Glissade pad

Abstract

A glissade pad that is lightweight, easily portable and facilitates sliding on snow or ice is described herein. A user sits on the top or bottom surface of the pad and wraps the leg straps around his or her legs. The top and bottom surfaces can each be made of a different material to provide more or less friction as desired.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of provisional patent application No. 60/482,523, filed on Jun. 24, 2003. The priority of the prior application is expressly claimed and its disclosure is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention is a flexible pad that is designed to be worn by a person as the person slides along a snow field or glacier.

Hikers and climbers often have the opportunity to travel downhill across snow fields and glaciers. The travel can be considerably faster, and more fun, if one can slide (glissade) across the surface of the snow. While this can be done while standing, it is easier if done while in a sitting position. Unfortunately, this position can also result in the person's clothing becoming wet and/or damaged. In addition, the surface texture of the hiker's clothing can vary, and might be either too smooth and fast, or too rough and slow for safe and effective sliding.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention addresses and overcomes these problems by providing a glissade pad that can be easily donned and removed by the user, that attaches securely to the user, that provides different gliding characteristics for differing snow conditions, and that can be easily stored when not in use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The nature, principle and utility of the present invention will be clearly understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the invention.

The drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not drawn to scale. In the drawings, the same numbers are used for the same part or portion throughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a pad according to the invention is shown generally at 10, and includes a first side 12, a second side 14, a recess 16, and left and right leg straps 18 and 20 attached at the front end 22 of the pad and adjacent recess 16. Straps 18 and 20 include micro hook and loop material on their respective ends for connecting the straps around the user's legs, although any suitable fastener could be used in place of the micro hook and loop material.

The pad 10 is worn by the user who sits on the pad facing the front end 22 of the pad. Once seated on the pad, the user places the left and right leg straps 18 and 20 around the right and left legs and secures them in place with the micro hook and loop material. The recess 16 includes a portion of material that permits the left and right leg straps and the adjacent portions of the front of the pad to raise along with the user's legs while in the sitting position.

The pad is made of a flexible polymeric material that is preferably a laminate of two materials having a different surface smoothness or finish. In this way the pad can be reversed to provide more or less friction as desired for the particular snow conditions.

While the invention has been described by reference to the preferred embodiments, those of skill in the art will recognize that numerous changes and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A glissade pad comprising:

a top generally planar surface;

a bottom generally planar surface;

a front edge;

a recess in the front edge; and

a first strap, wherein a first end of the first strap protrudes through a first side edge of the pad and a second end of the strap protrudes through the recess,

wherein the glissade pad is adapted to be positioned between a body and a ground surface to allow the body to slide along the ground surface.

2. The glissade pad of claim 1, wherein the first end of the strap is adapted to be connected to the second end of the strap so that the strap is attached to a portion of the body.

3. The glissade pad of claim 1, wherein the glissade pad further comprises a second strap.

4. The glissade pad of claim 3, wherein the first strap is adapted to be connected to a first portion of the body and the second strap is adapted to be connected to a second portion of the body.

5. The glissade pad of claim 1, wherein the top surface is formed of a first material and the bottom surface is formed of a second material, wherein the first material is different from the second material.