INTRO
SKIMONT is the first and biggest project in my path as a designer so far. The niche of free touring is tight and big brands have no financial interest to make the effort and create products, specific for this high performing sport. Lightweighting often times goes with narrower skis that lack float and a solid downhill performance in challenging and deep powder conditions. This is where the SKIMONT Blackbird Series shine like no other. To meet sustainability requirements to protect our winters, the made to order, full custom skis rely on wood, longevity and uniqueness to deliver unforgettable moments on the mountains. Convince yourself and contact for a test-ride.
History
2013 – The idea of making our own skis was born and soon after came to reality. In our family of five, everybody had different requirements and a whole development process was kicked off. Iteration after iteration the knowhow about material and shape grew and the performance improved.
2016 – For a project in School a hypothetical brand and business model was created that would continue wo develop.
2018 – CSIA Skiinstructor in Sunshine Village, Banff National Park, CA. Excessive testing of the Hardrock180 for more than 80 consecutive days.
2019 – The SKIMONT brand moves to Innsbruck into a 90qm Workshop. The product development leaped and the first generation of the Blackbird series was born.
2020 – Parametric design, combined with laser cutting for shapes and profiles is implemented and ensures precision and quality of the cores as well as the molds. Later that Year the second generation of the Blackbird Family is ready for production in five of 7 sizes. Ricci and Lukas join the Team as Ambassadors and test riders.
2021 – In November the brand is registered as a business in Innsbruck.
2022 – The first time SKIMONT Skis can be tested at the North-Chain Taste Days
2024 – The workshop has to move and will be closed until further notice.
2025 – SKIMONT reopens production back in Germany. The show must go on!
Brand
VALUES
Sustainability, Awareness,
VISION
Backcountry Skiing is a unique experience which becomes scarce due to climate change. Raising awareness for self-inflicted impact on the environment is crucial to change the behaviour of sports enthusiasts who want to protect what they love. SKIMONT is committed to spark change in user behaviour towards more conscious and responsible winter activities.
MISSION
Our mission is to create skis that enable every backcountry enthusiast to experience truly unique moments on the mountain and look cool while doing so. The passion and care that go into crafting a custom ski jump over to the owner and inflict a close connection between rider and ski. This connection extends into the snow and nature, creates a truly unique riding experience and raises awareness for our surroundings. This is how design has the potential to inflict change within every one of us.
PHILOSOPHY
Honesty. Passion. Freedom.
At Skimont, we craft custom freeride skis that combine cutting-edge performance with a deep respect for nature. Each ski is made to order, ensuring sustainability by eliminating overproduction. Our focus on lightweight construction, durability, and precision engineering allows us to create skis that enhance every ride. With custom design options and hand-selected sustainable materials, we offer individuality in every pair. Skimont stands for pure freeride passion, built with craftsmanship, innovation, and a commitment to a better, more conscious way of making skis.
Strategy
For the creation of a comprehensive product strategy all aspects of the brand have to be aligned with the financial capacity, manufacturing capabilities, market positioning , the goals and values…
INVESTMENT CAPACITY
As SKIMONT started of as a family hobby and became single person brand later, the financial background was not very vivid as a student. I poured in as much money as I could, in workshop equipment, material, website hosting,… So I had to come up with a slowly progressing strategy that would allow me to study full-time and build skis on the side while developing the products further until they were ready to sell.
MANUFACTURIN CAPABILITY
Building a single pair of skis on demand takes 10h of handy work, 14h curing time, 3h preparation and 2 clean up. So some of the weekends during the winter season were not all spent on the mountain, but in the workshop. With a fully set up workshop I calculated a max of 26 pairs/year that I would mange to build on the side. So roughly one pair of Skis ever two weeks, or 6months ski building every Weekend and 6months of.
MARKET POSITIONING
As a one person show, SKIMONT has to find a niche to fit in to, since the mass market is flooded with a wide variety of cheap products. A limited amount of units, very high-end and fully handmade custom skis, made to the customers wishes. That is something, the big players on the market can not offer. But it took some courage as a 22 year old to sell a pair for ~1000 bucksand meet the to probably high expecting customers requirements to manufacturing precission. After hearing the first feedback of highly skilled test riders, the hesitation was all gone and the passion took over again. The unique riding experience these handmade wooden beauties deliver still swep a happy message into my DM. of mindblowen customers.
Products
BLACKBIRD Series
Freeride
Free-Touring
Snowkite
SHAPE & SIZE
Proportional Performance Sizing (PPS) is a design philosophy that builds upon the believe, that each rider should be able to get similar riding performance. A 120mm Ski is not the same for a 190cm rider as for a 170cm rider, even though they choose an appropriate length for their individual size. Bigger riders have longer levers and usually more mass. There are significant differences in between how they like to ride compared to shorter and lighter riders. Therefor sizing should consider all parameters of a ski, not just length. Radius and width should scale too, while the construction and the Rocker should stay the same.
SIZE | XXS 160 | XS 166 | S 172 | M 178 | L 184 | XL 190 | XXL 196 |
Waist (mm) | 93 | 98 | 103 | 108 | 113 | 118 | 121 |
Radius (m) | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
Shape (mm) | 116 / 93 / 107 | 121 / 98 /112 | 126 / 103 / 117 | 131 / 108 / 122 | 136 / 113 / 127 | 141 / 118 / 132 | 146/121/137 |
Effective Edge (mm) | 978 | 101.1 | 104.4 | 108.2 | 111.1 | 114.5 | 117.8 |
Rocker Tip/Tail (%) | 21.6/17.7 | ||||||
Profile
The profile describes the thickness of the core at a given point. The Flex stiffness of the Ski can be controlled by the profile thickness. For heavier riders a stiffer ski is more suitable than a softer one. Therefor I developed the 3-11-3 Spline-Profile which is easily scaleable to size and thickness, since it relies on simple B-Splines.
Construction
The classic sandwich construction layers multiple different materials in a sequence above each other. Starting With the Base and Edges, it’s Followed by a Vibration Damping Layer (VDS) to seperate the vibrations in the steel edges from the core. Above that the first layer of a Triax-Fiber is placed, followed by the Tripple-Wood-Core (TWC)and another Triax-Fiber layer. The Layer at the very top is the design layer that simultaneously protects the fibres from scratches.
Marketing
niche in the sports, Freetouring, Snowkiting,
Freeride Skiing without compromise for Touring.