SEATTLE—Bryce Phillips doesn’t remember a winter as warm as this one.
Phillips, who lives in Seattle’s Lakewood neighborhood, is something of a winter connoisseur.
Founder and CEO of fast-growing outdoor retailer Evo, Phillips was a professional skier whose sponsors included Patagonia and Seattle-headquartered K2. He began skiing in fourth grade when his uncle took him to Mount Ashland in Oregon. To this day Phillips skis about 50 times every winter.
This warm, low-snow season, which frustrated skiers and snowboarders and concerned water managers, is slowing demand for ski gear. And for Phillips, worrisome trends in the winter sports industry are causing Evo to think differently about its business.
“This is all of North America in a way we’ve never experienced,” Phillips, 46, said of the winter conditions.
In the Cascades, snowpack levels are below normal with this winter being on track to be the warmest on record globally. Washington’s winter has been affected by El Niño’s higher temperatures and drier air, with climate change adding to the trouble.