BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — There’s only one person in Buffalo who makes skis from scratch: Jonathan Capozzi, the owner of Old Growth Ski Company, and News 4’s Kelsey Anderson was invited inside his Larkinville shop to see how they’re made.
On that day, Capozzi built a snowboard. It was just the second one ever he’s created. He’s hoping to have boards available this upcoming winter, along with his skis. WATCH the video above to see the process it takes to make a board, which he said is similar to making his skis.
The son of a contractor, Jonathan has always enjoyed working with his hands. He’s also grown up outdoors and loves taking advantage of Buffalo’s cold winters.
“What’s the saying?” he asks. “Whether you like winter or not, you have the same amount of snow. So you can choose to enjoy it or you can choose to complain about it and most people in WNY aren’t complainers, they like to get out and do it. WNY has a really unique ski culture.”
A few years ago, he meshed his passions and created Old Growth.
He found a shared workspace and went there every day after working as a high school technology teacher in order to get the company off the ground. He talked with people in the ski industry and spent 300-400 hours designing and building a press he uses as the last step in building his skis.
“That was quite a bit of drilling through solid steel,” he laughed, thinking back on building the press.
In the last year, he took the leap and left his teaching job, doing his craft full time. And he’s since sold skis to people all across the country.
“This year I did send some skis to Boise, Idaho and I sent some to California, (I) sent two pairs to Denver and to Minnesota,” he said. “There have been some Canadians… some people from Ohio and Pennsylvania as well.”
And the skis aren’t just aesthetically pleasing. Using a person’s height and weight, where they normally ski, how technical of a skier they are and more, he comes up with a unique design for every single customer who orders a pair.
“I can use more or less carbon fiber, more or less wood, fiberglass; the different ingredients that go into the ski,” he said. “Each pair is made to order and built for a specific customer. I don’t do anything for stock.”
And you certainly don’t need to be an expert to own a pair.
“I also have a lot of customers who are just interested in riding the lift at Kissing Bridge and going skiing with their family and their friends.”
Each pair of skis ranges in price from $999 – $1,299, depending on the customization you want. To learn more about Old Growth Ski Company, click here.
Kelsey Anderson is an award-winning anchor and reporter who has been part of the News 4 team since 2018. See more of her work here.