BOA Dials in with Local Roots
03/02/2026 01:08PM ● By Jack O'Brien
Photo by Tom Klocker / courtesy of BOA.
Ski equipment and its robust market – valued at over $6 billion worldwide – is an ever-evolving industry. One of the more enduring innovations in skiing technology has roots close to home here in Steamboat Springs; the incorporation of the BOA Fit System in ski boots.
Gary Hammerslag invented the wire-based performance fit system – known for its iconic, dialed adjustability – here in the late 90s, initially as an improvement to the laces on snowboard boots.
Gary first moved to Steamboat in 1978 with plans to become a builder, but instead, he returned to his home state of California, where he spent a decade with his father’s medical product company. “Over the course of 10 years, I learned a whole bunch about manufacturing; learned an awful lot about business, what makes it work, what not to do ... learned a lot about what not to do,” Gary says with a smile. “So those 10 years are kind of my MBA.”
After the firm folded, Gary developed another medical start-up. “It was a miniature mechanical technology that we originally put in coronary guide wires, which would be used with angioplasty,” Gary says. He subsequently sold that company and returned to Steamboat to raise his family.
“But then I started snowboarding,” he says. Early on, he found that snowboard laces were “technically a poor solution."
That, and the difficulty of wrenching the laces of his then young children’s hockey skates inspired Gary to develop a solution using metal laces and a guide system that would evenly distribute pressure to the foot. Gary created an early prototype with a large reel. And with the help of a local custom cowboy boot maker, he had the system attached to a snowboard boot.
Gary knew he had something that could add value as a foot-wear component. Prior to making inroads in the snowboard boot industry, he took the idea to contacts he had in the ski boot business. Ironically, they dissuaded him from the industry, in part because he wanted to retain BOA’s branding. “They were really discouraging,” he remembers.
But the entrepreneur doubled-down, first finding success with K2 and Van’s snowboard boots. “Around 1999 I said, ‘okay this is it; this is go-for-broke,” Gary says. “And I devoted the rest of our savings essentially to start BOA."
Since then, the system has grown into an outdoor industry juggernaut, finding a home not just on snowboard boots, but myriad other types of footwear – from cycling shoes, workwear, golf shoes and all points in between. The next frontier for the eminent brand was indeed ski boots. BOA partnered with bootmakers K2, Atomic, Fisher and Salomon for its go-to-market rollout in the fall of 2023. Since then, the advent has intrigued a ski industry often propelled by technological development.
"BOA recognized there was very little innovation in this space over the last 70 years,” says BOA’s North American snowsports account manager Matt Anderson. “We saw an opportunity for BOA as not just an alternative closure, but also as a high-performance fit system delivering proven skiing advantages."
Spirited and driven, Matt – himself a former resident of Steamboat and a 13-year veteran of the company – has seen BOA move evermore toward a quantitative approach, using a Denver-based testing center they call their performance fit lab. There and in the field, BOA spent four years developing a new dial, lace and guide for the system’s use in ski boots.
Matt points to a 2023 peer-reviewed article in the journal “Frontier,” which concluded that, “The BOA boots improved subjective and objective ski performance; qualitative carving scores were greater, likely through increasing the amount of normal force applied to the ski while turning.”
The incorporation of the BOA system into ski boots has been subject to some skepticism online, with forum users wondering if the technology is durable enough for use in ski boots. “The biggest concern we heard when launching was around durability, which makes sense for a new system,” Matt acknowledges. “Now, two seasons in, BOA shows an industry leading warranty rate of less than o.2%."
Regardless of any criticism, it’s been a long, fruitful road for a company with local roots, brought to life from the mind of a medical device industry veteran with a little help from a cowboy boot cobbler.
Now retired, Gary looks at BOA’s entrance into the ski boot realm as a testament to the brand’s innovative approach. “The company’s doing just great without me,” he says.”I’m proud of where they’re at. It’s awesome. And the ski boot is a really good example of what they can deliver and make.”
Ski equipment and its robust market – valued at over $6 billion worldwide – is an ever-evolving industry. One of the more enduring innovations in skiing technology has roots close to home here in Steamboat Springs; the incorporation of the BOA Fit System in ski boots.
Gary Hammerslag invented the wire-based performance fit system – known for its iconic, dialed adjustability – here in the late 90s, initially as an improvement to the laces on snowboard boots.
Gary first moved to Steamboat in 1978 with plans to become a builder, but instead, he returned to his home state of California, where he spent a decade with his father’s medical product company. “Over the course of 10 years, I learned a whole bunch about manufacturing; learned an awful lot about business, what makes it work, what not to do ... learned a lot about what not to do,” Gary says with a smile. “So those 10 years are kind of my MBA.”
After the firm folded, Gary developed another medical start-up. “It was a miniature mechanical technology that we originally put in coronary guide wires, which would be used with angioplasty,” Gary says. He subsequently sold that company and returned to Steamboat to raise his family.
“But then I started snowboarding,” he says. Early on, he found that snowboard laces were “technically a poor solution."
That, and the difficulty of wrenching the laces of his then young children’s hockey skates inspired Gary to develop a solution using metal laces and a guide system that would evenly distribute pressure to the foot. Gary created an early prototype with a large reel. And with the help of a local custom cowboy boot maker, he had the system attached to a snowboard boot.
Gary knew he had something that could add value as a foot-wear component. Prior to making inroads in the snowboard boot industry, he took the idea to contacts he had in the ski boot business. Ironically, they dissuaded him from the industry, in part because he wanted to retain BOA’s branding. “They were really discouraging,” he remembers.
But the entrepreneur doubled-down, first finding success with K2 and Van’s snowboard boots. “Around 1999 I said, ‘okay this is it; this is go-for-broke,” Gary says. “And I devoted the rest of our savings essentially to start BOA."
Since then, the system has grown into an outdoor industry juggernaut, finding a home not just on snowboard boots, but myriad other types of footwear – from cycling shoes, workwear, golf shoes and all points in between. The next frontier for the eminent brand was indeed ski boots. BOA partnered with bootmakers K2, Atomic, Fisher and Salomon for its go-to-market rollout in the fall of 2023. Since then, the advent has intrigued a ski industry often propelled by technological development.
"BOA recognized there was very little innovation in this space over the last 70 years,” says BOA’s North American snowsports account manager Matt Anderson. “We saw an opportunity for BOA as not just an alternative closure, but also as a high-performance fit system delivering proven skiing advantages."
Spirited and driven, Matt – himself a former resident of Steamboat and a 13-year veteran of the company – has seen BOA move evermore toward a quantitative approach, using a Denver-based testing center they call their performance fit lab. There and in the field, BOA spent four years developing a new dial, lace and guide for the system’s use in ski boots.
Matt points to a 2023 peer-reviewed article in the journal “Frontier,” which concluded that, “The BOA boots improved subjective and objective ski performance; qualitative carving scores were greater, likely through increasing the amount of normal force applied to the ski while turning.”
The incorporation of the BOA system into ski boots has been subject to some skepticism online, with forum users wondering if the technology is durable enough for use in ski boots. “The biggest concern we heard when launching was around durability, which makes sense for a new system,” Matt acknowledges. “Now, two seasons in, BOA shows an industry leading warranty rate of less than o.2%."
Regardless of any criticism, it’s been a long, fruitful road for a company with local roots, brought to life from the mind of a medical device industry veteran with a little help from a cowboy boot cobbler.
Now retired, Gary looks at BOA’s entrance into the ski boot realm as a testament to the brand’s innovative approach. “The company’s doing just great without me,” he says.”I’m proud of where they’re at. It’s awesome. And the ski boot is a really good example of what they can deliver and make.”