Never Summer struggles to keep up with demand for skis, boards
- Details
- Created on Monday, 13 June 2011 04:37
- Written by Dena Rosenberry
By Jason Blevins, The Denver Post
The hunching workers dab glue to the bases of the skis and meticulously install metal edges on what will inevitably become a favorite mountain toy.
The stack of just-edged boards grows, but not as fast as the growing stack of boards needing edges.
Factory owner Tim Canaday, whose team has hand-built each of his Never Summer snowboards at the Colorado Boulevard factory for the past 13 years and who five years ago began making skis for Colorado companies, wonders how to automate the edge installation.
"This is by far the biggest bottleneck in our process," says the 43-year-old as he watches his workers labor over the perfect-to-the-millimeter edges. "These guys weren't very happy when we brought in the skis. It's like making two skinny snowboards."
But producing skis — for Colorado's Icelantic, Fat-ypus, High Society and Rocky Mountain Underground — helps support one of the few ski and snowboard factories remaining in the U.S.
Canaday, who launched Never Summer with his brother Tracey 20 years ago, recently added a second production shift.
Photo by John Prieto, The Denver Post
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