One of our Bluehouse customers Troy Oldham sent us this photo. He bought a pair of the 179 MR for himself and gave a pair of the 171 MR to his wife for her birthday. She loved them.  But after she got looking at them she turned to Troy and said..

“Wait…are these boys skis?!”

So that night he pulled out the sharpie and made them girl skis. Evidence:

Now they are a skiing couple at Beaver Mountain with the MR and the MRS. By the way Troy, did you hear about our ski design contest?

I just returned from Texas to the shocking news that Robert Gruber died Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2007 in a car accident. Robert was the second rider to join the Bluehouse team. He was a young and extremely talented athlete. But even more, Robert was an exceptional person. It is rare to find someone of Robert’s stature in the ski industry. It was his character that first drew me to speak with him about riding with Bluehouse, and it is his character that will be remembered always. Our hearts are shattered at the loss of our friend. I was looking forward to meeting up with Robert in January, but I guess that meeting will have to wait for that better place.

Our condolences go out to Robert’s family, friends and acquaintances. Our hearts and prayers are with you.

Robert, you will be missed.

Rest In Peace.

Bluehouse is announcing their public design contest.

Let’s be honest, we could ask our neighbor’s nephew’s brother for next year’s graphics. Or we could do it ourselves. But how “Bluehouse” would that be? If we’re building skis according to the public’s wants, why not have the public do the art work too? Here are the details:

Anyone is eligible to submit a design. Submissions will be judged by the general public (50%) and the Bluehouse team (50%). The winner(s) of the contest will have their artwork printed on a full run of a Bluehouse ski model in the 08-09 season. Winners of the contest will also win two pairs of skis–one pair to ride, another pair to put on your wall.

Entries are accepted until 11:59 PM, January 15. To enter your art, click on Design Contest under the SHARE link and follow the directions.

If you have questions or you’re having problems with the submission process, send an email to Shane (shane@bluehouseskis.com).

We look forward to your involvement in the Bluehouse ski-building process. Good luck!

With little snow in Utah, it has been hard getting some video of our skis in action. But thanks to Bluehouse rider Robert Gruber and his crew Pickings Fam, the Austrian snow has been kind enough to provide you this short segment.

If you’ve not picked up your tickets for the film Enjoy and the Bluehouse launch party tonight at the Post Theater on the University of Utah campus you’ve still got time.  We’ve sold 64 of 100 pre sale tickets which will not only save you $2 but you’ll be one of the lucky 100 who will receive a free Bluehouse tee shirt at the party.

We’ve got tons of give aways from Skullcandy, Backcountry.com, Level Nine Sports to name a few.  Of course a ski party wouldn’t be a party without giving away some skis.  Boo Koo energy drink will help us do that.

Purchase your tickets at FeedTheHabit.com and don’t miss what will be Utah’s best ski premier party!

Universities are always looking for ways to talk about their alumni.  That’s good news for Bluehouse as Utah State University recently published an article about Shane Larsen, one of the “big wigs” here at Bluehouse.

The article is entitled “Getting Paid to Live the Dream” but Shane summed up the reality like this:

“Most of the Bluehouse work gets done from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.,” Larsen said. “We have to do it during those hours because Bluehouse doesn’t pay our bills yet. We have to pay our bills elsewhere.”

Yep, starting and running a ski company that is more concerned about the customer experience and the quality of product means a diet of ramen and mac-n-cheese for a while.  No complaints with that. Going after your dream never felt so good.

Thanks to the Utah Statesman for featuring Shane Larsen and Bluehouse in the article. Check out the entire piece at the Utah Statesman Online.

In the absence of snow I was wasting….er, spending time over at TelemarkTips.com seeing who has been out skiing and catching up on gear talk. I was stoked to find that not only has one of our customers from Alaska already put 5 days on his Districts he also wrote a pretty detailed review about the ski.

He spent a couple of days using them with his kite. Sounds like the bamboo is doing just what we wanted it to do - give you *POP* when you want it.

The Districts performed very well at this, which was very surprising for such a soft ski. I could load them up, swing my kite above my head, and pop up for some wonderful glide time. Or I could take a super fast tack, and just use the spring in the skis to bounce me into the air until the kite could take over the glide.

He then had a couple days of powder with another day of thin conditions. The bottom line from his review was this little gem:

I can tell right now that out of my quiver of 7 pairs of skis, these Bluehouse Districts will see a lions share of the year. I love the way they ski.

If some of you have been wondering how they’d ski this is a great review, particularly since he stated his height and weight for comparison. (6′3″ - 215lbs)

Check out the entire Districts Review at TelemarkTip.com Send us your review of either the Districts or the MR by posting the feedback on either of the product pages . Tell it like it is, we want to hear the straight up truth.

We met the guys at Thrillhead Creations last week at the Schralptown premiere. They were very good to us. They gave us a couple copies of the film and some swag to liberally host Thrillhead events. We jumped all over it and showed the film last night as part of TNT film series.

TNT (Tuesday Night Teasers), headed up by Caitlin Barker and Caitlin Morgan, is a network of SLC skiers who gather weekly to watch ski films through the fall in preparation for the upcoming ski season.

Open fires, hot bevs, and a great film made it a decent scene. Bluehouse thanks the Kensington girls for letting us use their yard: Erin, Jeanette, Becca, and Lyndsey are some of Bluehouse’s finest friends.

Bluehouse also sends a huge GET WELL SOON to Ms. Caitlin Barker who had knee surgery yesterday morning. She was sorely missed at this event.