Making skis and making turns...

 I was driving along between the Napa and Sonoma valleys over a favorite road. It was a great little two day road trip and I was having a great time. Life is pretty good at moments like these and I had been reflecting on just that thought.

 Then my phone rang. Being ever worried about the shop burning down while I am away, I picked up the call. It was Erik Anderson.

 Erik is the VP of Fischer Skis who runs the show in North America. I assumed he wanted to discuss my vacuum boot order, which we had been trying to finalize. “Hey do you want to go to Austria?” Erik asked? “What??” I asked back?
“I called to invite you on a trip to Austria with some other dealers” Erik explained.

 And there it was. An invitation to go to Austria, tour the Fischer factory and ski in the Alps for a few days. I accepted the invitation…

 Well there are road trips. And then there was the 2011 Fischer dealer trip to Austria. All the fun gods got together and conspired to help us all let the good times roll. The crew consisted of six dealers, a few sales reps from around the country, four magazine writers/editors, and Erik Anderson and Matt Berkowitz from Fischer USA. No other dealers from west of Sun Valley and a sure east coast feel to the group. All super fun people, and I could tell a story about each one easily after knowing them for just a few days.


 We got to tour the entire Fischer manufacturing facility (except the race room) including the opportunity to build our own skis (see photo above), have lunch with the staff in their lunchroom, and discuss the next few years products and the company’s direction beyond that with the product managers. Fischer is indeed a very impressive company. After seeing smaller ski companies like moment, the Fischer tour was overwhelming. This is a very clean and organized operation. The level of what happens here is simply a few notches above anything that a smaller builder could emulate. This is serious ski making! I walked away with a new found respect for the brand- and they were already one of my favorites. I was very impressed.

 To top it all off there were two glorious days of skiing in the Alps. After weeks of no snow on the Alp, we got lucky. We ended up skiing one powder day and one bluebird groomer day. I got to ski (as is often the case) with some really, really good skiers. I was skiing in the Alps. I was skiing in mid April with great conditions. Not a bad gig! Now after 27 hours of travel, I am back in the Bay Area. Just a few weeks now until I am planted firmly onto the leather seat of a bicycle for three months on another great adventure. I would love to take a few days to digest the experience I just had but I cannot. There is no time. One thought keeps running through my head though- I am a seriously lucky man!

 I probably will not get a chance to add another entry before fall, so have a great summer! I will miss you all and be damn glad to see you in the fall!

 PS_Nicole already has an online story up in freeskier: http://freeskier.com/stories/pow-and-parties-austria-fischer-skis

It's all about your smiles per hour!

How is your ski year going so far? Mine is going well, thank you- much better than it had looked a few months ago. I had personally about written off my ski year as a bust. I had only skied one day before January 20th. That put me about 12-15 days behind a normal year to that point. It was just so busy at the shop that I could not take a day off. As a seasonal business owner having a fantastic season, I really could not complain about that.

But it was still a bummer! Typically if I have a slow start to the season, it means I catch up later. I had promised myself at least 40 ski days per year when I bought the business. Most years that comes easily. Some years are tougher. One year it took a week at Mammoth in mid May to get to 39 days and then a June Shasta trip to get it done.

In mid January it was looking as if I was to be doomed to failure on my 40 ski days plan. I was way behind schedule and catching up would probably be impossible. The main reason was that on May 1st I take off on a three month 4600 mile bicycle tour. That means no May skiing for sure. The annual spring staff ski trip will be without me this time too. That could have been at least three and up to ten days of skiing.

Skiing in March and April had to yield minimal ski days too. By then, skiing should have given way to training on the bike so that I am prepared for my trip. Not a bad reason to not hit my ski days I guess, but still… Then I started to get some days in. I got six Demo days in late January and early February. Then there were a couple of two day Tahoe trips. This was followed by a fantastic trip to Utah (where I got my new vacuum boots). Then a one day trip to Homewood that was magical. I was hooked! What a great sport! I wanted to ski all the time! It had suddenly become late March and my bike was still in the garage...

Now it is late March. We have been getting hammered with a series of winter storms! When will spring come for good? I need to train on my bike and pass on the skiing, but the weather is simply not cooperating. Too rainy to ride, and too snowy not to ski. Oh well, what is a poor boy to do but enjoy it!

For April I have another Utah trip and then off to Austria courtesy of Fischer Skis to tour the factory, eat sausages, drink Schnapps, and ski Alps. I leave in about four weeks and three of them will be spent skiing! I am going to be a bit short on the bike training but I will get my skiing in!

Speaking of enjoying it… This is typically the time of the ski year for fun and frivolity. Festivals and fun events abound. Do you have plans to have some fun this spring? I hope you do! While skiing for many of our customers is serious business, for others it is simply fun. I am with the latter group. I like to ski hard, I like to ski fast. I like to work on my technical abilities. I like to say that ones skiing should not be judged by miles per hour but by smiles per hour. And this means having fun above all else.

Spring is maybe the best time for low key but fun sliding down mountains on sticks. So get psyched for spring skiing. Put on your neon and go up for an 80’s ski day. Do a long board day where any ski under 200cm is frowned upon. Go pond skimming. Or just rock a day in shorts and sunglasses. After a huge powder year like this one, you owe it to yourself to let down your hair and relax in the sun. Keep in mind that we may get a few more killer storms with insane powder available. So if your spring ski day turns into a powder day don’t be disappointed. Just roll with it. Sunny spring days are around the corner.

The season will be long this year. Squaw has announced that they will be open through the end of May. As we go into the last eight weeks of the season, look to enjoy it with style and conviction. Ski hard. Wear weird clothes if you want. Rock your vintage shades and enjoy. Unless you are off to the Southern Hemisphere it will be your last chance for a while!

Me- I’m heading for Northstar this weekend. Got my Vuarnets in my bag and I am ready to slide around in the sun. I will ride my bike all summer. That can wait. Why not see how close I can come to 40 ski days this year?

You are gonna love your boots that suck!

Every now and then something comes along that changes things in a big way. Fire and the wheel come to mind as big changers. In skiing, metal edges, PTex bases, plastic boots, and shaped skis are a few of these things. What will be the next big thing in skiing? I think I know. It is an easier way to achieve comfortable boots for all, and it starts next year. You can thank Fischer now. You certainly will at some point if I am not wrong about this.

At the Denver industry trade show Fischer announced a revolutionary new boot. Called the Vacuum Boot, it features a shell that is molded to your foot. As those of you that have purchased boots from us already know, we feel that matching the shape of the boot to the shape of your foot is the key to a great ski boot. Heat molded liners are great, and we have embraced them, but we do not rely on them. We first shape the boot to your foot before we mold the liner.

To do this we use expensive tools to modify the shell. We mark it where we want to make the changes and then we use heat and pressure to effect the shells shape and try to match it to the architecture of your foot and lower leg. We are pretty good at it.

Unfortunately, there are typically some irregularities left over that don't exactly match perfectly. In most cases that is OK. The liner can help even things out and after a bit of "break in" most customers are very happy with the outcome.

But what if the shell matched your body exactly? Oh yeah! That would be the ultimate! So Fischer figured out a way to do it!

Yes, the Fischer boot shell is heated and becomes pliable. Then a machine is used to vacuum fit it to your foot and leg. It accommodates bowed legs, adjusts to the forward lean desired and is an exact replica of your lower leg and foot. I saw it done at the product unveiling in Denver. It seemed awesome, but there are always doubts. I was extremely interested in being involved in the vacuum boot project but had one reservation. I needed to experience the process and the results for myself. There is only one machine in the USA right now so I flew to Salt Lake City and had a pair made for me.

It was very cool! Chris is the race boot tech for Fischer in the USA, He fit me in between two athletes that flew in from the World Championships to get their new vacuum boots. I felt very special! After about an hour Q & A session with Chris, he formed my boots. Quite an experience. A half hour later I had molded boots that were ready to ski. The next day I skied with Peter Keelty from http://www.realskiers.com/ and a friend of ours at Deer Valley. Dang! A half hour boot fitting yielded a boot that was as comfortable as my current Dalbellos! Keep in mind that I am a hard to fit foot and my current boots had a number of ski days and about seven hours of work done to them to get them perfect. The Fischer vacuum technology achieved it on the first day!

I will tell you all more about the boot at a later time but suffice it to say that I am elated to be one of a very few dealers to be able to sell the Vacuum boot nationally next season. This will be very good for our revenues next year as people will be coming from all over to get the boots. If you are in the market for a new boot next year, it could be very good for you too! In the end the technology may spread to all ski boots sold and make ski ski boot pain a thing of the past. Get ready for boots that suck!

At first it was cold...

At first it was cold. When it was cold the customers came to the store in large quantities. "The snow is wonderful" they would say, "and we need some skis!". It turned out they needed gloves, and jackets, and scarves too. And life was good.

And then it got warm. And when it was warm the customers became far fewer saying "we need some skis!". Some of them were actually saying "I need some new titlist golf balls" or "I need to get my bike tuned up" instead. So what do ski shop employees do when this happens? We skied! The industry demo days were timed perfectly for the warm spell.

Splitting the staff to allow everyone to go to the demo is always risky. If business is strong that week our customer service will be weaker than I want it. Tuning and waxing will get backed up. Rentals will take longer. You know the deal.

But this year it was perfect. The shop was slow, the snow at the demos was great, and we had a great time. Thanks again to the "ringers" brought in to help demo the skis. I figure I personally got in about 55 skis tested. I have test cards on about 160 different models overall. We had about 40 total"skier days" with four testers in Denver, ten in Norcal and nine testers in Socal. That's a lot of testing! I feel I have a pretty good handle on everything we stock and much of what we do not.

So now it is time to get cold again. And it is getting cold. Snowy too. It looks like nine days straight of precipitation at this point. And going right into the holiday weekend. I couldn't have planned it better myself. To top off the cake I am heading to Utah for four days at the end of the week. I am getting some revolutionary new Fisher boots fitted for me (more on this when I get back). And then I must ski on them. So this is a business trip. More importantly to me, I am also getting to see some people that I am close to but don't get to see enough. Marielle, for one, has been absent from my life for way too long! So come on snow, and come on cold. Put away the golf clubs and the bicycles. Let's get another round of winter coming in strong!

Onward we roll

So my beloved Steelers are in the Super Bowl again. I won't see it, but I will be wearing my Franco Harris jersey to work. At the end of the day we head to Alpine Meadows for two days of on snow demo's of next years skis. After that I go to Mammoth for two more days of the same. Alpine with half the staff, Mammoth with the other half. Things are interesting this year and the demo days will be very important.

Last week was the yearly industry trade show in Denver. Last year was ok. The manufacturers mainly just re-painted their skis, boots, and bindings for another year. Not too much new in clothing. A lot of retailers didn't go either, so it was fine, but could have been better.

This year- wow! The manufacturers seemed to all decide to step it up. Innovations were abundant. All new offerings from many brands, And a few mind bending innovations that could change thugs going forward. The Salomon BBR ski and the Fischer custom boot system come to mind first.

And all the skis have changed. Rocker, rocker everywhere. Everything needs to be tested as it is all new. I got a few days in at Winter Park testing the new stuff. Overwhelming? Yes. Challenging? Hell yes! I cannot wait!

As usual I have not had any time off and am beat so I will keep this short. I will let you know some of the winners and losers as soon as I can!

Inspiration

Inspiration can be a fickle thing. If you ever decide to write a blog, inspiration may be the key ingredient for success. Without it, you simply have nothing to write about. That's kid of the spot I am in now. I really want to write about skiing. I suppose that is because I really want to GO skiing. I really want to go skiing because I really like to ski. And I have not skied much this year. And I know the skiing has been fantastic this year. And I know this because you folks tell me on a daily basis what you experienced the day before on the slopes.

Ideally I like to be able to say "yeah, I know, I was up there too, and it was awesome". I haven't got to say that much this year. Bummer...

So I was thinking that every year is a good ski year for me. If I don't ski it is simply because I am too busy at work. That means the register is clicking, and the deposits at night are a bit heavier. If business is slow, I get to ski a lot. So I cannot lose either way, right? Yeah, keep telling yourself that Greg!

Typically I get 40-50 days of skiing in each year. Less than a ski bum, but more than most recreational skiers. Actually pretty good for a person that only takes off one day a week during ski season. I had made myself a deal early on in this business that I would shoot for 40 days a year. If I didn't ski that much, maybe I should get out of the business. It would mean I was either burnt out on skiing or too busy at work to ski. If I was working so much I could not ski, then I should maybe be too busy in a vocation where I could make more money working that amount. Sounds right, don't you think?

Well this year I may not make it. I am about ten ski days behind where I would normally be. In the spring I leave on a three month trip. The departure date is May 4th. We may be open through that date so I may not even be the one to put the sheet across the door indicating that we are closed for the season. That would be a first!

After we close seasonally, I have traditionally taken the staff skiing for a week or so at Mammoth or Mt. Bachelor. Some years this week puts me over the 40 day mark. One year it took a trip to Chili to push me over the magic number. Or maybe I already had over 40 days but just wanted a few more. I cannot remember ; ).

This year I will miss the spring trip. I will also not be going to the southern hemisphere. I may fall short of my goal. Should I fret over this? Well, I don't think so. If I do fret I think I will be compromising my ski year in a different way. I also realize that it would not be due to lack of desire. On top of that, I can average it out with next year and use that as a goal to ski a ton next year. Yeah, that's it! 60 days next year!

So, I have been trying to get to Utah, even if only for a day or two. That would double my days for the year. I have people there I want to ski with, and the window to get there is closing for an opportunity to do that this month. I will still get to Salt Lake a few times later in the season, but I want to get in a trip right now. My chances are a bit slim, but I could really use it, and will be a bit bitter if I cannot figure out a way to do it. To Peter and the others I would like to come ski with, please know I am trying!

If I don't make it this week, I have the national trade show to go to next week in Denver (see the Jan 17th 2010 blog entry for more about the show). Before then I need to catch up on a lot of business analysis. I am usually able to spout off percentages of growth (or decline) in every category on a month to month basis. This year I have no idea. If it doesn't involve having the store open and staffed and giving my customers the best possible experience each day, I haven't really had time to do it. Business analysis is one of the things that has had to suffer. On the other hand I have a hunch that I will like what I see overall. It has just been that kind of year.

So now I leave you to head in to the shop. If I have enough energy after we close at 8 o'clock, and there is not too much boot work to do before tomorrow, I may be able to run some reports. I hope so. I also hope not. I hope it is busy as all get out like most days. Bring it on!

So with the topic of inspiration as a theme for todays entry. I say to you, be inspired today. Be inspired to ski. Be inspired in your work and play. Shoot for all the great days you can. And make the best use of EVERY day!

A Crowded House

Well, it does not get any better than this from a retailers point of view right? We just had the biggest month in gross sales in the history of the business. The weather has been perfect to drive sales and fun on the slopes. I am employing more people in a rough economy. I lucked into having a huge staff ready when the rush hit this fall. I am also lucky to have such a talented and fun staff in general. Everything came together to have record sales.

Yet it has not been a very satisfying month for me. I make a living doing retail the way I think it should be done. Outstanding customer service and product knowledge. A staff that has a very high level of competency in all ways. A reputation earned from years of doing it right.

And I am proud of my staff for being all of what I describe above. Yet we failed some customers this last month. Screw ups happened that normally don't. We had paperwork that disappeared. We screwed up two binding mounts. We had a handful of customers come to pick up skis that weren't ready. We had two Yelp reviews that were from dissatisfied customers.

This is typically a years worth of foul-ups. We are human, so a screw up here and there is expected. To have all this happen in one month is distressing. I could explain it by stating the facts. We had less room to work in the back with all the work coming in. Our ski tech Martin worked every day that he did not race, plus had full time assistance just to get it done, so he was always having to hurry. To process twice as many tunes, waxes and the like in the same space is tough. Where do you put all the skis? And finding them to deliver upon the pick up day is harder too. Now, it is one of the hundred skis in the bursting at the seams racks, instead of one of the fifty. Mounts were done by John, myself, and others after hours just to keep up. An employee working at midnight on their twenty fifth day of work straight means less attention to detail. It is hard to manage boot fitting customers when we have five fitters working and have to try to fairly fit in five people waiting to ensure they get helped in a fair and orderly way. It is hard to really assist a customer buying a helmet well when each sales staffer has 6-8 customers to deal with at a given time. I could go on and on...

So it was an awesome sales month, and we should be happy about that. And yet it is the two yelp reviews, the messed up labor, and the customers complaining that sticks in my mind. I know each one of them by heart. I have agonized about them at night in bed. I have vowed to get better at this business.

Some compromises must be made in business. If I hire and train earlier, I have a massive payroll to maintain waiting for snow that may not happen until after Christmas. This could mean a year with no profits. If I wait too long to hire and train, the snow starts before training is complete. This is a decision that when made is certainly a guess. Without a crystal ball, I have a slim chance of hitting it perfect. Space to handle the volume of December is tough too. To have the set up needed for December to be smooth and uncrowded means 1000+ more square feet of sales floor, and that means paying even more rent in the summer when we are closed. These are tough choices, and I would maintain that we are basically doing the right things as best we can. But we can improve. Organizational systems can be improved. Before and after hours shifts to clean and restock can be added. I see many possible improvements.

Meanwhile, I don't want to dwell on the past too much. I need to try to make January as successful as December from a business standpoint. I need to try to give the staff some relief as they are fried. I need to try to ski a bit! And I better get moving right now as I need to get in early to close the books on December and 2010.

In 2011 we will be even better! Happy New Year!