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So growing up in the ski community, like I had always just obsessed over design.

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It's just the way that I am, like kind of nitpicking, trying to learn about all these

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different products, trying to make them better.

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So I have, I have notebooks of when I was 10, 11 with ski designs in those and kind

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of just put it in the back burner.

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And then as I started to grow up, go to Western, learn that there's a local ski company and

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then going into my junior senior year, kind of thinking about what I want to do.

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I just kind of emailed them every other week for as long as it took me to get in there

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and then got an internship, fulfilled that within like half the time of my internship

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and then just stuck around, tried to learn everything that I can.

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And yeah, just here I am.

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And that was four years ago.

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Like my dad always told me, you're not giving jobs, you take them.

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You have to force your way in there, show them that you're going to work harder than

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everyone else and that you're more passionate than everyone else and eventually you'll get

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to where you want to be.

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Welcome to All Aspects, a podcast where we explore, discuss and celebrate adventure culture

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and outdoor lifestyle.

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It is our mission to educate, inform and entertain our fellow adventurers about the inherent

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risks that surround us every time we go outside to play and to provide you with the knowledge

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and tools to help you do the things you love the most and the safest way possible.

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All Aspects is brought to you by AspectAvy.

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AspectAvy is on a mission to save lives by making Avalanche Safety simple.

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It is the only app that tells you where the high and low risk zones are for today's Avalanche

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Danger.

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With a suite of built in tools like forecast verification, slope meter and gear checklist,

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AspectAvy is the new safety standard for Avalanche risk management.

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Remember there are dozens of apps that get you into the back country but there is only

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one that's designed to bring you home and that's AspectAvy.

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Go to aspectavy.com to learn more or download the app to start your 30 day free trial.

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Thank you AspectAvy for making this show possible and thank you for listening.

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All right, let's get to the show.

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Welcome back to All Aspects.

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Jeff, how you doing?

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Good to see you.

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Today we have a special guest which is Eli Purvis.

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He is the product manager at Romp.

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Production.

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Production manager.

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I'm sorry, Eli.

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Romp skis here in Crestabute which is kind of the unofficial sponsor of AspectAvy in

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some ways.

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We're all out there ripping on Romp skis.

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We love Romp.

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Eli, do you want to kind of tell us a bit about what you do over at Romp and introduce

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yourself?

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Yeah, so as the production manager at Romp, I do a lot of, everyone there wears multiple

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hats just because it's a pretty small crew and there's a lot to get done.

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But I guess mostly what it is, is as the orders start coming in, I'm the one that organizes

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all of those and make all the parts that go into the skis.

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I do a lot of the work with the wood, a lot of CNC work, profiling out sidewalls, bastes,

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and then just essentially getting everything ready, all the raw material ready for it actually

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goes into the skis.

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And then the other side of things is a lot of the sales and marketing work which we're

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trying to find help with at the moment as we grow, we'll be able to add more to the

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team.

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But that's a lot of customer facing stuff, working with different businesses like Jeff

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and AspectAvy, taking in custom orders, talking to people about what they want to get out

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of their skis and kind of just trying to help them get to that point.

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So it's just a lot of different things that we all do to try and make the best product.

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And yeah, it's just kind of ever-evolving and just kind of do a little bit of everything

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like everyone else there.

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Hey, Eli, can I ask you about…

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Can I ask you about…

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I was going to say, for those who don't know, Romp, Romp does do custom skis as well.

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So that adds a whole other dimension to your flow, I'm sure.

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It adds a lot.

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And the way we mostly do that is we offer all of our stock skis for demo for free any

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day of the week out of the factory.

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And a lot of times what people end up doing is they'll take out a ski, which I always

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try and encourage them to do, because you can come in and tell me that you ski the whole

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mountain, but that means nothing to me.

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But if you come back after skiing a ski and you're like, it's really grabby in the rear,

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or I want it to turn more, I want it to be more stable, and that's the feedback where

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we can actually turn that into a better build for someone and make the ski better for them.

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But what people actually care about is how they look.

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So the whole custom graphic side of things is what people actually care about.

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But…

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Nice.

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Hey, Eli, could you talk a little bit?

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This kind of blew my mind.

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I was coming from as a kid and young adult Nordic ski racing where the flex is absolutely

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paramount.

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It doesn't matter the rest of the dimensions of the ski so much.

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And one thing that I loved about working with you guys is you're like, okay, what

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skis have you loved in the past, which skis didn't resonate, what are your demands,

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what's your weight, how big, what's your pack weight, which for mountain guides, like

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if I've got a ski mountaineering pack, it might be 35 pounds.

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Could you talk about how you would dial in the flex to get it just perfect for one of

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your pro riders like me?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So like, well, the first question I always ask someone is what are you skiing on now?

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How do you like it?

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What do you not like about it?

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Because I've tried to ski on absolutely everything, just as someone who builds skis and someone

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that's been skiing their entire life.

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That's something that I obsess over because more than anything, the tools that we are

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using in the mountains and in the backcountry are the things that really allow us to have

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these memories.

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And while it is a very like, well, it is just a product that holds a lot more emotion and

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a lot more just, yeah, all these experiences are tied into these skis that we have.

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And that's what I really think is special about being able to do this whole custom thing.

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But a lot of it comes down to just, I kind of put this, yeah, just dialing in the flex.

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The first thing that we start with is someone's height, age, and weight.

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And then I'll just go to Shea Bone.

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We'll talk about how much carbon, how much fiberglass do we need to put into this ski

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to kind of make it stable enough for that height and weight while still allowing it

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to have the flex that they want, whether or not they want it softer or stiffer or anything

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along those lines.

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And then when it goes into the backcountry, it's even more important because then you're

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adding even more weight onto your back and you're hiking up.

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But you also want it to be able to ski well on the way down.

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And that's another thing that we've worked a lot with is just being able to dial in the

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amount of carbon and the amount of just the amount of different materials we put into

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the ski.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I'm pretty partial to the shepherd line.

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So that's a pin tail ski.

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And that's what I use for guiding.

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If it's like a all round or a hot trip, I'll use the 99s.

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And I think those are the best skis I've ever skied out of my life.

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And then if it's a deeper day, I'll go with the 110s.

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And it's funny because when I try to explain this to clients, I'm like, you have to try

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them to experience it.

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And the ski is featherweight carbon, but just skis in so intuitively and allows you to dump

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speed at a moment's notice in the trees, float effortlessly the way the ski planes up with

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the narrow tail.

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And it's funny because like, I think we're at like 17 client pairs of skis now and universally

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they're all like, this is the best ski I've ever skied in my life.

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It's just like not even close to have that flex pattern dialed individually.

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It makes it seem so antiquated and silly to go to a shop and just say, oh, what's your

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what's your length?

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It's like, no, no, no, what's the flex for you that's going to work for you?

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Exactly.

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And that's the ski especially that I have to force a lot of people to get on because it

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looks kind of goofy with that massive tip and all that rocker and like that crazy mullet

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shape where it's got a really wide shovel and then quickly tapers underfoot, but I'm

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like, it's free.

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Just go try it out.

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And then nine times out of 10, they come back and they're obsessed with it.

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And then like, that's what really matters is being able to get someone on a ski where

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they really just forget about it and it becomes an extension of yourself.

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And that's when the flex and everything really comes into play.

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Yeah.

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Because then you're just not thinking about it at all and you're just in the mountains

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having a great time and that's kind of what we really strive to be able to do is just

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create tools for people to go into the mountains and it's just an extension of yourself and

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it's just allowing you to have that freedom and just do exactly what you want to do.

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And then like all the stuff inside.

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And one of the things that I think is really cool too is all the different top sheets available

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as well as the custom ones.

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And like I love the great wave, you know, like the famous Japanese painting by Hokusai

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where there's these, you know, fishermen cowering in their boats and Mount Fuji in the backdrop

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and this huge arching wave.

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I think that is just about the coolest.

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And then I also love the cherry blossom ones.

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Some friends of mine have gotten that.

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I think you have that, right?

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I have the Hokusai and the cherry blossom.

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Dig your style, man.

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Well, because I got to see his original art in Japan when I was there and that was just

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incredibly inspiring because it's kind of like it's a very Japanese way of doing things

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is making one tool to do everything.

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And like a specific product that's just well rounded and just kind of striving for perfection,

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but you'll never, you'll never meet it kind of like that, that umami and food where it's

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the perfect balance of every single flavor, but it's none of them at the same time.

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Just like that, that middle ground.

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So what you're saying is you're really more of a ski chef.

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Nice.

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How are you able to use that artwork?

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So all this stuff's really old, like hundreds and hundreds of years.

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So it's all public domain at this point.

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That's pretty sweet.

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Yeah.

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I won't, I'll never, like we don't sell that, we don't sell that art off of skis.

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It's more for like internal use just for stuff that we make for ourselves.

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Okay.

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Mm-hmm.

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This kind of one off here and there.

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Something going back to the shepherd, something I think is so cool about it is it's like,

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I've had quite a few powder skis over the years and I have the 99.

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So it's not even that wide underfoot, but that huge rocker nose on it.

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It's like a totally different way of getting to ski powder.

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We're just getting to ski in not groomed snow really.

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And especially I always have a bunch of camera gear on my back.

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So I really appreciate being able to kind of like press in to the tongues of my boot

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even when it is kind of deep.

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And yeah, it is funny.

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I think the first time I rode a pair was with Jeff and I felt the same way.

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I was like, what's the deal with these?

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Like there's, there are goofy looking.

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The way you describe it as like a mullet is perfect.

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All right.

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I got to interject.

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I don't think they're goofy looking at all.

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I think they're dead sexy and I will not let you malign my favorite ski of all time.

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I'm going to pull mine out.

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They're right here and they are hot.

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Jeff's going to bat for you right now.

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Yeah.

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They are very good looking skis.

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Yeah.

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Especially when you get them in pink.

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Yeah.

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But someone coming from any other ski shop and has been on the stuff that everyone else

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has been skiing are going to think they're goofy.

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Oh, okay.

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Jeff, what you need is the yellow and blue topo top sheet.

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Yeah.

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That's, that's what's up.

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It's, I'm such a weight weenie.

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I was like, I want it white.

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And they're like, well, we got to put the label on.

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I was like, great, hot pink.

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Perfect.

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Cause I don't want it to soak up a lot of solar radiation and ice up when in the intense

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sunlight and powder.

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But I, my all time favorite is actually the aspect of the top sheet.

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Those are super cool.

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That's a good one.

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Subtle plug.

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Yeah.

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And it's nice to use the rocker in that ski, not only for like floating in powder, but

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also just for like quick turning and kind of shortening in the radius and making them

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a bit more nimble, which is something I don't think a lot of people think about when they

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think of skis.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I definitely appreciate that and corn.

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Like right now we're in a corn cycle and just being able to lay them over and carve.

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Like I'm on the Alpine Hill, but I'm on super lightweight gear.

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And I'm just like, wow, this car is like I want like a carving ski and floats like a

234
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powder ski.

235
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And I can dump speed in the trees if I need to.

236
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And I can haul ass and just give it the gas whenever I want.

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It's just like this black magic does everything you want it to do intuitively.

238
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Well, we made it for you.

239
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:41,440
Yeah.

240
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,880
I was going to Jeff, you better like it.

241
00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:47,480
I was going to refrain from that, but since you opened that door.

242
00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:52,680
Well, it's your secret promo.

243
00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:54,080
The best testimonial of all.

244
00:13:54,080 --> 00:14:00,160
Eli, I want to ask you a question about, so if I'm not mistaken, you, you used to compete

245
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:01,880
in like free ride, right?

246
00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:03,880
Like big mountain.

247
00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:11,400
So my background is in, um, I started out racing when I was four.

248
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And then, um, yeah, quickly just raised the ranks of that and then ended up blowing out

249
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my knee and then kind of transferred into the whole free ride thing.

250
00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,560
Did that for a couple of years and then I just got over it.

251
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It's just like I, it was the first after I stopped free ride.

252
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It was the first time I didn't ski for a full year in my life just because I was just super

253
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:36,520
burnt out and I'm just done.

254
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,920
Just kind of the stress and the pressure to perform at a high level like that kind of

255
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killed it for me.

256
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:48,640
So I really had to find my, find my creative freedom back and skiing and that's something

257
00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:52,560
that back country skiing really brought back to me as I started to get back into that whole

258
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world, just being able to go out and be alone in the woods and go explore and have these

259
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:03,920
great experiences with great people and not have the pressure to ski super hard and kind

260
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of throw your body off of things that you might not necessarily want to, want to do that

261
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:13,840
day because the snow is horrible, but you're doing it because it's a competition and, but

262
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I definitely have a lot to a lot like, yeah, coming from the race world and coming from

263
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,760
the free ride world, it definitely like gave me the tools to be the skier that I am today.

264
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,480
So if you ever see me ski, that's something that you'll realize immediately is that I

265
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have a race background.

266
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Yeah.

267
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,600
I've seen, I've seen you turns.

268
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You got that proper form, man.

269
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And it was nice to like, I was a coach, I was the race coach up at Crested Butte Mountain

270
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Resort for a while.

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And it was nice just to be able to give that stoke and all that back to the kids and be

272
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:52,000
able to kind of show them what I've learned and show them not to put too much pressure

273
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,440
on themselves and that skiing is supposed to be fun because I had a lot of coaches back

274
00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:02,280
in my day when I was growing up in Wyoming, like that really hammered that home just to

275
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make sure that I'm always doing it for me and always making sure that I'm having fun

276
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and just enjoying in the mountains.

277
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:14,760
Because when skiing, when skiing gets too serious and it's just not, it's not fun anymore.

278
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:15,760
You get into it because it's fun.

279
00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,120
We take that same philosophy into building skis.

280
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,000
So speaking of that, how then, what was the transition?

281
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:27,920
Like, did you go to school and you decided you wanted to build skis or can you tell

282
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,240
us about that transition a bit?

283
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:35,680
So growing up in the ski community, like I had always just obsessed over design.

284
00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,320
It's just the way that I am, like kind of nitpicking, trying to learn about all these

285
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,040
different products, trying to make them better.

286
00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:47,800
So I have, I have notebooks of when I was 10, 11 with ski designs in those and kind

287
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,200
of just put it in the back burner.

288
00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:56,160
And then as I started to grow up, go to Western, learn that there's a local ski company and

289
00:16:56,160 --> 00:17:00,200
then going into my junior senior year, kind of thinking about what I want to do.

290
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:07,360
I just kind of emailed them every other week for as long as it took me to get in there

291
00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:12,440
and then got an internship, fulfilled that within like half the time of my internship

292
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:16,680
and then just stuck around, tried to learn everything that I can.

293
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,880
And yeah, just here I am.

294
00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,360
And that was four years ago.

295
00:17:22,360 --> 00:17:23,360
Nice.

296
00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:27,280
Like my dad always told me, you're not giving jobs, you take them.

297
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:33,280
You have to force your way in there, show them that you're going to work harder than

298
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:38,320
everyone else and that you're more passionate than everyone else and eventually you'll get

299
00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:40,240
to where you want to be.

300
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,640
That's some wise words.

301
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:43,640
Yeah.

302
00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:50,960
And that kind of just goes back to their whole Scottish philosophy of just independence

303
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:57,840
taking what you want and just definitely, yeah, just their whole lifestyle growing up

304
00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:02,720
in the mountains as well has definitely kind of shaped who I am.

305
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:07,840
Do you think, oh, I got to, this is, this is something that resonates with me, but because

306
00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:12,520
I've, I spent, you know, the majority of my young life competing in like slope style

307
00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,240
and that kind of stuff and that kind of risky stuff.

308
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,760
Now when I go back country skiing, I, I want, I'm kind of a grandma.

309
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:24,200
Like I just want it to be fun and you know, like I'm, well, usually I'm out there cause

310
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:30,560
I'm with Jeff and we're like filming stuff, but yeah, overall I don't want it to be stressful.

311
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,360
I just want to enjoy myself.

312
00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:36,680
And at the end of the day, it's all about the people we're hanging with, how good the

313
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,520
turns are and you know, just the overall experience.

314
00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,600
Do you think that kind of resonates with you?

315
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:47,080
Like just because you had that intense competition background that then going into the back country,

316
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,560
your risk tolerance is kind of lowered.

317
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:50,560
Yeah, absolutely.

318
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:59,520
And I think especially being in Colorado and having such a like prominent avalanche problems

319
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,920
and constantly hearing about people getting hurt, people getting killed.

320
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,200
It's just like, it's the same reason I go out into the back country in the summer.

321
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,400
It's just to be outside and kind of get away from everything and just be in nature.

322
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,920
And the fact that I get to ski some good powder with amazing people on the way down, it's

323
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:17,960
just icing on the cake.

324
00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,600
But a lot of the times when I go out into the back country, it's just kind of, I'm going

325
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,880
out on a long walk and if everything goes well, I'll get to ski something, but that's

326
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:31,040
never really the expectation.

327
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:35,280
It's just like I'm going outside and if the stars align and the conditions are right,

328
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:36,600
I'll get to ski this.

329
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:42,120
But if not, I'm still getting outside and get to live in this wonderful place and that's

330
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:43,120
about it.

331
00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:48,360
And when springtime comes around and we get that corn harvest, that's when you can actually

332
00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:52,920
get out and start gunning for those big shoots and big mountains and actually skiing the

333
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:54,960
stuff that we've been staring at all winter.

334
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,880
But in terms of like skiing around, skiing in midwinter, it's just kind of going out

335
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:05,720
for walks and just dumping all the day to day stuff that I've been carrying around and

336
00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:07,440
just relaxing really.

337
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:08,720
Would you guys agree with that, Jeff?

338
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,480
Well, yeah, but I'm just surprised.

339
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,520
Can we put you on the spot and ask you how old you are?

340
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,560
25, almost 26.

341
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:24,160
So that doesn't fit the stereotype in my head of X-Racer, X-Free Ride competitor, racing

342
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,840
coach that you'd be like, hey, I've got a pretty relaxed attitude about it.

343
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:34,960
I know given the snowpack we have in Colorado, we're often not able to ski big lines in the

344
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:35,960
midwinter.

345
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:39,440
You know, we might get a couple of days of low danger out there where it's green light

346
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:44,880
and you get after it, but you're patient and you wait until springtime and we're just coming

347
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,440
around like I think we might hit low danger tomorrow actually.

348
00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,440
And you'd be like, yeah, all right, let's go ski some steep corn.

349
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,720
This sounds great.

350
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:58,840
And so I'm just curious, like it took me an extra 10 years to get around to that point

351
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:06,240
where I'd seen enough friends get hurt or killed where I was like, oh, OK, I'm just

352
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:11,520
lucky that it hasn't happened to me because we're all experts, but we're all pushing

353
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:16,400
it way too hard to have a long, adventurous life.

354
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:18,440
Instead we're on track for a short, exciting life.

355
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:23,360
So I'm just curious, how did you get there like 10 years earlier than I did?

356
00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:29,080
Or like 10 years earlier, just to be honest.

357
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:36,200
Well, yeah, as unfortunate as it is, I had a couple of mentors when I was growing up

358
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:43,240
dying avalanches and then just throughout the years stuff just keeps happening.

359
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:49,000
And with the intense competition that I grew up with, it just I'm, if you ask any of my

360
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,600
friends, I'm like the least competitive person.

361
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:56,760
So it's really just I want to ski for the rest of my life.

362
00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:01,640
I don't want to put my parents through that because they're kind of, yeah, they're kind

363
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,600
of shaken up that I'm going into the back country in general.

364
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:10,360
And I've been trying to educate them on avalanches and how all that works just to kind of ease

365
00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:11,360
their stress.

366
00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:15,320
But in general, I just don't want to put anyone that I love through that.

367
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:20,360
And I don't want to, I don't want to stop skiing in the back country and I'd much rather

368
00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:27,920
just go out and ski some like normal terrain, not push it because the times that I have

369
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,520
pushed it and the times that I shouldn't have in the past couple of years, I've just

370
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,040
been pissed at myself like, was that really worth it?

371
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,240
And the answer is always no.

372
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:39,240
Yeah.

373
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:45,800
I'm just kind of thinking about that a lot, especially here, given these past couple years

374
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:46,960
and the events that have happened.

375
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,360
I'm just kind of like, it's never worth it.

376
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:51,360
Yeah.

377
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:57,880
I'm very much beyond skiing with a pit in my stomach of like, ooh, are we going to get

378
00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:58,880
away with this?

379
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:00,840
That is just a horrible feeling.

380
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:06,560
And I get so much satisfaction now when the conditions are really unstable, you know, considerable

381
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:11,400
danger with an old snow problem, which felt like a majority of this winter were days like

382
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:18,600
that instead of like normal winter, like considerable is about 30% of the time.

383
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:24,360
And this felt like it was like 70% of the time and then 10% of the time is high danger.

384
00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,520
It's just like, oh my gosh.

385
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:31,480
And it gave me so much satisfaction to go make turns in the woods with my friends on

386
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:36,520
obscure places that it's often overlooked and was so beautiful.

387
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:41,240
And we were just laughing our asses off and party skiing together, just staying slightly

388
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,160
out of avalanche terrain, like a steep blue run.

389
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:50,600
And I was like, oh, this is a much different way of relating to nature and my friends.

390
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,440
And I'm really enjoying this.

391
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,440
And there's kind of a sense of like a little like surprise, like, is this going to work

392
00:23:58,440 --> 00:23:59,440
out?

393
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,880
And then like a smug satisfaction when you're like, oh, that was actually really fun skiing.

394
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:08,240
And you were showing me a tour today that you did that I was like, oh, where was that?

395
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:09,240
Oh, that sounds perfect.

396
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,320
Because I was like, man, it's full meltdown and you're skiing low angle, north facing

397
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,680
powder through the glades and the hooten and holler.

398
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,720
And I was like, oh, yeah, that sounds awesome.

399
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:18,720
Yeah.

400
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:19,720
And that's the fun thing.

401
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,600
You know, you can go out the maps, kind of go to these places you haven't been before.

402
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,600
And you know, it's going to be low angle, but you don't know if there's going to be

403
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:26,600
good skiing there.

404
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:27,600
Yeah.

405
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:31,880
And like every time I have pushed it and I've had that pit in my stomach, I've just

406
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,640
it as as an outdoor professional, it just makes me feel horrible.

407
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:40,840
And I'm sure that I'm sure that feeling's even worse for you since you're bringing other

408
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,400
people out there and you're in a you're in a position of power in the back country.

409
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:49,120
I'm sure that, yeah, that feeling would be even worse.

410
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:50,120
Yeah.

411
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,800
Big sense of responsibility when you're out with friends or clients who are looking to

412
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,040
you for their safety and they are deferring.

413
00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:59,160
They're like, oh, you've got way more experience.

414
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,160
So if you say it's safe, it must be safe.

415
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,560
You're like, whoa, okay, that's a huge responsibility.

416
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,240
So we better make sure we we play the safe bet.

417
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:08,760
So we're coming home at the end of the day.

418
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:14,320
I think it's also funny because we've skied so much stuff this year that's that is like

419
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,360
kind of considered like, you know, pretty mellow.

420
00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:25,040
Like, Jeff, you and I have definitely, but it's put me in a different headspace of like,

421
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:29,440
hey, man, going out and ski touring is still going out and ski touring.

422
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,400
You don't have to be like getting it every day.

423
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,680
Like when I go ski at the resort, I'm not chucking double backflips every day.

424
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,840
You know, it's like, you know, it's like some days you're riding with friends and you're

425
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:41,440
grabbing a beer every three runs.

426
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,000
And some days it's, you know, you got eight inches of snow and you're just like charging.

427
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:46,000
Yeah.

428
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:50,400
And because you're, you know, earning your turns doesn't mean that you have to like put

429
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:58,160
yourself in an immense danger to make it to validate the activity somehow.

430
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,200
And then it just makes those days where you do get to go out and ski that stuff that you've

431
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,040
been looking at even more special.

432
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:08,520
You know, you, you waited by your time and now it's safe and you get to go out and enjoy

433
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:09,520
yourself.

434
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:10,520
Yeah.

435
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:11,520
Yeah.

436
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:12,520
Yeah.

437
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:13,520
Hell yeah.

438
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:18,880
So I was just waiting up to buy stuff and like, ooh, if I had to wait a long time, it

439
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,880
made it so much more rewarding, whether it was a new bike or some climbing gear when I

440
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:23,880
was in college.

441
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,560
And I was just like, oh, this new cam.

442
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,160
I'm so excited about it.

443
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,120
You know, I had to wait months before I could afford to buy this.

444
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:32,120
Yeah.

445
00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:34,440
It's kind of a similar feeling of appreciation.

446
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:35,440
Absolutely.

447
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:36,440
Yeah.

448
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:42,160
You mentioned before we did this podcast talking about like risk management in the summertime

449
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:47,760
and I'd be curious to hear, hear about that because I'm not really well versed in that,

450
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:48,760
to be honest.

451
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:55,600
I do a lot of backpacking and yeah, just a ton of backpacking over the summer, especially

452
00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:00,120
in these places that a lot of people don't go.

453
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:05,960
And I obsessively look at maps and especially in place like the Gunnison Valley when you

454
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,880
have so much space to explore.

455
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:15,960
A lot of the times people don't really realize how far you're out there, how remote it is,

456
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:22,400
like, and just the, all the things that can happen, whether it be getting caught in thunderstorms

457
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:27,520
at 12,000 feet coming back from a backpacking trip or like anything along those lines.

458
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,360
So I think a lot of it just comes down to being self-sufficient and that's something

459
00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,560
I've really strived towards being.

460
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:40,480
But at the same time, having those systems in place for where if something does go wrong,

461
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:46,000
you have the, you have the communications up, you have the med kit and other things

462
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,880
to kind of get everything sorted out until help can get there.

463
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:57,240
And I think we practice, like for instance, practice avalanche rescue in the winter and

464
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:02,720
practice all these things where you know that there's an inherent risk of an avalanche,

465
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,440
but in the summer when you're going out into these remote areas in the back country when

466
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:11,320
there's not necessarily like a direct problem where this could happen and this is the problem

467
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:16,520
we're watching out for, but the problems are a bit more dispersed and a bit more rare.

468
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:21,120
I think that a lot of people can overlook those different problems, whether it be rock

469
00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:26,400
fall if you're climbing up a mountain or slipping and twisting your ankle or just all of those

470
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:27,400
different things.

471
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:33,320
That's something I've really had a lot of experience in, in terms of either finding people out there

472
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:38,480
that have had these problems and helping them get out of it or some other things like that.

473
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:43,480
So it's something that's like constantly on my mind, especially with all the backpacking

474
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:48,080
that I've done, just thinking about all these problems and the stuff that could happen.

475
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:52,360
And it's just something I think a lot about and definitely prepare for.

476
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:54,480
This is something I like doing.

477
00:28:54,480 --> 00:29:00,200
Jeff, do you have as a mountain guide, do you have like data on like what are the three

478
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:09,040
most sort of common maybe accidents or emergencies that happen in the summertime in the mountains?

479
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:10,200
Oh, interesting.

480
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,840
Well, it's going to vary from place to place.

481
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,480
Let's say Colorado.

482
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:17,480
Okay.

483
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:25,360
So I think the most common thing is blisters and then sprained ankle.

484
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,160
And that can really ruin your day in rough terrain.

485
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,960
It's amazing how if someone's immobilized and you're in a screefield, a towels field full

486
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:38,040
of boulders at 13,000 feet, it is forever to get out of there.

487
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,760
And you actually need a team of like six people to get you out.

488
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,280
It's kind of remarkable.

489
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:49,560
But I think what I like about you guys approach, I had a client tell me one time he was coming

490
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:56,120
from the military and he was new to climbing, but he had a very similar outlook and he wanted

491
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,200
to know everything about the tour planning and be actively involved.

492
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:01,400
He didn't just want drag and drop guiding.

493
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,480
He like wanted to learn and be involved with the process.

494
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,040
And his motto was hope is not a plan.

495
00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,040
So he's like, Hey, let's think about all the things that can go wrong and how we're going

496
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:18,920
to mitigate those and choose the right objective given the conditions in nature and the conditions

497
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,920
of the team and set ourselves up for success.

498
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,320
And let's go have a fun adventure.

499
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:33,400
And yeah, I think that's a very wise and prudent way of looking at it of, you know, it's very

500
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:39,680
easy to get lulled into a false sense of confidence where you're like, Oh, I've never had anything

501
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,680
happen in the mountains, what could possibly go wrong?

502
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:48,040
And it's like, well, you know, bee stings, there's amazing because there's always a first

503
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,520
time for anaphylaxis.

504
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:55,040
So definitely want that in the med kit just in case even if no one has an issue with bees,

505
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,760
it's like, well, there's always the first time.

506
00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,440
And then make sure we've got a really good sound root plan.

507
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,880
So we're out of there before the thunderstorms kick in.

508
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,320
And then even something as simple as having a trekking pole can really make a difference

509
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,920
if someone springs an ankle and you're able to splint it and give them some support.

510
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:12,960
And then you've got trekking pole or two.

511
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:18,080
You're like, that can be enough to avoid a really uncomfortable rescue and, you know,

512
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:22,040
being out there in a thunderstorm and being able to escape quickly.

513
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:23,040
Yeah.

514
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:27,240
And I think of risk management in the summertime, like I immediately go to weather.

515
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:31,440
You know, I think I plan everything around depending on the season, like, okay, what

516
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,320
time of the clouds going to roll in.

517
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:41,320
But there's so much more to it that's so much smaller, you know, in our mind smaller.

518
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:46,800
But as you just mentioned, you could break a toe or something.

519
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:52,480
And then, you know, your three hour hike out has now turned into a 12 hour hike out or

520
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:53,480
something like that.

521
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:54,480
Yeah.

522
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:55,480
Yeah.

523
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:56,480
And it's funny.

524
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,120
I don't know how often this has happened to you all, but, you know, being out in the

525
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:04,040
mountains over so many years, you start to see the outlier stuff on the far side of

526
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:10,040
the bell shaped curve, whether like 0% chance of thunderstorms or precipitation.

527
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:15,840
And there's one dark cloud and it's like you've got a homing beacon on your back and it starts

528
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,640
booming and lightning and you're like, are you kidding me?

529
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,720
So it is incredibly rare.

530
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,440
I'll like totally believe the forecast.

531
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:30,200
You know, I'll be like, Hey, things look optimal, but we're still bringing the rain gear and

532
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:31,720
let's start early, finish early.

533
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:32,720
Yeah.

534
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,720
And then it was on the raggits.

535
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:41,440
Oh, I was like, I was hiking out of this little alpine lake that I want to see and there's

536
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:42,960
actually a plane crash up there.

537
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:51,560
I was going to look at, but top of the ridge nine in the morning, no, no sign of thunderstorm,

538
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:56,280
anything on the, on the sat phone, but this tiny little cloud starts coming in and I'm

539
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:57,920
like, Oh God.

540
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:03,560
And then hour and a half later, just hell, hell is open.

541
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:08,920
And then there's this tiny little, there's this tiny little like mine opening for this

542
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:14,640
shaft and I just ended up bivvy in there for the entire day and just, you just never know

543
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:15,640
what's going to happen.

544
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,640
Conveniently located mine.

545
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:24,400
Well, there's 350,000 in Colorado and 145,000 have been found.

546
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:25,400
Whoa.

547
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,080
And that's a really good recommendation for you to grow up down in Southwest Colorado

548
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,920
and you go up and cruise around anywhere and like around Silverton or something.

549
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,640
And we mentioned this on the podcast with Angela, but you'll just be walking along and

550
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,360
all of a sudden you're like, is that a mine right there?

551
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:41,360
What is that?

552
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:45,280
Like they are truly all over the place.

553
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:46,280
It's crazy.

554
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,760
My roommate, my roommate and I have been tracking down these abandoned mines on Google Earth

555
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,360
because you can just, you can just spend an hour on Google Earth going through the mountains

556
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,280
and you can start seeing them.

557
00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,440
And then we just go out to them and see if there's any cool stuff there.

558
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:05,680
Do you, do you like look at tailings or how do you kind of find them on Google Maps?

559
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:09,760
The tailings are pretty prominent and then you can kind of see openings in the earth

560
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:16,200
or structures, but there was a, there was a, there was a little bit there where we were

561
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:21,560
looking for open mine shafts to go into and go explore a little bit and kind of poke around.

562
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:26,080
But you can go into the county records office and whatever town and find all these mine

563
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,640
claims and kind of look back into the history of who owned it, who did all that.

564
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:37,080
So it's, it's a fun historical part, but it's just fun to kind of go there and think about

565
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,680
who came here at what point, how the hell did they get here and how did they survive

566
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:42,680
for this long?

567
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:48,040
Like there's a town called, there's a town called Bonanza in the San Luis Valley.

568
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:52,120
That's pretty much a completely abandoned, but it was one of the biggest mining towns

569
00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:58,480
in the state and there's just hundreds of buildings and structures and mines and it's

570
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:03,920
unfortunate because like the earth has been pretty ravaged and you can see it in the water

571
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:09,720
with all the acid mine drainage and all of that, which is unfortunate, but it's crazy

572
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:15,960
to go there and just kind of see the history of who came here first, why we have such an

573
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:21,240
incredible system of national forest roads and who actually built those roads and cause

574
00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:27,760
they are going somewhere and in most cases that was mines and just crazy kind of think

575
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,760
back to how all this got started.

576
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:36,000
I was just over on a hot trip with some friends and my young daughter over to marble on the

577
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:37,760
other side of the mountains from us here.

578
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,320
It's actually Gunnison County, but you know, you got to drive around like, I don't know,

579
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,920
three and a half hours to get there.

580
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:50,240
And the marble is still working there and that's where like so much of the monuments

581
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:57,240
and Washington DC and like courthouses in New York state or Ohio are built out of super

582
00:35:57,240 --> 00:36:02,640
high grade marble and it's pretty wild to learn of the history there and like the town

583
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:07,560
is just such a throwback and my daughter couldn't get her head around the fact that, wait a

584
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:12,360
minute, so did they have Wi-Fi and how do they get it?

585
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:17,560
And you know, but the cell phones don't work here and I'm like, we can kind of get a radio

586
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,200
signal and that's about it.

587
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:25,520
Like kind of listen to the local NPR station and you know, there's like a barbecue place

588
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:29,880
that has one pay phone and she's never seen a pay phone.

589
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:34,360
So she was like, dad, can we go down and see the pay phone after we finish skiing and we're

590
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,480
skiing on all these old mining roads and stuff up there.

591
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,120
It was a trip.

592
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:40,120
That's crazy.

593
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:41,120
That's rad.

594
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:42,120
Did you have any quarters?

595
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:43,120
Did you make a call?

596
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,760
We didn't actually.

597
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:50,400
But she got the HUD experience where the photovoltaics, we couldn't figure it out the first night

598
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:51,720
we got there right at sunset.

599
00:36:51,720 --> 00:36:56,240
So we just had dinner by candlelight and you know, it's an outhouse, no running water,

600
00:36:56,240 --> 00:37:03,040
got to melt snow for dishes, bring in drinking water, that kind of stuff or melt snow.

601
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:07,240
And so I was like, hey, we're going to learn to split wood and learn how to build a fire

602
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:10,040
because this is really important survival stuff.

603
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,680
And so by the end she was like, I can do it.

604
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:18,600
And she was so excited and so like, she loves feeling like an adult.

605
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,000
And so for her to be like, oh, I've mastered these adult skills.

606
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,360
I got this was, was very satisfying for her.

607
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:27,920
The skiing she could care less about.

608
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:29,640
She just want to hang out the HUD.

609
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,080
I mean, I feel like there's a lot of adults that don't even have those skills.

610
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:34,760
So winter is crushing.

611
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:35,760
Yeah.

612
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:36,760
Yeah.

613
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:41,240
And there's other experiences I remember as a kid was like learning how to make a fire,

614
00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:46,160
learning how to forge for mushrooms, all that stuff.

615
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:48,720
The foraging thing I have not dove into yet.

616
00:37:48,720 --> 00:37:50,720
I think I would poison myself.

617
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:55,040
It's been really good, incresed view every once in a while.

618
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:56,040
Really?

619
00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:57,040
Oh yeah.

620
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:58,040
Yeah.

621
00:37:58,040 --> 00:37:59,040
We'll have to go do that.

622
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,880
Like the charcoals, porcini's, all that stuff.

623
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:02,880
Okay.

624
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:04,000
So let me get this straight.

625
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,320
I think I'm starting to see like you go into the back country in the summertime to find

626
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:14,160
mines or you did, you go mushroom forging.

627
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:19,520
What are the other like, what are the main draws in the summertime for you going on adventures?

628
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:26,880
Just to kind of get out and get into a little bit trouble, but not too much trouble and just

629
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:27,880
explore new places.

630
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:33,880
Because I'm also kind of a pretty much just anything that takes me outside and lets me

631
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:35,080
obsess over it.

632
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:41,080
If it's fly fishing, foraging, backpacking, mountain biking, any of those things that

633
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:46,000
can just get you outside and make you focus on the environment that you're in just that

634
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,680
little bit more is something I'm all about.

635
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:54,040
And forging especially because you're just, you're kind of looking at all these tiny little

636
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,600
things on the ground and you just, you start to recognize things that you might have not

637
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:00,760
recognized before if you're just hiking around.

638
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:05,160
And same thing with fly fishing, you're starting to look at all the different bugs and this

639
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:11,360
completely different ecosystem that we might as normally just look straight over, but there's

640
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,000
so much happening in the water.

641
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,560
There's so much happening in the soil.

642
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:17,400
There's so much happening in the trees.

643
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:21,800
So it's just like all those little things that create the, create the environment that

644
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:27,440
we love is just, it's fun to learn about that and kind of figure out what's going on.

645
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:33,040
It's a cool way to kind of go from a macro enjoyment down to micro.

646
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:37,920
And then in the end, it brings it full circle every time.

647
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,080
Like it's just all connecting.

648
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:41,080
That's sweet.

649
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:42,080
Experience.

650
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:47,680
We were out skiing through the Aspen forest the other day and a place that Eli knows about,

651
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:53,400
but that's very few other folks have ever heard of this for skiing and let's keep it

652
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:58,520
that way for now, but it's pretty wild cause like the Aspen Grove here goes for, I don't

653
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:05,360
know, 40, 50 miles and it's like the largest organism on the planet.

654
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:09,720
There's some fungus in Siberia, spans couple of time zones, but you know, you can't see

655
00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:11,080
it unless you dig onto the tundra.

656
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:16,160
So this is, you can actually be in this old growth forest and be like, oh my gosh, it's

657
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:20,240
enormous and it's all genetically the same organism.

658
00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:28,440
And what's really crazy if you think about it, all life shares the same archetype DNA,

659
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,560
like this original DNA.

660
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:38,560
And you may not know that cognitively, intellectually, but you can feel it when you're in this forest.

661
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:44,160
And when you're skiing this mellow powder, you're just like, oh my gosh, this forest

662
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:49,360
is just something and you feel part of it and so interconnected and you're like, oh,

663
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:50,360
actually we are.

664
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:51,360
Yeah.

665
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:52,360
Yeah.

666
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:54,720
We share a lot of the same cellular blueprint.

667
00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:55,720
It's pretty wild.

668
00:40:55,720 --> 00:41:00,120
No, it's a pretty crazy experience to have and, and especially here where you have so

669
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:04,480
much, so many mountains and they're also different.

670
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:11,800
Like last summer I went, within a week I went from fossil ridge wilderness to the collegiates

671
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:17,720
to maroon bells to the raggots to the West Elks to like Kirk Haney and every single one

672
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:22,600
had different mushrooms, different trees, different rocks, different mountain type,

673
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,480
but they're all so close together and they're all created in such different ways.

674
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:32,880
It's just, it's crazy to, crazy to think about how all this actually started and just the

675
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:37,520
different ecosystems and different connections that all these places have.

676
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:46,240
Well, can I shift gears into something that is a little more specific to romp and aspect

677
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:49,160
Davy.

678
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:54,160
So before we got on this, you mentioned that you are, you, well, the both of you are in

679
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:58,280
the works of a co-lab between Aspect Davy and romp skis.

680
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:03,440
Are you guys at Liberty to, to tell the 25 people who listen to this podcast about what

681
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,000
you're cooking up?

682
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:06,000
Take it away Eli.

683
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:12,280
Yeah, so kind of access into the back country at first starts with that initial investment

684
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:16,280
of buying skis, buying bindings, buying a beacon.

685
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:23,360
And with the great work that aspect Davy or Jeff and aspect Davy have done in being able

686
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:30,160
to kind of start that education right off the bat with learning how to retrain, learning

687
00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:36,320
how to properly mitigate risk and romp's goal of trying to expand throughout Colorado and

688
00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:38,240
the surrounding states.

689
00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:42,280
We kind of came to the conclusion that it would be great to team up, come to these independent

690
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:50,400
shops, be able to present some sort of package where you get a really great pair of skis,

691
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:51,720
get you into the back country.

692
00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:56,840
And in addition to that, you get one of many fundamental tools that you need to be able

693
00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:59,840
to travel safely in the back country in Colorado.

694
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:06,280
So being able to pair those two things together and kind of approach these shops and offer

695
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:12,560
that to their customers, I think would be a really incredible opportunity, not only to

696
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:19,560
kind of expand both of our businesses, but also to just get these products into the,

697
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:23,400
into people's hands that might, might not know that they exist.

698
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:30,000
There's a huge number of people that when I, especially when I'm not in Gunnison County,

699
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:32,680
when I mentioned romp skis, they're like, what?

700
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:37,880
I'm like, oh, well, the secret's going to get out eventually, but they rock.

701
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:39,880
You guys got to check them out.

702
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:44,400
And that kind of comes back to like the bootleg ski bum nature of how the company started.

703
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:52,000
Like it started in a garage and it moved to a slightly bigger garage.

704
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,040
Low garage life in it.

705
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:55,040
Exactly.

706
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,560
And we're just kind of like, yeah, we're just kind of slowly building the company.

707
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:03,320
It's like we're building it strong, not fat and kind of taking it day by day and doing

708
00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:04,800
the things that we need to do.

709
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:10,240
You guys just got a whole new little wing of your, of the factory, right?

710
00:44:10,240 --> 00:44:11,240
Yep.

711
00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:12,240
Yeah.

712
00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:16,440
We got a new retail space, which is great because the demo skis don't have to be upstairs

713
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:17,880
where all the dust collection is.

714
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:24,360
So they're nice and clean and we have, we have a space to present more merchandise, which

715
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:32,080
everyone likes and just have a space that specifically customer facing, which is something

716
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,620
I've always wanted because factory should be a factory.

717
00:44:36,620 --> 00:44:39,600
Retail spacing needs to be a retail space and it's just been really great to be able

718
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:45,240
to bring people in there, make them, make them feel at home, not have all the noise and just

719
00:44:45,240 --> 00:44:49,920
being able to give them the time that they deserve to talk about the skis and everything

720
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:51,480
like that.

721
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:59,000
And that's kind of what this whole acquisition with Chase Gardafe is bringing to the table

722
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:02,840
is just his experience, his business experience.

723
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:08,400
Everyone on the romp team currently could be categorized a little bit introverted and

724
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:10,640
Chase is very much so extroverted.

725
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:16,640
So he's really good at bringing in the entire community to this effort and really just expanding

726
00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:19,560
the romp family, which is what we're looking to do.

727
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:20,560
Well, I'm excited.

728
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:24,120
I can't wait to see what you guys do over the next couple of months and then, you know,

729
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:25,120
years to come.

730
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:29,720
I think it's going to be really cool and I think you guys are ready for sure.

731
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:31,520
Yeah, absolutely.

732
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:35,920
We're very excited and especially to work with other companies like Aspect Avi and whoever

733
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:38,200
else we end up collaborating with.

734
00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:44,760
But yeah, and I like the idea of the showroom where people can take a moment and it's quiet

735
00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:51,120
out of the machinery and dust and like really ponder that dream ski that they're going

736
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:56,480
to create and they can see all the options on the menu and which one resonates with them.

737
00:45:56,480 --> 00:46:00,200
Like I know for me, like when I tried all the different romp skis, I was like, oh, it's

738
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:02,360
the Pintails for sure.

739
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:06,280
And then for Cart, you know, it's the Masons for sure.

740
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:09,200
Those are the skis that make my heart sing.

741
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:15,000
And I just remind folks like, hey, if skiing is what you're passionate about and it gives

742
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:18,840
you so much joy, life is so short.

743
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:23,000
Why would you waste it with cheap, bad gear?

744
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,520
Just get the gear that's going to make your heart sing.

745
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:32,640
And you know, these skis that are an extension of your personality, of your skiing style,

746
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:34,000
of your essence.

747
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:39,440
And like, you know, it's amazing to see the top sheets that people come up with that reflect

748
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:42,640
what's important to them and what resonates with them.

749
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:43,640
It's a beautiful thing.

750
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:44,640
Absolutely.

751
00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:52,880
And it's just, yeah, it's what makes it worth doing and it's one of the best joys in life.

752
00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:55,040
I'm curious real quick.

753
00:46:55,040 --> 00:47:03,200
Is there, so I feel like there was a big movement maybe like 10 years ago, like a lot of kind

754
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:07,000
of boutique ski brands started popping up and crushing it, like they're doing a really

755
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,720
good job.

756
00:47:09,720 --> 00:47:16,080
Is it now, you know, you're much more involved in the industry than I am, obviously, but

757
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:21,280
do you see more of a demand now for this tailored experience?

758
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:25,680
Like, what am I trying to say?

759
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:30,440
Do you feel like that is that desire is building in people or has it kind of been the same level

760
00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:33,600
of interest as long as you've been with romp?

761
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:35,680
What's that look like?

762
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:39,400
I think there's a couple aspects that kind of go into that.

763
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:45,680
One thing is just the quality of the craftsmanship and like the personalized touch that it offers

764
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:50,120
and the customer service that it offers because there's not a lot of places you can go and

765
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:54,600
sit down and talk to the person that's going to build your skis and have them talk you

766
00:47:54,600 --> 00:48:00,560
through that entire process and be able to just create a tool that's specifically tailored

767
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,200
towards you.

768
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:07,800
And then the other side on it is sustainability, whereas small-scale manufacturing, we might

769
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:16,080
not have the ability to manufacture the most sustainably, but a handcrafted, durable product

770
00:48:16,080 --> 00:48:21,720
is going to last 10 times longer than anything made in a big factory somewhere else.

771
00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:28,320
So being able to have one ski that works for you, that you love, that's going to last you

772
00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:36,920
8, 9, 10 years of constant use is going to be much more sustainable than going through

773
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:39,320
a new ski every single year.

774
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:45,800
And I think a lot of people are kind of coming into that mentality of having really good

775
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:51,320
items, really good gear that they're going to be able to use for a lifetime, but it's

776
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:54,720
going to always be there with you and it's always going to be reliable.

777
00:48:54,720 --> 00:49:00,600
And like I was saying earlier, you have that emotional connection with it because the skis

778
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:04,560
I'm on now, I've had the best runs of my life on it these last three years and every single

779
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,960
time I get on it, I'm like, okay, we're going again.

780
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,320
I know exactly what it's going to do.

781
00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:15,960
We're going out again and it's just that confidence that you have, like putting on that jacket

782
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:20,800
that you've been wearing for the last however long or something along those lines, it's

783
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:26,800
just like, yeah, it's just a tool that's always been there and is reliable and it has all

784
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:28,360
those memories wrapped into it.

785
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:32,000
And I think it just makes going out into the mountains a little bit more special having

786
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:33,000
that.

787
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:34,000
Totally.

788
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:39,800
It's so unique to have a piece of gear, especially I think just in sports where the gear is very,

789
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:45,120
you know, people obsess about their gear when it comes to skiing or biking or this or that,

790
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:46,120
right?

791
00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:51,960
It's cool to add another layer to it where that gear that that is sort of the tool to,

792
00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:53,680
you know, skiing is like a superpower, man.

793
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:59,160
Like there's stuff you get to do on skis that if you did on your feet, you'd just die, like

794
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:00,160
straight up.

795
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:01,160
Like, yeah.

796
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:06,360
So if you get like the tool that allows you to kind of become like somewhat have a superpower

797
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:10,720
is also directly attached to you and has that personal connection.

798
00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:16,840
Like I just think it's going to trend more that way in my own opinion.

799
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:21,880
Yeah, that's exactly, that's exactly like I have a jacket that's come with me to every

800
00:50:21,880 --> 00:50:27,120
country and every trip I've been to in the last nine years.

801
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:32,400
And I will never not come with me because if it doesn't, something horrible is going

802
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:33,400
to happen.

803
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:34,400
The superstition.

804
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:35,400
This doesn't feel right.

805
00:50:35,400 --> 00:50:36,400
Well, that's cool.

806
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:44,840
Eli, is there anything we haven't asked you that we should?

807
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:45,840
I don't know.

808
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:48,120
You guys both know me pretty decently well.

809
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:49,760
And that's a question for you guys.

810
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:51,280
I can't think of anything.

811
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:52,280
Okay.

812
00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:53,440
Well, I was, okay.

813
00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:56,680
So I have a question about sustainability with smaller ski companies.

814
00:50:56,680 --> 00:50:59,240
In terms of our own manufacturing.

815
00:50:59,240 --> 00:51:00,240
Yeah.

816
00:51:00,240 --> 00:51:04,920
Or just in general, like why is it harder for smaller ski companies to be more sustainable

817
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,280
than say like K2?

818
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:08,440
Yeah.

819
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:15,240
So I don't necessarily know if K2 is very sustainable, but like in terms of our own manufacturing,

820
00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:19,680
there's just a lot of waste that gets produced, like a lot of scrap fiberglass, a lot of scrap

821
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:21,800
plastics.

822
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:25,600
And there are more sustainable options in terms of material, but they're just not as

823
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:26,600
durable.

824
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:31,280
So it's kind of, are you going to use a less durable product and you're going to have to

825
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:36,320
replace it more and more and more, or are you going to use these less sustainable materials

826
00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:40,920
and create an extremely durable product that's going to last a long time?

827
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:43,600
And that's kind of the route that we took.

828
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:49,400
But like there's a lot of things that we do, like the, like all of our epoxy gets mixed

829
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:52,440
in yogurt containers that people bring into us.

830
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:56,160
So instead of throwing those yogurt containers out, they clean them, they bring them to us,

831
00:51:56,160 --> 00:52:00,120
we put them in a raffle for a free pair of skis and that yogurt container gets a little

832
00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:01,760
bit more life.

833
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:06,880
So it's just like trying to find little places here and there where it's not necessarily

834
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:11,400
going to make a big difference in the moment, but over years and years and years, it's going

835
00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:15,600
to kind of produce some sort of good.

836
00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:20,560
But so I think in like a lot of the times just creating more efficient manufacturing,

837
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:23,680
especially in the ski industry produces less waste.

838
00:52:23,680 --> 00:52:27,920
And that's just something that we're constantly striving to do while still being able to make

839
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:33,160
a durable product last for as long as we can.

840
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:37,000
You guys need one of those, you know, like in factories where it's like zero days since

841
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:38,000
accidents.

842
00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:40,440
You guys need one of those.

843
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,480
This is how many yogurt containers have been donated.

844
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,760
Thousands and thousands and thousands.

845
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:48,760
That's awesome.

846
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:49,760
People come in every week with big stacks.

847
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:50,760
Well thanks for that, man.

848
00:52:50,760 --> 00:52:51,760
I was just curious.

849
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:54,240
I've never really, I've never really had that answered.

850
00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:57,200
Well sweet Jeff, you got anything else you want to talk to Eli about?

851
00:52:57,200 --> 00:52:59,640
You guys want to go skiing this week?

852
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:00,920
Do a little corn harvesting?

853
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:02,480
Yeah, I love that.

854
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:03,480
My weekend's free.

855
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:04,480
All right.

856
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:05,480
All right.

857
00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:06,480
Good stuff.

858
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:07,480
Heck yeah guys.

859
00:53:07,480 --> 00:53:10,760
Well, Eli, thanks for coming on and thanks for chatting with us.

860
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:12,360
It was really nice talking to you, man.

861
00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:13,920
Yeah, of course.

862
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:14,920
Thanks for having me.

863
00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:15,920
All right.

864
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:18,000
Maybe I'll get to come skiing with you this weekend.

865
00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:19,000
I don't know.

866
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:20,000
Thanks for the invite, Jeff.

867
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:21,000
All right.

868
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:22,000
Thanks Eli.

869
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:27,160
I'll swing by the shop and drop off a bunch of the Aspect Davi.

870
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:30,920
Drop in checklist and verify the forecast checklist tomorrow.

871
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:31,920
Time to get.

872
00:53:31,920 --> 00:53:32,920
All right.

873
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:33,920
Cheers, mate.

874
00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:34,920
Have a good night, mate.

875
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:35,920
Bye.

876
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:36,920
Thank you so much for listening to All Aspects.

877
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:39,360
If you like what we're doing here, please leave a rating and review.

878
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:42,040
It really is the best way to help others find the show.

879
00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:45,200
Thanks again to our business daddy, Aspect Davi, for making this show possible.

880
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:50,000
To learn more about how Aspect Davi is making avalanche safety simple, go to aspectdavi.com.

881
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:54,160
If you want to use this powerful new tool on your next backcountry adventure, simply

882
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:58,200
download the app from the app store and enjoy 30 days free on them.

883
00:53:58,200 --> 00:54:01,640
Lastly, special thanks to Ice Lab for helping us produce this show.

884
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:04,440
You guys rock and we couldn't do it without you.

885
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:24,120
Thanks again for listening and we'll see you in the backcountry.