Saskatoon snowboard shop continues to find success through community support

When most people think of playing sports on the prairies, the mind immediately goes to hockey or football.

Skiing and snowboarding don’t quite jump to the front of people’s minds.

It’s tough to blame people when the Rocky Mountains and premier riding destinations in the country are more than six hours away.

But the sport has seen some growth over the past few years and has had the help of local ski and snowboard shops like Outtabounds.

It has been a mainstay in Saskatoon for more than 30 years and owner Jeff Currie says it helps when his staff is as invested into the sport as much as the customers.

“Being that specialty, authentic store provides an experience for people. When they come in, they get to speak to somebody that actually uses the product (and) that has ridden the product. You’re standing face to face with someone,” Currie said.

He says that can be the difference-maker for customers when they don’t have someone pretending how a piece of equipment is going to work when they are out on the hill.

There also are places in the province to test gear out instead of having to make your way all the way to Alberta or B.C.

Table Mountain, Mission Ridge Winter Park, Wapiti Valley Ski Resort and Optimist Hill have been a number of options for people to hit the slopes in their own backyard.

What also hasn’t hurt is one of the country’s top snowboarders in the past decade is from Saskatchewan and has turned a lot of people towards the sport.

Regina’s Mark McMorris was in Saskatoon before Christmas as part of the Burton Mystery Series, a tour to celebrate and showcase the progression of the sport for all ages and abilities.

“Having Mark as the posterchild of Saskatchewan and face of Burton obviously has a little bit of help there. Thanks, Mark. He had the opportunity to essentially bring the event to Saskatoon; he wanted to give back to the community,” Currie said.

That tour — which stretches across the world, including Japan, New Zealand, France and Norway — made only two stops in Canada. The other event was held in Ontario.

But a local shop will always have its challenges with competitors in the industry including big-box stores and customers going directly through a company.

It always comes back to the importance of community and Currie said the one in our province is just as committed as those who have access to the mountains in their region.

“We have industry guys and girls that comment to me regularly about how dedicated the users are in Saskatchewan. We get out as frequently as we can, we’ve got customers that have season passes in the mountains and get more than ample usage out of them,” Currie said.

He added many people will leave on a Friday, ride on Saturday and Sunday and then drive back Sunday night in order to be back for work Monday morning.

“That shows the dedication to it, which is why we are able to operate and have such an amazing store within Saskatoon because we have dedicated users that support us and need equipment and need service,” Currie said.

He says the service aspect and having people who actually use the product gives them an edge at times.

“The one thing that is kind of nice with our service shop is our service guys are participants. They do ski, they do snowboard, they know what a bad tune feels like (and) they know what a good tune feels like,” he said.

This can make a difference when you get out on the hill and have people wanting to continue with the sport. Plus, since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased interest in trying outdoor sports, according to Currie.

Some of that includes new Canadians as well as kids, including Currie’s seven-year-old son.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. He’s extremely passionate about snowboarding, which is super-awesome. He rides at Optimist at least once a week because he’s in a program that’s offered there through Saskatchewan Snowboard,” Currie said.

The program also gets riders out to Table every weekend.

Programs through Saskatchewan Snowboarding for kids and those new to the sport began in early December in Saskatoon and Regina and at Table Mountain.