Digglers: scooting into town

Gravity has a new friend: rugged scooters designed for downhill terrain known as Digglers. Braking like mountain bikes, carving like snowboards, while being ridden like scooters, the hybrid vehicles are available for rental at Snowbowl through this weekend.

“They’re ideal for going downhill,” said Brad Morris, the owner of Snowbowl.

Morris said Snowbowl rents out the 10 Digglers, which feature 20-inch mountain bike-style tires, front and rear disc brakes, front wheel suspension and a skateboard-like platform to stand on.

Rob Fruechtenicht, the mastermind behind the Diggler, started peddling his wares to ski areas about 10 years ago and the scooters have only gained popularity since, said Nathan Nies, a warehouse manager at Diggler. The fun machines are currently being used at more than 20 ski areas across the west.

“People are posting Diggler videos on YouTube,” Nies said. “People have entered several mountain bike contests at ski resorts and they’ve done really well. It’s helped push the image of the Diggler and people are starting to pick up on that.”

Kyle Jones, a junior in recreation management at the University of Montana, said the Digglers are pretty straightforward to use, “I think they might be even easier to ride than mountain bikes because you’re only two inches off of the ground, so if you think you’re going to fall you can just hop off,” Jones said. “Anyone can do it. My friend’s dad did it and he’s a pretty old guy.”

Nies said that the standing platform offers some flexibility, which allows riders to lean into turns and carve as if they were on a snowboard. He also noted that Digglers require less effort than mountain bikes to operate. “There’s no pedaling involved, so you can concentrate more on the ride, so to say,” Nies said.

Snowbowl has six runs that the Digglers can be ridden down, ranging from under a mile long to over seven miles long. Lift operators can assist with loading and unloading the scooters from the Grizzly Lift.

A Diggler and accompanying lift ticket costs $17 for an hour-and-a-half “trial run” and $27 for a full-day rental.  The Grizzly Lift will be running from noon until 5 p.m. this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This is the last weekend to enjoy Snowbowl’s summer trails – and the Last Run’s famous wood-fired pizzas - before the ski area closes for the summer.

amanda.eggert@umontana.edu