Line Skis are terrain park and powder skis, known for their outrageous, eye-catching graphics. The line began as an independent ski manufacturer, but the company is now a subsidiary of K2 Skis. The company's history illustrates the rewards associated with undaunted innovation, and the courage to challenge the status quo of traditional ski design.
Young Skier's Dilemma
Being a college-aged skier in the 1990s had its problems. While your mother and father would gladly invite you on ski trips, your friends, mostly snowboarders, spent most of their time in the half-pipe and terrain park. University of Buffalo student Jason Levinthal knew that his flat-tailed 203 cm, 65 mm waist, stiff, slalom skis performed poorly in the terrain park. As he watched his snowboarder buddies perform a series of enviable tricks, a light bulb lit up in his head.
College Project
Levinthal used the university's wood shop for a senior semester project. He created a terrain park and half pipe ski that incorporated the best qualities of a snowboard. The ski had a deep sidecut, with turned up tips and tails that facilitated forward and backward skiing. He completed the prototype in the spring of 1995, and brought them, along with a group of friends, to the Holiday Valley Resort in Buffalo. The group performed tricks on picnic tables, and practiced sliding back and forth. Levinthal decoded to call his company Line Skis, in reference to the idea of skiing a straight line down a trail.
Garage Factory
After graduation, Levinthal moved in with his parents, and set up a shop and a research and development lab in his parent's garage. Throughout the winter, he took daily daily trips to the Jiminy Peak Resort in Massachusetts, tested the equipment and then came home to tweak the design. That spring, he attended the Snowsport Industries of America trade show in Las Vegas, but with thousands of companies setting up booths, Line Skis went unnoticed; or so he thought.
Japanese Order
Two weeks later, Levinthal received a fax from a Japanese company requesting 1,000 pairs of Line Skis. He only had 30 in his makeshift garage warehouse, so he rented a 1,500-square-foot space, hired friends and family to work for him and produced 15 pairs a day. The Line Ski concept eventually gained momentum in the U.S., especially in 1998, when Levinthal took home the bronze medal at the X-Games. In June of 2006, K2 purchased Line Skis. K2 handles the shipping and manufacturing, while the original team is still involved with design.
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