For the past couple of winters I have been proud to be riding Garage Skis. Proud for one because my friend custom builds these out of his garage in the Salt Lake valley. But I was also proud to be on skis that were handmade in the USA, rather than built by machine in a land far away. My Garage Skis have served me well, but like any hard charging ski they are pretty much done after 80-100 days skiing in the Wasatch. They held up with quite the beat down, considering last season was literally “the winter of no snow”. The 2011-2012 season was one of the worst snow years on record in LCC.
So when I started thinking about what skis to line up for this season, it occurred to me that RAMP Sports was now building skis by hand right in my back yard. For my day job, RAMP Sports is a client so I was already familiar and intrigued with their mission and branding strategy. I had also seen some press recently about their new factory here in Park City. I decided to reach out to them because it is my goal to support ski companies (well, any outdoor company) with a sustainable vision. Not only are RAMP skis built by hand here in Park City, they are all about responsible green practices and materials and do plenty to walk-the-walk when it comes to these things.
“
Now handmade in the U.S.A., RAMP is transforming the way skis are manufactured. The Park City, Utah, based company uses a revolutionary patent-pending process that makes use of Earth friendly, U.S. made materials to produce the most technical ski products on the market. The new process allows for tremendous flexibility giving RAMP the ability to change shapes and designs by adjusting computer DXF files versus making a new mold. This allows for much more innovation and creativity. Read more…“
When I reached out by email Vanessa and Polly responded right away. They invited me to the factory for a tour and to spend some time learning more about the brand. To simply say “I was impressed” would be an understatement. Although I already knew this, it was easy to see they were on to something good just by interacting with the team, and observing the company culture close up. Take a look at the embedded video below with Brant Moles. It says it all and speaks clearly to why RAMP Sports is such a unique start-up in the ski industry. What other ski brand can have team members come to their factory in the USA and mold their own skis?!
Similar to the attributes of Soul Poles that I like (featured on my last post) RAMP Sports is local, walking-the-walk when it comes to green business practices and giving back to the community. Stay tuned this winter because I am going to have LOTS more to say about these guys…especially once I get my boots locked into some Peacepipe 2013 Skis after the first big Wasatch dump!
BTW the best place to get your hands on RAMP skis are directly from them. Visit their website to browse/shop. Take a look!
