Good Skiers, Good People: That'll Teach 'Em A Lesson
Fall Line
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“We don’t want the hottest kid who pops tricks off cliffs. We want strong skiers who are influential in the community,” Brian Enge, president of Schoffel North America, says of his plans for launching 15 “Tech Teams” this season. Teams are outfitted in Schoffel gear and told to talk up its performance. They’re expected to ski five days a week and wear the brand “about 80 percent of the time.” Host resorts include Aspen, Colo., Jackson Hole, Wyo., Killington, Vt., and Sun Valley, Idaho, among others. The Sun Valley team includes a 51-year-old lawyer, a 61-year-old retiree and a former NFL running back. Enge formed two pilot teams last year, with ski instructors filling about 30 percent of the slots. This year, “we’ve made it a rule not to have anyone in a ski school on the teams,” Enge says. “We found they don’t free ski enough.”