http://sky.dlfound.org/ski-lhasa/

Wow — I was flying down some intermediate {meaning “easy”} alpine ski run at Squaw Valley early this year when I noticed a pair of colorful skis flashing in front of me. At the top of the lift I stopped the guy who was wearing them and inquired because I noticed they were branded Lhasaskis and had a drawing of the Potola Palace on their tail.

Hmm… Tibet, mountains, snow… very cool, and this looked like fun. These are fat (also phat^[1]) skis in two senses — first, they are wide and work well in deep snow and conditions where there’s piles of snow all over the runs — and second,phat in the sense that they’d let you ski with great exhiliration and joy all over the slopes in varying conditions.

Pat Keane^[2], CEO of PMGear (he is also known as Splat), who manufactures the ski, said “I feel sustainability is a symptom of bigger issues and that the non-biodegradability of skis is as a big a problem, if not bigger.” … “Certainly, all the micrososmic contributions add up but, personally, for me, an old hippie, I’d rather make a ski that might actually raise consciousness so the token efforts to appear to be mitigating the world’s problems and appeasing those who would settle for such small contributions become more widely held views. The Lhasa Pow is such a ski. We wanted to raise awareness of Chinese oppression in Tibet and at the same time protest Chinese-made skis, the carbon footprints of which are far greater than US made skis.” … “Skis are exceptionally non-biodegradable. They are wood (and metal) surrounded by fiberglass, resin and plastic sidewalls, bases and topsheets. But in the whole circle of how skis and boards impact our world, there is much to be done, starting with perceptions and impressions.” … “I think it is important that consumers look at the big picture of perceptions and awareness. Such large scale big-picture trends could prove every bit as valuable, if not more, than making entire skis and boards out of recycled household garbage.”

What’s it say on his helmet in that photo? Die Living! W00h00, that’s the extreme skier’s mantra, isn’t it? Pat and I met the day of the public memorial for extreme skier Shane McConkey (at Squaw).

Welcome to the new PM Gear.com website.   We spent the summer upgrading our factory to make our skis better and faster so we can get them out to our beloved Bro Modelers for the winter.   And it looks like winter is here!  We're currently upgrading the site daily, with loads of content yet to come and a much more user-friendly forum for you to share chatter and photos.  We'll be loading tons of photos and video this season so we can share the stoke of Bro Modelers worldwide.  Please give the site a once over and let us know if there's anything special you'd like us to add or anything you think we should change.

In addition to a new site, we have overhauled our manufacturing techniques to change the way our skis are made. All Bro Models are now made with two full layers of carbon fiber and fiberglass.  That's edge to edge carbon fiber and fiberglass above and below our poplar/aspen cores. We're integrating this construction into every model and now all Bro Model skis are the world's first true carbon fiber/fiberglass hybrids, a distinction that firmly roots PM Gear in a class of it's own.  We expect most other ski companies to rush to match this accomplishment but, for now, we're the only ski company in the world leading the charge with this bleeding edge technology.  And we like it!

We're also busy bringing four new Bro Model skis to our offering.  We'll be manufacturing the 183s, one of our most popular skis ever, in our Reno shop.  Formerly made for us in Italy, what would the 183 be if it wasn't accompanied by a 183 Fat (10mm wider), with both skis made with the new carbon/glass hybrid construction?  To top it off, demand for a 191 Lhasa Pow has brought that ski to fruition, as well as our first reverse camber/reverse sidecut ski, also in a 191.

Have a great season and we'll ski ya later!

CHECK OUT THE BROS IN ACTION IN OUR VIDEO COLLECTION ON THE NEXT FEW PAGES>>>>>>>>