SELINSGROVE, Pa. — It's mid-summer, temperatures are in the 90s, and winter is on the mind at Gilson Snow, a Pennsylvania-based ski and snowboard company.
Starting with Pennsylvania poplar trees, these skis and snowboards are designed, manufactured and assembled in a factory in Selinsgrove, Snyder County.
It's a company that was born in the brain of then 14-year-old Nick Gilson, who had a question about a theory known as fluid dynamics.
"At the time I was shaping surfboards and building sailboats with my dad, and I started asking myself the questions, 'why is everything that moves through a fluid is curved?'" said Gilson. "'Why are snowboards and skis remaining flat on the bottom when everything else is curved?'"
Gilson decided to find out and built “prototype one.”
"I think at the end of the day I was extremely biased and deeply excited, about this idea of bringing fluid dynamics from water to snow," said Gilson.
Fast forward 10 years: now a middle school teacher, Gilson felt inspired once again—this time by a class project.
"When (my students) were working on their year-long curiosity projects, I returned to mine," Gilson said. "You can call it an accident or life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans, but within two years we were launching a ski and snowboard company out of the classroom."
Over the years, the company continued to grow. In 2022, they were shipping snowboards to 50 countries when tragedy struck.
"One night, I got a call—middle of the night—and the factory is literally burning to the ground, and a firefighter, one of the brave men and women here in Pennsylvania in one of the fire departments that responded to the crisis, emerges from the flames: full oxygen mask, full gear, building burning down around them, carrying prototype one half on fire, and that moment was so flooring," Gilson said, recalling that night. "I mean, it really served as a symbolic moment for the team that you can burn the building, but you cannot burn the mission."
They would rebuild, and continue their mission of being an awesome Pennsylvania-based company.
"When I think of our commitment to Pennsylvania, and I think about our commitment to American manufacturing, that’s where it stems from—it is all about the people and wanting to see everybody that we're touching with this business win."
To celebrate the community that supports them, Gilson will be hosting a "Summer Snow Day" on Aug. 10, complete with real snow, free beer and music.