Horton's Seattle Tour

[Horton]

I am writing this from the back seat of a sardine can sized turbo prop Alaskan Airlines commuter plane. The rattle of the luggage racks over my head is reinforcing the agony of my 12 year old Japanese scotch induced hangover. Thankfully my recent discussions with Eddie Roberts about the difference between 12 year old and $12 dollar scotch pushed me toward the former or I would be in the ER by now.

 

I had planned to go to Seattle with my wife Gallagher to visit with her sister and brother in law as well as an old family friend of mine. By the time I got out of there I had visited the offices of 4 the 5 ski manufacturers located around Seattle. I met with marketing and/or product development staff at O’Brien, Connelly, HO and Radar. If I had planned ahead, I would have called on Denny at D3 also.

 

Product development is often the subject when I talk to the ski companies. In recent years it has become more apparent to me how difficult and how expensive it is to develop products for the high end water ski market. 2014 products are in the pipeline and are mostly kept out of sight. For me the exciting part of seeing future product is that it verifies that innovation is alive and well in the ski industry.

 

Wood skis are on the walls in many offices. The GM at O’Brien has a 4’ round O’Brien rug on his wall that must be from the 70s. In the next office over is a bikini poster of Camille Duval from the 80s. In the barn at Radar there are many skis from the 60s, 70s and 80 including an EP O’Brien. The old ski collection at Connelly is pretty darn good, and I was speechless with I saw that one sexy Connelly girl poster that l so loved when I was pre-teen.

 

Perhaps the most important thing that I saw was that these companies are thriving. The warehouses are bigger than I imagined and are full. I cannot guess how many hundreds of skis ready to be boxed I saw at Connelly. I actually saw a stack of O’Brien trick skis. Yes, trick skis. The CNC machines are chewing away on chunks of aluminum to make molds for new skis. Engineers and CAD designers are stewing over that last few thousandths of an inch that the slalom skiers swear is critical.

 

I want to thank everyone who took time out of their day to show me around.

 

[LkSamm196]

Big powder weekend here in the Cascades, only skiing of the frozen type!

 

Come back in a few weeks and we'll ski Sammamish. It's a balmy 50 degrees

[Ed_Johnson]

@Horton...Thats actually good news considering the state of the economy....Thanks for the information and hope you feel better !!!

[A_B]

@Horton, did you get a picture of the poster?

[Horton]

@AB I should have

[markchilcutt]

Nice report thanks @Horton!! it is good news to hear ski companies are thriving.

[A_B]

@Horton, speaking of hot Connelly skis....

[Horton]

That is a good picture of Jay Quam

[bogboy]

@Horton. Thanks for the update. We'll give you a pull on lake stevens anytime you are out.

[estrom]

Japanese scotch?? Seriously?

 

[Andy]

Is Japanese scotch made of fermented rice?

[Horton]

Google it

[A_B]

Isn't that Gandalf?