Jon, the Ski Builder

Jon and I met in a calculus class, and cemented our early friendship
on the ski slopes around the Twin Cities on Friday nights, when the
lift tickets were cheap, the hills often empty and the temperatures
were, at times, extreme.

Jon's love for the sport is evident following him (when I'm lucky
enough to keep up) down a piste or even more so, off the piste,
slaloming through trees, kicking up powder with each turn, and popping
into the air off of rocks or drop-offs. He's an artist with skis.

When he lived in Minneapolis, Jon would make regular trips to the
mountains, including one trip to Alta we took together. But being an
art teacher meant that getting away for an extended ski holiday during
ski (and school) season wasn't possible very often. So it was little
surprise to folks that know him when Jon decided to move to the
mountains, and make sure that he could get in his 30+ ski days each
season.

Jon's latest ski adventure is one of a different sort, however:
building his own skis! He has constructed an elaborate ski press in
the basement, which uses an air compressor, a fire hose and lots of
high-sheering-strength metal cross members and supports to sandwich
epoxy-coated layers of material together -- the base material and
metal edges, fiberglass, carbon fibers, a wooden core, metal screen
and a wooden veneer -- to form a ski. Fifteen hours of high pressure
later, viola, you have a ski.

Last night, we "laid up" (the term of art for the laminating process)
the skis he's planning to use next season. He's already sold a set on
commission, and I suspect his increasing grasp on the dynamics of the
fabrication process, and how it relates to the character of the
resulting skis, mean that more and more people will be riding planks
with Jon's characteristic simple, elegant design on them. I hope to
try them myself during my next visit in the winter.

In the meantime, creating a ski from raw materials was an
unforgettable experience to share with a friend. (Even if it meant the
air compressor was running every fifteen minutes all night long!) I
look forward to seeing the fruits of our labor, and Jon's design, today.