Romp Skis Lands Contract with US Army Special Forces. This week, Backcountry Magazine published an interview with owners of Crested Butte’s local ski manufacturing company, Romp. Caleb and Morgan Weinberg, brothers and owner-operators of Romp Skis discuss how they landed a contract with the 10th Special Forces Group of the US Army, what the specifications are for the military skis are and what it means for their business now and in the future. Romp follows a direct-to-consumer model and gives the customer creative freedom in the design of their skis. Caleb explains that this is one reason why the contract was initiated: About four years ago, five retired Special Forces 10th group guys (not to be confused with the 10th Mountain Division) decided they wanted to do a commemorative graphic for 10th group; they had a graphic designer make a special top sheet. Then we designed skis for each individual with all the skis carrying the same graphic. The following winter, a bunch of their friends—some of whom are retired 10th group guys and some who are active duty—saw the skis. The original five told us that anyone who is a member of the special forces is welcome to use their graphic, so a bunch of guys started buying custom skis with this same graphic on it. One of them turned out to be the guy in charge of ordering new skis for the 10th group. They went to four or five ski manufacturers asking for skis to test. We were included in this test.
While Romp has taken on the military contract, they will still be making skis for their non-military consumers. They are also working on some new backcountry and skimo designs. Remember you can only find Romp skis online and at their factory in Crested Butte.
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