I made my first skis in Quebec in the 1990s and learned enough on my own to score a Job at Track Sport (Karhu Skis) in Cowansville, Quebec, which had just acquired Line skis from Jason Levingthal. I designed and engineered every model of Line skis from 1999 to 2007 with Jason. We experienced the exodus of North American manufacturing to China through K2 sport after they purchased Line skis and Karhu brands in 2005 and eventually we left the corporate world of public companies trying to milk our industry so we could help G3 move their production from Tunisia to China. We learned that China manufacturing was not the best way to make a future for our next generations. After a few errant years away from the heat of manufacturing skis for others, I met this crazy young dreamer from Rimouski, Quebec: Jean-Francois Bouchard. He was unbelievable in making snowboards with no equipment in a lost region of the province. We made a deal that he would inherit all my machines to kickstart Utopie MFG. A few years later, I convinced Jason that if he wanted to start his own brand again, I was going to come out of retirement and give him three years of my design services in exchange for a small part of his company and with that we were ready to make them in Canada again. Jskis was born. Fast-forward eight years and Jskis is thriving and employs some of the most fun kids I’ve ever hung out with. Utopie Mfg makes tons of skis and employs over 25 people and I keep on enjoying arguing with my old friend Jason about the future of skiing. Fun times.