WNDR Alpine, 2019–2025: An (un)Official Obituary

The Skinny

WNDR Alpine was a Utah-based ski company that set out to rethink ski construction at the material level, swapping petroleum-based components for algae-derived alternatives without sacrificing performance. Founded in 2019 by Matt Sterbenz and Charlie Dimmler, the brand quickly proved its concept with innovative skis like the Intention 110 and Vital 100, blending high performance with more sustainable inputs. They built a loyal community, pushed real material innovation forward, and then—just as quietly—shut down around 2025 with no real explanation. The prevailing theory is that the business model was simply too ambitious, but the number of WNDR skis still being skied (and praised) suggests they got a lot more right than wrong.

WNDR Alpine, born to cofounders Matt Sterbenz (professional freeskier and founder of 4FRNT Skis) and Charlie Dimmler (Co-Founder/CEO of biochemical startup materials company, Checkerspot) in July 2019, somewhere between the spring and summer of 2025 at the ripe age of around 6 years old, has tragically– and somewhat mysteriously– closed its doors for good.

There was no press release, no farewell tour, just quiet, increasingly ‘good’ big box warehouse discounts until one day, WNDR’s website abruptly read “WNDR is officially closed for business.”

For those who did not have the privilege of knowing WNDR, I have given myself the distinct honor of acquainting you, though I am remiss to warn you that, unless you get lucky at a really solid second hand store (like my local Salt Lake City favorite, The Gear Room), it is too little too late…

Origin Story

It all began with Charlie's keen observation and critique that while companies across the ski industry were innovative with regard to design, the materials used in skis had not been rethought in far too long. He believed there was a lot more that could be done in an effort to push the sport forward, and it seemed materials was a good place to start. Charlie saw an opportunity: differentiate in a saturated market. Conveniently, it could also serve as a proof of concept…

Combining his biochemical background with his passion for skiing, Charlie connected with Matt, who conveniently sold 4FRNT in 2017 to Jason Levinthal (of J skis), and together they "set out to solve problems found within the limitations of ski building at the molecular level."

Self-defined as an "Alpine Outdoor brand with an emphasis on material innovation," Charlie and Matt believed a backcountry ski using an algal derived hard foam for the algal composite core was the right first step, and decided to build the WNDR brand around this product. In July of 2019, they launched this first ski: the Intention 110. And while the developmental work was originally coming out of Checkerspot's lab in Berkeley, the skis were made 100% in house in Salt Lake City.

The Science Bit (Stay With Me)

Checkerspot, named after the Edith Checkerspot butterfly impacted by climate change in the Sierra Nevada, designs unconventional high performance materials that happen to be more sustainable than current options (vegetable, sunflower, and petroleum oils). These materials are realized by engineering microalgae in a fermentation-based system. How this works: Checkerspot grows micro algae in fermenters, feeds the algae sugar, and under the stressful environment of the fermenters they, like us, eat a lot and produce fat (oil). The lab then screens this oil for physical characteristics that could be useful in the context of manufacturing. Two classes of materials come out of this process that derives algal oils: Polyurethanes (essentially plastic) and coatings and finishes. And even though the algal composite is made from a bio based source, it doesn't biodegrade very fast.

So how was this applied to skis? In these materials' first application to a commercial product, WNDR began by manufacturing a high density algal composite core, whose properties translated to significant bulk-strength to weight benefits, creating the smooth, powerful ride of a heavy ski, without actually being one. The result? A decrease in petroleum-based composites in the skis while increasing downhill performance, all without sacrificing weight-- a crucial factor for backcountry skiers. And while Charlie and Matt always stressed that improving performance was their central goal, a secondary result happened to be a more eco-loving process which, in a sport dependent on consistent snowfall, starts to feel less like a bonus and more like a baseline.

Where It Hit the Snow

In this first year, with the Intention 110, everything went “according to plan based on what we launched WNDR Alpine to do” said Pep Fujas, Professional freeskier and former VP, Marketing & Product Development of WNDR, so they raised the bar for themselves and by their ripe one year birthday, WNDR added the Vital 100. To make matters more ambitious, this July 2020 launch date turned out to be in the middle of the high pressure, unique environment of Covid. But like their microalgae roots, the WNDR team did their best work under pressure and came out of it charging, with a second new material, a side wall. 

The introduction of the algal wall demonstrated a second application of algal technology. Conventional sidewalls are constructed by taking a giant sheet of petroleum based material and essentially cutting the skis away from the sheet. When all is said and done, more plastic based material ends up getting discarded than you even use in a ski. So this algal sidewall happens to also diminish waste because it begins in liquid oil form that's casted or poured into the ski shape. What's more is that the algae derived urethane gets stronger as temp goes down, so the ski's performance improves in the cold, while producing less waste. Brilliant.

WNDR took things even further as far as its utopian company arc was concerned and anchored their branding in building a physical community, hosting backcountry ski days, tours of their Salt Lake design lab and live ski builds.

With the original launch of the Intention 110, the WNDR team with their own historic composition compared it to the 4FRNT MSP 107 and the K2 Mindbenders (Pep's background) as a launching point. By the second iteration with the Vital 100, they began comparing self to self, and blossomed from here with variations on the Intention, additional ski models, and even snowboards and apparel, but always orbiting the same idea: better equipment through advanced materials. 

WNDR realized Charlie's original objective-- it proved that algal derived polyurethanes can make a noteworthy performance impact on a consumer product, shifting the conversation for Checkerspot from a theoretical ideal to something tangible, currently delivering.

So what went wrong? 

Many people say that WNDR’s mission was simply too ambitious. As if building a new ski brand isn’t hard enough, they were also trying to reinvent the materials supply chain behind skis. That’s expensive, potentially slow moving, and not particularly forgiving. Add in a niche, premium backcountry market with a business model that doesn’t leave much room for error. 

It’s a neat, logical explanation. And yet, it doesn’t entirely square… you still see WNDR skis everywhere, in the backcountry and resorts, being skied hard, and talked about like they got something right.

So maybe it was the business model. Maybe they scaled too quickly. And still, none of that quite explains the silence. 

What Remains

The only real acknowledgment we got was a LinkedIn post from Pep, in which he summed it up: “It was rewarding to see our impassioned community grow, driven by the idea that environmental sustainability and performance are not opposing forces, which in turn helped catalyze an even bigger industry environmental movement.”

Those who still ride WNDR know, performance and sustainability didn’t have to be a tradeoff after all.

Not a bad legacy for a company that disappeared without saying goodbye.