BOZEMAN, Montana, July 26, 2022—Peak Ski Company’s Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer, Andy Wirth, announced today that Darrin Haugen has accepted the position of Vice President of Innovation, Design and Production at the Montana based company. In April of this year, the Peak Ski Company was launched, and the company announced its 22/23 lineup of innovative, high-performance alpine skis.
“Intense innovation is at the core of Peak’s ethos and Darrin is widely held as one of the most innovative and creative engineering minds in outdoors sports. While the phrase “perfect fit” has crossed my mind, it actually falls a bit short, as Darrin’s technical knowledge, inventiveness, leadership skills and his passion folds right in with the Peak Ski Company ethos.” said Andy Wirth, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Peak Ski Company, LLC. “Darrin’s background working with advanced thermoplastics and composites at Boeing alone speaks to his breadth of experience. And as we advance on a great number of longer-term initiatives, including the development of advanced materials, we look forward to his contribution to the strategic plans and success of our company, which go well beyond designing and producing worldclass, high-performance skis.” said Wirth.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to help build a brand from the ground up at a company that has an innovation mindset permeating the entire organization. I’m eager to use what I’ve learned over the course of my career to help bring truly useful innovation to the ski market,” said Haugen.
“When I developed the first shaped ski – the K2 Four – it was with the guys up in Vashon Island and I know first-hand what a creative and innovative team they cultivated. We see Darrin as an ideal leader for many reasons, including his experience in ski design and production, but perhaps more importantly, he maintains the same intensity, drive and focus on innovation that Andy and I have, which is at the very core of our company’s ethos,” said Bode Miller, cofounder and Chief Innovation Officer.
Mr. Haugen has nearly 25 years of experience in the design and engineering space having worked with Boeing’s supersonic commercial airline program, then with K2 sports where he led design and engineering on various product lines including K2 skis and boots, Line skis and Full Tilt ski boots. Most recently he was the involved with advanced product research & design at Sitka Gear, a wildly successful global outdoor company based in Bozeman, Montana. Darrin has undergraduate and master’s degrees in engineering from the acclaimed Montana State University College of Engineering and is a skier and outdoorsman.
Haugen will report directly to Wirth, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer and will maintain responsibility for all aspects of leading the company’s product, materials and process design and innovation and as a key member of the company’s executive leadership team, he will also play a central role in developing and executing the company’s strategic plans. Mr. Haugen will work closely with Bode Miller, the company’s Cofounder and Chief Innovation Officer on all aspects of design, engineering, production and system/process engineering.
On April 6th, Andy Wirth and Bode Miller announced the launch of the new venture, Peak Ski Company, LLC, a direct-toconsumer, high-performance ski company and brand platform that has developed a line of six all mountain and sidecountry skis for the 2022/23 ski season. The lineup of Peak’s high-performance all mountain skis for 2022/2023 includes four models, with each model delineated by the measurement (in millimeters) underfoot: The Peak 88; Peak 98; Peak 104, and Peak 110. Working closely with Marc Peruzzi, the company’s Vice President of Product & Content the company has also developed a line of high-performance “sidecountry” skis, Peak SC by Bode Miller, including Peak 98SCs 98’s and Peak 104SCs. The Peak SC by Bode Miller skis were tested extensively in Montana’s backcountry and feature the relatively lightweight characteristic of backcountry or touring skis, yet integrate those high-performance traits more typically found in all mountain skis.
ABOUT PEAK SKI COMPANY, LLC:
Proudly born of the mountains of Southwestern Montana and from the vision of its cofounders, Andy Wirth and Bode Miller, the Peak Ski Company is rooted in innovation. While Peak is the first, at-scale, direct-to-consumer ski company in the United States, the entire company and its affiliate partners are focused on developing advanced materials, manufacturing processes and equipment and integrating technologies into skis with a unyielding focus on performance and precision. Peak’s 2022/23 line of skis have already been declared among the best skis available in the market, based on the ingenuity and experience of the product design and development team led by legendary alpine ski racer, Bode Miller. The company’s headquarters, including the Development Group & Innovation Center and the Peak by Bode Miller Showroom, is based in Bozeman, Montana and is located at 245 Quail Run Road. Learn more at www.peakskis.com.
MEDIA CONTACT: Nina Pfister, MAG PR at [email protected]