Stano: First of all, congrats on opening Skimo Co – North America’s first absolutely specialized light skimo gear online store!
Jason: Thanks! I am excited for the season, pray for snow!
Q: You had the grand opening yesterday, October 1st. When did the idea of such a specialized store came to you? Why ski mountaineering gear? Will it be all light gear?
Sometime in the past few years, while hunting for specs on Skintrack or in the comments of WildSnow, it became evident that shopping for ski mountaineering gear was way too hard. I only have the passion to be a gear head when it comes to ski mountaineering; I would do a poor job with bikes or whatever.
Lightness is relative of course, but we aren’t carrying any skis or boots over 1500 grams this season. That was more a practical budgeting decision than any magic number; I imagine it will creep up a bit over time.
But I don’t ever see us with 10lb skis, as that would dilute the focused experience for people who have realized that weight is a handicap on freedom.
Q: Where are you based?
Salt Lake City, Utah, North America.
Q: Oh, so you are in the same town as the online outdoor gear giant Backcountry.com. Why should one shop at your store versus theirs?
I recently read a quote from a BC founder saying how they regretted losing focus on skiing. We won’t make that same mistake. If you want to chat with an expert kayaker while looking at a dated stock photo, check them out. If you want to be helped by a ski mountaineer, or you expect ski shop services like binding mounts and skin trimming, check out Skimo Co.
Q: Are you a ski mountaineer? Do you also race?
I’m one of those people that passes the summer doing any activity just to stay in shape for winter, when (barring injury) I ski 100+ days a season, mostly in the Wasatch backcountry. Peak bagging, powder lapping, technical chuting, I love all of it.
I race recreationally but unfortunately do not have the pedigree to seriously challenge a local Dorais for a podium spot. I need lightweight skimo gear just to keep up with one on a casual tour!
[Here’s an interview with Jason and Andy Dorais if you don’t know who they are. Or even if you know.]
Q: How long did it take to open the store since you really started to work on it?
It started with the hopes of saving me time while looking for gear, but I think it backfired. It’s been more than a full-time job for somewhere around a year. This is after spending my twenties honing software development skills in corporate America and Europe. Hopefully other skiers can benefit from my sacrifice / stupidity.
Q: What kind of gear will you carry? And what brands?
I’ve been convinced of the benefits of lightweight gear for some time, and we are working with great partners who share the same vision. Dynafit, La Sportiva, SCARPA/Trab, and CAMP are leaders in the space, and we also have great items from smaller names (at least in N.A.) like Hagan, Movement, Plum, Millet and more.
I hope we can become a one-stop shop for all things related to light and fast ski mountaineering.
Q: Will you be running any kind of loyalty program?
We were planning on launching with one, but it took a back seat to getting the product experience right. Our experiment with paid reviews (in store credit) is a step in that direction. We are currently more worried about getting gear in stock than getting it out the door. Dealing with fuzzy shipping dates and lost parcels are some of the many challenges we are learning how to overcome.
Q: I see that you have gear packages, that’s great people will save some money. Would you be open to let people customize these in the future?
I think package deals are a good way to get started with a new style of skiing. We put a few together to help guide people into combinations that make sense, but certainly they are not one-size-fits-all. A customizable approach makes a lot of sense if we can safely navigate manufacturer restrictions on pricing.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
We pledged our first $1000 in sales to avalanche centers and we hope to do more in the future. We can’t thank avalanche professionals enough for making our sport safer. Let’s have a fun and safe season!
Check it out
If you haven’t checked out the new Skimo.co store yet you better do it right now. But you better have some napkins handy, drooling is guaranteed 😉
Brian says
I’ve been very impressed with the SkiMoCo guy(s) … great site too.
And i like the word Skimo.
Jimmie Breedlove says
Hello JBO,
Congrates on the launch again and would like to hike up to the top of those magnificent mountains that we live below and photograph you for this web site. Long Live Rakija!!!!
jbo says
Thanks for the compliment and well wishes Steve, it was a lot of work. I’m especially proud of how the comparison (and rest of the site) works at any screen size. Try re-sizing your browser.
Sorry for any wording confusion, but no we are not stocking the $3000 boots; even backcountry won’t try that again. We probably have 1/1000 of their inventory, but by my count, they only have 6 out of the 24 skis we carry. They might get a few more as the season progresses, but it won’t be half. We just have a different focus and (hopefully) customer base.
Jonathan Shefftz says
“And yes Backcountry does have almost all of the same skimo equipment..”
Race bindings: BC 3, Skimo 7 (plus near-race Dynafit Speed SL for both)
Race skis: BC 4, Skimo 8
Race skins: BC 1, Skimo 8
Race packs: BC 0, Skimo 5
Race clothing from CAMP: BC 0, Skimo 10
Steve says
“Availability: Custom Order
Due to the specific nature and price of the Stratos³ Cube, please contact us to order the boots so we can get you the best fit possible.”
To me that means I would be custom ordering from Skimo not them custom ordering from the manufacturer.
And yes Backcountry does have almost all of the same skimo equipment..
Jason, the compare function is very well done as is the whole website. No matter what your model is it looks well executed and I hope racing grows enough to make it worth your while.
jbo says
Peter: I am happy to report that we now have a couple Pomoca rolls in stock, priced per centimeter: http://skimo.co/pomoca-race-roll
Dan & Steve: Because we are focused on online sales, we spent a year programming a custom website versus using a hosted template. This allowed us to add detailed product comparisons, threaded discussions, skier profiles, and other features to help people find products that are right for them. Of course the tangible experience in a brick and mortar store is sometimes nice too, so it’s good to see some of those getting into lighter gear as well. We are not affiliated with any other retailers, just love the sport enough to invest our time, probably more than we can hope to earn back given its niche status.
Jonathan Shefftz says
In what way does the selection not make sense?
For the two specific products you cited, the availability status is spelled out very clearly on the website:
****
Availability: Custom Order
Due to the specific nature and price of the Stratos³ Cube, please contact us to order the boots so we can get you the best fit possible.
Due to the specific nature and price of the Stratos EVO, please contact us to order the boots so we can get you the best fit possible.
****
As for affiliate sales, no other North American etailer has very many of the specialized racing products carried by SkiMo.co, so that “reskinned” conspiracy theory has no basis.
Steve says
Skimo’s selection is definitely impressive, but it doesnt really make sense to me. The Statos Evo is listed on there as well as the Cube and I am sure nobody besides Backcountry.com ever thought of bringing them into the states. Are those boots just place holding images to show that maybe some day a $3000 boot will sell at retail in the states and to make it look like Skimo has everything race related? Or is this a reskinned version of backcountry.com for affiliate sales?
Jonathan Shefftz says
I don’t see how anyone is stealing anything from anyone here — Cripple Creek looks like a great brick-and-mortar shop covering the full spectrum of AT, tele, and spliboard, with a recently enhanced internet presence.
By contrast, Skimo.co is an etailer only, specializing exclusively in light and fast AT gear.
The two retailers do have some overlap, but very little — Skimo.co probably overlaps with at most 1/6th of Cripple Creek’s selection (i.e., half of AT, none of tele, and none of splitboard).
North America doesn’t have any other shop even remotely like Skimo.co, and I don’t think any other shop carries even half of Skimoco’s light & fast selection.
I’m glad to see both of them here, and I don’t see anything “lame” about either of them.
Stano Faban says
Dan, what do you mean by “stealing the spotlight”? I thought that Backcountry.com has all the spotlight. And if you are suggesting that Cripple Creek guys deserve an interview as well then I have good news – the questions were sent yesterday 😉
Dan says
Nice job stealing the spotlight and total website from the guys at Cripple Creek. Lame
Brad says
I agree with Peter, the CAMP skins we got were not as good as the others.
If you’re looking for information on how to trim/build race skins off a roll, I have one:
http://westcoastskimo.blogspot.ca/2013/10/how-to-trim-skimo-race-skins.html
Stano Faban says
You are always a welcomed commenter Peter, so no worries 🙂
peter k says
Not that I am suggesting Stano make yet another article, this time on skins (which ones, where to cut them, how narrow haha!). Brad and I both had new CAMP, Pomocoa Race pro (pink), and Colltex PDG last year. Looking at pictures and from my exp at worlds, the pink skins were quite popular. The race pros had excellent grip at the price of a little glide with exceptional glue, whereas the colltex were like strapping rockets onto my skis they had so much glide, with some occassional slipping and good glue as well. Brad can chime in here too, but I was not that impressed with the CAMPs after trying the other skins, other than getting them for cheap. Maybe they have gone to a new material (I bought some CAMP skins in 2010 and that was yet another and even more inferior plush with longer hairs). Also the top Euros were on some mysterious yellow skins. Anyways, before Stano bans me from the website and FB page for pointing out all of the holes in his website…
Stano Faban says
Jason, plenty of racers buy skins by length, so it’s something you might definitely consider. Out of about 12 pairs I use(d) only one or two pairs were not bought from the roll.
jbo says
Peter – We are actually. Both Pomoca and CAMP have some rolls available that we have our eye on. We just weren’t sure how many folks like you are out there!
peter k says
Thinking about doing skins by the meter? My favourite way to get skins. If you can’t rig up tip bungee, then you are a liability in the BC! I like the package deals, something that I wish they had when I was starting out
Jonathan Shefftz says
With Skimo.co already listing such a large selection of lightweight gear, plus product descriptions that go beyond the typical etailer’s copy of manufacturer blurbs, I’d say the Skimo.co website is a better Gear Guide than Slackcountry Magazine (i.e., so-called Backcountry Magazine) has ever put out in recent years!
jbo says
bp – We’d love to have a physical store, but are starting very lean as the skimo market is unfortunately still a niche and we weren’t confident that even SLC could support such a presence. Then again, you’re about the 5th person to ask already so maybe we called that wrong! Strictly online this season, but are happy to do a local delivery or work something else out.
bp says
Jason, I’ve searched your site high and low looking for your address with no success. Do you have a retail store or are you strictly mail order?
Stano Faban says
Maybe you guys should write me some recommendations / testimonials why brands should send their light gear for a Skintrack test. Some of them expressed their desire to do so but I guess they are waiting for me to actually buy all the gear 😉
jbo says
Steve, I drove up to Powder Mountain last season to get a few Hagan skis into the Backcountry ski magazine gear test. The [wai] “Y” Flow ski actually made the cut into their select list, and actually was only the 3rd lightest. The Trab Magico and Dynafit Nanga Parbat also made the list, so maybe they have a renegade tester!
Steve Sellers says
Good work. I hope you thumb your nose at the folks at Backcountry ski magazine. They have disdain for the light and fast crowd. May our numbers increase!