Happy New Year!

Well, as we head towards the second decade of the third century of the Christian calendar, things are looking good here. We have just had a Christmas that was as white as it can be. From Texas to Copenhagen Denmark (for the Global Warming summit- where there had not been snow on Christmas for 30 years) there was a white Christmas. A friend called from Frisco Texas to tell me there was 3" of snow on the ground Christmas morning. The storm blanketed the entirety of middle America. Usually each winter, some areas have good snow and others are dry. This year for the first time it seems that everywhere people can ski, they are having a good snow year. That is great!

Here in California the ski resorts first opened on October 11. Then many resorts had a "soft opening" at Thanksgiving. Now the storms have hit big to ensure that we had a great skiing Christmas and into New Years. And the skiing masses are responding!

The shop has been incredibly busy! Every day we are working hard with more staffers on hand than ever before. Some days are close to out of control. People are asking if they need to take a number to get a boot fitting done. Rentals are crazy. The store needs restocked from upstairs every day. Clothing racks are getting depleted. The ski wall is shrinking. We are having a record year!

It seems like we are not the only ones either. Most ski shops are having the kind of year we are. I would love to think that our strong sales numbers are something I can take credit for, (and there is probably at least SOME of that?) but the weather is the key factor and all the snow farmers are having a good harvest. Which makes me happy. Other shops need to do well. Lot's of people need to get to ski a lot and have a great time doing it. The resorts need to prosper too. It is good for the sport and the industry.

So I am enjoying it all. I went skiing with the family last Wednesday at Dodge Ridge. The girls cut there skiing teeth there when they were young and so we did a "flashback day". After they had a first year of lessons, and then a year with passes at Donner Ski Ranch, we had Dodge Ridge passes for two seasons. Super fun! Dodge is a great family resort and a convenient drive from the Bay Area. Great terrain and a friendly low key staff. Two of my employees call Dodge their "home resort" for good reasons. Give Dodge a try. I think you will like it.

With the girls home for break from college, they are available to work too. Jennifer has been at it since a week before Christmas. Rebecca got home later and will be here for the first half of January. I love having them around and they are quite useful too! An extra employee that can do anything from waxing and scraping skis for Martin in the shop to dealing with rentals all day long is a great thing to be able to plug in during the busy time of year. It's also just nice to drive in with them to work and chat. Jennifer worked yesterday and then we went to a movie afterwards. So nice to take an evening off from after hours working on boots or the books to spend it with my daughter!

Next up for me is to take a few days off at New Years and go to Northstar with friends. We will ski, we will skate, we will watch fireworks, we will take in the ambiance of a winter playground. I will relax and recharge. Then it is back to the grindstone. I hope you will all do the same. There is nothing better for the soul than a ski vacation!

Last week on the lifts Jennifer and I had a conversation about the things people do and how "weird" she thinks we are as a species. We invent games and sports to play just because we like to. We hike to mountain tops just because they are there. Weirdest and most eccentric of all she decided was that we build contraptions (lifts) that go from many different points below to carry us to the top of a mountain. Then we only use them during the period of year when there is snow on the ground. All done so that we can use gravity to stand on sticks and slide back down and do it over and over! Why do we do this? Because it is just plain fun!

I agree with her. When you think about skiing, it is kind of a strange idea to even have this activity available to us. And if it wasn't such a unique experience we wouldn't go to all the trouble. But it is special so we make it possible. We build the lifts, we buy the chains for our cars, we make the trails on the mountains, we get up before the sun to go there. All because it is soo fun!We certainly are a weird and wonderful civilization to do all this.

So let's all be as weird and wonderful as possible this new year! Ski lots, have fun, be safe. Best wishes from me to you going into 2010!

Game On!

Yahoo! I skied on natural snow at least four feet deep yesterday. John called last night at about nine o'clock. He was still at work. They had a massive day and he was sounding like he needed to go home and sleep. Just a few more boots to get to and then he would head home. I almost felt a bit guilty but hey, a man's got to ski right?

So with the snow dances paying off in spades we are suddenly in top gear at the shop. The timing was sort of perfect. It gives us some time to spread things out before Christmas. The 10-20 day a year skiers came in as soon as the storm hit to get there season started. Now we will start seeing the Christmas shoppers and the families that do one trip a year and it happens right after Christmas. All hands are on deck and we are doing huge numbers at the register (for us anyway!).

Jennifer is home now and Rebecca gets home Monday. It is so exciting to have them home for a bit. I can't wait to ski with them! I expected Jenn to want to go with me yesterday but she had other plans already. I did make it home in time to catch the Campolindo vs. Miramonte girls varsity soccer game with Jenn last night. She went a bit early so she would have time to hug most of the players and all the coaches before the game started. They made all the "you should put on a uniform- we could really use you" jokes. It was sort of a returning hero scene. A few other players that graduated last year showed up part way through the game too. They were talking about doing an alumni and coaches verses the team game. Sounds like good fun! Count me in!

Alright then. I guess until the next time I ski it is work, work, work. That is where I am headed right now. That's where I will be well into the evening. There is no place I would rather be today. Thanks again for the snow dances. We seemingly did an excellent job this year!

Dancing for Uler

Is the mass of weather out in the Pacific the one to trigger our ski season? Can we go now? Are we there yet? Can we start now? Is it soup yet?

After the opening of the store each August the speculation begins. When will the season start? This year has been pretty good so far in my eyes. October 11th there was skiing at Boreal. On Thanksgiving most resorts were open for business using some combination of natural and man made snow. You could have skied a lot of days already on a single lift servicing a single ribbon of white. We have had a normal "soft opening" and are prepped for the real McCoy.

This next week appears to be the real thing. A series of storms that should blanket the Sierra and open things all over the resorts. I'll believe it when I see it, but it looks like it is going to happen.

This will bring a big sigh of relief to my entire industry as it does every year. This year more than others though. After a very poor sales season nationally last year, the manufacturers and retailers all had too much gear left over from the winter. The big factories in Europe (and Asia) don't want to slow production of goods but there is too much inventory already in "the pipeline". We need a cleansing year to get things right. The economy plays a part in all this of coarse. More important is the weather. If we have a great snow season, people will ski. They will buy skis and boots. Helmets and goggles. Jackets and base layers. Chapstick and lift tickets. Destination resorts will see the skiers come. Local resorts will see skier days rise. All will be right with the world. At least that's what all the sales reps are saying.

And they are probably right. Low sales have meant much belt tightening in the industry. Reps have lost lines as companies cut budgets. Brands have overhauled their business plans. Retailers ordered soft for this season because of high amounts of gear carried over from last year. Manufacturers have cut production surplusses to make sure they do not get stuck with overstock situations again.

Sales reps have been peddling the closeouts that they still have left from last year. They are also pushing us to reorder 2009/10 items we think we may need now later as the inventories on this years products is already getting pretty slim. We have barely sold any of the new stuff yet and they want us to reorder! Nobody wants to be stuck with overstocks items on their hands. Some of the retailers are biting too. Now a number of the "big boys" have started offering discounts to "pick me, pick me!" on reorders. Everybody has been nervous about the future-both short term and long term. There has been talk of major brands that are "in trouble" pulling out of the US market next year if things don't go well again this winter. And all the time they remind us that a good winter will make it all work out ok. As we are in a hold pattern waiting to see when snowfall will make sales numbers zoom, everybody seems to have not much else to do but worry.

Well I for one am tired of the speculation. Tired of the stressed out sales reps. Tired of waiting to ski. Tired of worrying about it. I hope that this storm is a great one. For me and my business it would be a good thing. For a lot of people and companies that I know and care about in the industry it may be a necessity at this point. If it happens, everybody can relax a bit and just get down to doing our jobs. And skiing!

With that end in mind, I have staffed up starting this Saturday and through the next weekend. If it doesn't happen, I will simply have a high payroll for the week and need to drum up some more "projects" to keep everyone busy. If it does happen, I can stop worrying and start working.

Uler is the Norse god of snow and he is the one that holds the key to all of our fortunes at this point. So I will do my snow dance again and again seeking Ular's love. The photo of Rebecca above shows that she has been doing the dance. Please do yours too.

A man and his Kastle

Every man needs his castle. Also a Kastle. Kastle skis (Pronounced KessLee) have been around for a long time. You may remember the Kestle White Star model. It seems to bear fond memories for a lot of our customers. My friend Rick loved his Kastle Combi skis around 1978. I had never on aKastle. Then at some point they disappeared from the US market. I hadn't thought about them much since until last year. Kastle had returned with a simple line of skis that I was hearing good things about. Really good things.

So I found out who ran things there and set up a demo day for the staff. We met last spring at Sugar Bowl with a number of testers from the shop. Head had skis there as well as Elan. We had some questions about their skis to resolve. 4Front skis were there as well. Jesse showed up from Kastle from Salt Lake with a quiver of skis and a sponsored "free skier" to boot. We also invited Jim Fowler from the StartHaus ski shop in Truckee. I know he likes to try everything and would be interested in the Kastles. He was. Long story short, the skis ROCKED. We had ample skis that we highly respect to compare them too and the Kastles were show stoppers. Our best scores ever on our review cards. Well, maybe a tie in that department with a few Stocklis...

Would the Kastles be a good ski for California Ski Company, we pondered? Well, we always try to stock what we would want to ski and to sell others to ski on. On the other hand, these are very expensive skis. We already have the Stockli skis which are premium skis with a premium price tag. We are not changing that relationship anytime soon, as we love the Stocklis and have a strong bond with the company. Is there room for two ski brands in that catagory? Hmmm...needed more consideration.

John's wife Cathy didn't need to think long. She stated before we had gotten back to the cars at Sugar Bowl that she wanted some. She was simply blown away by the MX88 and told John to make it happen. Talks with Jesse continued. I had a number of "Kastle Dreams" about the MX88. Spring and then summer came and went. We had not pre-seasoned Kastles. Talks with Jesse continued some more. This fall Cathy had not forgotten and started to put some pressure on John (and by default me) to try to get a pair even if we did not commit to the line. Finally Jesse came up with a plan. He sold me several Demo skis at a fantastic price. We could put them into demo and see what kind of action they produced. Done. I finally own some Kastles! If you want to check them out, come on by. They should arrive any day. They will be available to buy for $1000 with a binding which is $400 off sticker. Meanwhile as long as they are here we will Demo them.

Tomorrow will get me a glimpse of another ski that I am very interested in. Wayne Wong (yes that Wayne Wong) is coming by tomorrow afternoon to show me some Anton Gliders. These skis have been very exciting to several people that I respect that have skied them. A suspension system for skis that keeps even pressure as the terrain changes? Interesting. What does it look like? I cannot even try to describe them clearly in a few words so the web link is http://www.antongliders.com/. I had been eyeballing them on the Internet for about eighteen months now, but had been unsuccessful in getting a ride on them. Unanswered emails had me frustrated. I spoke to Peter Keelty from http://www.realskiers.com/ and mentioned them. He knows Anton (of coarse!) and he had recently skied them. He loved them. He said he "would call Anton" and get me on some skis. "Great!" I said.

Then Friday Peter called. He told me to grab a pencil. Then he gave me a phone number and said that it was Wayne Wong's cell. "The Wayne Wong?" I asked. Yes, he said. Wow. Cool. Wayne was a boyhood idol. I had the chance to ski with him a few times 4-5 years ago when he was working some with Fischer Skis and he is a really cool guy. But why did I need Wayne Wong's number I wondered? Well it turns out that Wayne is helping out Anton on the west coast.

So I called Wayne. He was on his way to a consumer show in San Jose with the skis. He would be heading home Monday and will be stopping by. I will get to see and handle the skis, get Waynes thoughts on them, and set up a day to ski them with Wayne in the near future. How bitchin is that? Pretty Bitchin!

Maybe the Antons will be like the Palmer PO2. A ski I love and own but don't feel is a good fit for the store. Or maybe we will become Anton Glider dealers? Who knows? One thing is for sure. If we carry Anton Gliders, the Kastles will not seem so expensive any more!

Either way It looks like I will get to spend a day on them with Wayne Wong. God I love my job!

It's getting colder!

Well, the scene has changed from Fall to Winter. The leaves have dropped as have the nuts. Daylight savings time has kicked in. My birthday has passed. We are halfway through the football season. The hardtop has been put onto the Miata. And the skiers are coming out in droves. The vibe is that we will have a good snow year. More people than in any other season seem to have purchased season passes. Sales are brisk at the shop and people are spending their money to get the gear they want or need. The energy is getting to be fever pitch.

For us working at the shop things are progressing too. We are now open seven days a week. The hires are in. They are being trained and measured. The clinic season is half done as far as outside reps coming in. Now we will start the in-house clinics. We are "overstaffed" because with only the weekends open we had everyone working and did training as we helped customers. Lot's of staff. Lot's of customers. It has worked out well. We have been busier than ever before. That's good news! It is also making me/us lag behing a bit in the training aspect. Now with a seven day schedule, it is harder to have a full staff clinic or meeting. I have to kick into high gear.

We have had a few club functions here this month. They are fun. We have another big one coming up next week with SnowPals. We have sold a little over ninety boots so far this year. That has given us a lot more space to breathe. Another couple hundred sold and we can get the boots all stored in a few areas. That will be nice.

And then...we wait for snow.

I want to ski so bad I can taste it!

I should have gone to Mammoth on October 9th when they opened but I passed. Now I regret it. I have made plans for a Colorado trip and will do a few Utah jaunts. But give me a turn and burn to Sugar Bowl on a Wednesday and I am good to go. Bring it on. I would ski sand right now! Heavenly has announced the weekend of the 21st. They are blowing snow. I hope they are right!

Clinic Season

So now we come to the educational part of our season. It's clinic time! We have clinics that we put on for ski clubs and our customers. We have clinics put on by Manufacturers reps for our staff. We also have in-house training for the staff. For a few weeks a year I spend a lot of time as a teacher as well as a student.

Last week we did a boot clinic for a club called SnowPals (WWW.snowpals.org) as well as customers that signed up. We took the first twenty people that registered and did a free basic stance and alignment evaluation. While this was going on in the boot area, I did a clinic on boots. Boot design, liners, insoles, fitting, boot fitters tools, and boot modifications were covered in some detail. This is one of the presentations that I have done many times and really feel comfortable doing. I think that everyone got some good info out of the event and a number of people found out ways to improve their skiing with boot modifications. The next morning we had a number of attendees come in to get their suggested work taken care of, so it seemed that at least some of them were paying attention and that the information was useful.

This week we have two club events that are part social, part clinic, and part retail (at least I hope that there is some good retail action involved!). We have a SnowPals social mixer combined with a ski technology clinic. The next night we will host the UC Berkeley Ski and Snowboard Club sale event. Also fit into this weeks agenda are two clinics put on for us by our vendors. The sales reps know us well and typically do a different presentation that is more technical and in-depth than the ones they do at other stores. I always look forward to them.

Our Elan/Dalbello rep is Will Lachenauer. Will is very interested in why the factories choose to do what they do. Will said his talk will be about boot design from the manufacturers point of view. How they decide on hinge placement for cuffs, different plastics used, and that sort of thing. Then Dan Dixson who is our Head rep will come in and do a few hours. I don't know what Dan will cover but he always does an excellent clinic as well.

An exciting aspect of this years first clinics is that we will have some new staff members at the clinics for their first days working at the shop. They will be sort of thrown right into the fire, and I think they will really enjoy it! We needed to add some staff to the store for this season and so for the first time I ran an ad on Craigslist.org. The response was overwhelming! Probably 50 responses the first day! Over a hundred in total! I suppose it is a sign of the times and I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. Some of the candidates were simply looking for any work they could find. Many of them were skiers and appeared to be good candidates. I came up with about 35 resumes that would be worth interviewing. That's about ten times as many as I usually seem to have had in years past when I needed to hire. I picked the top twelve and spent three days doing the interviews. Frankly, I think that any of them would have been acceptable. The ones chosen will be fantastic if I am not mistaken. New blood is always fun. We miss the employees that move on, but they typically stay in touch and the CalSkiCo family just grows that much bigger! A woman named Sara that worked for me the very first year randomly saw the ad and dropped me a line just to say hi. I hadn't heard from Sara in over a year and it was good to do so.

So Boreal is open and sales are taking off suddenly. We have new employees. Clinic season is in full swing. Wow. Slow and easy to really hectic all of the sudden. I will try to take a few days the week of the 19th off if I can. After that I think we will be expanding our hours, finishing up our clinics and...SKIING!

Here we go! It's off to the races one more time. Educated, with new blood, and ready for action!

Empty Nesting in Berkeley

Well, we dropped off Jennifer in Eugene last weekend. Rebecca has been back at Chico for a few weeks already. Officially an empty nester now. So sad. So proud as well. They are both going to do great! I will see them a few times and then they will be back to work and ski during winter break. Can't wait.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, we are another week closer to snow. The fall sale prices are outstanding but people are not coming in waves or anything. It's sort of lazy days around here. But that is changing fast. We have a clinic this Friday night on boot fitting and skier stance analysis. We took reservations that completely filled the class. That means that we will be doing 20 basic stance analysis' (for free) for participants in about two hours. Plus a bunch of custom insoles as we go along. While the boys are handling the stance work, I will be giving a boot clinic to a local club. Should be awesome! The next week we have a ski club mixer in the parking lot, followed the next night by the UC Berkeley Ski and Snowboard Club sale night. Party time at CalSkiCo!

Also starting that week will be in store product training. Some of this is with sales reps and some is in-house. It totals about 10 work days for each employee spread out between now and Thanksgiving in 2-4 hour segments. It is a scheduling nightmare as everyone has to attend. We start with an overview of the shop mission and ideals. Rentals are last because I have learned that people forget things that they don't practice and rentals don't start until it snows. In between we will go over every category of products in the store, all policies and procedures, job duties, you know, the whole enchilada. Very fun but tiring for me to stay "ahead of the class" and ready for the next segment.

A few opinions and predictions for this season:

1- The "knee" brand bindings will sell out. We are stocking them for the first time this year and I will wish I ordered double what I did.

2- Anything with reverse camber and/or a tapered tip will sell well

3- Blizzard will do great as a new brand in our store.

4- Line brand skis will sell to the wall again. I will wish I ordered more.

5- Like other industries we will see some shake ups. A few brands may disappear. Some of them names you and I are familiar with.

6- Like every year, skiers will ski more or less depending on conditions in Tahoe.

7- We will have a great snow year!

Lastly on my mind is the SIA industry ski show. Every year the industry has a trade show where they unveil their new product for the following year. I have written on the blog about the SIA show before. Vegas, easy, cheap, fun, and a big party to boot. Long story short is that the venue, dates and expenses have all changed. The Denver location will change the dynamic in a number of ways. Not all of them good. Many shops (most shops?) will probably not attend. They will instead opt to use local showings instead. I am torn. I have always gone to EVERY show, and EVERY demo, and EVERY seminar, thinking that more info is what gives me the edge. I like to really get to know the gear as well as possible. Right down to the content of our basic socks. We need to stand behind our products and really believe in them. I still feel this way. But this years show will be tougher to rationalize. It may be more important to spend the time doing product testing. Possibly in Utah? Hmmm...

Lastly we are dabbeling in yet another brand of ski. After testing the Kastle skis, (say Kess-Lee) I fell in love. Prices are in the higher ranges. Stockli has done great for us as a "flagship" ski, and I don't know if there is room for two lines in this "elite" catagory. We love the Stocklis and would never consider not having them in the store. They are still the best built and most interesting line of skis in the world. But the Kastles have a great feel, and a rich history. I kept dreaming about the 88 waisted ski. Cathy Ito (john's wife) went with us to do the demo day and said to John at the end about the 88 model- "I want them. Get them for me." Mike Thawley simply circled the entire "5" column on his test cards for all but one model. This type of response cannot be ignored. Plus they are made at the Head facility which we respect. Head makes not only their own very high quality skis but also many other high end skis, such as the Palmer PO2 and the "price point" Stocklis. I kept in touch with the Kastle national sales rep and set up a program where we will have demo skis available and can order off them. Kastle has a solid business plan and great personnel in place in the US. The skis will speak for themselves. Come check them out!

Planning a trip to Utah?

Last year I did three Utah trips. So easy and such great snow. I have close personal friends that live in Sandy Utah, so that is convienient too. Last year I brought up the idea of renting the guest space. "funny you mention that..." was the response. That's where you come in. They are now renting the guest portion of their home to skiers for the upcoming season on a daily or weekly basis. I have stayed with Willy, Kristy, and their kids numerous times and it is a great place with a super location. You will feel pampered! Three bedrooms, game room, full kitchen, big screen TV, indoor parking for one car, ski storage area, and a hot tub. You will walk out to views of the Wasach range looking like you could reach out and touch them. I recommend both the family and the house highly. If you are planning a trip, call now to get your reservations!

For more information go to: http://www.vrbo.com/258240

PS- This is an unsolicited advertisement, and no animals were harmed writing this blog entry!

UC Berkeley Ski Club Meeting notes

I went to Chico State. I was in a Fraternity (Lambda Pi- #1 in fun!). I was one of the rowdier guys, in one of the rowdier Frats, at one of the rowdier colleges. I know rowdy. Thursday night I was on the UC Berkeley campus to promote the shop at the ski and snowboard clubs annual "big meeting". I do it every year. I enjoy working with their group. I get to know a few board members pretty well each year. I always like them. I also always feel tame at the campus while attending the big meeting. The auditorium is always packed with several hundred revved up students. This year seemed even bigger and rowdier than ever. Many students seemed like they had spent the last few hours pre-partying. Others just had the look of wild abandon that college students often have. Lot's of girls wearing jeans with bikini tops (just an interesting fashion trend I happened to notice). A little bit of party action at the meeting too. No details as I wouldn't want to cause trouble for anyone. Nothing against school, federal, or state laws that I can recall! In any case there was a LOT of energy in that room. Some of it was just youth. Some was, I suppose, ingested before the meeting. But in the end it was more than that. It was a passion for snow sports. Most of all these students were just charged up to a fever pitch over the thought of hitting the snow soon! It was contagious and got me a bit fired up too. Kinda like Warren Miller movies used to be - back in the day. With no microphone, I gave a short spiel on our sponsorship role. I think maybe 10 people heard me. I had stickers, posters, t-shirts. Never got them out. The club did a great job gathering swag from all over and the meeting kicked off with the board members tossing dozens of swag items from goggles to sweatshirts into the crowd. I will save my swag for when they come to the shop on October 7th for their special sale event. I also brought a ski. The ski was a prize for later in the meeting. Head USA has been the ongoing primary sponser and graciously donate skis each year. So I did my little gig and made arrangements to pick up the ski in the morning. Then I busted out and headed home. I knew from past years what was to come at the meeting. Lot's of fun for them. Less interesting for me. I arrived at about 9:30am Friday to retrieve the ski at the "ski club house". It is, I believe, unofficial but many of the board members live together there. It has been the club members party central for the past few years. Bodies were all about. Some were asleep, some were awake. Most seemed to be in between. The was a VERY large and very empty champagne bottle that impressed me quite a bit. There was also ample evidence that there was much fun had there the night before. Now they were in 'morning after' mode. There was some studying. I will admit that. I did see one person working on a laptop. Overall however, there was the look and feel of students trying to have as much fun as possible. At the expense of everything else. I am sure that all these kids are very bright or they wouldn't be at Cal. They will (for the most part) go on to lead productive lives. They may be future senators, astronauts, and surgeons. But not yet. Not right now. They are not any of these things yet. Yes, they may hide behind their various majors, but they share one thing in common, and I know it when I see it. These kids are ski bums!

The Sun sets on the Tent Sale

Well the tent sale is officially over. We had a great event! Thanks to the many industry sales reps that put in time at the shop during the sale. Thanks as well to my great staff. Overall numbers for sales are the highest the store has ever achieved for the annual event. We sold about 60 pairs of boots and 60 pairs of skis over the 7 days. I think next year we will shoot for an average of 10 per day in each category. That will give us something to shoot for. So now it is back to work again. The store will be set up with everything inside and the Tent Sale pricing comes down. Now we move into our "fall sale" prices until the snow falls. Still great deals around here! We will be open on weekends only for a bit, so there is time to play some during the week for me. Martin and John both worked yesterday to get some of the shop work done. There are a lot of ski mounts and tunes to catch up on and Martin is busy later this week with other things. Thursday and Friday I will go in and spend time getting the prices changed over with new displays. So that left me with a few days to relax! Yesterday I went for a good bike ride with Jarrod (our Salomon rep) and Becky. Lot's of climbing. Left from Montclair after Jarrod had an appointment with Montclair Sports. It gave me an excuse to stop by there and say "hi". I like the store. They do a great job covering a wide range of sports. Skiing is just one of the many groups they cater to. Took a nap after the ride while Jarrod was off to do a Salomon footwear clinic in Walnut Creek. Then he had to drive back up the hill. Nice to be young! Tomorrow is golf with John, Erle, and David who is a customer. Today is errand day. DMV, Post Office, Grocery Store, Blog, Draw blood for yearly physical. That sort of thing. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do- ya know?

Will Il Moro meet El Nino?

This could be an epic confrontation. The Il Moro boots came in from Dalbello today. They are very cool. Even to an old fart like me. Very bling. They have a chain attached, rasta colors, and cool graphics too. They are ready to take on the winter. Hopefully all the reports about this being an el nino year come true. Lot's of storms mean lots of powder days. That means lots of fat ski days. Are you thinking reverse camber perhaps? Yes, I think so too! It is indeed my hope that this year Il Moro will meet El Nino...

The second weekend of the sale has passed and business is still looking great. We slipped a few thousand dollars, so sales are now about even with last years numbers. Can't complain about that! Things in general look good at the shop too. I like our product mix as it is coming together all in one place for their first time. The ski wall is great. I really like our offerings. I want more display room but that is nothing new. The accessories look good, and clothing is still showing up a bit at a time. It typically comes later than the hardware, but from what I have seen it will work out real well. Back in the shop we have added quite a bit of tooling as well as a new storage chest for boot fitting supplies. No more cardboard boxes on shelves. Yeah! Thanks John! On the negative side of things the gondola is still not running. Boo! For now the little plastic Austrian tourists cannot get to the slopes. They came with the tram. Now they cannot use it. They are stuck down by the sales counter hanging out the Mattel sisters (Ski Barbie and Ski Skipper on their lift chair), and the Joe Skier Bobblehead. The Mattel sisters and Joe Bobblehead have both been pretty rowdy in the past, so the Austrian tourists are probably living it up pretty good anyway.

Sorry, I sort of digressed into little toys there for a minute. Back to the sale. Where was I? Last weekend it seemed as though everyone that came in made a purchase. This weekend had a few more lookie-lou's. "Just looking" is a line all retailers have heard a billion times. It is probably the most common response to "Can I help you?", which is the most popular form of retail greeting in the land. You get used to it, but it still rings hollow and cold in my ears. That is why a good sales person will not ask the "may I help you" question. You typically get the auto response cited above. Even if you are a smart sales person, who can always find a way to engage the customer, people still find a way to wiggle out of help. Some just don't want it for one reason or another. Some don't know a darn thing about skiing and are embarrased to ask dumb questions. Many just want to get the feel of the place before becoming engaged by us I think. If you pay attention, they will seek you out in a few minutes. Others don't want anyone to try to sell them something. That's fine too. We don't want to push you, but simply to assist you. Oh well, people can opt out of our expert assistance if they like... But if I can't help them I cannot find out why they are not going to buy anything if they leave without anything. If I don't know this, how can I improve the store? Do a retailer a favor and let them know why you didn't buy anything. I won't hurt my feelings. Or if it does, I will promise not to openly cry in front of you.

From the outside of the store looking in, I sense that the customers are eager for ski season. That was to be expected. There also seems to be a lot of consumer confidence regarding the economy. Also there is the usual hope for a good winter. New designs in equipment are interesting and moving forward quickly. People will be really turned on when they try the new wide skis. Not too long ago the Nordic Jumping ski we have on display seemed freakishly huge. Almost cartoon like. As I was lusting after the Line Prophet 130 today I realised that it is substantially wider than the jumping ski. It's not much shorter either! Radical. These new fat rockered skis are radical. How many will we sell? I don't know. I had to guess. I do know that we have the right skis. I do know that it is the wave of the future. I do know we will all be getting them!

Boot fitting continues to be the focal point to a great extent for many of us here. Storage of the boots alone means that they are everywhere. You can't avoid them. The boot area always has activity even if the ski area is quiet. You go through the boot area every time you bring a ski back into the shop for tuning or mounting of bindings. All the reports I generate show the impressive numbers generated by boot sales. We have also had a lot of midweek boot work as well, so I am always trying to coordinate appointments. An injection foam boot liner has been ordered for one customer who will get it foamed next week. I have a customer flying into town from Salt Lake to do a boot purchase with full stance alignment tomorrow night. Friday Morning we have a corporate group coming for boots and skis. I need at least two and preferably three boot fitters on hand for that. One person can sell skis to everybody pretty quickly. Boots are different. Boots take a long time to get right. I love boots. I love fitting them and working on them too. I like having the proper tools and knowledge to get it done right. I like having a staff that is so qualified to do the boot thing. This gives me the flexibility to do other things as needed. During the sale, I tend to be sort of a "master of ceremonies". You can't do that very effectively if you are stuck back in the boot area. I love boots. They are always on my mind. Maybe this week I will get to do my first boot fit of the year!

Flying Tents and Falling Gondolas

The sale has begun. We have gotten through the first weekend and it was super. Saturday was pretty uneventful it seemed. Maybe the first day I have high expectations of chaos? Anyway, the sales numbers were good at the end of the day, so that part worked. With about 15 staff members including all the Sales Reps, we covered everything easily. Sunday got a little more hairy. I had a number of reps and an in house employee that needed to leave early and so, of coarse, the afternoon was quite busy. Still smooth- but busy. On top of that we had a small gondola we recently installed fall down in the middle of the sales floor with a pretty impressive crash (you can see it in front of the large Mammoth gondola in the photo above). Then the tent in the parking lot took a little stint as a para sail and ended up on Gilman Street. Becky saved it from an untimely end with her lightning reflexes. She was out the door and on it before anyone else even realized it had happened! In the end I was a bit frazzled but psyched. It was super fun day.

It is always great this time of year. The regulars come by to say "Hi". Many don't even need to pick anything up. They just want to come by. It's a bit like a reunion of old friends. To you folks, I think, it means that ski season is upon us soon and it's time to start thinking about it. And it's not just the hard cores. It is always fun to work with all the customers right now. We are selling them toys after all, but this time of year there is a certain anticipation and excitement. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. It's palpable. Even though they will not use their new toys for a few months, they are really excited about the thought of it. This feeling is contagious so it gets us all excited too. That is when the shop is most fun for us too- when the customers are psyched and we can help stoke the fire.

What a great job I have! Even so, after a week of being pretty hard at it, it was nice to get a day off today. Tomorrow we are back in to organize and get ready to do it again!

The Virus is spreading!

Well the store is prepped for the sale. The reps will be here and we are ready. I can't wait to see all the "regulars" as well as the new customers that will come in. I love my job and this weekend will be as good as it gets. After a summer off it will be "all out" right from the get go. In addition to sales prep I have been scrambling to get a lot of other things done. One is to come up with an order for the new Virus boots from Dalbello. I have had just a few days to come up with an order for the 12/01 release. How many can we sell? I don't know. What I do know is that I had to come up with my best guess today in the midst of sale prep. I did about 8 lites and 10 Free models. Dalbello is great about helping the dealers and I got images and award notifications from them right away. The boot won the Editors choice award from Backcountry magazine. Here came photos of the finished product. Glen loves the final product testimonials. The photo from a few days ago is from the sales rep and the colors were wrong, so he is freaked that it is not represented properly. I can't get it to load correctly so just imagine it to be more of an orange color for now. lol A peak into my world may be the email that our sales rep (will) sent to dealers. It reads as follows:. Labor Day is right around the corner and so is our season. If ever there was a year to generate early sales this is it. To assist in achieving that goal Dalbello is launching the Virus AT program. This boot has been in development and testing with Glen Plake at our Chamonix lab and around the U.S. It is the first AT boot allowing planter flexion. The ability to point your toe creates a much longer stride; every step covering more grounded with less effort. You will definitely be the first to the powder stash. Dalbello builds ski boots. The Virus is capable of pushing around the widest beefiest skis on the Market. The Quadrablock™ Stability Pylons, 2 Piece BioStride™ tongue, Dynalink Rear foot Retention, Alpine designed stance, ID Thermo™ Custom LiteTour (w/Tongue) liner and more aims at giving you the best skiing experience available once you arrive. The Virus is being brought in on 12/1 and that will be it until the spring. This is a 2010/2011 model and will be unchanged. The program carries 3/5/2010 dating . This is the best intro program available on a product that already has won Backcountry Magazine Editor's Choice Award. Take a look at the write up or look on Epic or TGR boards. This is a highly anticipated release. I’ve attached the order form and will be placing orders this week. So there you go. It is here. It seems to be the next great thing. It is outside of our bubble a bit, but if we don't order them they will find someone who will. I think it will sell out and not be re-orderable. How many will we sell? All of them...I hope! If you want one early, you can pre-book now. Let me know!

In the meantime I will be at my sale!

It's crazy like that...

We are almost there and (coincidentally) almost ready. We have been trying to get the shop prepped and have been handling the phone calls precipitated by the ads at the same time. It is distracting to do both. We did about $4500 in sales today shipping skis around the country. That's great. We also got behind in our work. Not so great. Oh well, another long day tomorrow!

I have been like the conductor. My prep work is done so I simply oversee the big picture stuff and let people do their jobs. Mackey (finally) finished the gondola display. Martin has put up most of the sale signage. John is always thinking about improving the shop. He just found a 36 drawer cabinet (that took one half day to retrieve 2 days before the sale). He has also been working on new boot fitting forms and getting the boot department all set up. Jennifer has made all the computer generated sale signage and helped in "all the little ways". She will go to the store for more scotch tape, she will get lunch, and she is willing to come to work 3 hours early in the Miata with the top down. That's my girl! Gary, Becky, and Erle all worked Tuesday. They will be back tomorrow. Tuesday was an "all hands on deck" day and tomorrow will be too. We do what it takes. We will have 7-8 employees working tomorrow to be ready. We WILLbe ready for your visit.

Boots are always interesting when we have a sale. We will have tremendous pressure on our boot department this weekend. There will be 6 benches set up and it will likely not be enough. Out come the folding chairs. The first boot fit of the season and the 6th boot fit of the season will happen the same day for many of us. New shapes are always tough, and so we will concentrate on selling the older stock (which are also SUPER deals) first. We have about 700 boots in stock so we should have something for everybody. The question is how many customers can we handle in the boot department in one day? We shall see...

In the end, our prices are awesome and we don't have a bad ski or boot in the shop. The people will come. The deals can't be beat. Hopefully people will see the values we are offering and make a purchase. The economy is the wild card. Lot's of people will buy skis or boots that that they will live with for 20 years. Others will but skis that they will replace next year- just because. Some will choose to wait as they are worried about the economy. Others will say "what the heck, let's buy 'em!" Either way, I hope we make Lot's of people happy this weekend with our sale. More importantly, we should convince any new customers that this is the place to shop long term.

Overall the store looks pretty ready right now. Everything is about ready for the onslaught!Helmets at 20% off should do great. Clothing at 50% off is always a winner! Poles at a great price- why not? Everything is marked down to "why not" prices so we expect a huge success. Why not have a party on your anniversary? No reason not to! Come on down and join the fun! Bring your checkbook!

Trust me- we will be ready.

It's not just us by the way. The sales reps are also all jacked up! They have been waiting like us and now it is starting to happen. Reviews of the 09/10 skis are hitting. The preseason sales events are happening. Winter is around the corner. They will be getting their first real taste of the 09/10 season this weekend when they work our sale. Also the news stand magazines have their ski test results this month. The skis we chose have been ranked highly. Not that we pay too much attention to the mag reviews... we don't (because we think they generally stink), but they do influence buying patterns, so we at least read them. The reps will be telling us what we did right and did wrong- like they knew all along. No matter, we stock what we believe in. Good reviews or not, the reps will be at the sale. You can discuss the merits of their skis with them personally! All in all it is a great chance to save some dough and have a great time.

That being said, Blizzard is our "new" brand and they kicked butt in the reviews. Elan also did great. Stockli as usual was pretty much absent. I wish they would send their skis to the magazines for testing! Head was less than stellar, but they have not had a "new" ski this year that is we thought was awesome, so that is not unexpected. Head has been mainly trying to figure out what graphics to use on their already great skis. Line is our "cult" brand and we are pleased that they tested well. Fischer got their usual great reviews with the caveat of "nobody takes this ski seriously but it kicks butt!" being a common thread. We will sell the snot out of Fischers this year and EVERYONE will love them.

I truly believe that we have something for everybody that is ideal for their needs. That makes me feel good. Tired. Done for the day. But good. Off to bed...

The Golden Slipper?

In the midst of hectic sale preparations, I got a call from Will, our "most excellent" Dalbello sales rep. The Virus boot will ship this year! The Virus is a boot that is designed for backcountry skiing. This is the first time that a major alpine boot company has entered into "backcountry" boots. They are different than Alpine boots in that they will be "hiked" in, with skis attached only to the toe for going uphill, as well as skied downhill with the heel held down. The boot needs to have some fore/aft movement to be comfortable during the hiking part of your day. Only a few small manufacturers of boots exist for this part of the sport. Primarily because of the lack of options available to the consumers, we have done a lot of boot fitting on this type of boot. Less boot shapes available mean less foot shapes are happy with a stock boot. Hence the flow of these boot owners coming in to have their boots modified.

Why do I care? I care for the same three reasons as Dalbello does.

1)There is a need for more boots in this category.

2)It seemed like there had to be a better way to build them. We always thought so anyway...

3)If you can build a better boot, you can sell a lot of them. And make people happy too.

So Dalbello has been working on this boot for some time. We have seen prototypes, Glen Plake has been testing them, and Allesandro Dalbello himself showed me the Virus' features and benefits and reinforced his companies commitment to building them. Still I was not convinced. I would believe it when I saw it. This was a revolutionary design that would blow the competition away. But the company would still sell a very small number of boots as the market for them was so small. Also the R&D costs would be racking up.

Well they have come through. A year and a half after Mr. Dalbello promised me they would ship when ready, they have indeed done so. Three models will be available. We will stock two of the three. They have a number of advantages over the rest of the competition. It is not our core business, but really aren't we the perfect shop to carry the boot? The backcountry forums have been buzzing about this boot for the last 18 months and people are going to find them and buy them simply based on their merit as a superior boot. Since they only come in one last (foot shape mold) many will need to be modified. Ready for that!

Even though we don't get heavily into this aspect of the sport, I applaud Dalbello for pushing the technical envelope wherever they see a need. Dalbello has become a cornerstone of our boot selection for good reason. They pay attention and they are quick to react. There is something to be said for being a family owned privately held company. Dalbello is the only big boot brand you can say this about. While this is a tough economy and a mistake on my part could be costly, I believe in Dalbello and I believe in the Virus. If you need one come on by...

Here is what I first thought: http://www.backcountrymagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=317&Itemid=64

Today the Virus was confirmed to be an editors pick after they tried it!

The Virus is spreading!!!

The glass ski boot- a Cinderella story

Christian comes in to work the kickoff sale every year. He has been in the industry for a long time and is a master boot fitter. He has also developed into a close personal friend of mine. In 2004 or so, on a typical Saturday sale afternoon, we had four or 5 boot fits going at the same time. Lot's of employees working as well as a store full of customers. Christian finished up a boot sale and was ready to help the next person in line.

Heather had come in with two friends. She was in to buy ski boots. Christian was available and helped her. By the time the boots were sold every person in the shop know that there was some serious chemistry between the two of them. You can guess the rest of the story! Heather gave birth to a wonderful baby girl last week. She is named Catherine. I thought that naming her after the boots would have been cool. What do you think about a baby girl named FR9.5? I guess Christian and Heather didn't like it either. Anyway, congratulations to the three of them! Certainly the best and most important boot fit of Christians life.

Around here we continue to move towards the anniversary sale. Thursday was typical. We re-merchandised the base layer items. I got Jennifer going on sale signage which she will do at home. Goves were received, more helmets came in. Boots were re shuffled as more had arrived. Typical day right now. The bigger picture is going well also. Staffing is coming together. The boxes keep coming and it looks like most of the gear will be re on time.. I don't know where I can display all the skis. I don't know where to store all the back stock boots. The store is looking like a person in clothing 2 sizes too small- bursting at the seams. Perfect!

The web site is also looking pretty ready (I like our site and hope you all do too). The web is becoming a more and more important aspect to advertising, so I have invested a fair amount of time and $$ into the site the last few years. It's fairly complete per my list of changes/additions/revisions. I have a few pages that are ready but not live as I typ these words. I can live with that. They will be on line in a few days. The site will be getting a lot of hits right now due to our sale flier finding customers mailboxes. I also did an "ad" on the SFGate site that will direct them to our web page. Google analytics will tell me the traffic counts on the web site, but in the end the proof is in the pudding. The sales numbers for the reunion sale are what really count. That is the true test.

Meanwhile the preparations continue!

The boxes keep coming...

It was Friday. I had worked all week. I thought I was getting ahead and planned on taking Friday off. I thought Friday would be ok. Ship dates from the manufacturers were August 1st. So I went to up to the Napa/Sonoma region to do a three day bike tour with a few friends. A last Hurrah. We do it every year. Good times. Friday in the Hotel I turn on the cell and there was a message from Royal Robbins. Lot's more boxes. Gave me something to think about the rest of the weekend.

The boxes keep showing up. We keep opening them. John and Martin were both in today. They took the shop's interlocking mat floor apart and cleaned it well at the car wash. It lives in the workshop under and around the stone grinder. They also did a first round of cleaning on the floor that lives beneath the mats. Not a pretty job. Tomorrow I will scrub from hands and knees and put it back down with the two of them. Can't wait.

I worked with the web master today to do some final tweaks to the "new look" web site for 2009/10. Hope you all like it. Let me know! I also got some of the sale info up on the site. Final tweeks to the postcard that will be mailed in a few weeks were reviewed. Tomorrow I will download the mail list, clean it up, and forward it on to the printer. The postcard will be put to bed. Actually it is not a post card. It is the first "folding" ad I have sent, so I am a bit nervous about it. More money, but more room to give particulars about the sale. Better I think? We shall see.

Got a few promo things going as well. They seem to be ongoing and about 20% get implemented. You gotta hear it all and wade through and discard the other 80% however. Royal Robbins wants to partner with some "cross pollinating" in our ads and promos. I am going to give her a few lift tickets for a raffle to start with. No big deal. I have to meet with the UC Berkeley Ski and Snowboard club as well. This is a long term good relationship but is high maintenance since they change leadership every year and there are other entities involved that are sponsors. Destination 1440 around the corner on San Pablo does the snowboard side. We cover the ski side. Works out fine, but finding dates that work for three groups takes a bit more time every year. It adds up, ya know?

Anyway, that is it for today's report. No cool or interesting stuff came in (unless you are into underwear or socks). Tomorrow is another day and who knows what it will bring? Not me- and I own the place...

Back to the Salt Mines

"Hi this is Tina from Royal Robbins" she said, "we just took in six big boxes for you. When can you come get them?"

And with that sentence my summer ended. As I said in my last post (way back in April), it had been a long and successful year. I was checking out for a bit. I did the golf, fish, mtn bike, and ski road trip. Thirty four days and 4000 miles of driving. Then I did more of the same at home for another month or so. Awesome.

Now I'm back and ready. It's our 20 year anniversary so this one is going to be extra special. I called in John and Martin to get rolling. We started out in the back shop and are doing the usual mods to incorporate new equipment. A new boot sole planer with vacuum means another table to stuff back there. John and Martin are on it like evil scientists. John brings in large power tools in boxes. I hear loud noises like a maniac dentists lab. I'm sure it will be fine.

Meanwhile I have organized the game plan to be ready for the sale. Marketing plan with postcard. Signage needs. All the new cool items we will be receiving added to the point of sale database. Sale price sheets made up. All sale pricing into the computer. Staff and manufacturers reps called to get work commitments for the big sale. Renew basic supplies like staples and pens. There lot's more but your bored already!

Then the boxes come. Between August 1st and August 25th we will get about 80% of the inventory we will be getting for the ENTIRE YEAR. We will be packed to the ceiling with about 600 pairs of boots, 250 pairs of skis, a few hundred helmets, gloves, socks, wax irons...everything. And we have to count it, price it, display it, merchandise it, and back stock excess stock. By 8/29 this has to be done and looking good for you to walk in the front doors. The first year it was daunting. Now I know it is possible and that we will (somehow) get it done.

Here we go!

I will keep you posted as we go along...

Oh, and Martin leaves tomorrow for Mt. Hood to ski race. A bit of general training and then the summer race that kicks off the master racers season. He always comes home with some points that give him a good head start for the year. Here's hoping this year is no different!

Lazy Days of Spring

We have a closing date now for our little summer respite. Our last day for the season will be May 3rd. After that the staff will be heading to Bend Oregon to ski at Mt. Bachelor for a bit. Our traditional trip has been to Mammoth but we decided to change things up this year. The director of Marketing at Bachelor sent us an email with some very attractive lodging and lift rates so we thought- why not?

Right now is a weird time at the shop. Business is very slow when temps outside are in the high 80's. We always have Lot's to do on my lists, but it is hard to get motivated. After going hard all year, it just seems like it's time for a break. That break is coming but it is still a few weeks off so we try to stay motivated and stick to the list of chores. But we get spring fever too and so we lallygag quite a bit along the way. I will admit that this year I am probably the worst offender too!

Overall we had a great year. Business was up a bit from last year making this our biggest grossing season ever. We anticipated more sales in a number of categories so are carrying over more inventory than I would have liked in a few areas but overall I am very pleased. Thanks to all of you for making this a great year. Even more thanks should go to my fantastic employees. Without them I would have very little- they are the best in the business!

After Mt. Bachelor I will keep recreating for a month total trip. There are no real plans but to carry my skis, bikes, fly pole, tent, and golf clubs and see what happens. I will spend a few days in Boise with some ski folk that like to mountain bike. I need to end up in Missouri for a family reunion. I'll pick up my dad in Montrose Colorado on the way. Sounds like fun to me! I will be back in the shop during June. It will be good to get away for a bit, and then I am sure it will be good to be back.

See ya then!

It's all about the boots...

Snowcovers in Vancouver and Whistler is one of the most advanced boot shops in the industry. They are also the distributors of the foam liners and other products that we sell. They sell fit products and back shop tools that are the best in the business. This group of products is called the Soze group. Over the last year or so I have been talking to them about their philosophies and drooling over some of their tools. They have a boot summit each year at Whistler which has been impossible for me to attend but this year the destination was Salt Lake City which was feasible. John and I traveled there with Jarrod who is our Salomon sales rep and now sells the Soze products as well. Jarrod is one of the good guys. I decided the event would be worthwhile and I thought it would be more fun to road trip than to fly. Good call Greg, as we had a great time! We boot fitted and skied with some serious professionals. We learned a lot and we partied hard with our peers. We had my car towed, skied four days (two powder days), stayed in Sandy at a good friends house, had a great social event, and learned a heck of a lot about boot function and biomechanics within the ski boot. Awesome right? Awesome and then some! I feel like John and I just got back from 4 days at Boot Camp. At 8:30 am in the meeting room, the first day started like this: Pete says “It dumped last night so lets ski and then meet again at 11:00”. Yahoo! Utah powder for all! What a way to start the event! Jarrod provided skis for the trip so I spent the day on some Salomon Rocker skis. Wow! 130mm under foot with a big rockered front end. Fantastic! I skied great and had an amazing time. After the rumpus of a powder celebration in the morning, fit theories were then put forth by the hosts in a lab environment. More fun than skiing? No, but almost! Modifications were done to individual’s boots, and then the afternoon “on snow” session was used to evaluate the changes. Round table discussions were ongoing. Most attendees were already on board with the company, it’s theories, and products. I can’t blame them. Everything was first rate. Overall, I was very impressed with the company and its products.

We also got a visit in at Dale Boot. Dale makes boots right there in Salt ake City. The address has not changed for decades, and they make an interesting boot. Seeing the big plastic injectors and shll molds was a first for me. Their method for hand making custom liners was a new one too. There are the marks of a mad scientist inside this facility! Mike and Adam were very nice to give us the tour. A few other people from our trip that need a shout out are- Jay from the Sozo group. Very Impressed with the man, the mission, and the motivation. Jay is a man with a vision and a plan. He reminds me of my old bike shop partner Dave Bekowich. Both men speak with intelligence and conviction. Ernie from Bootworks in Park City- Ernie, Thanks for the space and the mentoring. You are THE MAN and only you should wear the optic-grab in public. Pete- Thanks for the good time…see you this summer in Boise. John from Colorado Springs- I hope you found your Oakleys…Sorry! Larry- I’ll be mum and not embarrass you. Linda (from Greenwoods in Boise- go see her there if you are in the area)- You weren’t too bad for the token female bootfitter -LOL. Let me know when you want to move to California. I would love to have you on board here! Brian- From Fischer Tech Rep to Shop Owner/Partner is a great move. Good luck in Frisco! Jeremy and his Dad- I would love to visit your shop. You are as technical as it gets. Thanks for the tips. Glen- Dude, No more backwards skiing- OK? That was gross! Willie, Newt, Marielle and Ross- Thanks for letting us hang out. We really enjoyed the time together. Willie, next time you are coming with us. Mandatory. J-Rod- You might make it in this business yet. Thanks for the great trip!

All of the sudden "POW"!

Well I have been terribly remiss in blog work, but I have a great excuse...right in the middle of the ski season, POW! hit the Sierra and I have been chasing it ever since. First, we had Demo days in Mammoth with deep powder at the end of last month. It was the first time in a number of seasons that we have had demo days for the next years gear in deep powder. Most years it is hard to evaluate powder skis. This year it was hard to evaluate carving skis. Temperatures around zero and abundant snowfall made this a great year to ski everything super wide. John, Peter, Becky, Paul Karst and myself all had a few days of powder bliss. This was great as there are so many new powder skis out now with "reverse camber', "no camber", "rocker", "semi rocker", "full rocker" and the like, that it was important to get a feel for where this market segment is going and what really works and what doesn't. Then it was off to Utah to ski with my best friend from High School. He brought his son and both my kids came. We stayed with a close girl friend from both High School and Chico State. The three (out of four) musketeers were back together! We skied at Snowbird and got to spend a day with Peter Keelty (realskiers.com), as well as great days with our host family and each other. Hot tub, Snowbird, 6 demo skis waiting to try, and great company. Life is good! One day back, and it was off to Reno for our spring buying show. John and I went and drove over Donner summit last Monday night just before it closed. Driving through a nasty storm we got into Reno at 2:30 after a few hours of whiteout navigation. The show was different than it usually is. The economy has the industry in a stir and everyone seemed nervous. Retail tactics will have to change, and distributors are going to struggle. Nobody is going to avoid the realities of the world economic situation. It's a changing world. None of us is really in it for the money anyway, however, so a lot of people (vendors and retailers alike) were absent from the show on Wednesday as they figured skiing was more important. Can't blame them! John and I hammered out a few contracts and now it's up to me to place all the orders. What to do. what to do... how will next year be? I don't know about the future. All I know is skiers will keep skiing and we will be there to take care of them. I am still unpacking, but soon enough I will post photos of Utah and talk some about next years skis.

Leaving Las Vegas

Typically when I go to a trade show two things happen. One is that I have a great time doing business and "playing" amongst my peers. The other is that I come back totally excited about the new products and worked up about the sport and the entire industry. I usually come back thinking that it was the best trade show ever. Well, this was not the best trade show ever. After 34 years in Las Vegas it is a shame to have this be the curtain call. Why? Because the industry is not in great shape, and many people at the show were depressed about this years business and worried about next season.

We are having a good sales year, so to me it's more or less business as usual around here. Outside of my little CalSkiCo cocoon however, the ski business has taken a big hit. Ski sales in particular have been poor. There are predictions of businesses failing at both the retail and wholesale end of the industry if next year is as bad as this. Many reps said that this is the worst year for the industry that they have witnessed. Some of them had been to all 32 Vegas shows.

So, a bad business climate leads to sour business men and women. This doesn't help with the general mood of the show. There was still a lot of good socializing but not with the usual enthusiasm. There are a lot of people that you meet and like over the years that you see at these shows. It is always good to see people like Wanona from Sports LTD in Redding. Hanging out at the Kastle event one night with the owner of Viking Ski (Chicago) was fun and interesting too. The highlight was probably Moroccan food with a great waiter and wonderful belly dancers. Martin and I went with Dan Dixson (who was our Fischer rep last year and our Head rep this year). Dan is one of the good guys and has become a good friend.

If you know me well, then you know that if belly dancers with friends is the highlight of the show, it wasn't a wild show for me. And generally this was the case for most people I think. Reps would be talking to you about business strategy for next year instead of their cool new products. Behind their eyes you could tell there was some fear. Businesses will be ordering less for next year. Would their product be the one to be left out?

Anyway, as I said, we are having a good year at CalSkiCo. My biggest obstacle has not been the economy but the weather. Always the weather for snow farmers! If we get some good dumps here we will finish strong. If not, we will have a weak last third of the sales season.

And so it goes. Farewell to Las Vegas. I feel bad for the dealers that are struggling this year. I hope that next year turns around, but I fear that this economic slump is not going to be quickly fixed. I am not entirely sure why we have not been impacted as much as most, but I have a pretty good idea. A good part of it is our fantastic loyal customers. I will adjust the buy for next year and play to our strengths a bit more (knowing that there will still be a lot of this years product out there next season). And in the end it will be all about the amount of snow that we get. It's always about the snowfall levels.

So it's goodbye to Vagas and hello to Denver. One thing is sure. Denver will have more snow than Las Vegas. More snow is always good.