photo © 2007 ReWikstrom
Elyse Saugstad taking a big jump in the Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiiing Open that she recently won.
Elyse Saugstad taking a big jump in the Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiiing Open that she recently won.
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photo © 2007 ReWikstrom Elyse Saugstad taking a big jump in the Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiiing Open that she recently won. |
Once again Girdwood Big Mountain Freerider Elyse Saugstad showed her ability to dominate on the Big Mountain Freeskiing National and International circuit, by winning the Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiing Open this past weekend. Winning by more than five points over second place finisher Allie Donovan of Squaw Valley.
Just a short time after her international win in Sochi, Russia. This win gives her two first places and one second place finish in the four events she has entered. The Squaw Valley Open typically draws the very best of the American Skiers in Big Mountain Skiing.
As a Pro Rider for the Salomon International Freerider Ski Team Elyse will be traveling to Tignes, France for the fourth stop of the Nissan World Free Ride Tour where she will again go up against the best of the European big mountain riders. Formally known as Extreme Skiing, which really caught on big time in the days of the Valdez, Alaska extreme skiing competitions. A Big Mountain Freeskiing Competition is not a race, but a judged event. It is based on choice of line down the mountain, technique, aggressiveness, control and fluidity. An athlete uses the natural terrain features between the start and the finish area. You receive higher points for unique and difficult routes. High speed and steep terrain, skiing over natural obstacles such as cliffs and rock exposure will get the best points. Just jumping off the highest cliff and falling will not get you the best points.
Including Alyeska Ski Area as one of her sponsors, Elyse will be here for the Subaru International Freeskiing Series to be held at Mt Alyeska in April.
By Philip Peterson II
Special to the Turnagain Times
When I was growing up I thought K2 skis were the coolest thing on snow. I wouldn’t even consider investing (my parents’ money) in another manufacturer. I am not sure how I came to this conclusion of K2’s absolute supremacy…but I suspect it had something to do with Greg Stump’s Blizzard of Ahhs featuring Scott Schmidt and Glen Plake.
This sense of brand loyalty is perhaps the greatest thing a manufacturer could hope for in a competitive market. They don’t need to sell us on the fact that their equipment is the best, because for us it is an established fact. More than likely we are already singing of the company’s virtues at the top of a mountain like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. People will often hold onto this brand loyalty for years before committing the sin of buying another company’s skis.
But what happens when the company of one’s fancy is acquired by a competing manufacturer?
In supporting our brand we are inherently supporting the rival. In the last 15 years there have been some major shake-ups in the ski world; ski manufacturers have begun buying one another. Huge parent companies are consolidating the ski world so that only a handful of companies are controlling the production of the vast majority of all skis made in the world. I did a little investigative research to try and unravel the twisted and incestuous family tree of ski production.
As you might expect, it all starts in Europe. The Finnish corporation Amer is a large parent company that has owned the Austrian manufacturer Atomic for a number of years. In 2004, Amer bought Volant skis from Huffy (the bike company). In 2005, they also purchased the French manufacturer Salomon along with most of its subsidiaries, including BonFire and Arc Teryx. You’ll notice many bindings that were recognizable as Salomon models now have Atomic stickers on them. Amer can use the brands interchangeably by simply switching graphics.
In 1997, the surf based clothing company Quicksilver decided to get into the winter sports scene by purchasing Mervin Manufacturing, a big name in snowboarding—Mervin owns Lib Tech, Bent Metal, and Gnu. In 2005, Quicksilver went big in the ski world by purchasing Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange, and Look. This same year, Lib Tech began production of its NAS (Narrow Ass Snowboards), a.k.a skis. Quicksilver plays a similar game as Amer in putting different stickers and paint jobs on the same equipment and marketing them as different products.
The Italian ski boot and shoe giant Tecnica now owns Nordica skis and boots, Nitro snowboards, and Blizzard skis. They are pouring resources into the ski companies which explains how they have vaulted onto the ski scene in the last few years. They are aggressively going after the alpine race world and free-ski market.
After moving its production from America to China, K2 Corp. bought up the German giants Volkl and Marker in 2004. In 2006, the company purchased Karhu and Line skis. In the last year, this American juggernaut was itself purchased by The Jarden Corporation. This was a bit of a surprise move as Jarden Corp. primarily does our kitchens, most notably the Mr. Coffee machine, the Crock Pot, and the Food Saver vacuum sealer we use to pack up our salmon every summer.
The Austrian ski company Fischer is still owned by the Fischer family. Besides skis, these guys make tennis rackets and produce long, flexible composite parts for cars like Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Mercedes. They also manufacture composite pieces such as wings, fuselages, and engine parts for commercial airlines.
Ski culture has always been an interesting mix between the wealth of large companies and a strong minimalist counter-culture. Think of it as the resort owners vs. the couch-surfers. This relationship is holding true with manufacturing. The loss of diversity caused by the mergers of the ski giants has created an opportunity for small, independent manufacturers, many of whom are located in the good ol’ U.S.A. Colorado is leading the pack with Liberty, Fat?ypus, and Icelandic. California comes in with a couple of the strongest independents: Armada and 4-frnt. Reno, Nevada is also mixing it up with Moment skis. Black Diamond is still independently owned in Utah and G3 (Genuine Guide Gear) is doing well on their own in BC, Canada. With the continued success of these boutique companies, small garage manufacturers keep popping up. Who knows what creatively crazy companies we’ll see in the future?
So how do corporate buy-outs and parent companies ultimately affect brand loyalty? Do we still think of them as independent companies or is their individuality just as intertwined as their profits? It is kind of funny to think of adrenaline junkie and skiing super-star Shane McConkey as the avatar of Food Saver, Seal-a-Meal, and Mr. Coffee. It just doesn’t have the same wild-child flare. I guess it is inevitable that the big companies will wrestle for dominion over the ski world, and prosperous smaller manufacturers will have the choice to either be consumed through lucrative buy-outs or continue on as smaller independents. As for me, I think I’ll hold out for Costco to release the Kirkland Brand powder ski and then try to make it onto their pro-team.
To wrap it up, I’ll leave you with a little historical music lesson from Girdwood resident and rock aficionado, Michael Day, “Dude! It’s just like what AC/DC said, ‘Who made who?’”