COLORADO — After living in Colorado for 27-years, Pietro Simonetti was returning to his home from Austria with his wife and daughter when the Marshall fire happened, destroying his entire home and everything inside.
"I mean, its almost like looking at a new reality that doesn't match what this place looked like months and months ago. My original Vespa, furniture from Italy that was more than 400 years old in some cases. I had a collection of at least 15 to 20 different pairs of skis," said Simonetti.
Instead of letting the ashes from his home become dust in the wind, the snow sport enthusiast encapsulated the remains from his home to be put into skis.
Simonetti took the idea for the special ski’s to Ted Eynon, owner of Meier Skis in Denver, who’s known for making custom orders.
Fellow board-sport fanatic and artist,Phil Lewis, joined in the collaboration by creating artwork for the ski’s. The image features a phoenix which symbolizes life after death and the rise from the Marshall fire ashes.
"It's not just a piece of wood and a cool graphic. It's the history, the memory that's embedded in the ski,” said Simonetti.
Mixing just a sprinkle of the ashes into a batch of epoxy, the custom ski’s rise from the ashes of the Marshall fire becoming a positive piece of Simonetti’s history.
"This is not the end it's the rebirth of where we are going to rebuild and start new memories and combine the old memories with the new memories."
Although the first pair of Phoenix Skis belong to Simonetti, more skis and snowboards are in the making.
In the month of April, each pair of custom ski’s sold Meier Skis will donate 20% of the proceeds to Community Foundation Boulder County.
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