Catch14: ON3P Skis

The ON3P shop. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Krause Photography.

Ashley Duffus is a freelancer who lives in Glacier, Washington. You can check out her musings at Love. Think. Ride. She recently sat down with the guys from ON3P Skis. 

It’s been about a year since I first heard of ON3P Skis--a Portland, Oregon company stoking the NW with handmade skis. Named after the cross streets--13th and Proctor, aka ON(e) 3 P--near the house where founder and president Scott Andrus lived when he launched the company in 2006, ON3P now has several employees and is expanding its product line. I had the privilege of picking the brains of Scott and production manager Rowen Tych,  and I’m positive that I need a pair!

1. You're located in Portland now, why the move from Tacoma?

SA: I was in Tacoma for college at the University of Puget Sound. I am more of a city guy, though, and Tacoma was just too small for me. I was going to end up in either Seattle or Portland. I ended up down here for a number of reasons, the greatest of which was a girl actually. And I ended up loving the city. As a city, I prefer it to Seattle. But the skiing in Seattle is much better, so I have an internal battle that constantly goes on about where I want to be. As I said, I really love it here, but don't be surprised to see us migrate up to Seattle either.

2. How many paid employees do you have?

RT: That’s a good question, haha.

SA: We have three full-time paid employees, including myself. We have an intern who works on the weekends who is functionally the fourth and he will come on full-time, I hope, once he graduates from college in March. I hope to add a fifth full-time as well within the next year, though that position might be a seasonal, production position.

3. So, why did you start making skis? For fun? Or because you couldn't find anything you liked enough?

SA: I started making skis for fun and for myself. I was very much into the whole custom, boutique brands. I ended up getting a pair that I waited a long time for, but was ultimately pretty unhappy with them. So the idea of doing it myself came up. And I said, "why not."  There was definitely stuff out there that I would have liked and would have worked for me, but I felt that I could do it better if I did it right.

RT: I got involved with the project because I was in the market for skis, and a bamboo core, semi-custom ski hand-pressed out in Tacoma sounded cool, and I got the unexpected bonus of actually helping to make my pair.

4. What was the first pair of skis you guys made? Do you still make them?

SA: The first pair I actually pressed and skied on was a 191 cm Wrenegade. Some minor tweaks to them from the originals, but the skis are still the same dimensions and length and are still available in our line (and will be for years to come).

RT: I wasn’t around for the absolute first. The first in our new location and under the company name was a 186 cm Billy Goat... that was back when we thought we would need an extra two layers of fiberglass, and that sucker flexed like a two-by-four.

5. What's your favorite model? Why?

RT: Adriana Lima, those eyes…. Usually its whatever we're dreaming up, I love trying out new ideas and prototypes, but in a pinch on a pow day (when you get to choose the days you get off, they always seem to be pow days) a 191 cm Caylor is just too much fun.

SA: 191 cm Wrenegades. They just embody how I like to ski better than anything else out there. I like to go fast and make big turns. But I also like skis to be intuitive and natural to ski on. The 191 cm Wren does this better than any ski I've ever been on.

6. Any idea when or if you guys are going to start selling in stores?

RT: We've been discussing it, and there are no real plans yet, just some feelers. Doing retail requires a huge investment on our part to pop up our numbers of pairs a year, and while we are doubling the number of skis we can make every year so far, it really hangs on the question of will our quality be maintained if doing those kind of numbers?... We've had success so far in selling to customers online. It keeps our costs low and we're able to pass that right along to consumers, but hey, we've only been in business a year and a half, its really hard for me to predict even six months out where we will be.

SA: Expect to see us in retail soon. The transition is going to be a tough one, as right now our production year doesn't quite work with the one needed to support retail. But to get the volume we want to achieve, retail will be required.

Rowen Tych working his magic. Photo courtesy of Benjamin Krause Photography

7. There are rumors that you guys are playing around with a really, really fat pow ski. Can you divulge anything about that?

RT: It was thought up by David Steele, Josh Anderson and myself last spring amongst animated conversations, ski movies, and a few beers, all in our office. It’s our answer to, "What would you want on a stupid-deep powder day?"

SA: Not yet, other than the fact that it is comically rockered.

8. What else do you foresee in ON3P's future?

SA: Hopefully a lot more growth and product development. That will come with a change to retail and our continued development of our ski line. We would like to maintain the relatively small size we are currently at, while hitting sale numbers that will hopefully make this company both sustainable and successful.

RT: Making more skis and eventually allowing our employees and riders a well-deserved travel budget.

9. What's your favorite place to ski?

SA: Crystal Mountain, WA.

RT: Stevens Pass, WA. Grew up skiing there, love it to death, and I always know where to find untracked.

10. Other than making skis and skiing them, what do you do in your little amount of free time?

SA: I have no free time. I've been working seven days a week since August of 2009. Things are finally going to start calming down a bit, though, so I will hopefully be skiing more and more. My girlfriend is in graduate school and we don't get much time to see each other, so the little free time I have I try to spend with her. But I am definitely all work right now.

RT: I play Magic: The Gathering, Skee-Ball at the professional level, collect aluminum pop tabs from Asian countries and tell outrageous lies about myself.

11. Couple of silly questions: favorite music?

SA: Changes all the time, but been on a pretty big dubstep and electronica kick for the past four to five months. We are constantly listening to music or books while we work and I've found as far as music goes, electronica and dubstep is the most conducive to working for me.

RT: Been liking what newschoolers.com users have been providing us when we asked for some tunes in exchange for stickers--pretty diverse from Blue Scholars to Phantogram to things so hipster they give Portland a run for its money.

12. Favorite food?

SA: Sushi. But the real key to my heart = Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey.

RT: If I had to eat something everyday for the rest of my life, Thai. I'd miss the variety though.

13. Favorite bar in Portland... and what do you always want to see on tap?

SA: There are a ton of great bars in Portland... hard to pick a favorite. I can tell you where I end up the most, The Matador on Burnside in NW Portland.

RT: I've been working so much my bar knowledge is paltry... but its always good to see Mac & Jacks on tap.

14. And lastly, if you had to end this article, what would you say?

SA: As for the ON3P story, I would say don't ever let anyone tell you what you are capable of. I cannot tell you how many times someone doubted ON3P and said that it could never work. If you want something, all that outside noise is meaningless. Work your ass off and make it happen. I should add to this, though, that I couldn't have ever gotten as far as I have without the support of my family, friends, and girlfriend, who've probably thought I was crazy this whole time, but always pushed me to continue on and never give up.

RT: Don't ever take yourself too seriously and get out there and shred some gnar already.