Some of the biggest political issues right now all seem to revolve around: “Green” technology, fair wages, USA jobs, and quality products made in the USA. Ramp Sports, manufactured and based out of Park City, Utah has embodied all these concepts that are so hot today. However, despite all of this, RAMP Sports is far from a giant Super-Pact but more of a Grass-Roots organization.
Recently I was fortunate enough to be given a factory tour at RAMP Sports where the employees make more than $200/month, unlike K2 and Burton employees in China and Taiwan. When most people think about a factory their minds begin envisioning: large machinery, loud noises, dirt, dust and filth. I couldn’t have been further from the truth when I met Vanessa Pierce who is RAMPs Communication Director. The production floor was so quite that I hardly realized I had already begun my tour while meeting the office staff who’s open door’ed cubicles are situated in the heart of the operation.
What sets the Riders, Artists, Musicians, Project (RAMP) factory into a league of their own is just as much the highest quality sourced within the USA materials but also their state of the art machinery. Which also happens to be made in the USA. Most ski factories use massive and expensive presses to shape and combine layers in un-natural shapes which results in a loss of each materials natural qualities. At RAMP, the central piece of technology is a large vacuum molding machine. (The same kind of machine used to make helicopter blades.)
Still, even having USA labor and USA materials isn’t enough to create a revolutionary process. Without going in to detail due to the legal obligations of a paper I signed before entering the factory, RAMP has a patent pending, mind blowing, highly flexible process to create their skis. Since RAMP doesn’t use expensive molds with their patent pending process they can make infinite and finite changes to the widths, side-cuts, and lengths etc of the skis with just a few clicks of a mouse. RAMP Sports is the only company in the world that can take a ski from an idea to a working prototype in less than a day. Then by the next day make changes to the shape and have it on the slopes again.
In their commitment to being a Green Company, all their skis are made with a pine based resin instead of the traditional and toxic petro-chemical resins. They also use FSC certified bamboo cores in all their skis which is 4x as strong as the industry standard poplar core. Also, instead of shipping using boxes, all skis and snowboards are shipped in reusable ski bags. Also they will buy 300 pounds of carbon offsets with every purchase. And to give the consumer the best possible price, when you order RAMP skis, you order directly from the factory.
