Joke prompts snow scooter design

The ski rider can be used without bindings or special boots

An off-the-cuff remark by a former ski instructor's wife has led to an invention which could prompt a new form of extreme winter sport.

Andrew Hubert von Staufer has invented a snow scooter - dubbed the ski rider - inspired by microscooters ridden by the children of his friends.

The Monmouth-based innovator thought it would be suitable for older skiers.

But the invention has been a big hit with teenagers who carry out skateboard-type tricks with it.

He told the BBC News website the idea arose while he was in Majorca with his wife Maria, who does not ski.

"The children of friends of ours were using microscooters up and down the driveway.

"My wife said, 'if you come up with something like that which goes on skis, I might be inspired to try myself'.

The ski rider received two British Inventors Society awards

Back home in Monmouth, he started trying to devise a scooter which would work on snow.

"The first thing I did was have a look at what I wanted it to do.

"Using a car repair fibreglass kit and then some aluminium I made the first one and had the basic idea."

He approached some business associates and proposed refining the board.

The ski rider has been tested at both Pontypool's Ski Centre and the Milton Keynes Snow Dome.

He first thought the scooter would appeal to older skiers.

"I was originally thinking of old codgers like myself in their late 50s, simply in terms of not steering with your knees [as you do in skiing]," he said.

I have had other ideas for projects which have developed, but in terms of something real and solid and tangible, this is the first Andrew von Staufer

But he gave the scooter to teenagers to test drive and within minutes they were able to use it and were performing tricks similar to those done by skateboarders and BMX riders.

There is now interest from manufacturers in developing the scooter for a type of extreme sport, as well as what it was intended for.

After hooking up with the Welsh Development Agency's Wales Innovators Network, he has scooped two awards at the British Invention Show held in London's Alexandra Palace.

"I won the gold award for leisure and the platinum award for design.

"It came as a complete and total surprise," he confessed.

"The thing that struck me was that people like engineers and designers there kept saying it's such an obvious idea, why has nobody done it before?"

The success of the scooter is perhaps more remarkable given this is Mr von Staufer's first invention.

"I have had other ideas for projects which have developed, but in terms of something real and solid and tangible, this is the first."

However, he has still not managed to teach Maria to ski.

"I was her ski instructor - that's how we met," he explained.

"I proposed within three days of meeting her, and we married in three months, and we were busy having children after that, so she never learned."