ROMP

Brothers open ski company in Crested Butte
 

This winter you could be ripping down the Headwall, hucking High Life or even chest deep in the Anthracites on a brand new pair of custom skis, built here in Crested Butte for $600.

In an industry filled with ski companies from around the world offering everything from a pair of $333 boards to $3,000 skis, local brothers Caleb and Morgan Weinberg have found a niche, offering skis at a bro buddy price right here in Crested Butte.
The Weinbergs grew up freeskiing and ski racing at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire. Caleb made Crested Butte his home in 1992, and Morgan followed four years later.
Their father was a contractor and Caleb became a general contractor in the valley, but as the economy in the Gunnison Valley slowed down, the work dried up.
So, last year he and Morgan decided to build skis in Morgan’s garage. Not so much as a business, mostly just for fun.
“No one wanted houses built so we decided, let’s build skis,” says Caleb. “I was just really slow, I had time.”
They started in classic bare bones fashion, moving Morgan’s wife’s car and the kids’ toys out of the garage each time they made a pair of skis. Caleb had enough tools from his construction business for a majority of the ski building process. Without a ski or laminate press, they used a vacuum bag process for the final construction steps and by January 2010 they were on the hill, on their homemade skis.
While a majority of skis are made using poplar, the Weinbergs couldn’t find any at that time and they opted for a local source of wood for their prototypes.
“The first ones were built on what was available,” says Caleb. “Aspen from Delta.”
Caleb picked a “safe” trail for the maiden voyage on his new skis and was blown away right from the start.
“We went and skied Paradise Bowl first,” says Caleb. “They could have just fallen apart, but they didn’t. We were so excited that they worked.”
Once they found a source for poplar, they switched and built several more pairs, sending their friends out on the hill on their skis. They left a few pairs at the Colorado FreeSkier for them to use.
“I got a chance to ski a pair in the early stage,” says Colorado FreeSkier owner and consummate ski tester Gabe Martin. “It was super-aggressive and carved really well and they’re fat, so they also float in powder. “
Martin adds that with wider skis, you know they’re good in powder—the true question is if they can carve on groomers, and the Weinbergs’ skis did.
Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team Freeride head coach Woody Lindenmyer skied on a pair last season as well and was also impressed from the start.
“I was really surprised,” says Lindenmyer. “They were great and they skied really well, super-responsive.”
With feedback like that, the Weinbergs decided that their new hobby could be a new business.
“The response from everyone who tried them was so good that we decided to go for it,” says Caleb. “Take the summer to build a factory and do it.”
And after three months of wracking their brains, they came up with a name: ROMP skis.
They are now setting up shop in the former Crested Butte Printing space on Belleview Avenue and are stepping up their machinery to build skis.
Researching presses online, the Weinbergs designed and built their own ski and laminate presses and tracked down other wood-working machinery throughout the country as well as a sublimation printer to apply the graphics to the top sheet.
They will have six shapes to choose from with a variety of widths underfoot and at the tip and tail, including a pintail option. They will also offer anywhere from two to four lengths with each shape. Stiffness options throughout the ski will be available as well, including carbon strips for additional stiffness, and you can pick your camber profile from traditional to early rise tip and/or tail as well as flat underfoot. All skis are cap construction.
“I’ve blown so many sidewalls in my life I don’t want to see another,” says Caleb.
“They’re right on the cutting edge of skiing,” says Martin. “They’re not designing skis that are already out there—they’re taking the ideas that are out there and putting all the good ones together into one ski. I’m super-stoked on the shape.”
Romp will have 10 graphic designs to choose from, one of which will be the winning design from a contest they hope to organize with art students at the Crested Butte Community School. Or, for an additional fee, you can pick your own graphic and they’ll put that on.
Most important, the Weinbergs will work with each individual to pick the right shape, stiffness and camber to suit the skier’s needs and can offer advice to help each individual pick the right ski—whether they want to float fat powder in the backcountry, leaving behind a tight track or big mountain turns, bomb the ski area or send it big everywhere in between. The brothers even have plans for a park ski and a powder ski for kids.
“Powder skis for kids aren’t out there,” says Caleb. “My five-year-old son’s favorite run is the Banana, he needs powder skis.”
Finally, the cost for a pair of ROMP skis is a mere $600. Caleb realizes that most ski town skiers can find a new pair below retail from a friend. Furthermore, the boutique custom ski companies’ price typically comes in around $2,000. The $600 price tag on their custom product falls right in between.
“You look around and there’s small ski companies, but most of them aren’t doing custom skis,” explains Caleb. “And a custom ski can cost $2,000. Are you going to ski Angle Gully on a $2,000 pair of skis? We want to sell them to skiers in a ski town.”
Every ski will be backed by a standard one-year warranty. In addition, ROMP skis offers a crash replacement policy.
“If you wreck our skis, and it wasn’t our fault, we’ll sell you another pair for half price during that first year,” explains Caleb.
Their website, rompskis.com, is slated to be up and running in the next couple of weeks and production of their first “official” ROMP skis should commence by mid-September.
Their goal is to build and sell 300 pairs in the first year.
“We want to put in the time and effort to each pair and get the quality we want, and that the skier wants,” says Caleb.
In addition, the Weinbergs are setting up Western State College freeskiing team competitor Mark Mikos on a pair of ROMP skis for the 2010-2011 event season and will look for a Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team skier to hook up with a free pair.
“We want to sponsor some local kids,” says Caleb.
The Weinbergs have a wait list going right now and are still taking names for the upcoming season. You can get on the list by sending your name and contact information to [email protected]. When they’re up and running, the brothers will contact you to start working on ski specifics for your pair.
“To come up with a concept of what you want a ski to be, build it and ski it is cool,” says Caleb. “I hope that is what we can give our customers. Pick what they want, get out there and ski them.”