Entrepreneurs / Small Business  July 17, 2015

Crescent Moon wins contract to make snowshoes for Army National Guard

BOULDER — The temperature outside may be soaring past 90, but a handful of workers in Boulder are rushing to help soldiers slog through deep Colorado snow.

Crescent Moon Snowshoes, an 18-year-old business that operates out of about 2,500 square feet at 5401 Western Ave., Suite C, on the periphery of the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. campus, has received an order for what president and co-founder Jake Thamm describes as “many hundreds” of snowshoes for the Colorado Army National Guard.

“We got the order on July Fourth weekend,” Thamm said. “As an all-American manufacturing company, I thought that was entirely appropriate.”

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The company has filled small orders for rangers in state parks, national forests and national parks such as Glacier and Yosemite, as well as Nordic centers in resorts including Steamboat, Telluride and Breckenridge, Thamm said, “but this is the first sizable military contract we’ve had.”

Thamm would not disclose financial terms of the contract or which contractor picked his company to fill the order, but noted that its timing couldn’t have been better.

“We’re obviously very seasonal,” he said. “Having this much business during our slow season is a boon to our business. We still have a great deal of snowshoes to prep for our regular season, but we don’t usually start that until the first of August. Otherwise, in the summer we sell longboards for concrete, but that’s very small compared with our snowshoe business.

“So this filled a down time. It’s like a ski resort having a big snow season; if you can extend your season by a month, it makes a big difference in your annual income.”

Crescent Moon is filling the National Guard order with a modified version of its “Gold 10” backcountry snowshoe, Thamm said.

“It’s ideal for any snow conditions, on or off trail,” Thamm said. “The binding accommodates the soldiers’ particular issued boots. The binding allows for even someone who has never been on snowshoes; it’s an intuitive design that’s easy to get into and out of. It doesn’t come out of adjustment. It’s a comfortable, ergonomically designed snowshoe that you don’t use as much energy to walk in, which is important for a soldier.”

Crescent Moon has modified the Gold 10 for National Guard use by making it slightly lighter, Thamm said. “We’re also making a percentage of them with smaller bindings, and some of the soldiers are also women, who have smaller feet. Those will be color-coded so they’ll be able to tell just by looking at the color that it’s a smaller binding.”

The Guard also chose a polished-aluminum version instead of a powder-coated version, he said.

Crescent Moon has seven employees now, Thamm said, “but we’ll be hiring a couple more. We’ll have nine or 10 in a few weeks.”

Founded in 1997 by Thamm and Tamara Laug, Crescent Moon was a winner in the Sports and Outdoors category at BizWest’s 2011 IQ awards.

BOULDER — The temperature outside may be soaring past 90, but a handful of workers in Boulder are rushing to help soldiers slog through deep Colorado snow.

Crescent Moon Snowshoes, an 18-year-old business that operates out of about 2,500 square feet at 5401 Western Ave., Suite C, on the periphery of the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. campus, has received an order for what president and co-founder Jake Thamm describes as “many hundreds” of snowshoes for the Colorado Army National Guard.

“We got the order on July Fourth weekend,” Thamm said. “As an all-American manufacturing company, I thought that was entirely appropriate.”

The…

Dallas Heltzell
With BizWest since 2012 and in Colorado since 1979, Dallas worked at the Longmont Times-Call, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post and Public News Service. A Missouri native and Mizzou School of Journalism grad, Dallas started as a sports writer and outdoor columnist at the St. Charles (Mo.) Banner-News, then went to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before fleeing the heat and humidity for the Rockies. He especially loves covering our mountain communities.
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