December 23, 2007 (Squamish, BC) – For those familiar with the XC racing scene, Caldwell Sport is well known for their unique services in both ski selection and stone grinding. Owner Zach Caldwell began grinding Nordic skis under the trade name Engineered Tuning in 2002 and quickly became the most respected source of information on selecting and preparing fast skis. Originally based in Townshend, Vermont, Caldwell Sport has recently made the leap across the border and now resides in beautiful Squamish, B.C.

Caldwell’s quest for fast skis started during his racing days and he quickly found that he had an intuitive ability to prepare great skis. Nordic ski stone grinding was still in the early stages of development in North America and while working as program director for the New England Nordic Ski Association, he decided to combine his love for skiing and ski tuning abilities to offer a higher level of ski selection and preparation to the Nordic racing scene.

With the 2002 Winter Olympics fast approaching, Caldwell’s decision to enter the ski tuning market was perfectly timed. Through his relationships in the US XC market, he was able to contact Lars Svenson to arrange purchase of the Tazzari Ski stone grinder slated for use at the Salt Lake City Olympics. If the name Lars Svenson does not ring a bell, think back to the time of Bjorn Daehlie, Vegard Ulvang and Thomas Alsgaard. Svenson worked exclusively with the Norwegian National Ski Team in producing the fastest skis possible for the best racers in the world. During that time Svenson also worked with Tazzari in developing the tools he needed to make those fast skis a reality.

With his new stone grinder and a truck, Caldwell spent the next few years traveling from race to race promoting his ski tuning services and developing a variety of structure patterns. Demand for his top-level ski preparation grew rapidly from roughly 200 grinds in 2003 to 1,200 grinds in 2004! With such a massive market demand coming from throughout the States, he eventually parked his mobile services and based Caldwell Sport in Vermont. “He continued to develop his expertise in ski preparation over the next few years and partnered with Boulder Nordic Sport, recently established by his friend Nathan Schultz, a former top US xc skier
and cyclist, to further expand the high-end ski selection and preparation market. “

Caldwell recognized quickly in his racing career that great ski preparation was not accomplished by simply slapping expensive wax over the ski base. His approach to base preparation and stone grinding is based on an evolving empirical model. Simply stated, stone grinding imparts a structure or pattern on the base that allows the ski to glide efficiently over the snow.

The depth and frequency of the base structure is a balancing act between minimizing mechanical friction and adhesion or “suctioning” between the base of the ski and the snow. A coarse structure prevents the ski from suctioning to the snow but creates a high amount of mechanical friction. Reducing the structure reduces the mechanical friction but allows for higher adhesion between ski and snow. Over the past number of years, Caldwell has patiently developed numerous structures that strike the balance required to produce fast skis in any conditions. The process of stone grinding a specific structure varies from a single pass through the Tazzari for a universal or most conditions pattern to 7 or 8 passes through the machine for a more condition specific structure.

Yet base structure alone does not make for a fast ski. Proper ski selection is the other half of the equation that Caldwell focuses his attention on in the quest for the fastest ski possible. After working closely with numerous top-level athletes, he has developed a specific flex test designed to assist with selecting the best skis for a given athlete. The selection process ranges from developing a fleet of skis for a race team to selecting the perfect specific condition ski for the World Cup level racer.

This past summer, his wife Amy was presented the opportunity to coach the Callaghan Valley NADC and the decision was made to move Caldwell Sports and the new Tazzari RP-23 machine to Squamish in pursuit of Olympic success. With such close proximity to and timing with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Caldwell is excited to have the chance to work in a new venue, with new racers and in a relatively untapped Canadian ski market. He will be spending the next few years working closely with the US National Ski Team in developing the fastest skis possible in pursuit of Olympic glory. Caldwell Sports will also be developing a Canadian retail operation and continue to offer their superb stone grinding services and ski selection to skiers and athletes from coast to coast.

If you think that a top-level stone grinding or professional help in selecting your racing skis will take you to the next level of racing, then check out Caldwell Sport; www.caldwellsport.com.