So how does a kid from a little town in New York end up becoming a global product manager at one of the largest ski and boot manufacturers in the world, and living in Austria? And why does he believe that studying philosophy in college and in grad school turned out to be the ideal preparation for his day-to-day responsibilities at Atomic?

We’re talking to Matt Manser about his background, his studies in philosophy, his experience as a bootfitter, and the design decisions that go into the creation of every ski boot he works on, including the current Atomic Hawx Ultra and Hawx Ultra XTD.

Matt and I cover a lot of topics, so if you want to dip in and out of our conversation, check the show notes on the website or on your phone to see a list of the topics and times.

Also, if you’d like to ask Matt a question or give him some feedback, you can hit him up on instagram at: @onenerdykid — and if he isn’t too busy playing video games or reading Aristotle, you will probably get a reply back pretty quickly.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Where do you currently live, and what is your title at Atomic? (1:35)
• Background: where did you grow up & when did you start skiing? (4:13)
• College: discovering philosophy (9:03)
• Why study philosophy & logic? (11:48)
• Philosophy, bootfitting, and bootfitting for Doug Coombs and other athletes (23:40)
• Matt’s job: taking a boot from concept to finished product (36:42)
• What do you consider to be the three main aspects of making a great ski boot? (39:51)
• Managing the different expectations of skiers in different parts of the world (44:26)
• Trivia Question: Guess which company sells the most World Cup race boots? (47:23)
• On the Atomic Hawx Ultra — developing a lightweight alpine boot (51:45)
• Why it’s so difficult to build lightweight ski boots with a progressive flex (55:10)
• Marcel Hirscher: what it's like working with one of the greatest ski racers of all time (1:06:26)
• On the different intentions behind the Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD 120 vs. XTD 130 (1:11:33)

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