Springville Ski & Snowboard
Springville Ski & Snowboard
Offering equipment rentals, tuning and (NEW!) the Daily Adventure Box
The McGarvey children from Arcade wait their turn on the boot-fitting bench. (L-R: Emma, Sophia, Abigail and Christian.) The big kid on the far left is Springville Ski & Snowboard Shop owner, Sam Johnston
When ‘The Weather Channel’ wants to show the country what a genuine lake effect snowstorm looks like, they’re often found broadcasting live from the heart of the WNY snow belt in Springville, NY. It’s a farm community of some size and equally distant from the area’s two largest ski resorts - Kissing Bridge to the north and Holiday Valley to the south.
As far back as anyone can remember, though, Springville has never had its own ski shop to service the needs of the many snowsports enthusiasts who live in the community - that is until a couple seasons ago, when Cattaraugus native Sam Johnston opened the doors of the Springville Ski & Snowboard Shop.
Located on Rt. 219 near the Lowe’s building supply store, Springville Ski & Snowboard offers adults and children an economically priced, nearly-new fleet of rental skis and snowboards for daily or multi-day use. The shop also offers helmet rentals in adult and children’s sizes and has for sale a small selection of gloves and socks to match the most basic needs of anyone headed out to slide down the local slopes.
If you own your own equipment and it is showing signs of wear and tear, Springville Ski & Snowboard can repair dents and dings to ski and snowboard bases and melt in a fresh coat of wax that’ll have you sliding effortlessly down the hills in no time! Johnston’s tuning room is equipped with a state-of-the-art Wintersteiger tuning machine, capable of completely refreshing the bases of your skis or snowboard to the way they were when you first bought them.
For those in the mood to try one of the newest modes of winter downhill transport, Springville Ski & Snowboard has partnered with a company called The Daily Adventure Box, which allows renters access to a ski-bike (instead of wheels, there are skis) through a solar-powered, outdoor drop-box that’s operated by cell phone.
After reserving the ski-bike through the shop and downloading the app, Johnston says renters can access the box at will; thereby eliminating the need for any other assistance when checking out or returning the rental. He reviews safe operating procedures and best practices with ski-bike renters before sending them on their way.
“I like the technology of the self-sufficient Daily Adventure Box,” Johnston said. “It’s totally self-contained, solar powered and connected through the app for easy, no nonsense use.”
For shop owner Sam Johnston, now 44 years of age, the journey into the ski and snowboard world began in the seventh grade, when he joined the ski club at school and made the weekly bus ride from Cattaraugus to the local slopes of Holiday Valley.
“My neighbors got me into it,” Johnston said. “My parents didn’t know anything about it but when friends of mine suggested I try it, I loved it and we were out there as much as possible after that!”
When Johnston was 16 years old, he got hired to work the “dream job,” as a Holiday Valley ski instructor and now fondly recalls the sum total of all his paychecks from that season - it was $91.00.
“At the end of that year, I decided I definitely loved being part of the scene, but I was going to have to make a little more money than that,” he quipped.
By the following season, Johnston was working at The Ski Depot for the legendary ‘Moose’ (a.k.a. Chris Brown). Moose’s shop was big in the industry at the time and he had two locations operating in Ellicottville. The Ski Depot was also an exclusive dealer for the Salomon brand and Johnston’s exposure to the Salomon marketing team as a teenager eventually put him in a position to be chosen for a regional sales position a few years down the road.
Working in a high-volume retail/rental atmosphere, Johnston learned to quickly and accurately process a ski rental form, as well as how to mount and test ski bindings. He waxed many, many skis and boards and soon excelled at the art of the ski/snowboard tune.
Around that time, the Function Snowboard factory moved from their humble beginnings in someone’s West Falls, NY barn to the epicenter of snowsports in western New York - Ellicottville. They produced their own line of snowboards and also built and labeled boards for other brands. Johnston’s sister went to work for Function, as did other kids he knew, so it was just a matter of time before he ended up working there as well. It turned out to be one of the major turning points in his young life.
Johnston points to the experience of prototyping, building and testing boards with the guys who started the Function company as one of his life’s great learning experiences. When Function’s founders sold the company a few years later, he was hired by the new ownership group in Hood River, OR, to help them produce a new line, called Heelside Snowboards, which was focused on taking a share of the rental industry.
Johnston says he had another life-changing experience, which also came while he was living in Oregon, when he applied to be a motorcycle mechanic but was turned down for not having enough experience.
“So the first thing I did was to enroll in the Motorcycle Mechanic’s Institute, where I was exposed to all kinds of technical knowledge,” he said. “It was a whole new world for me - it turns out I had to learn how to accurately measure things, for starters.”
In 2000, after a few more years in Oregon, Johnston moved back to WNY and started a family. He has three sons of his own who also enjoy sliding on the snow. They are Henry, age 17, Roland, 12, and Arthur, 10. Johnston currently balances a nine-to-five career in hydraulic equipment sales and repairs against keeping alive the dream of operating his own ski and snowboard shop.
Reflecting on the considerable depth of his ski/snowboard experience, Johnston quipped, “People use that line, ‘A jack of all trades.’ Well, this is one trade I’ve definitely got covered.”
After spending a significant portion of his life building snowboards with his own hands, Johnston is probably the most qualified ski technician you will ever meet. He will be able to repair almost any damage to your ski or snowboard bases; he can certainly make everything you own slide on the snow much easier and he will be able to mount and test ski bindings, depending on your individual needs.
Johnston’s current business philosophy was shaped in large part by his experiences growing up on a dairy farm and having to make do with the pieces of ski equipment he was fortunate enough to come by.
“I was just a farm kid growing up in Cattaraugus, who loved to ski and got his first pair of skis given to him - and they were old!” he added. “I want to provide good equipment for my customers and it’s going to be well-maintained and reasonably priced.”
Of the many and varied positions Johnston has held over the years, however, he is especially proud of the fact that he began his journey in the industry as a ski instructor and that he still spends time once in awhile teaching children how to ski.
“I know this great family from Arcade who are customers and they asked me to take their young daughter out last season and teach her how to ski!” Johnston proudly proclaimed. “And we went out there and had a great time and I think we’re going to get to do it again pretty soon!”
Springville finally has its own ski and snowboard shop to go along with its snowy reputation. Stop by and check it out! 14214 S. Cascade Drive, Springville, NY, phone 716-225-0035. Search them on Facebook or go to www.springvilleski.com.