“I want to push the limits of ski making,” Mazz says. “I want to make them without compromise to materials, time, and craftsmanship. Take the art of ski building to the highest level possible.”

To pursue his art, he took a gamble few small ski manufacturers are willing to take. After a serious push for capital, he built his own factory on Hainan Island, China, then moved his wife and two young kids across the Pacific to follow a self-proclaimed “crazy dream of a ski maker.” “Everyone thought I was nuts. I moved here on a quest to make the best ski possible,” he says. “Making our skis is labor ridiculous and I would not be able to do what I am doing in America. I had a vision and I couldn’t do it anywhere else.”

The move didn’t come easy. “We reached a phase where it didn’t look like it was possible,” Mazz says. “We had staffing issues, supply issues, things you take for granted in the US. The government bureaucracy was insane. We had to put a team of people together just trying to get legal certifications. But once you jump through all the hoops it becomes a free and clear market and everyone becomes a very tight family. It goes from hell to heaven.”

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