If you spend any time skiing Crested Butte Mountain Resort at all, you've almost certainly seen ROMP skis, and probably a lot of them, in the lift lines. Brothers Morgan and Caleb Weinberg grew up in the mountains of New Hampshire doing all the things we love to do here in the Gunnison valley, like mountain biking and skiing. Both of them attended Western Colorado University, and like many Western alum, decided to stay and make a home in Crested Butte.

During and shortly after the 2008 recession, they found themselves with a bit more time on their hands and Morgan, a self-described tinkerer, suggested making their own skis. At first, it was just a bit of a hobby and a fun way to play with skis. soon enough, however, it turned into a full-fledged business and ROMP skis was born. In this episode, we talk about the design and construction of a pair of skis, and how purchasing a pair of ROMP skis on a semi-custom basis might be different than any other ski purchase you've likely made.

Crested Butte Real Estate Minute:

As is the case across the country, Crested Butte and Gunnison real estate is seeing substantial price increases along with record low inventory. Take a look at my market reports HERE

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Romp Skis Website

Aaron Blunck was born to ski. His grandfather started the ski school here in Crested Butte, his mom was a longtime instructor, his dad loves to ski, and Aaron had to keep up with his big brother somehow, too. By 8 he and his brother were skiing on their own, equipped with cheap radios to call home in case they needed to.

Aaron was always into jumps and he pretty quickly started to excel at it, especially in the halfpipe discipline. Before he knew it he was competing in the X Games and Olympics before he'd even gotten out of high school. He went on to win an X Games gold medal, World Championships, and compete in a second Olympics.

In this episode, we talked about the entire arc of his ski career, how grateful he is to have grown up in Crested Butte, and where he sees his ski career heading in the future.

Crested Butte Real Estate Minute:

Recently, we've seen a lot of commercial properties and development opportunities go under contract in the Crested Butte area. Additionally, I recently listed a Crested butte property with 3 homes and great rental income- more info here.

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Aaron Blunck Instagram

Corey Tibljas spent most of his childhood growing up right here in Crested Butte, as one of the first graduating classes at what was then the new Community School. It was there, at the school, that he and his friend Ben Somrak decided to make a ski movie and start their company, Two Plank Productions. Thanks to the help of local film makers Matchstick Productions (see episode 26 Murray Wais), and the local TV station (see episode 46 Noah Wight), they were able to release their film to a packed house at the Center For the Arts.

The duo released several more ski movies, before Corey transitioned the company into a more general film production company and Ben moved on to be a local general contractor. Another Two Plank event was "Big Air on Elk", which for several years featured skiers towed on snowmobiles launching "big air" right on Elk Avenue in downtown Crested Butte. It was a favorite event for a lot of people, and he's hoping to bring it back some day.

Corey also began volunteer firefighting while he was still a teen. Today, 20 years later, he still fights fires in addition to his Two Plank responsibilities- but now as a full time paid Captain of the Crested Butte Fire Protection District. Not only that, he helps teens that are following his footsteps into firefighting as well.

Crested Butte Real Estate Minute:

In this episode's real estate minute, I discussed the 2021 Crested Butte and Gunnison real estate outlook. For more information, please visit the post on my website.

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Two Plank Productions