Powderhounds . . . Skibrews

WE COLORADANS are blessed to live here. Winter is a season we love and look forward to. Unlike so many other places in the country and even the world, where winter is dreaded, we are under the magical spell of cold mountain air and snowy days with snow so powdery that falling into it is like sinking into a fluffy pillow. With that kind of snow, no wonder many of us (me included) are complete snow snobs.

When Snow Industry of America (SIA) comes to town, we get to share that love. Officially, it’s an industry show highlighting all the latest and greatest snow products for the next season. And a stellar show of snow technology it is indeed. But more than that, as you navigate the thousands of booths, it is the snow-love chatter you keep overhearing that is so appealing.

More than an industry, SIA is a community. A community of fellow snow lovers who consider mountains and snow to be the end all and be all. Powderhounds, as the phrase goes. And what better place to showcase all the newest snow sports gear and accessories than in beautiful Colorado, where snow rules?

Even before you enter the show, the charming magic begins. As you ride the escalator, you hear a recording of Aspen ski legend Klaus Obermeyer’s Bavarian yodel. Even before the moment you meet him, you hear him. He is the king of the snow community, and he presides over the show with the biggest smile and twinkle in his eye, clearly so happy to be there. At 95, he is the first person you see as you enter the Denver Convention Center. People stream to him, shaking his hand or requesting a photo with him. Many ask him if he remembers them; one person started with “remember we skied together back in 1979 . . . ”

Klaus Obermeyer takes it all in stride, smiling and personable and warm, standing erect with the posture of a 50-year old. It’s not for nothing he is surrounded by little rounded black and white fabric stickers reading “Be Like Klaus” that are handed out, paying homage to this special man. For a lifetime, summer or winter, Klaus’ love of nature has him summiting the mountains. Remarkably, he continues to do so even now, every day. He is the soul of the snow community. And indeed, the Obermeyer Method of aging is one to emulate.

His lovely assistant Michelle tells me about some of Obermeyer’s WW II struggles.

For example, when Obermeyer was shot by Nazis, bleeding in the snow for 24 hours.

Klaus is a man who faced the darkest hour of humankind and history. Unlike many Germans, he and his family resisted the Nazis. Behind Klaus Obermeyer’s 95-year-old megawatt smile and eternal Peter Pan sense of fun and joy in the snow lies a courageous witness to history.

BECAUSE OF my Hebrew name, I am constantly being stopped by fellow Jews, Members of The Tribe.

It starts with Ric Cabot of DARN TOUGH, Vermont socks.

“Hey, a fellow skibrew!” he quips.

Boy, is this guy quotable. You’re thinking what is the big deal, it’s just a sock, right? So did I. Next thing I know, I am hearing sophisticated and philosophical ruminations about socks, feet and sock production. DARN TOUGH is a third generation family business in Vermont. Uniquely, this company gives its socks a lifetime guaranty. Ric says knitting is in his blood, in his DNA.

“I am always thinking of socks.”

What does that even mean, I think to myself, when he begins explaining how perspiring feet are not only dependent on the wool or knit of a sock, but on a constellation of other factors, too.

“Diet, high salt, hydration, all this can cause perspiration.”

“A sock can only do so much, the poor sock can only do so much.”

“If the shoe doesn’t fit properly . . . ”

Now I begin to understand what Ric means when he says he is constantly thinking about feet and socks.

He continues: “Like life itself, it’s a balancing act. You gotta manage the balance, and so it is with socks and feet . . . it’s an eco system.” Then he begins talking about the DARN TOUGH math. Math? And socks? Seriously? Seriously. Ric explains why DARN TOUGH is such a well constructed sock, weaving a carefully studied combination of merino wool and unblended wool, with antimicrobial moisture management features to prevent stinkiness, to promote sturdiness. He explains the importance of seams. “It’s a constellation of factors that creates the success of a sock.”

Ric prides himself on his advertising. He thinks out of the box. In all of his marketing he has never once shown a photo of a sock. “The world doesn’t need another anything,” he says. “If it’s already been done, why do it.” So he is constantly coming up with new and original ways of getting people to think about feet and pairs of socks, in order to sell his wares.

“These socks are what are taking you down the road.”

“You never want to arrive, I don’t ever want to arrive, I always want to be going down the road.” That’s part of what socks are to Ric, the vehicle carrying one forward on the road of life.

“If something sounds like it’s perfected, it’s not a good thing, you have to always still be goin’ down the road . . . and when you think you’re at the end of the road, you hope there is another stretch.”

Aside from all the sock shmoosing, when it comes to DARN TOUGH, Ric’s says, “I’ve got my hand on every aspect of the business” (here’s an opportunity for a corny hand/foot joke).

One thing I will say, and there were a lot of sock companies at the SIA, I noticed DARN TOUGH was the only company that didn’t randomly hand out socks without first asking people for their shoe size, trying to get each person the best fit.

Apparently, socks are serious business. At least when you are dealing with DARN TOUGH. Patriotic too, as DARN TOUGH was the first to design a stars and stripes, red blue and white, America Sock.

Krimson Klover, a local Boulder company, was another sock (and hosiery) company. I don’t know anything about their construction, but their patterns and designs are gorgeous! Their footwear captures a mountain yet urban boutique-y feminine fashionable edge. Think dots, snowflakes, flowers and playful moose.

If you are looking for fashionista ski garb, British company Dare2b is your choice. With its tapered and slight boot cut flared ski pants, its collection is style on the slopes! Dare2b developed an entire collection, the Luxe Collection, for women who are looking for fitted feminine ski wear. Check out its Bountiful Jacket, designed of petite hounds tooth with waist accentuating side paneling in black.

THERE IS an artistic and playful dimension to many of the booths.

Spacecraft, from Seattle, aside from the cool snow accessories such as facemasks that it sells, designed a snow themed sticker sheet for the SIA show. SIA goers sure were digging the snow art. I’m thinking of framing it.

Another “skibrews” moment. Who would have thought I would meet two former IDF soldiers at the SIA? Well, I did. I was drawn to Colorado company’s PHUNKSHUN WEAR’S booth because of its elephant graphic and especially its motto that I loved: “Experience Winter, Not The Cold.” That sums up Colorado, doesn’t it?

So I start speaking with the owner, Lanny Goldwasser — a double for David Schwimmer of TV fame from “Friends” — and so no surprise some of his buddies nicknamed him “Schwimmer,” when suddenly this guy sashays up to us and says to me “Ah, Tehilla!” in a perfect Israeli accent.

It was Tom, Lanny’s brother, who hails from Tel Aviv, now in the US to help his brother at the SIA. Both brothers served in the IDF. Before you know it we are engaged in a conversation going back to these guys’ grandparents, who emigrated from Europe to Palestine in the 1930’s and are the founders of Kibbutz Ruchama, a very traditional kibbutz. Lanny and Tom were raised in the kibbutz children’s home.

Once the kibbutz infrastructure was no longer faithful to this kibbutz’ original model (no TV, put full salary into kibbutz account, etc.), Lanny and Tom’s parents left. For their parents, it was either live an authentic kibbutz life as it was meant to be, or go out into the world with no kibbutz life at all. So, years in New Jersey and then Ra’anana, Israel, followed.

After the army, Lanny found himself working on an oil rig in Siberia; then, in a course for snowboarder instructors in New Zealand. When the course was done, he was placed in Keystone, Colorado. The rest, as they say, is history. The lifty (ski lift operator) turned out to be Israeli, and Lanny stayed on at Keystone as a private instructor.

He switched to the retail side of snow, when a buddy of his — his former business partner — wore a ski mask that kept getting noticed. Lanny literally started the old fashioned way. Lanny and his friend bought a sewing machine and began sewing ski masks and balaclava’s (not to be confused with the bakalva pastry). Their ski mask is designed to protect the face from the elements by barely exposing anything. Lanny would give his brother Tom five balaclavas at a time to sell. Before they knew it, they were in business.

IT’S A small Jewish world, of course. Turns out Lanny and Tom and I had common friends from the Upper West Side. These two brothers have been skiing their whole lives and have a lot to say about that, as well as the Israeli political situation. Lanny says:

“I hope there will be peace in Israel one day, but I am a realist.”

Tom echoes this sentiment. He also shares his observations about the greatness of Colorado skiing:

“I’ve skied all over the world, from many European peaks . . . but here in Colorado, the peaks are stunning . . . the terrain, it doesn’t end . . . the whole valley just comes up in front of you . . . I’ve skied my whole life in Europe and I have never seen anything like here . . . the mix of the tree line, with the mountains . . . certainly the Alps have an incredible presence, but at a certain point the trees are cut off and you only see mountains . . . in France, for example, 1,800 meters is above tree line . . . here at 2,000 meters you still see trees, and its seems each tree is big and healthy . . . you feel a lot more alive skiing here . . . the trees and the vastness . . . in Europe you can see the bottom of the run at the top of the trail . . . here each trail has a different hidden turn among another tree . . . the entire experience is so much more flowing . . . and the snow! One foot of powder in Colorado is worth three feet of snow in France. Here the snow, it’s so soft, you blow on it and it flys.”

What about snow in Israel at Mount Hermon? The brothers say they never skied there, but they did do guard duty there in the IDF.

So PHUNKSHUN WEAR is not just another “pretty face,” although that elephant is pretty darn cute (Lanny has been drawing elephants since he was a kid); it reflects the Israeli souls of two former IDF soldiers (from intelligence and the tank core) who served the Jewish people.

Bolle (pronounced bollay) is famous for it’s goggles. At SIA, in addition to the goggles and sturdy bright colored cobalt blue and bright orange ski helmets, there was a Retro Collection drinking glass designed for the SIA with the famous bolle goggles, these in hot pink and lime . . . adorable!

Bolle snow gear knows what its doing, as the company has been around fabricating plastics since the late 1800’s! Anyway, their representative, Jim Katz, begins explaining to me how the name Katz is in Hebrew an acronym for kohen tzedek . . . like I said, “skibrew.”

MUCH OF the snow gear at SIA is what’s actually necessary for playing in the snow, like skis and snowboards. Here’s one that caught my attention: Mountain Approach. Its motto: “Keep it together.” It’s a double entendre, of course. It has the nice ring of a solid mountain spirit to it, but also a very technical aspect. It has to do with split ski boards re-attaching after you approach the summit in a snow area that is beyond the lift, and you need your skis to climb upward, to approach the mountain, before snowboarding, or ‘riding’ down.

The primary feature is the superior functionality of the gear, but many of the booths display striking artistic designs, not to mention playful ones. Personally, I loved the pizza pie-designed snowboard by Smokin’ (apparently smokin’ means fast in Snow-ese, as in “why that guy is flyin down the mountain so fast, he’s smokin’). Imagine both flying pizza pies and snow all in one, now that is a pretty perfect thing.

Different companies have different shticks in advertising themselves. Just an example, Helly Hansen was hosting the second “Helly Hansen Ping Pong Party Tournament” (now say that 10 times!), its booth featuring bright colored ping pong balls.

There’s a lot of passion and enthusiasm at SIA, and even fun toys for kids, such as local Kwik Tek company’s inflatable snow forts.

The vibe at SIA is utter fun. After all, this is the land of “shredding,” of “smokin,” the land of everything being “rad.” Each booth is a party of its own. There’s candy and drinks galore. One booth cut through all the PR of cute swag by simply placing a huge bowl filled with beef jerky in it, giving people what they really want.

Another booth, replete with a photo booth had a sign nearby “We *are* a business!” It’s all so much fun, you can almost forget it’s business. And that is all during business hours.

COME FIVE o’clock and the snow parties begin. SIA showcased the local Austin Young Band. Listen, I know nothing about this type of music, but even I can tell, and will make a prediction, that these three young boys will be very big, very soon.

These Austin Young teens were not just your typical noisy banging music style, but incredible musical talent. I stood there mesmerized, as those around me did too. At one point the guy near me turns and simply says: “wow!” Another one compared them to Led Zeppelin.

One thing is for sure, that “skibrews” thing. I met another snow business owner with whom within moments we somehow got into a long conversation about his beloved son who, heartbreakingly, suffers from the dominantly Ashkenazi genetic disease, Canavan’s.

This man’s story as a devoted dad is nothing short of inspiring, perhaps a story for another time. On Friday afternoon at SIA, in typical “skibrew” fashion, a Shabbos dinner invitation is extended to him. So yeah, SIA is a wonderful snow community. And even more wonderful is finding a sprinkling of your own tribe within this already terrific community. Heimish? SIA? Who would have thought?

Yup, there are Skibrews at SIA.

Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News