Thread: greg hill is now on salomon

http://skiingbusiness.com/13816/news...t-for-salomon/

my guess is he got a pretty nice contract. he must be "stoke"d.

let the speculation begin:
salomon tech bindings?
slaomon tech boots?
greg hill skiing a million vert on guardians?
TLT5 killer salomon boots?

what has the world come to?

Product development aside, I wonder which pieces of their current equipment lineup he'll be using. None of their skis are especially focused on heavy climbing.

Originally Posted by D(C)

Product development aside, I wonder which pieces of their current equipment lineup he'll be using. None of their skis are especially focused on heavy climbing.

or boots, or bindings

I've always followed his blog and some of his Roger's Pass video's are tits. Very surprised by this as he and Dynafiddle seemed a match. Saloman must have offered some livable wage as my understanding was that even with his Arcteyrx and Dynaffidle spancership, he was still having to plant trees in the summer and during his 2 mill Vert escape he was living poor and accepting donations( which I gave).
Good for him.... interesting to see what develops.
On all his recent trips he's been wearing TLT5's and skiing Stokes so they's better get some light weight gear developed real fast or he's going to be skinning with a heavy gear this winter.

Originally Posted by marshalolson

or boots, or bindings

I've seen videos of Rubens and other Salomon athletes using tech boots and bindings on some trips, and I think doing so is pretty easy to slip under the radar. Hill will just need to throw on some heavy-ass Guardians and Quests for a couple product shoots and Salomon Freeski TV videos and he should be good to go.

Skis, on the other hand, will definitely need to be Salomon.

I wonder if I could pay him to tow me uphill . . .

My guess is he'll be using various Salomon prototypes for product testing purposes (boots, lighter skis, etc.). Would kind of make sense, no?

From the ESPN article:

Knowing Dynafit wasn't in a position to pay what he wanted, Hill reached out to Salomon this spring.

* * *

. . . the designs won't be geared to the über light-and-fast crowd.

So, maybe no TLT5 killers for awhile. Salomon-badged tech bindings on the way?

Incredibly smart move by Salomon.

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The introductions had all been made through other AmerSport spancers (Arc'Teryx, et al.) My guess is Salomon offered to put food on the table and Dynafit couldn't match it.

Originally Posted by CookieMonster

Incredibly smart move by Salomon.

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I agree...plus with Andreas Fransson whom they recently signed. This should be interesting.
My own prediction....... DPS will be sold within 2 years....probably to a big ski company looking to break into lightweight plus ripper skis. I said it first!

I'd like to see him climb a million vertical feet on 192 Rockers. That would be fucking impressive.

Interesting indeed

Wait... is TGR still boycotting Salomon? Can't exactly tell yet.

Originally Posted by Scotsman50

I agree...plus with Andreas Fransson whom they recently signed. This should be interesting.
My own prediction....... DPS will be sold within 2 years....probably to a big ski company looking to break into lightweight plus ripper skis. I said it first!

You said it first. I agree.

Some MBA type will vertically and horizontally integrate some set of independent brands into a complete product line.

In this department, Dynafit are morons. With their patent gone, you'd think they would want to retain as much of their differentiation as possible in order to avoid going head-to-head with other manufacturers. But now who reps Dynafit? Lou Dawson? I like his blog, but with all due respect, he's not exciting.

Dynafit would be wise to watch what's happened to Blackberry. Consumer tastes are fickle, and Salomon only needs one killer feature to start getting big traction.

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Originally Posted by TahoeJ

My guess is he'll be using various Salomon prototypes for product testing purposes (boots, lighter skis, etc.). Would kind of make sense, no?

This.

It might not be fully weight weenie rando race light, but I can picture a tech binding and lighter boot and a midweight ski coming.

Originally Posted by shirk

This.

It might not be fully weight weenie rando race light, but I can picture a tech binding and lighter boot and a midweight ski coming.

Agree. And Salomon won't have any trouble. Hopefully they've learned their lesson about the difference between cheap and inexpensive.

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Guy at Salomon remarked that he foresees some significant new products for 2014. Wonder if this has anything to do with what he was alluding to?

Originally Posted by CookieMonster

You said it first. I agree.

Some MBA type will vertically and horizontally integrate some set of independent brands into a complete product line.

In this department, Dynafit are morons. With their patent gone, you'd think they would want to retain as much of their differentiation as possible in order to avoid going head-to-head with other manufacturers. But now who reps Dynafit? Lou Dawson? I like his blog, but with all due respect, he's not exciting.

Dynafit would be wise to watch what's happened to Blackberry. Consumer tastes are fickle, and Salomon only needs one killer feature to start getting big traction.

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They are also focusing on people who are good exciting communicators, Mike Douglas, Greg Hill and Andreas Fransson. Stong team.

Originally Posted by CookieMonster

. . . Dynafit are morons.

Not all successful business models require paying full time salaries to a team of athlete personalities. Some people (e.g., me) don't give a rat's ass if a famous guy is associated with a product. I think Dynafit will do just fine and will continue to lead the way in the development of light AT gear, after it recovers from the Radical binding hiccups.

Originally Posted by Big Steve

Not all successful business models require paying full time salaries to a team of athlete personalities. Some people (e.g., me) don't give a rat's ass if a famous guy is associated with a product. I think Dynafit will do just fine and will continue to lead the way in the development of light AT gear, after it recovers from the Radical binding hiccups.

You're in the minority, plus no one gives a shit whether or not you ski in the first place.

Sponsorships sell product. Plain and simple.

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wait is hoji still on dynafiddle? in my opinion a guy like that showcases the ability of a product more then greg hill does.

I think this is great, more people in the Tech game just pushes innovation and improvements.

Dynafit make some pretty good shit for being morons

Originally Posted by Lamothe

. . . more people in the Tech game just pushes innovation and improvements.

Agreed. The big current development in AT is boots. Does Dynafit have a patent on the TLT5/Vulcan cuff lock system?

Originally Posted by Big Steve

Dynafit make some pretty good shit for being morons

Good shit like the Radicals?

I didn't say Dynafit made bad products, just that they're morons for letting Greg Hill go to Salomon. The world's most high profile backcountry skier now represents Salomon instead of Dynafit. That wasn't very smart.

Hope that this thread doesn't turn into a "BigSteve loves Dynafit monologue".

Does Dynafit make lube?

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Go get a drink or take a toke and settle down, bub. Dynafit is a relatively small company compared to Salomon. North America represents a small fraction of Dynafit's biz. Is Greg Hill a big name in Europe? Is it possible that waging a buy-the-celebrity battle with Salomon might be a bad move for a company like Dynafit?