This is not because of covid, or supply issues or lack of staffing, it is because of a poor management team that had no business being in the ski industry.
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hart Skis on hiatus
- Thread starter Philpug
- Start date
This is not because of covid, or supply issues or lack of staffing, it is because of a poor management team that had no business being in the ski industry.
Bummer--I'd love to see some new Harts on the hill--I sported some Gremlins back in the day.
On a related note--if anyone with skills wants to make a vintage style Hart t-shirt I'd be a buyer.
On a related note--if anyone with skills wants to make a vintage style Hart t-shirt I'd be a buyer.
Thread Starter
TS
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2015
- Posts
- 1,460
Harts were the second most popular ski back when I started in the 60s, but wasn't the company sold to a some giant soap company or something a long time ago? It's hard to care much for the loss of a brand after the founders sell out like that. OTOH I'd be pretty upset if I was stuck with some inventory.
dm
dm
By age, I date back to the era when Hart was a major player in the US ski market, the two H's - Hart and Head. My first good ski was a Hart Castle in the early 70's. In that era, there was a great loyalty, especially in Europe, to use skis made in the home-county, now a long gone valuation of what ski to buy. It was also an era when skis were made in America.
I remember the brief period when @Philpug became the eastern sales rep for Hart. . Hart was hoping for a rebirth and this is shown in the pictures above. I bought a Hart Fuelie, a 77 waist from Phil, who expressed a major quality claim was it was made by Blossom in Italy. Blossom, then mostly unknown, is now a highly respected brand. Hart never got much traction in the rebirth, other than the F17 bump ski.
My belief is the Hart name is known only to those of my aging generation, and, perhaps more significant is they were never a player in the wider skis currently in vogue. They would not get my funding in a future return to ski brands. Like many other brands, the time is past.
An intersting progression of the Hart Fulie to modern skis. The Fully- that I bought from Phil was a 178 length, much more a high speed cruiser that I needed. It also came with Vist bindings. I sold the Fulie to Helluvaskier who was very much a champion of the ski. The same ski became the Hart Pulse which I also owned and loved in a 170 length. Phil designed the graphics for the ski, and, I believe he still has my old pair in his garage as a keepsake. The Pulse transitioned under the Blossom name and continues until today, I'm uncertain of the names Blossom has named this ski, perhaps Phil can update. Living Proof (pardon the pun) that a great 77 mm ski can live for a very long time, my personal favorite as a versatile ski.
I remember the brief period when @Philpug became the eastern sales rep for Hart. . Hart was hoping for a rebirth and this is shown in the pictures above. I bought a Hart Fuelie, a 77 waist from Phil, who expressed a major quality claim was it was made by Blossom in Italy. Blossom, then mostly unknown, is now a highly respected brand. Hart never got much traction in the rebirth, other than the F17 bump ski.
My belief is the Hart name is known only to those of my aging generation, and, perhaps more significant is they were never a player in the wider skis currently in vogue. They would not get my funding in a future return to ski brands. Like many other brands, the time is past.
An intersting progression of the Hart Fulie to modern skis. The Fully- that I bought from Phil was a 178 length, much more a high speed cruiser that I needed. It also came with Vist bindings. I sold the Fulie to Helluvaskier who was very much a champion of the ski. The same ski became the Hart Pulse which I also owned and loved in a 170 length. Phil designed the graphics for the ski, and, I believe he still has my old pair in his garage as a keepsake. The Pulse transitioned under the Blossom name and continues until today, I'm uncertain of the names Blossom has named this ski, perhaps Phil can update. Living Proof (pardon the pun) that a great 77 mm ski can live for a very long time, my personal favorite as a versatile ski.
Eh, not sure. There is a giant trove of generally-positive Internet search hits out there on 'Hart skis' that simply wouldn't exist for a brand spanking new name brand. So the name has some sort of value. ESPECIALLY among customers whose first reaction is to pull out a phone and do an Internet search.
Whether someone can make proper use of it
It does seem that their target market would be skiers from the 70s or modern freestyle skiers. I doubt they every made much money selling/suppling aerial and mogul skiers. But a park ski would be a scalable market.
I seem to recall several 21st Century Olympic medals have been won on Harts...
I had 2 pairs back in the late 80's. Hart comp CR and Hart comp GS. Along with Koflach boots.
I didn't know they even still existed. I assumed they died off ages ago.
They have been U.S. several times. Japanese. Italian at least once.
Canada, are you next?
Canada, are you next?
I haven't seen them here in some time really.
Still have the harts pictured in my avatar. Bases are starting to peel at the edges. I'd like to fix them but not sure how yet.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2015
- Posts
- 6,340
Surely the name only means anything to near boomers. Anyone under 40 who has been used to a plethora of ski brand names coming and going won't give a toss about grandpa's sick ballet ski brand or whatever. I had zero awareness of them coming from Yurp - doubt I've ever seen a pair on Euro slopes.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2017
- Posts
- 397
Roger Staub skied them. I’m full of nostalgia , I rember them well and would love to have the retro graphics Javelin in a new model.
In their Blossom-made iteration, I skied for about 4 seasons on the Hart Phoenix and then the Pulse. Really great east coast skis!
hart (and The Ski) could have owned the freestyle and ballet scene for decades. They let Olin, Kastle, and Rossignol out innovate them. K2 as well to some degree, but Olin was king of the 80s.