With all of the ski manufacturers in the industry these days, more and more folks are jumping at the opportunity to build their own skis. This trend has even began popping up with the younger skiers, take Lucas Pinter for example. This 13-year-old from New York has big dreams of starting his own ski company, so we caught up with him to pick his brain a bit.

Q&A

Do you have the intention of building your own skis in the near future?

We are very interested but we do not have the money yet to fund building skis. Once we do we will start making skis. I have attempted building skis once from materials that I bought at Home Depot but that did not work out too well. I have also been getting samples from ski companies to look at different types of materials. We have made small prototypes and have tested them in our backyard before. We have also researched ways to press skis and ways to make skis. I hope to get an internship at a ski company or any company in the ski and snowboard business so I can get a feel for what it is like. We hope to also bring new technology to the table so we can make better performing skis. Our skis will definitely be hand made and top quality. We hope to make lighter and more durable skis.

What do you think makes your idea for a company unique?

We believe the fact that we are a kid run company makes us unique. I do not know of any ski company that was founded by a group of kids. So we can think outside of the box and use our imagination to its full capacity. We see things from a kid’s point of view because we are kids. We also have room for trial and error because we are trying new things all the time.

Is this something you have in mind as a career in the long run?

For sure, I would really love to grow this company as much as possible and hopefully have a full operation going. I want to eventually make more things like outerwear in the future. I am attending the SIA Snow Show in January so I can meet new people in the industry and also so I can look at how other companies are approaching the industry. I want to see what is the latest and greatest thing out on the market. I am mostly looking forward to building skis and making other goods. I hope to follow in the footsteps of JakeBurton and Jason Levinthal. I hope that over the years I can finally get a product that makes a difference in the skiing industry.

Can you explain what skiing means to you? How you got into it?

I started skiing when I was three years old. When I was about nine years old I got sick of skiing and thought that snowboarding was cooler (I was mistaken). So I asked my dad to let me get a snowboard. Instead he said I could get twin tips. That is when I really started to love to ski. I was totally obsessed and I still am to this day. Now I look at skiing stuff all the time online. Skiing to me is just the most fun thing to do on earth. Skiing is just so amazing that words cannot explain it. In a nutshell it is pure awesome.