Armada (company)

Last updated
Armada Skis
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Sports equipment
Founded2002;22 years ago (2002)
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Products freestyle skis, clothing
Parent Amer Sports
Website armadaskis.com

Armada is an American manufacturer of skis, poles, technical outerwear and skiing-related softgoods, based in Park City, Utah with a European office in Innsbruck, Austria. The company's products are sold in over forty countries worldwide through wholly owned subsidiaries and distributors.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History

Armada was founded in 2002 by a group of professional skiers and the ski and snowboard photographer Chris O'Connell, with backing from British venture capitalists. Its founding team of owner-riders consisted of Tanner Hall, the late JP Auclair, JF Cusson, Julien Regnier, Eric Iberg and Boyd Easley. [1] [2] [3] They launched with 2 freestyle skis, the AR5 and ARV. [4]

Armada moved in 2014 from the founding home base of Costa Mesa to Park City, Utah. Erik Snyder, former CEO of Armada was quoted saying "The combination of Utah's business environment and abundance of world-class skiing make Summit County the ideal home for Armada's future."

On March 29, 2017, Armada was acquired by Finnish winter sports conglomerate Amer Sports for $4.1 million. [5]

Company

Armada bills itself as skiing's first rider-owned, rider-operated manufacturer.[ citation needed ] It works closely with ski professionals, who design their own products and are rewarded with equity in the company. [2] Armada is known to the general public largely due to its association with multiple-time Winter X Games champion Tanner Hall, who is a founding team rider. [6] In addition, Armada is credited with helping to shift mainstream perception of skiing in a younger, more dynamic direction through its unusual graphics and savvy marketing. [7] It operates online stores in the US, Canada, France, and Germany. [8] In 2011 it announced a partnership with fabric makers Gore. [9]

2023 Armada Declivity 92ti skis Armada Skis.jpg
2023 Armada Declivity 92ti skis

Team

Armada's current pro team consists of Tanner Hall, Jacob Wester, Phil Casabon, Mehdi Trari, Mike Hornbeck, Riley Leboe, Torin Yater-Wallace, Kim Boberg, Henrik Harlaut and Sammy Carlson [10]

Products

Products for the 2020/2021 season include skis, poles, bindings, ski wear and accessories. The ski includes lineup includes for men the ARV, Declivity, JJ, Whitewalker, Stranger, Edollo, BDOG, ARG III, Magic J and Tracer. [11] Women's skis include the ARW, Trace and Victa. [11] Children's skis include the ARV, ARW, Tantrum, Bantam and Kirti. [11] The JJ is claimed as being "the first all-mountain powder ski with rocker". [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowboard</span> Winter sport equipment

Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow. Snowboards widths are between 6 and 12 inches or 15 to 30 centimeters. Snowboards are differentiated from monoskis by the stance of the user. In monoskiing, the user stands with feet inline with direction of travel, whereas in snowboarding, users stand with feet transverse to the longitude of the board. Users of such equipment may be referred to as snowboarders. Commercial snowboards generally require extra equipment, such as bindings and special boots which help secure both feet of a snowboarder, who generally ride in an upright position. These types of boards are commonly used by people at ski hills, mountains, backcountry, or resorts for leisure, entertainment, and competitive purposes in the activity called snowboarding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowboarding</span> Snow sport involving a single board

Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park City, Utah</span> City in Utah, United States

Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County with some portions extending into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is 32 miles (51 km) southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and 20 miles (32 km) from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 8,396 at the 2020 census. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents.

Atomic Austria GmbH is an Austrian sports equipment company headquartered in Salzburg, Austria. It manufactures and sells skis and other skiing equipment, such as boots, bindings, helmets, ski poles, goggles, bags, apparel and protective equipment. Atomic is a subsidiary of Finnish retail conglomerate Amer Sports, which in turn, oversees Arc'teryx, Precor, Salomon, Suunto, Sports Tracker, and Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skijoring</span> Winter sport involving being pulled on skis

Skijoring is a winter sport in which a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog, another animal, or a motor vehicle. The name is derived from the Norwegian word skikjøring, meaning "ski driving". Although skijoring is said to have originated as a mode of winter travel, it is currently primarily a competitive sport.

Alf Marinius Engen was a Norwegian-American skier. He set several ski jumping world records during the 1930s and helped establish numerous ski areas in the Western United States. Engen is best known for his ski school at Alta in Utah and as the pioneer of powder skiing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanner Hall (skier)</span> American freeskier

Tanner Hall is an American freeskier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freeskiing</span> Type of alpine skiing

Freeskiing, or new school skiing, is a specific type of alpine skiing, which involves tricks, jumps, and terrain park features, such as rails, boxes, jibs, or other obstacles. This form of skiing resulted from the growth of snowboarding combined with the progression of freestyle skiing. "Newschoolers", or those who specifically ski in this style, as opposed to traditional freestylers, freeriders, big mountain skiers, and racers, are often found in terrain parks, which are designed specifically for tricks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Para-alpine skiing</span> Skiing for people with disabilities

Paralympic alpine skiing is an adaptation of alpine skiing for athletes with a disability. The sport evolved from the efforts of disabled veterans in Germany and Austria during and after the Second World War. The sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee Sports Committee. The primary equipment used includes outrigger skis, sit-skis, and mono-skis. Para-alpine skiing disciplines include the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, super combined, and snowboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amer Sports</span> Finnish sporting good company

Amer Sports, Inc. is a Finnish multinational sporting equipment company based in Helsinki, Finland. Established in 1950 as an industrial conglomerate with interests as diverse as tobacco trading, ship owning and publishing, Amer has gradually evolved into a multinational firm devoted to the production and marketing of sporting goods. The company employs over 9,700 people.

Head Sport GmbH is an American-Austrian manufacturing company headquartered in Kennelbach. It owns the American tennis racket brand Head. Head GmbH is a group that includes several previously independent companies, including the original "Head Ski Company" ; Tyrolia, an Austrian ski-equipment manufacturer; and Mares, an Italian manufacturer of diving equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swix</span> Manufacturing company of winter sports equipment

Swix is a Norwegian manufacturing company of winter sports equipment, headquartered in Lillehammer. Range of products by Swix include ski wax, ski poles and sportswear. The company is owned by the investment company Ferd AS.

4FRNT Skis is an independent brand of alpine ski equipment that helped to pioneer the development of the freeskiing movement. 4FRNT introduced the model of a skier-owned and operated ski company to the sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JP Auclair</span> Canadian freestyle skier

Jean-Philippe Auclair was a Canadian freeskier. He was born in Sainte-Foy, Quebec. JP helped Salomon launch the 1080 ski in 1998 and in 2002, along with fellow freeskier Tanner Hall founded Armada skis, a freestyle-only skiing company and remained a member of their "Pro Team" from Nov. 11, 2002 until his death. His sponsors included Armada skis, Orage Clothing, Giro Helmets, Level Gloves, JoyStick Poles, D-Structure, Mount Seymour, Stoneham, and SnowParkNZ. Auclair was known for various styles of facial hair, from a long goatee in the mid 90s to a Magnum, P.I. mustache over the turn of the millennium. Auclair also took roles in many ski movies, including the 2012 release of Sherpas Cinema's All.I.Can.

Skigo AB is a Swedish manufacturing company of winter sports products, with its head office and production located in the city of Kiruna. Current range of products by Skigo includes ski waxes, poles and gloves. The company was founded by former cross-country skier Christer Majbäck and its products are distributed worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line Skis</span> Ski company

Line Skis, commonly shortened to Line or stylized as LINE, is a new school ski company owned by K2 Sports. Line Skis was founded by Jason Levinthal in 1995 to produce short, twin-tipped skis for freestyle skiers, and has since moved to produce full-length free skis.

Silverton Mountain is a ski area near Silverton, Colorado, United States that opened on January 19, 2002. Popular with skiers and snowboarders, Silverton Mountain has one chairlift that carries visitors into its terrain, which is for advanced and expert skiers or riders. Avalanche gear is required to ride the lift at all times due to the unpatrolled and ungroomed nature of Silverton. In addition to Silverton Mountain's 1,819 acres of lift accessed skiing, Silverton also serves as a base area for over 22,000 acres of helicopter accessed skiing. Uniquely, Silverton is only open Thursday through Sunday from December through April.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LW1 (classification)</span> Paralympic skiing classification

LW1 is a para-alpine standing skiing classification for people with severe lower extreme disabilities in both extremities. It includes both skiers with amputations and cerebral palsy. International classification is done through IPC Alpine Skiing, and national classification through local national sport federations. LW1 classified skiers use outriggers, and two skis or one ski with a prosthesis. Other equipment is used during training such as ski-tips, ski-bras, and short skis.

The Faction Collective is a Swiss ski equipment design company headquartered in Verbier, in the Swiss canton of Valais. Founded in Verbier in 2006 by a tight-knit group of freeride skiers, Faction now holds brand offices in Switzerland, United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Austria and China.

This glossary of skiing and snowboarding terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon used in skiing, snowboarding, and related winter sports.

References

  1. "Company", Armada Skis website
  2. 1 2 "Business Is Taking Off", Sports Illustrated, December 6, 2004
  3. "Armada Skis: The Pipe Cleaner brings pro level performance to the masses". Ski Channel website. August 12, 2010.
  4. "Nouveautés Skis ARMADA 2013". Skieur.com. Feb 7, 2012.
  5. "Indie Brand Armada Acquired by Huge Winter Sports Conglomerate". POWDER Magazine. 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  6. "School of hard knocks, Skier Tanner Hall has taken a unique path to success". Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO). January 25, 2007.
  7. Higgs, Philip, "The Jolt of Spray Paint on Snow", New York Times, November 10th 2005.
  8. Knowles, Lori (December 8, 2008). "Armada Skis Opens Online Store for Canada". Ski Press World. Archived from the original on 2010-11-28.
  9. Lampert, Henrik (November 17, 2011). "Armada teams up with Gore for 2012". Free Skier.
  10. "Team | ARMADA SKIS". Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  11. 1 2 3 "Armada Skis". Nov 22, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-09.
  12. "Armada JJ: Two Skis in One Quiver". The Ski Channel website. June 1, 2009.