Mike Schneider, owner and founder of Surface Skis, was cool enough to take a moment away from packing preorders to talk to BroBomb. If you’re not familiar with Surface product– scroll to the bottom and check out their product video.

BroBomb: You just got back from a shop tour of California to promote the 09/10 Surface line. How’d that go?

Mike Schneider: Overall, the trip was much needed and a great time as well. Some friends of ours were kind enough to let us stay in their place in Incline Village so I actually had a hard time leaving the Tahoe area once I settled in. I visited a few shops around that area and the response was good. People are hyped on our rocker stuff and price points. We don’t have a ski over $600.00 in our entire line and offer some good incentives and margin to our dealers. I think we did real well for our first real shop trip to CA. I also spent an afternoon over at Boreal watching the chaos take place on their landing strip of snow. I got to chill with our homey, Jason Arens, for a bit so it was great to see him and meet his crew of friends. I will most definitely be spending a lot more time in Tahoe when the snow comes in. I am pretty hyped to get to know that area this year and bring the Surface crew over to shred.

Are you noticing more interest in the park/ freeski segment of the market over past years?

For sure, park skiing especially is blowing up and is so sick to see take place. Park skiing is so accessible to every kid no matter where he lives and I think that’s a large part of why its doing so well. Not many of us get to shred snowmobiles and heliʼs in obscure places all the time so we have to make the most of what we have, whether its sessioning a flat bar in Michigan or spinning laps in Park City, it’s all good. Super pleased on where skiing is headed right now.

Are shop owners catching on? When I was a kid I remember trying to convince my local shop that park skiing wasn’t just a fad. Are you finding that they’re already convinced of its staying power now?
The smart shop owners and those who are on the pulse (or have employees who are) have already committed buying dollars to freestyle brands and its not nearly has hard to convince them that freestyle is here to stay and exploding.

If you were writing the Surface biography, what would be the first paragraph?

We use the phrase, “we live the life we work for” all the time around our group. This holds true for Surface. We spend, and have spent hundreds of hours per week working on improving the brands direction and legitimacy. We have some amazing people contributing to the brand, most of them have never been paid. Ski photographer Adam Clark has contributed so much to our brand and continues to do so. Our premier athlete, Blake Nyman has been with us since day one. Itʼs been cool to watch him come up and gain respect from all types of skiers– from Tanner Hall to Eric Pollard. The key has been perseverance from all involved in the brand. The brand was started by my wife and I on, literally, a few hundred bucks and an idea. We’ve just built from there.

What’s the best thing about being an independent ski manufacturer right now?

The best thing about being independent (and small) is the fact that I get to have a hand in every single aspect of the business and learn so much on the day to day. Another good thing is the fact that we have total creative freedom and can fire off ideas and new projects like its going out of style. Only a portion of them materialize but I think its the constant flow of creative that makes me want to wake up each morning and work on the Surface brand.

And I bet you saw this coming…whatʼs the worst thing about it?

Totally. For us, it’s been manufacturing. Making skis is not easy, but even more difficult than that is obtaining legit distribution. Anyone can start a ski brand and make skis, but to really create a brand that is taken serious in the industry is a whole other challenge. And the other thing is obviously financing growth. When your brand grows at over 300% each year it gets expensive to keep up. But, I’m not complaining.

As the freeski market expands and more companies enter the fray, what will be the effect on individual marketing strategies? What will it take to rise above the crowd?

Well I could go on for a long time about this topic. I will say one thing, with brands like Surface, Armada and Moment and being so unique and marketing their brands so well, the larger brands are really going to need to learn to adapt. This sounds arrogant; however, I truly believe the above mentioned companies brand themselves better than all of the major player ski companies that run the show. There is a lot of thought and passion involved and I think that’s what is so appealing to customers buying our skis. They can sense that we care and appreciate their support. And on that note, I think that is a quality that you can continue to have no matter how many pairs of skis you sell each year, itʼs just a matter of being conscious every day you are in business.

I’ve noticed that snowboard companies are tending to adopt a certain image for their team and line of products. Do you see that happening in skiing?

I think that happens naturally sometimes within brands. Each company kind of has their own feel, regardless of how different each one of their team members are. For example, when we were just getting rolling we took a lot of shit for being the tight pants kids and I always thought that was hilarious. A lot has changed since then though.

How did you put your team together? For the kids out there trying to get sponsored, what influences the decision most?

I think this kind of ties into what I said before. What I have done is just tried to find the skiers who work extremely hard and have infectious personalities. I think everyone on our program could tell the Surface story to a shop buyer or customer and get it right on. We are actually a really close group and I personally speak to most everyone on the team multiple times a week. Every one of them is welcome to walk into the office any time of day. Blake Nyman has been with us since, literally, day one. You don’t see that kind of loyalty very often nowadays. We have a pretty special crew of athletes at Surface and it’s something money can’t buy. For up and coming skiers trying to get sponsored, I suggest you learn patience. Try to set yourself apart and find a niche where you can shine. And most important, attitude is everything. Don’t get caught up in all the crap and just ski as hard and as often as you can, no matter the conditions. If you do those things right, chances are you will be noticed by an area rep or brand before you ever make a “sponsor me” tape.

The reverse camber movement is probably the biggest change in ski technology since sidecut became common. Any guesses as to what will be next?

Rocker is not going anywhere. My guess is that there will be different variations of rocker, similar to our 3-Stage Rocker Technology, that will allow skiers to feel different feelings while shredding pow.

Thanks so much Mike. We can’t wait to see some edits of the Surface team in action this winter.