I got this email from Jason and Adrian at Worth Skis today. Terrible shit happens to people all the time. Maybe it's self-centered to be more bummed out about something because you know the people. But I do know the guys at Worth and I am bummed.
Sad News From Worth Skis
Hello Worthy friends and family,
Some sad news to report today. Worth co-owner and Grand Purveyor of Stoke Dalton and his family lost their home last night to a massive fire. They all got out, just barely, and are okay, thank goodness. The house was a total loss, including all of the skis and equipment that we use for our demo events.
Unfortunately, this means that for the moment we have to suspend any further event planning for the near future, as we and Dalton assess and recover from this tragic event.
For those of you interested in the new Bootlegger build, we will be continuing with this effort, although now on an altered time frame (as you might expect). More details will be coming in the following days.
Rest assured that Worth will be back better than ever, but for the time being please just keep Dalton and his family in your thoughts! As always, we appreciate your support!
-Jason & Adrian
"You just need to go at that shit wide open, hang on, and own it." —Camp
Caught up with TC and crew today to hand off some clothes, they got out literally with nothing. Unbelievable, they were lucky to get out alive, let alone unharmed. I'll let TC tell the tale when he is ready, but truly terrifying, to say the least.
For now, warm clothes sz 6 boys and 6mo girls are the immediate need, as well as clothing for TC and Mrs. TC. Toys for his boy would be great. You can get stuff to me and I will get it to him. Their insurance co. is stepping right up, but loaner or hand over stuff will give them time to shop for replacements. I am on UVM campus days, Midd nights. Or mail to the address on the Worth site (co es to me).
Their house, along with one of their cars, was completely destroyed, to the ground. Our entire demo fleet, my skis and all of their personal gear were lost in the blaze. But that is the last of our concerns for them now.
Thanks all for the support, I know they appreciate it.
"You just need to go at that shit wide open, hang on, and own it." —Camp
Dalton posted this up on TGR, so I figured I'd repost here:
Dalton wrote
Hey Guys,
As usual the response from the TGR family has been tremendously overwhelming. You guys are all amazing. We bounced around last 2 days, but should have a solid place to stay for a while, starting today, until we get things sorted out. Here is the address I will be at:
168 Woodlands Lane, Hyde Park VT 05655. If sending USPS then PO box 42 Cambridge, VT 05444, ATTN: Dalton Harben.
Rough times for sure, but you guys are providing much needed positive energy and strength. I will try to update when I get connected again.
Horrible news. To lose your home and a lot of your business too? Awful. Sucks that there was no insurance on the demo fleet (according to that article). Looks like Harv is going to have to make his skis available for demo days.
Alternatively, people could just support their indiegogo campaign if they were serious about making sure the company lives on:
“We may be in a holding pattern for a little while as we assess,” Duquette-Hoffman wrote in an email. “All of our demo fleet and most of our personal skis were there, and we do not yet know the status of the equipment.
“We are waiting to see what the whole picture looks like before we know where Worth stands.”
The loss creates a Catch-22 for the company: Worth must sell skis to recoup the cost of the demos, which were its best tools for generating sales.
I would let someone demo my Daily Breads (they are really nice!) or maybe go BIG with a pair or George's or Humpbacks and let the guys use them.
"You just need to go at that shit wide open, hang on, and own it." —Camp
Sucks that there was no insurance on the demo fleet (according to that article).
As one of the co-owners, this is (unfortunately) correct. With any luck we'll be able to get something out of the homeowner's policy, but really this is all completely secondary to the effort underway to get Dalton and his family back on their feet. Worth will figure something out at some point, but right now it's not important. Dalton and his family are.
And thanks for posting the link to our Indiegogo campaign :)
Looks like the party's over for Worth Skis, according to Facebook:
Hello Worthy folk!
For the last four years, we have had the privilege of serving up skis that fit the way you ski. The response has been more than we could have hoped for. While we are humbled by the interest and support we have received for the brand, we have also come to realize that, in order to be viable, it needs more than we can give.
Today, we are announcing that we are discontinuing the company. But to honor the Worthy and the community that created this effort, this announcement does not mean the end for the shapes you helped to birth! We have licensed our two most-loved shapes, the Magic and the George, to Whiteroom Skis in Hardwick, Vermont. Vin Faraci, the proprietor of Whiteroom, builds each pair by hand in his workshop right here in Vermont, and his creations are simply stunning.
Many of you know that our desire was always to bring our idea full-circle, back to Vermont. Worth was founded on the idea of Eastern-born designs for Eastern skiers. We have always wanted those designs to be built here, as well. With this agreement, we have closed that loop.
We will be keeping the Facebook page alive, with the regular stoke and ridiculous photography you have come to expect on the daily, courtesy of Worth's co-founder, and Jedi of the backcountry, Dalton Harben. Stay tuned for more of his inspiring trip reports and jaw-dropping footage to disrupt your workday this winter.
We hope that you will continue to help keep Eastern skiing, and Vermont's special place in the sport, by continuing to support local brands. With this change, we are doing our part to make sure that the dream we started with has become the reality. Eastern skis, designed for Eastern skiers and made by Eastern skiers, right here in Vermont. The dream is real. Get after it.
Writing was on the wall on this, website has been down for a couple months.
They had the one thing figured out that crappy companies like Avant were clueless about... how consistent is your construction process. The farmed out to Praxis.
I'm thinking I may go with Praxis in the future. Keith was the builder of the Worth line and those skis were light and bomber.
"You just need to go at that shit wide open, hang on, and own it." —Camp
I'm pretty sure I've skied with Vin, the owner of Whiteroom, at Platty. He is a good guy with a very nice product. He offered me a few runs on a couple of different Whiteroom skis but I only had my tele boots that day and couldn't take him up on the offer.
I'm pretty sure I've skied with Vin, the owner of Whiteroom, at Platty. He is a good guy with a very nice product. He offered me ta few runs on a couple of diffwrent Whiteroom skis but I only had my tele boots that day and couldn't take him up on the offer.
Agree about Vin, nice guy, beautiful product. Hopefully he'll bring more boards to Platty this year, I've seen his white rooms more than a few times in the past but never met the man.
Praxis is tried and true as well, can't go wrong there.
Not that it matters at this point, but did the fire put the company in a place it couldn't recover from or did it exacerbate existing cash flow problems?
Locked
