Skittenz Mittens: New small biz puts Park City Mountain on the map… on your glove

The new Park City Mountain Trail Map by Skittenz has launched and is available for purchase. Photo: Skittenz

PARK CITY, Utah — Imagine having Park City Mountain’s trail map literally in the palm of your hand. Well, there’s a mitten for that, and it’s called Skittenz.

The concept was born in the parking lot of a ski resort, where the founders observed skiers and snowboarders gearing up with colorful helmets, goggles, jackets, pants and graphic-designed socks. But there was one accessory that seemed to lag behind in the color department: gloves and mittens.

The founders came up with the idea, asking the question, why not use gloves and mittens as a canvas for self-expression, just like the rest of the winter gear? “We constantly use our hands to express ourselves — shouldn’t our mittens or gloves do the same?” the company said in a statement.

But the innovation didn’t stop at aesthetics. Skittenz recognized a practical need on the mountains as well. “We thought about the many times we were lost on the mountain or separated from friends because they didn’t have a trail map, their hands were too cold to take out their phone, or the phone was too cold to turn on,” the founders said. It’s a common scenario for many winter sports enthusiasts.

Skittenz sought to solve this problem by integrating a trail map directly onto a “skin,” which is a stretchy fabric that has been waterproofed with Nikwax, and can be worn over any glove or mitten for convenience.

Park City Mountain’s trail map has just launched on the Skittenz site and is currently on sale for $29.99.

When asked if they will be adding more Utah resorts to their list, they said, “We would love to expand our offerings to include all the major resorts within Utah and are actively pursuing this goal.”

The Skittenz team also expressed their desire to bring in more designs than trail maps. “We also hope to work with artists who would be interested in having their designs or art printed on Skittenz,” they said. “It would be amazing to see skiers and snowboarders wearing art as a part of their ski outfits.”