TPM Episode 301: Bruce Edgerly, BCA Founder, Writer

The Powell Movement Action Sports Podcast

Bruce Edgerly or “Edge” as he’s fondly known is one of the only ski entrepreneurs I know to sell his company, get rich, and still be involved in the day-to-day of the business. I haven’t had anyone on the podcast with that type of story and Edge is also the only Ivy League guy I’ve had on the show. But Edge is just a dirtbag kayaker and skier who parlayed the contacts he made while writing for Powder Magazine and Larry Flint into a guerilla marketing machine that would drive the company he and his partner started, BCA, to the forefront of the industry. This is the ski version of the Steve Jobs story…but with a lot more personality. Steve Christie asks Inappropriate Questions, and they are awesome.

Bruce Edgerly Show Notes:

3:30: Moving to Miami, Holderness Academy, Hockey at Brown University, and then moving to Utah

8:00: Graduating from Brown, getting a real job in Basalt, getting fired from that job, and then delivering the newspaper

12:00: Miami Vice in Aspen, kayaking, Dean Cummings, the AK Heli Wars, and Powder Magazine

20:00: Stanley: Get 30% off site wide with the code drinkfast

Peter Glenn Ski and Sports: Over 60 years of getting you out there

Outdoor Research: The best outerwear ever built just got better

22:30: Larry Flint, forerunning extreme comps in AK, and the birthday party that changes his life

31:00: Creating the BCA market through connections, being a Peruvian hat-wearing Tele skier, road-tripping the Alpine Trekker, financing, and what production look like

35:00: The idea for the digital transceiver, who built the Tracker, the avalanche that kickstarted the Tracker

41:00: 10 Barrel Brewery: Buy their beers; they support action sports more than anyone

Elan Skis: Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better

43:00: The Beacon Wars, making bold claims that made people angry, Steve Conger’s advice, winning over Canada and Europe, and validation in the States

54:00: First live recovery, airbags, putting his house and assets on the line in the name of BCA, and selling to K2

67:00: Inappropriate Questions with Steve Christie