By Lauren DeFilippo / Photography + Video by 4FD Studio
For our final adventure of 2015, TEDxMileHigh and Icelantic Skis teamed up for a real adventure – enjoying a powder day at Loveland Ski Area! Icelantic founder, Ben Anderson, along with members of his team (CEO Annelise Loevlie and Team Manager Scott Vermerris), showed us what the spirit of their growing Colorado-based business is about.
ICELANTIC TedX Adventures V2 from F4D Studio on Vimeo.
After moving to Colorado as a child, Ben always knew he wanted to ski out west. His father promoted an entrepreneurial enthusiasm from a young age, creating “The Wonder Institute” and having Ben and his siblings discuss finding and chasing their passions. After learning to create skis with some friends in Boulder, Ben took his business into his parents’ garage and came up with the initial designs for Icelantic. He teamed up with friend, Travis Cook and artist, Travis Parr and the rest is history. Icelantic has now grown into its 10th year and is currently the largest USA-manufactured ski company.
Adventurers were able to not only learn from Ben’s successes, but had a chance to see first-hand his excitement and passion. The Icelantic team provided demos from their current ski line and showed them off on the snowy trails at Loveland. Lunch was provided at the beautiful mid-mountain E-Tow cabin, where more stories were exchanged about the future of their company, as well as some bumps along the way.
Spending time with the Icelantic crew was humbling and inspiring. To see a childhood dream become reality, and know it came from passion, determination, generosity, and a love of “real” interactions is an eye-opening experience we can all take home with us.
If you want to learn more about Icelantic Skis, keep an eye out for their new location opening at 1300 Washington Ave in Golden in early 2016.
By Lauren DeFilippo / Photography + Video by F4D Studio
