Read the full article by Geoffrey Plant (Taos News)
“Brett Shipley, longtime ski and snowboard technician at Adventure Ski Shops in Taos, wasn’t aware certain sectors of his industry for decades used dangerous ‘forever chemicals,’ otherwise known as PFAS.
‘I’ve never heard of it,’ Shipley said, echoing shop owner Moises Martinez’s reaction upon hearing that ski towns like Taos Ski Valley are beginning to reckon with a legacy of PFAS chemical pollution in watersheds, one source of which is likely high performance perfluorinated ski wax, which like all ski wax wears off skis onto snow and into watersheds.
Reached by phone this week, John Todd, product manager for accessories with Wintersteiger, Adventure Ski Shops’ source for ski wax, confirmed the company has never sold ski wax that contains PFAS, noting that ‘it was so expensive, it generally wasn’t used in back-shop tune ups,’ like Adventure offers.”…