Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking a tour of the new ON3P facilities in Portland, OR. It is under this roof where they make 100% of their production skis and prototypes, made in Portland. My hat is off to them for never giving up and moving production overseas but instead maintaing the integrity of their brand and never loosing touch with the core beliefs ON3P was founded on, quality and the effort to create a more sustainable production. As with any small independent business this labor of love has not come without setbacks and the tough reality of building a brand from the ground up, something I can all too well relate too.ON3P was founded in 2006 and the name derives from the original location in Washington State, On 13th and Proctor. But ever since the inception of ON3P it has been a growing hit among the freeski community with an active presence on the forums and constant focus on it’s customers. It was time that I went down and saw that passion first hand, not to mention the common ground we share of being small independent startups just trying to take our piece of pie from the giants that exist in our respective sides of the industry. Nothing comes easy and this photo essay is a true testament of making a dream become a reality.

Behind this door is where the story begins.
With only having moved in a few months ago, the front showroom is still a work in progress. The full facility should be finished by summers end.
This is Rowen, he heads up production management among other things at ON3P and was our tour guide for the afternoon. To start things off he showed us his very first pair of sticks from ON3P.
Welcome to the new ON3P production facility and warehouse. They are just freshly moved in and still getting the walls up for each stage of production from start to finish, a completed product under one roof.
First stop is the wood room. It is here where the bamboo core’s are kept along with edges and bases, pretty much every raw material that will be pressed together and eventually create a finished product. All the byproduct from plaining the bamboo into shape for a ski all gets picked up by a local horse farmer, one step in minimizing their footprint in modern day ski production. The entirety of their materials and production can be found here.
Bamboo core coupled with the thickest edge you can put in a ski, their thinking, why would you skimp on something so important as quality? I can agree whole heartedly with taking pride in the products we work so hard to create.
Bases.
A ski starting to take it’s form.
What holds it all together. This fiberglass station has been with them since the beginning and is literally dripping with history.
The press. Best part is they made their own, yea, “holy shit!” was my response too. They didn’t make just one but two presses in an effort to meet the growing demand for a quality ski.
You might have seen pictures of these making their way around the internet last week and trust me, they are no april fools joke. Properly titled, The Oar. Sampling and engineering new prototypes is something they take very seriously. No technology in the world has remained the same, so why would it be any different in the snow world. Pushing the boundaries of design and function is just another day at the office for ON3P.
And no warehouse is complete without it’s very own kegerator.
You can stop by the warehouse for free demos as you can see below Kip is setting a pair up for some weekend shred.
Last but not least, coming soon they will be hosting the 2nd annual ugliest top sheet competition, which, you guessed it, is a competition where the ugliest design wins. Below is last years winner. Get your clip art ready.
A huge thanks to everyone at On3p for showing me around. For everyone else, if you’re in the area stop by and check them out and support the industrie’s independent brands!ON3P is located at:5622 N.E. Hassalo st.Portland, OR, 97213.