Breck ski maker's all-wooden skis creating a buzz
- Details
- Created on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 17:01
- Written by R. Scott Rappold
Photos by Christian Murdock
BY R. SCOTT RAPPOLD
THE GAZETTE
BRECKENRIDGE SKI RESORT- We’re at 12,000 feet in near-whiteout, blowing snow on an uncrowded Wednesday afternoon. Still, someone has noticed our skis.
“How do you like those skis?” asks Brian Cauley, a skier from Pueblo who approaches to admire our Ski Logiks.
Just fine, I reply, with a sideways glance at Jeb Marsh, sales rep for Ski Logik, who I am sure could not possibly have arranged this random meet-up on top of 6-Chair.
“They’re so distinct looking, you can pick them out anywhere. I can’t wait to get on them,” says Cauley, who sees a pair of Ski Logiks in his future.
Such is the buzz in the skiing world over Breckenridge-based Ski Logik, launched in January. The all-wood construction, which gives every ski a unique flavor, is catching eyes around the world, and their performance has earned critical praise unusual for a first-year ski model.
And skiers are responding. Ski Logiks have been the most popular skis at Colorado Springs outdoors shop Mountain Chalet this fall, and the company’s plant in China is scrambling to keep up with demand. At $750 to $850 a pair, the price is competitive with mass-produced skis.
Click here to see a slideshow of their different skis and designs.
For company founder David Mazzarella, it’s a dream come true, the culmination of a decade of skimaking in Colorado and a mass embrace of what has been a key element of skis for thousands of years, one that has fallen out of fashion in recent years: wood.
“If you’re going to be a skimaker, you’ve got to be a woodworker. I just love the beauty of wood and the natural aspects of it, the warmth of it,” he said.
Headquarters in Colorado
“This is it. Ski Logik’s world headquarters.”
It’s not much to look at, a single cramped office with plastic-wrapped skis lining the walls.
Marsh answers the phone, taking orders, fielding questions from ski-shop employees about how to mount the bindings, and talking to skiers around the West who are trying out Ski Logiks.
As of early December, the company had sold about 1,200 sets of skis and was operating on a two-week backlog on new orders.
“That’s a pretty big splash for a brand-new ski company. It’s been challenging, but it’s been fun,” Marsh said.
Mazzarella, a skier who did not want to work for one of the large manufacturers, made his name in the business designing custom skis in Denver, Silverton and then Breckenridge.
“I was able to just do it on my own, according to my own ideals as a passionate skier. That meant trying to make the best skis possible and being able to pursue what I would want as a skier, rather than having to fit into a job behind mass production,” Mazzarella said.
He was not at the world headquarters for our visit. He spoke by phone from China.
After crunching the numbers (real estate, wages, taxes), he decided he could not make the skis in Colorado and keep them affordable. So he gave up the sport he loves — except for the occasional vacation — to move to a tropical island off the coast of China. There he oversees the 35-employee operation. His wife does the ski artwork and works with skiers who pay $100 extra to come up with their own design.
Critics rave
When Mazzarella introduced Ski Logik to the world at the 2010 Snowsports Industries America gathering in Denver in January, there was plenty of interest.
Skis have been made of wood for eons, but for the past 20 years the bulk has been created from an array of metals, plastics and carbon fiber. Most modern skis have a wood core, if there’s any wood in them at all.
Mazzarella’s skis not only keep the wood core — from a single tree so the left ski matches the right — but sidewalls of black locust. The top is covered with a wood veneer to keep the retro appearance.
Sure, people said, Ski Logiks were pretty, but how would they ride?
“If not the most versatile ski we have ever tested, certainly in the top ten. This may be the ski no one ever thought could be made,” wrote the website Realskiers.com, which named Ski Logik’s Ullr’s Chariot the 2011 Overall Ski of the Year.
“The Howitzer was one of the top-scoring skis in the test,” wrote Freeskier magazine of another Ski Logik model. “The ski was rated a perfect 5 for carving, and a near-perfect 4.5 in all other categories. This combination gives it a stable ride that shreds the backcountry and skis the frontside like a missile.”
The stability of the ski was what struck me during an afternoon of skiing at Breckenridge. The wood seemed to absorb the bumps and rough snow effortlessly and carve the soft spots with authority, all on a ski much lighter than a similar-size ski of typical construction.
Matt Chmielarczyk, sales manager at Mountain Chalet, called them “really incredible skiing skis.”
“They ski as well as a lot of other things out there that are really fantastic performers. They just have a really beautiful look to them, and each person can have their own individual graphic that no one else can have,” he said.
“They’re very user-friendly. It’s not something you’ve got to really work hard at,” said Bob Walker, owner of The Edge Ski Paddle and Pack in Pueblo, who skis and sells Ski Logiks.
Other custom-made wooden skis might cost up to $1,800, he said.
“They have been popular. They’re extremely eye-catching, and for a custom category ski, they’re affordable. I love them,” he said.
Availability
The one downside reviewers have noted is availability.
While Ski Logiks are sold at 14 stores in Colorado and a handful of others around the West and in Europe, they are absent from many key markets. They are sold in only one store in the Northeast and two in the Pacific Northwest.
Still, they can be purchased online at skilogik.com, and Mazzarella is thrilled with the response — twice the number of sales he expected.
There are no active plans to expand into snowboards.
Said Marsh, “We’ve got to start somewhere and right now we’re happy just to be offering a high-quality ski.”
Ski Logik
Cost: $750-$850, $100 more to design your own artwork
Where to buy: Mountain Chalet in Colorado Springs, The Edge Ski Paddle and Pack in Pueblo, or skilogik.com
Details: No special bindings needed. Skis can be used as alpine or telemark.
Weather
Current Contests
