Caldwell leaves BNS, reopens Caldwell Sport
Mon, May 23, 2011 - By Zach Caldwell
Dear Friends & Customers (and random people who may have once written me an e-mail)
Here are the main points!
Caldwell Sport Reopening
Amy, Zach and Gunnar Caldwell are packing up house and shop and moving back to Vermont. We will be setting up business, once again, as Caldwell Sport, providing hand-selected race skis and stonegrinding to the Nordic racing world (that’s you). Please visit us online at http://www.caldwellsport.com/.
We have developed a new system of describing snow conditions and categorizing skis and grinds to match those conditions. Learn about it under “about snow” on the website.
We’re now accepting orders for new skis. Zach leaves for Europe to begin factory visits and ski picking on June 6th. Look for information under “about skis” on the website.
Leaving Boulder Nordic Sport
For the past two seasons we have been located in Colorado, working for Boulder Nordic Sport. We have enjoyed our time in Colorado and are proud of our contribution to the growth of BNS. Our return to Vermont will mark a return to a more narrowly defined business model focusing on our strengths - race ski selection and ski stonegrinding.
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For the sake of clarity…
We have no affiliation with BNS. We remain friends, and welcome any future collaboration.
- Zach’s Tazzari RP23 grinder is coming with us to Vermont.
- BNS has the Tazzari RP13 that Nathan bought from us when he started the business in 2006, and will continue to produce the grinds that have been previously published on BNS grind menus.
- Zach won’t be involved in the BNS ski selection operation, but he will travel to Europe multiple times during the summer to visit ski factories, as he has for the past four years.
- Caldwell Sport will not be a full-service retail operation. We will focus on selling top end skis and grinding skis.
What this means for us
We’re excited to be heading back home after a four year excursion around the continent and we’re coming back with a great deal of experience behind us. We’ve both travelled the country and the world coaching and doing service work, and we’ve both logged long hours in an intensive retail environment. Our work with the US Ski Team has given us the opportunity to spend a huge amount of time testing and improving our skills at major events like the Olympics, World Championships and Tour de Ski. We’re better at what we do, and we will continue to follow opportunities to improve ourselves. Mostly this means continuing to work hand in hand with ski manufacturers and National Team athletes to advance our understanding of our profession.
What this means for you
For you, our return means direct access to the best information and services we can provide. It also means exercising some patience and understanding with a small, family-run, seasonal business. We will make ourselves available as much as possible, but during the busy time of the year we will need to operate on an appointment book in order to give each of you the time necessary to do things right. It also means that you can guarantee the best service (and selection) by contacting us early. Like, now! Zach heads to Europe on June 6th to visit factories and begin picking skis. The ski season never ends.