Igneous Skis Is Back Online
Iconoclastic
Ski Maker Says "Don't Call It A Comeback"
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November, 2003--Igneous Skis, the tiny
Jackson Hole ski company that fell off the radar in 2001 after
accumulating about half a million dollars in debt, is back online
with their igneouskis.com website. The company is offering an
interesting lineup of white maple-cored skis in various shapes
and sizes, and with whopping price tags ranging from $880 to
$1,200 per pair.
Founder Adam Sherman made quite a splash
when Igneous first officially came on the scene back in 1999.
It was the tail end of the booming internet-fueled late 90s economy.
Sherman, Bryce Roberts and Niki Singlaub successfully positioned
themselves as upstart underdogs, building high performance skis
and living the dream while sleeping in a van or a corner of their
factory. |
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Igneous seemed to have all of the ingredients
in place for business success, a reportedly mostly solid end
product, a great buzz, and tons of free press. The trio was even
featured in the famously long-running and award winning Dewar's
Scotch Whiskey "they're Dewar's" ad campaign. "When
I got the call from the Dewar's ad people in New York I thought
it was a joke," Sherman told Telemarktips at the time. "I
thought it was one of my friends pulling a prank so I hung up
on them." Fortunately they called back. The Igneous stoke
machine was smoking and running on all cylinders.
There was just one problem, they weren't
selling skis.
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When the end came in March, 2001, Sherman
told reporters, "we needed to sell at least 1,200 skis a
year to make it work...we never sold more than 300 in a single
season." Igneous was said to be selling off the company
van and manufacturing equipment to help pay down its debt. The
igneousskis.com site was replaced with a single page "the
lights are out, the party is over" message. After closing
up shop one final time, the Igneous crew went out on the town,
throwing their own wake, bouncing from bar to bar until Singlaub
is said to have wound up in jail on drunk and disorderly charges.
Igneous was seemingly gone but not forgotten.
On ski web discussion forums Igneous skis continued to receive
praise and high marks from online reviewers. A few skis still
bounced around on the "for sale" forum boards with
text that read something like "awesome boards, the best
I ever had, but I need the money," and they were quickly
snatched up by by the late brand's cult-like following. At our
own Telemarktips World Headquarters a printed-out bit of advice
Adam Sherman had sent our way in the early days of the webzine
remained tacked to the wall, "just let everyone know you
are having fun and that they want to be a part of it." A
simple concept that quickly became our company mantra, and remains
so to this day. |
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Truly though, Igneous never really did disappear
completely. Word on the street was that if you could somehow
get in touch with Adam Sherman (that was said to be the tricky
part), he would still make you a pair of skis...but sort of under
the table. And the cult following remained mostly loyal. |
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Above: The Dewar's ad appeared in
many national mainstream publications. Shot in a New York studio,
the three founders, from left, Adam Sherman, Bryce Roberts and
Niki Singlaub. |
Hence the admonition "don't call it
a comeback."
Ok, so we won't, but telemarktips is stoked
to welcome Igneous and telemark brother Adam Sherman back online,
we hope he'll stick around for a long while this time around.
Skiing, in all its forms, needs his, and his company's, enthusiastic
energy.
www.igneousskis.com
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