Black Diamond Sponsorship

Time to meet Roger Strong

I put a dent in a couple 2025 bucket list items right before my trip to India: a “Grassroots” sponsorship from Black Diamond and a ski descent of Rainier. This post will tell the tale of how I got the sponsorship, which has provided over $1500 worth of gear for India. The story begins in February on the very same day I met my now-boss Ted at Alpental (written about here).

That morning, I also investigated a Black Diamond tent at the base of the chairlift. The person staffing the tent, Chris, said I could demo new skis for free if I wanted. I’d already wanted to get new skis for India and jumped on Chris’s offer.

I explained my plans for an exploratory ski trip to the Himalayas, and without hesitating, Chris set me up with a pair of Helio 88s. Ted and I did a couple laps, and I felt like a superhero. Compared to my Armadas, the Helio 88s weighed half as much and provided more stability. I felt a joy similar to my first time ever skiing steep slopes as a world of new possibilities opened up to me. Instantly I dreamed of skiing Rainier and steep couloirs in the Himalayas with excitement, not fear. I skied until the last minute when the tent closed.

When I returned the skis, Chris and I struck up a conversation. It turns out that he was opening Black Diamond’s first ever retail store in Seattle that week. I asked him for a job on the spot. I had less than 3 months until India but maybe they’d hire a seasonal retail employee. (In retrospect, I find it funny that I didn’t even think to ask Ted for a software job that day). Chris gave me his phone number and told me to send him my resume.

A couple weeks later, I started my job with Ted but hadn’t forgotten about those Black Diamond Helio 88 skis. I began a habit of stopping by the new Black Diamond shop and asking for Chris. Every time I stopped in, he was gone, but I met a nice woman named Kaylie.

Eventually, I asked Kaylie if she knew anything about sponsorships. She asked, “You mean like a brand ambassador?” I said, “No, like a sponsorship for an athlete.” Everyone in Seattle and their dog wants free gear, so I was sensitive about bringing it up. Kaylie got curious and asked what I was doing. I told her that I do these human-powered adventures and my next trip was to India.

Kaylie listened with genuine interest. After I explained what I did in Canada and Africa, Kaylie told me she would text Chris right away. Sure enough, the next day I heard from Chris. He asked me to send him my pitch.

My pitch?! I didn’t know what that meant, so I went back to the Black Diamond store yet again and caught Chris in person. His face lit up, “Hey man! I wanna help you! I don’t have anything to do with sponsorships, but I’m going to connect you with the person who does: Roger Strong!” Chris instructed me to write a document describing what I’ve done, what I’m doing, and what value Black Diamond will get from sponsoring me.

One week after sending my pitch I got an email from Roger Strong. He wrote, “I admire what you have going on with your pursuits of adventure and creatively traveling through the mountains pushing all of your gear as self supported as possible.” He said Black Diamond could support me with my gear requests.

Roger also asked if I had been at Laconia Cafe at Snoqualmie pass the previous week around 8 am. He had recognized my big curly hair in the pitch! (I have since come to realize Roger probably has a photographic memory).

So, who is Roger Strong? Well that might take a book to explain but allow some highlights to suffice for now: he has established about 100 mixed and ice alpine routes, been featured on the reality TV classic Deadliest Catch during his 20 year tenure as a crab fisherman in Alaska, and currently wakes up at 3:30 am 5-6 days a week to ski before work at the age of 58. (You can learn more about him here).

At the end of the email, Roger invited me to join him on a morning “dawn patrol.” I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to ski with him even though my car was broken. When I told my friends, Erik offered to let me borrow his car without blinking. I biked over to Capitol Hill Wednesday night to pick it up from him.

The next morning I met Roger and Alex Hatcher at Silver Firs at 5am. Roger stole the show and ran Alex and I up the mountain while weaving a fascinating conversation on climbing, skiing, parenthood, politics, and generational changes. It was the fastest I’ve skied uphill all season.

Roger became my newest hero that morning. I wanted to know all of his secrets and how he can ski faster than me at 58 year old. I drove back to Seattle filled with energy, inspired to age, or rather, live like Strong.

The following week my brand new skis came. I never asked for bindings, but Roger gave me a pair of Fritschi Xenics from the showroom. I got them mounted at Cripple Creek Backcountry in Fremont.

The following post continues the story when I picked up my newly mounted skis.