Story and photo by Marc Glass (Winter 2008 issue)

In early September, Ski Industries graduates Adam Greenier ’94, Erik Hartman ’01 (pictured demonstrating custom ski-boot shaping techniques) and Mark Raymond ’95 returned to campus from Vail, Colo., to share their respective expertise with sophomores studying Theory and Methods of Alpine Skiing (taught by Leigh Breidenbach ’83, director of the UMF Ski Industries program, and Ron Bonnevie ’84, head of coaches’ education).

Greenier and Hartman, board-certified pedorthists and co-owners of both Gravity Jones Ski Werks and Gravity Jones Orthotic Fabrication, delivered clinics on molding orthotics and shaping ski boots to promote efficient ski technique. (Immediately after their presentations at UMF, Greenier and Hartman flew to Eastern Europe to conduct similar workshops for the Ukrainian Ski Team coaching staff.) Raymond, a PSIA Level-III examiner with the prestigious Vail Ski School, taught a master class on how to analyze skier technique from an instructional perspective, using on-snow video footage of the sophomores taken during winter 2007.

“One of my favorite things to do is come back every year and work with UMF students,” said Greenier, who has supervised nine ski industries student interns since founding Gravity Jones Orthotic Fabrication in 2001. “The goal is to give them a specific skill advantage when they leave UMF and begin working in the industry. I only hire UMF Ski Industries people. If they didn’t go to school here, they don’t work at Gravity Jones.”