Sparks ski manufacturer turns hobby into international business
By Kara Lapoint, Reno Gazette-Journal
Casey Hakansson learned how to build skis in a snowboard manufacturing shop.
It was not the conventional route for starting a ski company, but it’s where the journey began for the 32-year-old founder and president of Sparks-based Moment Skis.
“My friend was making snowboards over at Sentury Snowboards (in Reno),” Hakansson said. “Through bugging him and seeing how he did it, and just asking a bunch of questions, is how the first Moment Skis were built.”
The Gardnerville native, who grew up with a passion for skiing but began his career by running his family’s Gardnerville masonry after college, said making skis started out as something “super hobby-ish.”
“I definitely had no plan of being where we are now,” he said.
And just where is Hakansson’s company?