I met Frank Pieters, Owner of Skiinformatie.nl, on the business networking site, LinkedIn. I was extremely flattered when he kindly asked me to write “my story” for Skiinformatie.nl and how an a girl from Australia where it does snow, but not much, came to design a ski boot bag on wheels and now lives in Park City, Utah, USA – known as having the “greatest snow on earth”. I am extremely flattered that Frank has asked me to write this story, and while I can’t imagine many people being interested in this story, I hope that it may give some inspiration to those readers who have an idea and how to go about getting that idea realised while at the same time avoiding some of the pitfalls I have made along the way.
I also hope to entertain you with some stories, and what it is like living in “the Mormon state” of Utah.
By way of background, I was born in the UK and spent many years travelling throughout Europe with my parents. My father is German, so we were lucky to spend a lot of time in Germany, Switzerland and Spain. In 1976, my family, consisting of my parents, two younger brothers and me, emigrated to Australia and settled in south-east Queensland on the Gold Coast – 34kms of amazing coast line right on the Pacific Ocean.
I had worked as a legal secretary and Executive Assistant for most of my adult life which gave me an excellent background for a business which I started in 2000. Miss-Organisation was a new concept and provided online Executive Outsourcing services for businesses that did not have support staff to produce quality documentation. We specialised in Audio Transcription, Document Design and Training.
In 2005, my best friend, Patsy, who had skied all her life, took pity on me as I hadn’t had a holiday in 5 years, and insisted on taking me on a ski trip with her to Whistler, Canada. I had skied a bit before in Australia and once in New Zealand, but in all honesty, was not a big fan, and not very good either – perhaps why I wasn’t a big fan.
Even though Canada had the worst ski season for 60 years, Patsy and I had a fabulous time, and the ski “bug” took hold. It was on this trip that I was told by a very experienced skier that if I intended skiing further, I simply must have my own ski boots. He said: “your skis you can rent, but you must have your own boots”.
So, upon returning to Australia, and on my next ski trip to Falls Creek, I bought a pair – actually, I bought two. At this point, my only advice would be to seek out an excellent boot fitter who asks a lot of questions. For instance, as a very intermediate skier, I did not suit boots that were designed for someone who was jumping off cliffs, which was what I got in the first pair of boots. Hence, the second boot purchase – which I still use today!
My next ski trip was to Japan, again with Patsy. I was lucky enough to win a trip for two to Niseko situated on the North Island of Hokkaido. What an excellent way to repay Patsy for her generosity and the Whistler ski trip. If you are a skier and have never skied Japan, I highly recommend it. Amazing powder – that comes across from Siberia! And then of course there’s the great Japanese food. Unfortunately though, Niseko has become a ski haven for Australians, and we all know how they can be with too much beer, which can ruin this gorgeous town, run by peaceful and quiet Japanese inhabitants. Having said that we Australians are NOT all, what we affectionately call, “piss pots”.
Now, it was on this trip that I had my own ski boots in a canvas boot bag that I had to carry over my shoulder. If you are a guy reading this, you’re probably thinking “well, what’s wrong with that?” But if you are a woman who likes to travel in style, you know that by the time you have a suitcase with all your clothing, makeup, toiletries, shoes etc. in it, there is no room in that case for a pair of ski boots and ski gear. Needless to say, travelling with my suitcase, carry-on bag, and ski boots was a challenge.
So, let’s forward wind to February 2008. Patsy and I embarked on our annual ski vacation starting off in New York and Washington DC before flying west to Park City, Utah.
Again, with a huge suitcase in tow, carry-on bag and ski boot bag (which, because of the shape, carried so much more than just ski boots), I came to the conclusion that there was no way I was able to carry all this stuff while travelling by train from New York to Washington DC. So, I packed up my ski boot bag and sent it back to Australia with all my American purchases, and then went about looking for a ski boot bag on wheels. Shock! Horror! There was nothing that even remotely fit that description. I ended up purchasing a bag for $260 which barely fit my boots lying down and one other pair of shoes.
So, upon returning to Australia – oh, and the Park City skiing was fabulous and I will go into more detail about skiing in Utah in a further post – the search for a ski boot bag on wheels commenced!
And the story begins…..
