Deer Valley, Utah USA with Ted Ligety: Luxury, Laps, and the Mountain That Made an Olympic Champion
- John Morgan
- Feb 10
- 25 min read
Updated: 1 hour ago
Deer Valley ski resort is known for its superb skiing, awesome mountain views and luxury. Located in Utah's Wasatch Mountains, just 38 miles east of Salt Lake City, it has some of the most high end hotels, restaurants, shopping and apres of any resort. Everywhere you turn there is an amazing experience whether it’s the perfect groomers, the stashes of Utah powder, lunch at the Stein Erickson Lodge or apres at Chute 11 or the Sticky Wicket. There are plenty of ways to have fun and spend way too much.
BUT Deer Valley delivers on skiing, really amazing skiing . With 40 lifts serving 209 runs and over 4400 acres on 6 mountains, there is a bunch to choose from for skiers of all levels. Yes, skiers, it is one of 3 ski only mountains that do not allow snowboarders. As for snow – a normal snow year for this place is 246"
We spent some time talking to Ted Ligety about the skiing. Few skiers in history understand ski racing, technique, and mountains the way Ted Ligety does. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time World Cup overall discipline champion, and one of the most technically dominant alpine racers of all time, Ligety has spent a lifetime studying how terrain, snow, and slope design shape great skiing.
So when Ted talks about Deer Valley Resort, he’s not speaking as a tourist or a casual local — he’s speaking as someone who has skied the mountain for more than four decades, from childhood laps to post-retirement powder days with his own kids.
Raised on Deer Valley Terrain
Ligety first clicked into skis here when he was just two years old, long before Olympic podiums and World Championship medals, Snow Park, as it was known then, was his backyard and his training ground. Growing up, Deer Valley offered exactly what a young racer needed: long, consistent pitches, a fun place to put on the miles, meticulous grooming, and terrain that honed precision.
That foundation paid off. Ted Ligety went on to become one of the most decorated American alpine skiers in history, winning:
Two Olympic gold medals
Five World Championship gold medals
25 World Cup victories
Multiple season titles in giant slalom
Why Deer Valley Matters to all Skiers
Deer Valley is often associated with luxury and service, but Ted is quick to point out that beneath the polish is a mountain with serious skiing DNA. Trails like Stein’s Way, Wizard, and the long fall-line groomers off Wasatch Express are ideal for carving, speed control, and technical progression — the same elements critical to high-level racing.
Expansion
One of the most exciting developments Ted discusses is the East Village and Park Peak expansion. While many assume the new terrain caters primarily to beginners, Ligety emphasizes that Park Peak introduces some of the steepest sustained pitches on the mountain, along with north-facing aspects that hold snow exceptionally well.
From an athlete’s perspective, the expansion improves flow, access, and variety. New groomers echo the classic feel of Deer Valley’s best terrain, while off-piste zones and tree skiing add depth for advanced skiers looking beyond corduroy.
How to Ski Deer Valley
There are multiple entry points to Deer Valley. Several of these involve staying at one of the resort hotels where you can jump on one of the lower lifts and just get going. For the day trippers, there are now three main entry points - Snow Park Lodge is the original entry point but now you can jump on a lift in Jordanelle or the new gondola in East Village (with the added bonus of not driving though Park City first thing in the morning). Be aware that Dear Valley does limit its numbers and its best to reserve your spot on holidays.
As you might imagine, Deer Valley is great for beginner skiers. The ski school caters to beginning skiers and some of the new terrain lets beginner skiers get out of the lower mountain and ski the top.
For intermediates, Deer Valley has fun terrain with blue runs all over the 6 mountains, some on awesome steep fall-line groomers. It depends where you start your day, but any of the blues on Bald Mt., Flagstaff Mt. or Empire work well, just take a look at what has been groomed. Big Stick on Bald Eagle Mountain might also be fun for more experienced skiers.
For expert skiers, there is a ton of amazing skiing, starting with some of the long groomers, like Stein's Way. Groomed runs ... for experts? Ligety explains that great groomers aren’t just “easy skiing.” They expose flaws. They reward balance, pressure control, and timing. In that sense, Deer Valley continues to function as a quiet training ground for strong skiers.
Past the groomers, Deer Valley has some amazing powder. Not known as the mecca for powder, it still gets the snow and on a powder day you can head to the Daly Chutes or many of the stashes and glades that hold this light stuff. The best part is that the light stuff lasts for a while.
If you are into bump runs, they have those as well, depending on the grooming plan, you can spot those from pretty much every lift ride.
Powder
While Deer Valley isn’t always the loudest name during Utah powder cycles. Empire Canyon, Daly Bowl, and tree lines across multiple peaks offer powder pockets that reward skiers who know where — and when — to look.
For Ligety, powder skiing isn’t about hype. It’s about efficiency, spacing, and understanding how snow moves across a mountain. The new snow can be found in so many places, it helps to have a guide/instructor or a local help you find some of those cool stashes.
A New Chapter: Skiing as a Father
Today, Ted experiences Deer Valley through a different lens — skiing with his 3 children. He enjoys letting them lead him through the trees and jumps, much as he himself grew up on the hill. He praises the ski school for their patience in teaching young skiers, the mountain’s natural progression, and the way Deer Valley allows young skiers to build confidence without sacrificing challenge as skills improve.
Few resorts allow beginners, families, and elite skiers to coexist seamlessly. Ligety sees that balance as one of Deer Valley’s greatest achievements.
Ted likes to Advance the State of the Art
Like may high end athletes, Ted likes to play with his equipment. That led hm to become an entrepreneur. He started Shred Optics in 2006 as a means to possibly create an edge for his skiing. Twenty years later, he describes his work as developing Real Technology with Real Benefits. He also does work with DPS Skis as Head of Product Performance which lets him develop new technologies for the skis and have almost real-time feedback from innovations.
🎧 Listen to the full Where to Ski episode for deeper insight into Ted's thoughts on what makes Deer Valley a top ski mountain.
Resources
Where to Stay - our favorite is the Stein Ericksen Lodge, but there are a lot of great choices at the resort. You can even stay in Salt Lake and do the day trip thing - its only 30-45minutes
Getting Around - The areas bus system is highly evolved and easy
Favorite Run - Stein's Way has been our go to - its long and has some great terrain
Where to Eat - Sooo many choices, but don't forget you can easily head to Park City for a real assortment of every cuisine you could want
What to Eat - on the mountain the Turkey Chili is amazing
Apres..- The Sticky Wicket, its real and fun
Special thanks to
Ted Ligety
SME - Dave Houck
Episode Transcript
Yeah, thanks for having me. Hey, it's great to have you join us. You probably know this place better than anyone.
You grew up in Park City. Deer Valley was just getting started when you were a kid. Man, you've seen some changes up there.
Yeah, I mean, I grew up skiing on the magic carpets, actually. Well, they weren't magic carpets then, but right out of Snow Park Lodge as a kid. And so, you know, Deer Valley was my home mountain from two years old on.
My parents always joked that the mountain was my babysitter. They'd, you know, I was in the ski program, ski school and everything there. But, you know, once I reached a certain age, I forget exactly how old it was.
I mean, things are different nowadays than they were before, but probably like eight-ish. And, you know, I'd be out roaming around the with my buddies and my younger brother. So, you know, grew up basically on that mountain.
Did you ever get into trouble with the management? Yeah, I mean, you know, when you're an eight-year-old, you're definitely, you know, we'd have our little places where we could hide from ski patrol, that's for sure. I got pulled into the GM's office at Sugarbush one time, told me not to throw snowballs at the Yeah, yeah. I mean, we would pack snowballs together and put them on our skis.
So, we had like ammo basically and try to like sneak them up or pile enough snow on your skis. And we'd, you know, lift your ski up across to your buddy and they'd get snowball, get to make a snowball out of the tip. And then you'd throw it at a unsuspecting skier below you, which not, that's the dumb stuff you do when you're, you know, eight, nine, ten years old.
Yeah. So, then like, yeah, the guy would stop and start yelling at us and then you're like, okay, we better go to, go in the trees where the ski patrol won't find us. And then we go hang out there for a little while, maybe build a jump or something and then, you know, make our way back and try to find a different lift and, you know, yeah.
Under the next chaos. Yeah. So, I drove through Deer Valley a couple months ago and, oh my God, it's been a while since I've been there.
I have not seen development like that. It's, that's crazy. Yeah, it's nuts.
I mean, the ski area is doubling this year. It is really cool. It's actually like, what's fun about it is I've been skiing this mountain for, you know, 40 years now and I've seen it change, you know, evolve over the years and it's definitely changed a lot over the years, but to see it this year and to see the new terrain has been, it's really exciting.
It's something I'm really psyched about because, you know, I think a lot of people drive by the new section, East Village section on the highway and they like see all this, you know, lower line, east-facing stuff. And they're like, oh, how is that going to ski? But up top on Park Peak, it's going to be the best ski on the mountain. Like this, the skiing that added is not just like rinky dinky beginner skiing.
It's some real skiing. Like it's going to have some of the steepest, most fun stuff. And some of the coolest groomers like, you know, Stein's Way is kind of the most iconic run currently at Deer Valley.
This beautiful east-facing run on the ridge, you overlook, you know, it gets morning sun and you're overlooking the Jordan L. Well, there's like another version of Stein's Way on the next ridge over that has an even longer pitch to it. And so, yeah, the new terrain is going to be awesome. There's going to be a few runs that are just going to be really long, steep sustained pitches and some awesome, you know, north-facing tree runs, some cool like northeast kind of facing spiny kind of like rollers that are steep.
It's going to be amazing. I mean, I think people when they get up there and I mean, we're obviously having a bad snow year right now, but when that stuff opens up, I think people are going to be shocked. Is that like for Revelator? Yeah, for Revelator, exactly.
And then on like the lower, like a little bit down from that off the mid station, the gondola is like north side is kind of everybody's favorite intermediate kind of groomer skiing. And there's a new, basically like a doubling of that size zone two in the new area that is amazing skiing too. So, I think people are going to be really surprised that like, it's not what you see from the highway.
There's a lot more beyond that. And it provides some like really cool views too, like you're overlooking Timpanogos and Midway and you see the section of the mountain in a different way, even though you're like just one ridge over, your view of the Wasatch totally changes. So, it's pretty amazing.
And also like now with the gondola, like getting beginner kind of first time skiers up to that new section, you know, you're skiing at the top of the mountain as a beginner. And so, you're out of the base area. You're like in the views, not like looking at the parking lot.
It's like a, it's a cool way to like get a better mountain experience. So, there's some, there's some beginners skiing up there at the top too. That's one hell of a gondola.
I mean, that looks huge. That East Village gondola? Yeah, it's long. It has a mid station.
I'm not sure. It's a 10 person. I'm not sure exactly how long it is, but it is sizable.
A lot of vertical, covers a lot of area. So, it's going to be, it's going to be amazing. And that new lodger building is super cool looking.
I mean, the views out there are going to be amazing. That's really cool. Then, you know, just to let other people know that may not know Deer Valley that well, there's like three entry points.
That's one of them. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, right now, yeah, there's even more than like, currently there's Snow Park, Silver Lake, and then you can go, I mean, there's a lot of lifts you can get into from, you know, ski-in, ski-out houses or hotels. But then, yeah, this new East Village is a good way. I mean, especially Park City has become really crowded, like with people driving to town.
And it's great to have a main thoroughfare entry to the mountain. Off that other side, you don't have to drive through the middle of Park City. And that it's like real skiing right off the bat.
You know, it's one lift into all the places you want to go. Yeah. I heard there was a good run into Jordanelle too, because that's another entry point.
And I heard that there's one run down there that's really quite fun. Yeah. There's a bunch.
Yeah. It's going to be some cool terrain. It's a cool perspective too, because, you know, you'd always see Jordanelle, the reservoir right there from way up high, but now it almost feels like you're skiing into it.
So it's cool to be able to bring that kind of lake feeling to the bottom of the mountain. That's a little different. Sort of like skiing at Heavenly.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
It's huge. It's huge. Now you get to spend time skiing with your kids now.
You're working hard, but you spend some time with your kids. Yeah. So I have an eight-year-old and five-year-old twins, all boys, and they're loving skiing.
I mean, the eight-year-old, he's in the Park City ski team programs right now, you know, two days a week and is loving it. He can basically ski anywhere in the mountain, whether it's daily shoots or groomers or wherever it is, he's, he's ripping it up. And then the five-year-olds are, are just figuring out how to conquer the blues right now.
So the mountain is really opening up for them and it's fun. I mean, it's so cool. They're, they're all in ski programs.
I mean, those who have kids, ski school is nice. You know, having, having somebody else teach your kids, you know, kind of the frustrating parts of the sport, then the kids just want to come, come and show off to you is it makes everybody's experience much better. I've got four boys and I thought, I thought my back was going to die by the time I got through with the fourth one.
Yeah. Yeah. And ski school makes a huge difference.
When you get, when you get them all together and you take them out, where do you take them? Oh, it kind of depends. I mean, now that they can, the twins can ski blues, we can kind of go anywhere. I mean, at eight to five, all they want to do is ski the trees.
And there's a lot of like, they call them all these like little secret trails. There's so many little tree runs for the kids at Deer Valley, or even like the little, where the normal powder skiing is and the glades and stuff there. That's where they want to be.
You know, for me and my back and my body these days, I like the groomers or powder. The trees and the moguls aren't necessarily my favorite place to be, but that's, that's all, that's the only place they want to be. So I follow them through, through that, those areas.
Oh, that sounds like a blast. There's a, Deer Valley's got a ton of that too, sort of unnamed things in the woods. Yeah.
I've got a couple of friends that ski there a lot and they're talking about places like Two Idiots and stuff like that. Where is Two Idiots? Well, it's down below here. I mean, that's what's cool about Deer Valley.
I mean, I think a lot of mountains have like this one famous section for powder skiing. You know, I think people think of Deer Valley, like when they go powder skiing, they think of Empire, but you know, the mountain has a lot of steep terrain on each of the different mountains. There's a lot of cool places to go that aren't just limited to one little section.
So we're lucky that, you know, we, we spread people out on the powder day and we can always find it. And there's lots of hidden stashes in the trees, you know, a lot of different like little ridgeline that you don't see from the lift or from the map. And you can always find the goods.
Well, and I'm going to get crucified for this on a podcast, but without snowboarders, it doesn't get scraped off the same way as it would other places too. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's the pluses and minuses there.
Yeah. I mean, obviously it's like, it's, it's different. They're being skiing, skiing only.
And yeah, that's, that's, that's what it is. Like I said, I'll get crucified for even bringing it up. What's your sort of, what's the day workout? Like when you have your kids, do you start in a specific part of the mountain or, and work your way across the mountain or is there, is it just like what looks good and just go there? Yeah.
I mean, with the kids, they generally kind of dictate where we go. I mean, sort of generally starting off at snow park and then, you know, heading up. I mean, I try to like push them to go to Wasatch or wherever.
I mean, sometimes they want to go run the NASTAR course down there on Wasatch or they're going over to Quincy and skiing some of the trees over there. I mean, it kind of depends on the day and what they're into. They kind of, you know, every day they have their own little ideas and where they want to go.
Do they ever ask you to ski the NASTAR course? Yeah, I do it some. Yeah. I go out there and race it every once in a while.
More like, like the, like follow the kids doing it. I was going to say, you, you show up at a NASTAR course and you see Ted Liggety running before you, that would be a little intimidating. Yeah, I mean, maybe.
I think, I think people like the direct comparison there, you know. Take out the intermediary. I got it.
Where do you take the kids for a break? Um, yeah, Silver Lake. I love going there. I mean, you know, the kids love their chicken fingers.
Jax actually goes, Jax is into the turkey chili actually. So that's kind of the famous Deer Valley, Deer Valley meal. So he, he's into that.
And yeah, so that's kind of like our main go-to spot. Um, so yeah, I mean like the food on the hill there's, it's pretty amazing. Deer Valley, we're lucky.
Um, so I've heard that turkey chili is to kill for. I've never had it. Yeah, it's good.
I mean, that is like the, the famous thing they've had on the menu for, for years and years. But, um, Jacob, the guy who runs dining at, uh, at Deer Valley is, is doing an amazing job. I mean, it's always little tweaks to, uh, to the menu here and there.
So, um, you know, generally lodge food is kind of meh, but you know, Deer Valley brings it up a notch. Well, that, yeah, I've heard that, um, of late, especially this, there's some pretty good food over in that part of the world. Yeah, exactly.
You like to show that mountain off too. Do you take people out and go skiing with them and show them your mountain? Yeah, for sure. I mean, a lot of like friends and stuff that come and visit, but I do a lot of corporate ski day, corporate speaking stuff.
So, um, I mean, took a big group out yesterday and shown around the mountain and, um, yeah, that's a big part of what I do. I have a good relationship with Deer Valley. And so, um, yeah, I do a lot, do a lot of that.
Where do you, where, for example, yesterday, where'd you take him yesterday? Yesterday was probably a pretty sunny day. It was, you know, some, a little bit of snow a few days ago. In the, in the perfect world, you know, I like if, especially if it's like a good group of skiers, like Stein's way in the morning is, is my go-to.
Um, it's just beautiful. It's like, it's the prettiest mountain running out right now. Um, I think as the new train opens up, you know, revelator and some of the stuff over there, it's going to be kind of new go-to, but, um, as it stands right now, like Stein's way is, is just amazing.
Like it's, you're in the morning skiing in the sun, view is amazing. You know, it's, it's kind of like a narrow run up top. So it's nice to hit it early when it's nice and groomed and smooth and everything.
So that's kind of like our, our first, first go-to, um, especially if you have a good group, it's, it's kind of a, it's got a steep section in there that if, uh, you have somewhat below intermediates, you know, they're not always super comfortable with it. You have to talk them down. Yeah.
Well, when you get a ski, you know, just with your buddies or even take a few runs by yourself, aside from Stein's run, where, where do you go to? If you've got, let's start with a, like a groomer day. I know Stein, Stein's like been the go-to for, since that place opened. Yeah, exactly.
I mean, wizard is one of my favorites. Yeah. I ran under Wasatch chariots.
It's a good hero around to lay, lay some markers down, you know, nice long pitch, pitch at the bottom. Um, that's fun. I should have a red cloud, which is the old triple lift.
There's a fun one stargazer. That's always a favorite of mine. Um, and yeah, like there's all, there's it's, it's a lot of goods are spread out there, which is, which is nice that, you know, you kind of hit every mountain, have your little, little favorites.
I mean, I love silver buck, you know, going down to silver strike lift. Um, even like empire, like skiing, uh, it's not conviction. It's Supreme like along the ridge there.
We were doing that yesterday and that's, that was beautiful. I mean, that run is so much fun along the ridge over an empire. Uh, so there's, there's a lot of places that are, that are really fun skiing.
I mean, as I was saying earlier, you know, these days, my body doesn't love like skiing the moguls unless it's like slushier, slushier powder moguls. So, you know, I stick to more of the groomers or the powder when that happens, but, um, deer Valley is kind of the perfect place for, for hitting those groomers. I spent my time at Stedman.
I get, I get, uh, I get the limitations of the body. The knees don't do what they used to. Yeah, exactly.
You ever go, do you ever go, um, spend much time in the daily bowls? Those are, I've never skied for those for sure. Um, I mean, that is like the hotspot. So, uh, that's like deer Valley is not known for, you know, the powder fever where like, you know, the young bucks like frothing at the mouth, like super aggressive, trying to like get out there.
But if there's one place where people are, you know, trying hard to get too early, it's daily, the daily shoots and daily bowls. So, um, those generally like you have to be good on your timing to get out there, get out there early and when the, when the rope drops, cause that is the popular spot to hit first where, um, a lot of time I like, I let them have that. I know where to go and get my goods.
Otherwise I don't need to, to, uh, to get in the powder fever with a bunch of 20 year olds. But there's, there is some spots there for 20 year olds that are ready to go. Terrorize.
Yeah, there's some real terrain. Yeah. Those like some good clips and cornices and a lot of like really fun terrain.
I mean, yeah, I've never seen it. People think it's just like all intermediate skiing, but it's, there's, there's some real stuff. That's why, um, you know, that's what I was looking at when I was talking to some of the people about it.
The real stuff is like going into daily bowl and you've got to jump into it and it's fairly narrow and then it opens up and you turn into a big bowl. That sounds awesome. Yeah, that's fun.
So getting past a little bit past the skiing. Um, I, I think if I remember right, you love pizza and where do you go for a lunch spot there? I, you know, the five Tory and Cortina's got a Ted Ligety pizza. Yeah.
Are you, is there anything with your name on it there? No, we don't have a, a deer Valley pizza flavor. I know I need to, I need to push them on that. I have a pizza and a couple of plates in Italy.
And so I need the, need the name on the pizza here. I get here at Deer Valley, I guess. But, uh, actually the Deer Valley pizza is quite good.
Um, so yeah. What's your, what's your go-to for food when you're done skiing, when you go there, uh, on the mountain, you're saying in town. Um, well, from what you've been saying, the mountain could almost rival town, but probably town.
Yeah. I mean, pizza in town, there's a, a new place, Matilda. It's awesome.
Um, awesome pizza. It's kind of like go to their Yukiyama, like sushi wise. I think that even like rivals some Euro sushi.
Um, so we're, we're lucky. I think the food in park city has gotten a lot better, um, over the course of the last 10 years. Um, and yeah, Deer Valley is amazing.
I mean, they actually do a good job when in the lodges, converting them over, um, to some cool dining experiences. Like I've done a few, few things up at a empire, which is, oh man, what is the name of it right now? I'm getting the name of the place confused, but it's a like rock clad, like kind of like a Swiss style rock clad thing to do around the fires, which is fun. Um, and it's cool to see how they convert those lodges into a cool, cool, like homey experience.
Um, so they have, they have, um, dinner experiences up on the Hill too. Yeah, exactly. And I cast and cut is another one where it's like a seafood buffet, which, um, is good out of snow park.
And yeah, this is it. Yeah. They've really, uh, done an amazing job.
I mean, that's since the beginning, I mean, food has been, you know, high on the list of priorities of Deer Valley. And so they're, they're not lacking there at all. Well, Deer Valley is not known for skimping on things and I'm sure food is right at the top of the list.
Yeah. Do you ever hit shoot 11 or that other year next to it? Um, a little bit here and there. I mean, uh, uh, I, my opera scene is a little bit more limited these days, especially with kids.
So I was going to say with kids, you don't get to do it much, but yeah. Yeah. Check it out.
I mean, they've done a cool job. I'm creating some, you know, more unique experiences on the mountain. Um, what's the one over by St. Regis is a little bit more of a less, less than your ski boots kind of place.
But, um, Edgar is actually out of snow park is, is pretty cool. They do a good job with some, some foods and operate there as well. Well, you, you know, my definition of operate is you got to at least take like a day's worth of runs before you're allowed to walk in the door.
Yeah, exactly. Actually sticky wicked is like the new edition they had last year, which is upstairs in silver Lake and, um, that they do a good job in there. It's fun.
It's like kind of a, they've done it kind of retro style and spawn. It's good location right there. Um, fun place, fun place to wind down the end of the day.
That's easy. You know, I don't exactly operate is not conducive to skiing the next day either. So that's, that makes it tougher.
So you spent, um, you've spent a lot of time there and not everyone skis or people don't ski the whole time they're there. There's a lot to do there. That's past scheme.
You know, you've got, you've got deer Valley, you've got park city, you're a half hour from salt Lake. If you want to go see a basketball game or a hockey game or something, there's a lot to do up there. Any, any suggestions? Uh, yeah, I mean, there's, you can go snowmobiling.
There's some like sleigh rides. They're just all like snowshoeing. There's all sorts of fun stuff you can do outside of, outside of skiing.
So, um, it's not just a solo ski ski place. Um, obviously that's the name, that's the main draw. Um, but there's a lot more to it.
I mean, they, the, the spas are pretty highly touted and, uh, and things like that, but you know, pretty, like we're lucky in park city. We had proximity to salt Lake, um, down like towards midway Heber canvas, like the UN toes. There's, there's a lot of cool places to explore.
Other thing that's cool. There is the Olympic center. I went there this summer to do a show with, um, with Doug Lewis and in the winter, it must be really cool when they've got actually snow on the Hills that they're jumping.
But now, um, even in the summer, it was cool to watch them do that into the pools. Yeah, it's cool. You can go check that out.
You can see the Bob said, Louge, um, a lot of the parties like race teams are out there training actually all the time. So that's been cool to, to see how that's converted into a cool community use. And yeah, summertime is cool.
Cause they're jumping into the pool. Um, yeah, there's in the big ski jumps right now. And, um, they got a mobile course over there.
Like they're doing a cool job. I mean, that place is going to get really developed with Olympics coming in nine years, eight years now it's, it's, it's coming out fast, eight years away. It's like eight years in a month.
You're going to, um, you're going to Cortina to, um, announce, right? Yeah, exactly. So the men are in board racing in Borneo. So I'll be in Borneo the whole time, um, covering the men's races with NBC.
So that'll be fun. I mean, Borneo was always one of my favorite stops. I mean, as far as ski towns out there, it's about as cool as it gets because it's, you know, kind of like a ninth century Roman bath town with all these like hot Springs.
And so it's less of like a ski. The town is less built around skiing and more around like a medieval little Italian village, which is, uh, which is cool with the cobblestone streets and all that. So it's got a different feel to it than, than a lot of places.
And you know, that, that race hills is pretty amazing. One of the, one of the scarier Hills in the world cup. So it's going to be fun watching it being raced in the Olympics is, uh, that next level.
That, that is cool. And that the town is really cool. I think it was one of the, one of those border towns where they used to collect tolls when people were going over the Alps.
Yeah, exactly. So you transitioned from skiing to be an entrepreneur was shred and shred optics. Being an entrepreneur is really hard.
You know, I I've seen it in a lot of different areas and bringing new products out successfully in a crowded market is hard. What's your favorite part of all this? It's also a lot of work. What's your favorite part of doing this? Yeah.
So I started shred when I was 21 years old after the 2006 Olympics. So been doing it almost 20 years now, which is kind of wild to think. So we're, you know, we've been doing it for a long time and did it throughout my entire career.
And it was actually like the whole impetus was trying to create products that gave me an advantage, um, better lenses, better protection. Like I was a tinker. I am a tinker.
I love product development side of things and creating real technologies and real benefits. Um, I mean, so much of what's out there is like a marketing driven slapstick, you know, product innovation, you know, whereas I was trying to create something that would actually give me a real advantage and like our, our lenses, our contrast boosting lens 2.0, which is like, I was like, Hey, if we can make a lens that I can see better in flat light, that makes me a second faster. Um, what it does for my wife, who's an intermediate skier is, you know, she's in the lodge generally in its flat light, but nowadays she's still out there skiing.
So, you know, I think we've always had this philosophy and I've always had this philosophy is trying to create, you know, performance enhancing products for myself and people at the highest level, but almost always those help the average skier out. And, uh, I think we're really unique in having that, that thought process of, you know, accommodating or trying to benefit the highest performing people and athletes and how that actually has real world implications. So that's always been fun.
I mean, I love digging my teeth into the product side of things. Um, the ski business is right there. I love the new ad for that noise canceling, um, for your vision.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it's, uh, yeah, it's hard.
Like it's, as you said, it's a crowded market. Um, the market's dominated by, you know, two really big players and Smith, which is owned by soft flow and Oakley, which is owned by Luke Sautica and Jiro it's owned by Vista outdoors. Like the biggest three players are these mega conglomerates, you know, yeah, you know, billion market cap type players.
So it's obviously really hard to, uh, to beat them at their own game, but, um, it's, it's fun. I mean, we're, we're doing things a different way and in a way that, you know, we have some, some real advantages. So, um, it's been, it's been fun.
Um, yeah, challenge, challenging industry, but probably when you're racing, it must've been a real challenge to keep up with everything. Yeah. I mean, I think that was always a good distraction for me was being able to think about things besides ski racing.
I liked that side of it. Um, it made it easier when I was done racing that I could sink my teeth into something right away. Um, made that transition a little, little easier as well.
So that's a really hard transition. What's the most challenging or the thing you like least about running a company like that? Uh, I mean, it's hard, hard, hard to say. I mean, there's just, and the hardest part is like in sales, there's so much out of your control.
You know, you like, you know, when you're direct to consumer, you can control that interaction with, with your end consumer. But you know, as you sell in various countries, you're a couple of layers away from those consumers. And so you're not always a part of how things are being communicated.
And that is tough sometimes, especially when you're a smaller brand where, you know, that communication piece and that like storytelling, it's so important and making sure that it doesn't get lost in translation and, and lost in the mix of, you know, people trying to just solo sell features or price points or whatever it is like, you know, trying to turn to that storytelling and, uh, and showing the differentiation, um, especially when you're, you know, a few layers away is, is always challenging. How's your German? Expected. I'm busy in Deutsch.
So, I mean, I, I, I took some in, in high school thing about German is everybody speaks English. So, um, it would have been more useful for me to learn Italian or something like that. I figured that you'd have to do some of the, um, promotion for that stuff in German or in Italian or in French to be able to get through to those guys.
So my business partner is Italian. So we have that side of it covered, but yeah, the other, I mean, it's hard. That's, what's hard about it.
You localize brands in that, those countries, um, especially in that like mid tier, you know, level. So, um, Dealing with distributors, I'm sure that's changing. Yeah.
Dealing with distributors too. I'm sure that's just not fun, but so you also find it just as hard being layers away. Yeah.
Yeah. You've also been working with DPS, which is a pretty cool brand you've been doing some work with down in Salt Lake. And I assume that you go down, work with them to build something new and then take it out that afternoon and run it.
Yeah. We're really unique with DPS. I mean, the factory is in downtown Salt Lake, so we're, you know, 25 minutes away from, you know, basically 10 ski areas.
So, uh, it's amazing. I mean, we're doing the full manufacturing process end to end. So, you know, we have.
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