Many brands like to talk about Aspen, but only a few have the chops to show up in an authentic way to one of the last great hardcore ski-bum meccas in the country.
Last weekend, Nivis Gear — a Richmond, Virginia-based boutique outerwear company that Carter Ramos founded out of a high school Latin class in 2015 — rolled into town and hosted an event at Buckhorn Cabin on Aspen Mountain that brought together brand leadership, team athletes, and a handful of locals who’ve been skiing this mountain their whole lives.
Matt Power Photography
That mountain, of course, is Ajax to locals. One of four peaks operated by Aspen Skiing Company and the oldest of the group: its first chairlift opened in 1946, making it a founding pillar of American ski culture, perched above the Roaring Fork Valley in the heart of the Elk Mountains, a fitting stage for any brand trying to prove it belongs.
The afternoon featured spring laps, wagyu on the grill, and easy conversation between people who care about skiing at the right place and time. Ramos was there alongside Aspen locals Coop Johnson and Asher Weinberg — both Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club alumni — along with professional skier Dane Tudor, who arrived in town fresh off a backcountry film segment in British Columbia and a Fischer Skis shoot in Jackson Hole.
“After visiting Aspen to watch X Games, I have always been curious to check out the mountain,” Tudor says. “It was a great opportunity to come out, see what the terrain is like and meet some new people.” For a skier who’s won Red Bull Cold Rush, medaled at X Games Real Ski, and taken home two IF3 Best Male Pro awards, the curiosity feels genuine.
For Ramos, the event was a statement of intent. Nivis’s PR partner, my old friends at Chair 6 Collective, is already RFV-based and the brand has been building toward this market. “The more friendships we make with the cool people in the Roaring Fork Valley, the more we understand that Aspen is so important to our brand’s future,” he says. “If you’re making a brand rooted in the ski and snowboard industry and you aren’t relevant in here then you’re blowing it.”
The weekend also gave Nivis a chance to preview what’s next. The brand showed first samples of the Protego Premier Kit — a shell and bib set built from a new Toray fabric that Ramos describes as exceptionally lightweight and breathable, assembled at Better Team USA’s facility in New Jersey, the same manufacturer behind Ralph Lauren’s Olympic ceremony jackets. On a 65-degree spring day on Ajax, the timing wasn’t lost on anyone. This is just the beginning of Nivis’s presence in the Elk Mountains, says the brand, and there’s more to come in the months ahead.
