Tahoe firm making gear for women who shred
By Benjamin Spillman, Reno Gazette-Journal
TAHOE CITY — To people who dedicate their lives to mountains and snow the statement from Jen Gurecki might have sounded blasphemous.
“I’m at a point in my life where I’ve had so many powder days I can’t even keep track of them,” Gurecki said before getting to the really shocking stuff. “There are bigger things to do in life than powder days.”
It was especially surprising coming from Gurecki, 39, who moved from Arizona to Lake Tahoe 15 years ago to spend more time on the snow. And last year she and Danielle Rees, 38, co-founded Coalition Snow, a startup that makes skis and snowboards.
But slowly, as Gurecki explained the idea behind Coalition, it became clear how her drive to build company could surpass even her passion for powder.
That’s because the mission behind Coalition — described as the only ski and snowboard maker founded by women and dedicated to having women design products for advanced female skiers and riders — is to do more than sell equipment to surging numbers of millennial-age female skiers and riders. It seeks to open doors for those same women in the male dominated snow sports industry, on the slopes and in the boardrooms.
