SnoYak™ was born from a lifetime passion for winter sports and a moment of unexpected inspiration. Founded by Rob Thompson, whose love affair with skiing began at age four, our company emerged from decades of experience on the slopes and a desire to innovate beyond traditional winter recreation.

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After years of ski racing and snowboarding, Rob reached a crossroads and left his desk job seeking adventure. The spark for SnoYak™ came while watching a video of people kayaking on snow—it looked thrilling but limited. Rob's simple question, "Wouldn't it be fun to ride a snowboard like a whitewater kayak?" launched what he thought would be a weekend project.

Instead, it became an obsession. Hundreds of iterations and countless failures transformed weekends into months of development. When Rob finally created a version that truly worked, SnoYak™ was born as something refreshingly different and undeniably fun.

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As Rob pushed the product's capabilities on faster speeds and steeper terrain, he recognized opportunities for improvement. By adding shock absorption and applying lever physics—increasing distance from the board and switching to a mono-ski—he transformed SnoYak™ from a novel concept into a high-performance sit-ski.

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This evolution revealed an unexpected breakthrough: while creating a sit-ski for able-bodied riders, Rob had simultaneously developed a high-performance adaptive sit-ski, perfectly aligning with our mission of enhancing access to outdoor recreation for people of all abilities and means. What emerged was something unique in the industry—the only "universal" sit-ski designed for use by both adaptive and non-adaptive skiers alike.

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In 2020, we received our first patent—the beginning of what would become a portfolio of six domestic and international patents protecting our innovations. Three years later, in 2023, we achieved another major milestone by selling our first commercial SnoYak™, marking our transition from innovation to market reality. See our patents HERE.

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Today, SnoYak™ continues evolving as we pursue our vision of making winter sports more accessible and exciting for everyone.