Switzerland is a country of unbelievable beauty, charm and old world craftsmanship. The Swiss are known worldwide for the products they produce. Nested in the foothills of the Swiss Alps is a small town located about 27km outside of Luzern, named Wolhusen. This small village is known throughout Europe, for this is the home of Stöckli, Skifabric, AG.

Stöckli Ski has been crafting for 71 years, making it one of the oldest ski makers in the world. Joseph Stöckli made his first pair of wood skis out of Ash in 1936. In 1946 he set up his factory in Wolhusen, where he crafted laminated wood skis made of Hickory and other woods. In 1957 he made his first metal ski, and in 1965, the first composite-plastic ski was introduced to the market. The company has always been a leader in ski technology. Today, Stöckli utilizes only the finest woods and new age resins available, yet at Stöckli, skis are still made by hand, one at a time. It takes approximately seven to ten days for a pair of skis to make it through production. As demand for Stöckli skis grew, the company moved most of its production in 1986, a new factory in Malters, Switzerland. Producing about 48,000 pair of skis per year, Stöckli utilizes techniques and materials not commonly used by any other ski manufacturer. The wood cores are a combination of Beech, Ash and Okume, and are put together using a patented sluing process, which gives the ski a very smooth flex and outstanding durability. The cores are all milled to give the skis longevity. The base materials are the finest, most durable, and fastest base materials on the market today. During the final phases, the skis are hand screened, varnished, and stone-ground and tuned, then inspected to insure the highest possible quality. At Stöckli, each craftsperson takes incredible pride in their work, resulting in the finest handmade ski available in the world.

Over the past six years, Stöckli has won 26 World Cup medals, including 5 gold medals, a second place in the 99 World Championships in Sierra Nevada, and a second place in the 2000 World Championships in Vail Colorado. This past season, Ambrossi Hoffman finished 28th overall in the World Cup, 15th in Downhill, and Tobias Gruenfelder was the Swiss national Super G champion. What is so unique about the Stöckli race skis in your store is that they are identical to the skis used in the World Cup. No other ski manufacturer offers a handmade World Cup ski to the consumer. Traditionally, other ski manufacturers use the World Cup as a testing ground for their production skis. The World Cup ski is made by hand, and is constantly being updated and changed. When a company finds a ski that wins races, they typically change it slightly to make it more user friendly for the consumer, and also change the makeup of the ski to lend itself to mass production. At Stöckli, we only make about 10,000 pair of race skis per year. As positive changes are made to our World Cup skis, they are immediately put into production. This may happen three to four times per season. Each production run is slightly different, and a little better than the previous. Stöckli knows that this is not the most cost effective way to make a ski, but this is the only way to insure that the consumer gets the most current and the finest quality race ski available. Without question, the race ski available to the public is identical to the ski being used on the world cup.

Why don’t we see the U.S. Ski Team members on Stöckli skis? Stöckli is a relatively small ski manufacturer. It costs $10,000.00 to supply one “A” team athlete with skis. It costs $5,000.00 to supply one “B” or “C” team member. These fees are paid into the U.S. Ski Team equipment pool. For a number of small ski manufacturers, their business model can not support the cost of backing American racers, and the economics of the U.S. Ski Team pool, or any other national pool very far outside of their home country. Stöckli’s primary efforts go to the Swiss and Lichtenstein teams because the dollar amount that we spend to supply those teams, and more importantly, support those racers on the World Cup tour, fits into our small budget and remains profitable. After equipment pool fees are paid, the cost of supplying a U.S. athlete with techs, skis and support they need to get on the podium, easily approaches $100,000.00 per racer, per year. We are just not there yet, financially. But the skis are.

Stöckli puts the same amount of energy and quality materials into the production of its Big Mountain “Stormriders”, and recreational skis, as it does it’s race skis. With the design input and support of legendary skiers like Scot Schmidt and Dominique Perret, Stöckli is putting out some of the most powerful, smooth, high energy skis the sport has ever seen. If you are looking for legendary edge grip, combined with all terrain versatility, you have found it in Stöckli’s Stormrider series. Stöckli’s new Snake BC model is state of the art “park, pipe and powder.”

Until 1995, Stöckli skis were available only in Europe. The skis are now available throughout the USA and Canada at selected specialty shops, and are now becoming the “ski of choice” among skiers who really know skiing. Stöckli is committed to offering the consumer the highest quality product found anywhere in the world, at any price.