket: $44 a day for adults, $34 a day for youths, $14 for a single lift ride. (802) 644-8851; smuggs.com.  Hoodoo Ski Area, Sisters, Ore. Full mountain access for airboarders, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Rentals: $42 for full-day lift ticket, $33 for half-day lift ticket, plus $18 to rent a board. (541) 822-3799; hoodoo.com.  Boardom Bound, Steamboat Springs, Colo. This company ferries airboarders to the top of various slopes by snowmobile. Rentals: Half-day trips range from $50 per person for larger groups (11 to 20 people) to $100 per person for a group of two. (970) 846-5926; boardombound.com.  Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Sandpoint, Idaho. For the last run of the day on Saturdays, at 3:30 p.m., only airboarders are allowed up the mountain so that they won’t have to compete with skiers and snowboarders. Rentals: $15 for a board, $5 for a helmet. Must have valid lift ticket: $59 a day for adults; $42 a day for youths; $5 for a single-ride lift ticket. (208) 255-3081; schweitzer.com.  Colorado Adventure Park, Fraser, Colo. A terrain park exclusively for airboarders, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Rentals: $20 an hour; includes board, helmet and instruction. (970) 726-5779; coloradoadventurepark.com.
Some resorts are making way for a new downhill activity aimed at those who prefer to experience winter sports horizontally and with their feet unencumbered.