Bode Miller is a legend in the sport of alpine skiing, with the most accomplishments of any U.S. skiers, including six Olympic medals, with one gold in super combined in Vancouver 2010. 

On Thursday at the Canyons side of Park City Mountain, seven lucky skiers and their guests got the chance to ski alongside Miller, as well as partake in an après event with the legend. They won the chance to do so in Black Tie Ski Rental and Peak Ski Company’s sweepstakes called “Ski with a Peak Pro.” The sweepstakes held six events over the winter all across the country. 

Miller led two of the events, all featuring two hours of skiing with the pro and an après event, along with fellow skiing legends Chris Davenport and JT Holmes. Davenport is a two-time World Champion big mountain skier in the Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Holmes a ski film star. Miller also was the featured pro at the February 22 event at Big Sky, Montana, now his home mountain. 

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Thursday’s skiers smiled throughout nearly the entirety of the event. They carved turns into various blue and black runs off the Orange Bubble Express, Tombstone Express and Peak 5 lift, taking in Miller’s silky alpine turns and his skiing and equipment advice. Miller touted his Peak Ski Company, which he co-founded back in 2022 with friend Andy Wirth. 

Wirth has worked in the ski industry for over 25 years, serving as the president and CEO of Squaw Valley Holdings until 2018. Squaw Valley Holdings operates Palisades Tahoe and Alpine Meadows resorts in Olympic Valley, California. 

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Peak Ski touts their ski quality, unique and clean manufacturing processes and direct-to-consumer business model as their edges over their competition. Thursday, all skiers were using Peak skis, either those they had brought with them or rented from Black Tie. Those who owned a Peak pair largely raved about how they’ve become their favorite pair of skis despite their limited time on the market. 

Popular Peak models used were the Peak 88 by Bode, Peak 98 by Bode and Peak 104 by Bode. The Peak skis feel well-weighted and incredibly sure under the boot. 

Black Tie Park City owner Josh McConnell opened the location back in 2006. The company has 18 independently owned locations servicing 46 resorts across the country. Last April, Black Tie and Peak Ski struck a deal for the rental company to become the exclusive renter of their skis. 

McConnell praised Miller and Wirth for their responsiveness during the collaboration. He can see their partnership growing into the future, as Peak Ski continues to grow and develop. 

“Today’s event was just one of many ways that Peak Skis and Black Tie have forged a fun and mutually beneficial relationship,” said McConnell. “Everyone who participated was really excited to ski with Bode. One contest winner even told me that he initially thought the email he received from Peak informing him that he’d been selected was a prank.”

Black Tie allows skiers to reserve their skis, poles and boots ahead of time, as well as to have them dropped off and custom fitted where they need and altered by technicians at any location.

Miller said the convenience of Black Tie is what led Peak Ski to enter their partnership. He was happy to cut some turns through the slushy Park City snow with those supporting a brand making the ski experience better for a “nominal” cost. 

Now that Peak Skis have secured their spot in the marketplace, Miller wants them to focus on continuing to innovate, improve the manufacturing process and cut down the cost barrier to entry for the sport. Miller has been building skis for years, competing on the FIS World Cup circuit from 1998 to 2015.

Miller and Peak Ski made the first non-side cut skis, instead using an inflection point to help skiers turn. He said Peak skis allow people a wider range of turn choices, in turn growing their confidence on the slopes. That’s crucial — there’s never two identical turns when skiing. 

“I think the bar had been stuck a little bit. So, moving that a little bit and letting other companies try to figure that out, we’ll move the industry forward,” said Miller. “Overall, it’s been really positive. It’s great to see people out enjoying the skis and recognizing difference in confidence and ability to turn.”

Miller said the manufacturing process of skis is currently unimaginative, non-eco friendly and costly. Since ski manufacturers moved to laminate skis over 60 years ago, they’ve been using non-recyclable, toxic materials and selling them through multiple channels rather than direct-to-consumer. 

“They sit in the landfill for 250 years, they’re closed, they’re glued together and they’re toxic when they start to decompose, but I just think there’s a much better way,” said Miller. “I’d like to see the price of skiing go down so that it becomes accessible for more people and more people can buy good quality skis more often, and that’s part of the mission of figuring out the engineering and manufacturing, so that you can have an economically viable business but also reduce costs.”

Black Tie said it would love to collaborate on similar events with Peak Skis moving forward. McConnell thanked Park City Mountain, where Black Tie also operates a ski storage and valet facility for a property called Lift Park City. 

“The Canyons side of Park City was a great place to have this event,” said McConnell. “The lateral layout and size of the resort allowed Bode to Lead the group on a fun tour sampling runs across a huge area. Park City’s leadership welcomed us and Bode. … The staff at the Red Tail Grill did an amazing job of taking care of us. What a great place to après ski!”