RAMP Sports Cruising to Success on ‘Green’ Label

The phrase "bullet proof" is a term companies love to hear attached to their products. And, increasingly, a "green" label associated with a business has provided a boost in sales.
RAMP Sports has found a way to combine the two and as a result is having a hard time keeping up with requests for their handmade skis.

Mike Kilchenstein started RAMP three years ago to pursue a life-long dream after more than three decades of working with mega-ski producer Rossignol.

The first two production runs of RAMP skis and snowboards took place in Taiwan, but Kilchenstein wanted something closer to home.

RAMP secured a building near the Interstate 80 and Highway 40 junction in Summit County on April 20. By May 25, after a scramble to get all the required machinery in place, RAMP produced its first made-in-the-USA skiable prototypes.

After several testing trips to Mount Hood in Oregon, Kilchenstein, RAMP production manager Evan Howard and ski engineer Christian Alary felt they had a solid model and launched production from the Park City headquarters.


The crew at RAMP has been working non-stop since to keep up with demand.

"The only thing holding us back is our ability to produce more skis," Kilchenstein said. "They go right from our finish room to get shipped."

As a new company, Kilchenstein realized he could do things with his business model that other long-established ski enterprises could not.

He decided to focus on creating solid and good-looking skis and snowboards with an environmentally friendly production and providing a strong commitment to the consumer.

In addition to using materials and production methods to reduce the impact on the environment, RAMP does little things like shipping the equipment to buyers in travel bags rather than boxes and providing a buy back on skis when the consumer is done with them to find others uses.

RAMP also purchases 300 pounds of offsetting carbon emissions with each ski or snowboard sold.
RAMP (Riders Artists Musicians Project) is supported by a community of athletes, musicians, artists and actors who support the mantra of environmentally friendly production of skis and snowboards that get people on the mountains. Salt Lake Tribune

Lizard Skins of Orem Honored for Green Manufacturing

An Orem business is getting a green spotlight from a new recycling sustainability report prepared by the Recycling Coalition of Utah.

Lizard Skins of Orem was featured in the report for their "innovative and great green practices." The company manufactures sport biking accessories.

"We don't really like this phrase 'go green,' because that is a fixed destination," said Leli Fotu, who presented the report at the recent Recycling Coalition of Utah annual conference, which was held in Provo. "Being green is a process. It is a process of gradual trial and error and sustainable commitment. We are being green, not going green. What we hope is that people will go to this report and be inspired by these messages, and see the lessons learned, the dos and don'ts."

Brian Fruit, owner of Lizard Skins, said he never intended to be part of the green movement, but one day he got a letter from a customer "pretty much calling me an ecoterrorist." That letter prompted him to change his ways.

"We are in a green industry," he said. "We had to kind of relook at everything we are doing. We felt like we were being very green, but we weren't telling anybody."

Forgetting to take the time to tell your customers about the things you are doing to be environmentally responsible is a common business failure, he said. The company uses organic soy-based inks and sustainably sourced paper for its packaging. They installed efficient lighting and started company-wide recycling, which reduced by up to 70 percent the amount of trash they were paying to haul away. They put 39 solar panels on their building at a cost of $35,000.

"It works great but it is a slow payback," he said. Daily Herald

RAMP to open factory in Park City

The Park City-based ski and snowboard company RAMP is preparing to open its own factory, both producing and selling their products from the same location. From the current 6,000-square-foot space in Quinn's Junction to a 10,000-square-foot factory inside the former Honda Dealership in Silver Summit, owner Mike Kilchenstein said he's looking forward to what manufacturing in the United States will do for his growing company.

RAMP Skis and Snowboards promotes a green image, buying 300 pounds of carbon off-set with every purchase, recycling old equipment and using environmentally-friendly materials in the products themselves. Moving manufacturing from Taiwan to the U.S. is unusual but is in line with what Kilchenstein said he wants RAMP to reflect. He even hopes to add wind-captured energy to help power the factory if the idea is viable.

With a few decades of experience in the industry, studying how other companies did it, Kilchenstein decided to go against the grain and bring manufacturing back home. Park Record

Energy independence curriculum coming to local schools

Solar power is coming to several Utah Valley schools, and with it, lessons on energy independence. The Utah State Energy Program has selected Johnson Controls, a global company specializing in green building solutions, to oversee the design and installation of 73 solar photovoltaic arrays at schools throughout the state, with at least one array in each of the state's 41 districts. The program is funded by a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and was created "to help Utah students learn the value of renewable energy technology first-hand," said Johnson Controls officials. Provo Daily Herald

Midway farm to grow vegetables year-round with geothermal heat

A Utah farmer is planning a geothermal farm in Midway, making it possible to one day eat a fresh-picked Utah tomato in January. Dale Allred is breaking ground on a 1-acre geothermal-heated greenhouse. Allred will use the heated water bubbling from an underground spring on the property to warm the greenhouses and grow produce year-round. Salt Lake Tribune

$1.1M grant to help streetlights in rural Utah towns go green

Some rural Utah towns are using state dollars to 'go green' as they make the switch to high-tech night lighting.

The Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems Smart Energy initiative Wednesday received a Utah State Energy Program Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant of $1.1 million.

The grant will enable 14 UAMPS member municipalities to retrofit a portion of their existing streetlights with new, energy-efficient LED lamps and fixtures.

Based in Salt Lake City, UAMPS is a nonprofit agency that provides wholesale electricity to 52 community-owned power systems throughout the West, including in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming.

The participating members include the cities of Eagle Mountain, Enterprise, Ephraim, Fillmore, Holden Town, Hurricane, Monroe, Morgan, Oak City, Parowan, Payson, Santa Clara and Springville, as well as Heber Light & Power.

The grants are awarded through a competitive application process. UAMPS was the first organization selected to receive this award through the program. The Deseret News