Whitefish ski shop keeps its edge with customized service

Operating a specialty ski shop in a seasonal resort town is not an easy task, Chris Hyatt knows, but after a decade in business he's found what works for him.

It's all about focus.

"All we do is skis," said Hyatt, who started Ski Mountain Sports in Whitefish as the ski season was winding up in 1994. "Our focus is very tight. We're not trying to sell to everyone. We're trying to sell to skiers."

Hyatt opened the store because he saw a niche in offering customized boot fitting and specialty skis. When snowboards soared in popularity in the 1990s, a flurry of snowboard shops came and went, but Hyatt kept his eyes on skis, a product he knows inside and out.

Shaped skis came on the scene around 1995. Hyatt had a hunch they'd revolutionize the sport and built up his ski inventory around the new product. His intuition was right on the money; by 1997 shaped skis were huge.

"We took a gamble on it and we ended up incredibly well," he said. "We were fortunate. People put them on and went 'wow.' "

Shorter, wider skis with more balanced flex patterns, larger shovels and tails, and increased torsional stiffness have dramatically changed the ski industry, Hyatt said, making the sport easier to learn. Specialty tunings, with beveled edges for improved edge-hold, also make the equipment more user-friendly.

Hyatt's ability to anticipate industry trends has paid off in many ways, such as catering to women skiers.

The industry has historically focused more on men, but for years, Ski Mountain Sports' clientele has been about half men and half women. That's unusual, Hyatt said.

"The industry and manufacturers have finally accepted the women's market," said Jennifer Hyatt, Hyatt's wife and business partner. "It used to be that they would paint equipment fuchsia and call it a woman's ski. Today the different physiology of women has been applied to skis and boots."

The Hyatts, who met at a Minnesota ski shop where they were both employed, have worked with renowned ski-equipment tester Jeannie Thornton for many years.

"She's a huge advocate for women's skiing; we knew her from Minnesota," Hyatt said.

Because women have a shorter Achilles tendon, the cuff-height of the boot should be altered accordingly, he explained. The flex of a ski also must be adjusted to account for a lower center of gravity in women skiers. Similar adjustments have been made in children's skis.

"We've come a long, long way," Hyatt said. "I see probably five to 10 people a season in their 40s and 50s getting back into skiing. You can hop in now because the technology is so much better."

Custom boot fitting has proven to be an important niche for Ski Mountain Sports.

"Boots are generic. Feet are specific," he said. "We start with as close a match as possible and then build it up from there. We have 12 different shapes of women's boots. We start there and move forward.

Fitters rely on the customer to convey how the boots actually feel on their feet.

"Eighty-five percent of the boots we sell we manipulate in some way for the customer," he added.

Two of their ski and boot technicians, Roland Franks and Kelly Eliason, have been with the business since it started and know the intricacies of their craft. Blake Peterson, a skilled boot fitter from Colorado, joined the staff this season.

Hyatt grew up near Flathead Lake where his parents owned a fruit orchard. An avid ski racer, he got his first job at a ski shop in Illinois at age 14. While attending Montana State University, Hyatt began working at the Bridger Bowl Ski School, and completed an internship there helping with a children's program.

He headed to Colorado State University to complete a degree in marketing and speech communications, then moved to Minnesota where he spent time as a sales associate for Eddie Bauer before veering once again into the ski business. A ski shop in the Twin Cities area needed help in sales and he also worked as a manufacturing representative.

Hyatt coached skiing in Minnesota and was also an alpine ski official with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

By 1992 he was back in the Flathead and worked for two winters at the Sportsman & Ski Haus before starting his own business.

"Working for Sportsman was great, but they weren't a specialty store," Hyatt said. "My father had the philosophy that if you're working for somebody and think you can do better, then go forward with it."

The Hyatts round out their business with canoe sales and rentals in the summer, and a shop full of high-end active sportswear.

"Jen does an incredible job of buying clothing," he said, adding that she was a sports and active-wear buyer at the Minnesota ski shop where they met.

She also helped Hyatt with the clothes buying for Ski Mountain Sports for three years before they married in 1997.

Ski Mountain Sports operated on Wisconsin Avenue in Whitefish for the first eight years. In May 2003 the business moved to 238 Central Avenue, and next month the Hyatts will move a little further south on Central, to the building where Sprouts is now located.

"The Flathead is not the easiest place to open a business," Hyatt said. "But my heart is here and we've been blessed from the standpoint that the community has like what we've done."

As part of Ski Mountain Sports' 10th anniversary celebration, the store is giving away three different ski and binding packages. Customers can sign up for a chance to win skis from Atomic, Elan, and Volkl valued at over $,1000 per package. The first give-away will happen at the store on Jan. 14.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com