Race ski tuners tuning in to travel trends

Ski shop. Photo: Ski Republic Tignes

VAIL, Colorado. — A ski-savvy town, not unlike Park City, is now inviting to have skis shipped to the shop in addition to in-person drop-off for mount and/or prep at one location.

Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s (SSCV) Technical Services department, once private, is now open to the general ski racing community. The Vail tune shop, located in the new SSCV clubhouse at the base of Golden Peak, is an internationally recognized race room and an official partner of Wintersteiger and Swix, writes the media website Ski Racing.

Ski Racing editor, Geoff Mintz, writes that starting this season, the tune shop is prepared to accept skis and bindings via shipment and in-person delivery for complete mount and prep.

According to Wintersteiger product manager Todd Carroll, the SSCV Technical Services department, led by shop manager Paul Suomi, has distinguished itself as an industry leader and an invaluable resource to both Wintersteiger and elite technicians who frequent the shop in the early part of the season.

“The operators that are driving our equipment at the highest level every day, they are the most picky and discerning and hardest to please,” said Carroll to Mintz. “And we know if we can get it right with them, then we know it’s going to work as we move down the chain with the rest of our customers.”

“Paul Suomi represents the top 1% (of our operators) globally. He’s doing things at a level that I would say is certainly similar to that of a European ski federation and on par with the race room production facilities for a ski company,” Carroll said to Mintz.

Carroll went on to say that Suomi’s team, which includes technicians Branden Berg and Connor O’Brien, has been a huge asset in Wintersteiger’s development process, providing critical feedback that has helped improve the Wintersteiger product for operators around the world.

“He’s very aware of what’s working well, what needs improvement and everything in between,” Carroll said to Mintz. “He provides really fantastic feedback to us to be able to work through the development process, update software, update hardware. … But technicians know, if they are in Colorado during that typical prep period — late October, November, even coming into Beaver Creek in early December — they have a resource in Paul and the crew he oversees to be able to get the caliber of work that they need.”