Aidan Whitelaw (left) and John Sterling (right) finding their escape, eating grub, and waiting for the corn cycle to kick: circa 2015. Those Dynafit PDG boots are 10-years-old and are still in play. More on this photo at the conclusion.
We go into the hills for many reasons. One is for an escape. And so we beg forgiveness for intruding on an aspect of your escape. Here’s a story on tariffs and pricing and the gear you may or may not be thinking about.
Even the most diehard head-in-the-sand backcountry tourists among us must know, I’m certain, that tariffs will cause prices of most (all?) goods to increase. A few dynamics are at play. We focus on touring, so we’ll keep it simple: an imported good, like a ski boot from Italy, for example, will cost more. Initially, the U.S. levied a 20% tariff on Italian goods(10% + an additional 10%). Then came a 90-day reprieve, until July 8, on the second 10%.
Price increases aren’t reserved for imported goods. Domestically produced items, like U.S.-made skis or boards, should see a cost bump, too. Paulownia, a lighter-weight wood often used in touring ski/board construction, is sourced from Asia, whereas sintered bases often come from Europe.
The buzzword: uncertainty. Markets don’t like uncertainty.
Most small backcountry-oriented shops sell seasonal-specific gear. That could be bikes or trial runner gear spring through fall, with an emphasis on touring fall and winter. Doug Stenclik, part owner of Cripple Creek Backcountry and Basalt Bikes, has seen some small movement in pricing. “On the bike side, and this is probably where we’ll get a peek at the dynamic in six months for skiing, we’re now seeing the first tangible pricing increases from Specialized. It’s pretty minimal. Their prices are going up between three and five percent,” said Stenclik.
This increase, Stenclik says, is on existing stock already in the U.S. awaiting distribution. Conjecture abounds. Certainly, accountants see cost increases for anything sourced internationally, so maybe Specialized is hiking prices preemptively, as they expect their expenses to shift upward in the short term.
Shops planning to stock shelves with backcountry-specific gear placed orders for boots, skis, boards, bindings, skins, etc., months ago. Although commitments were made, pricing remains somewhat unknown. Asked if contracts are signed to lock pricing in for goods arriving in the fall, Stenclik said that is an older norm that shifted during Covid.
“For the first 15 years I was in the business, it was a pretty firm commitment. But then we started seeing this press during and after COVID, where supply chain disruption was bad enough that companies couldn’t lose money on their products, and prices increased. That was pretty disruptive and happened, sometimes, as those goods were already en route to us,” said Stenclik. “This September, this is what I would expect is going to happen with these tariffs. With the uncertainty, no one’s really taking decisive action right now. I think it will be when the boats are in the water in September, we’ll see these prices going up.”
Stenclik suggests that, perhaps, no single company in the backcountry space wants to act in isolation and raise prices. He expects, in some capacity, once one major brand increases its pricing for touring gear, there will be a ripple effect across the industry.
On April 24, Black Diamond Equipment announced across their social media channels an across-the-board price increase of 10-25% as a result of tariffs beginning May 5. In short, Black Diamond states, “These tariffs have dramatically increased the cost of producing our gear—by more than double in some cases. We’ve absorbed as much of this impact as we can, but to continue delivering the high-performance equipment you count on, a price adjustment has become necessary.”
During our conversation, Stenclik added that at least one company reached out proactively to soften the potential blow of price hikes four to five months out. The brand asked Cripple Creek Backcountry to receive a large volume shipment of touring boots before July, when tariffs, once again, are subject to change.
Spring is an excellent time to assess your gear needs. You might find skis or a board or boots on sale. Or, if you have a sense of pending tariff-chaos, you might hedge against future cost increases with a buy-now perspective. Or, there is always the cost effective choice of sticking with the gear you have, and waiting all the uncertainty out.
As a side note, and perhaps worth mentioning here, are the costs we pay for gear. Stenclik and I discussed the expense for new 2011-ish Dynafit TLT5 boots when they first arrived on the scene. It seems a pair of TLT5 Mountains was $750, and the carbon-cuffed TLT5 Performance was $1000. Throw those prices into an inflation calculator, and if all things remain the same (which they have not), the TLT5 Performance would cost around $1300 in today’s dollars.
Needless to say, gear manufacturers can cut costs by finding manufacturing efficiencies and scaling production, which, it is safe to assume, most companies have done. But $1000 nowadays for a touring boot usually means you’re opting for some carbon-rich skimo boots. The equivalent to the TLT 5 Performance, the Blacklight (before going on sale as a closeout since Dynafit is introducing a new Blacklight model for next season) costs $700. Pricing, it seems, for some high end gear has remained competitive.
There’s a lot more going on here than simply Dynafit or any gear company cutting us all a deal regarding boot costs over the years. Margins from production to final sales remain thin.
So back to the photo up top. Yes, it was shot with an iPhone 5c. Yes, the sky is way oversaturated. Yes, Aidan’s boots, those Dynafit PDGs, are still in play, a decade later. At the time, I recall those boots costing something like $800. Ten years of use and going somewhat strong. It turns out that was a deal.
For now, the safe bet is that we will likely see price increases for hard and soft goods in the fall. The operative word remains, uncertainty.
