(engine rumbling) - [Narrator] If you drive far enough to the remote sagelands of Oregon's outback, you might spot this trailer.

It looks like a homemade Tiny House.

And in some ways, it is.

But it's also a factory, and a classroom, and an expression of the DIY life forged by these two, Kristin Bromaus and Michael Lish.

- You good to go?

- Yeah, they're ready for you.

- [Narrator] Michael and Kristin host a two-day workshop, where people come from all over the world to build their very own set of one-of-a-kind skis.

(sander motor whirring) - When people find out about us, they want to come to where we are because they're coming to natural places that are incredibly beautiful, and create an amazing backdrop for building their skis.

So, we're gonna start from the very end, Yeah, I'll get you started.

- We've had seven year olds, up to 80 year olds come by and build their own skis.

- Then you'll start to see your ski getting formed.

Okay, you're good to go.

- [Narrator] The participants for this workshop are a European father and daughter team, Atila and Francesca.

- The S 102, but it does say 102 there.

- Just go to 90, now you go to H and you're fine, okay.

So one of you can hold it, and the other one lock it.

- [Atila] All right, Mike.

- [Michael] Nice, and then you're gonna move down, hold it.

- [Narrator] Atila skis a little.

Francesca has never skied before.

- [Michael] Very good, keep going.

Beautiful, that's good.

- Okay.

- So it can be intimidating for some to think, I don't know anything about ski design.

I don't even really know much about how I ski in a sense.

So how am I gonna design a set of skis, but it's not like that.

It's having a conversation with somebody who knows what you say and how to take that and turn it into a perfect, basically custom fit ski for you.

- Nice, it's ski-looking.

- Ski-looking.

(laughing) Every part of the process, it looks more like a ski.

(laughing) Okay, so now we need to put some super glue on these edges.

- [Atila] Okay.

- One of the things that we realized in the workshop is the tools and the process had to be accessible to the participant, and safe.

You got it, you can go ahead and shoot it now.

So yeah, use two hands, yeah, there you go.

- Don't bend it, you'll break it.

- They are part of 90% of the process, and we're right there alongside 'em step by step, making sure they don't make any mistakes, and making them feel confident and safe.

- Both of you will help each other when you cut.

Excellent.

(router tool buzzing) - I think one of the cool things about watching someone build their own skis, is that first process, which is routing, shaking the cores.

The router is, it's a pretty gnarly tool, in the sense of what it does.

It has a kind of high pitch noise, and it's heavy, and it's kind of awkward.

It's not an intuitive tool, and most people, unless you're a cabinet maker, really haven't ever used a router, or really even been around a router.

(router tool buzzing loudly) So it's cool to see, especially a young person, or a young woman, to just pick up that router and just go for it.

(laughing) - All right, we'll take this one off, very good.

- We don't think that custom should be just for what people think of custom.

It's for somebody who has a lot of money, and they're an expert skier.

We think that it's just the better way to buy a set of skis.

It's just gonna be a better experience in the end.

Whether you're a first time skier like Francesca, who's never skied before, these skis are going to be even more amazing for her on her first run, because she's connected to her skis.

And now she's going to be connected to skiing on those skis with her dad.

And it's just gonna be this wonderful memory.

(table saw motor whirring) - Beautiful.

(truck motor softly running) - [Narrator] Michael and Kristin started in California, and moved their ski-making trailer around the West, eventually settling hundreds of miles from any major ski resort.

They now call remote Lake County home, and have started forging their distinct DIY homestead at the intersection of two rural routes.

(birds chirping) Highway crews used to park their heavy equipment at this intersection, and created a thick base layer of gravel.

- Our world is trailers.

So I looked at Kris and I go, "You know how much money that is in just the groundwork alone?

And we could turn our trailers around all day long if we wanted to."

(tractor motor running) - I like the aspect that we can move around and change our perspective.

It's kind of like that rearranging the living room to give new life to that space.

It's just things don't get stale if you can just move them.

(dog barking distantly) - [Narrator] They started with one homemade trailer, then built another, then another, and then converted some shipping containers, fabricating everything from gathered pieces.

- I like going out into the desert for a walk with the dogs and finding a piece of old wood, that's been sitting there probably for 50, maybe 100 years.

And then being like, "Hmm, I wonder what we could do with this?"

And then Michael turns it into this cool window or a doorknob.

I like seeing what he's gonna do with it.

Okay, so the next part of the process is where we're gonna take all the layers that we've prepped, and basically bond them all together.

(mixer motor whirring) So once this is mixed up, we're just gonna use our hands to spread all this out.

And you're tryin' to create a nice thin even layer.

So make sure you push the resin up into all those little spaces.

And if you have a little bit in one area, not so much in the other, just move it around.

- Fun.

(all laughing) - It's very fun.

- Yes this is, I would say, the more relaxing part of the process.

Okay, that looks great.

And the graphics for this ski is a panorama, a black and white panorama photograph of some mountains.

- [Atila] Wow.

- Yeah.

[Narrator] The graphics are perhaps the most noticeable, and distinctive aspect of the custom skis.

Michael and Kristin have made hundreds of skis, but each set is individually designed.

- So graphics are super fun.

I love doing it.

The client will send me a concept, an idea, whether it's abstract or more concrete, and maybe they'll send me a bunch of images.

Maybe they'll send me just one image.

Once I have a sense of what they're looking to achieve, I go on to Photoshop, and I start kind of playing with all these different images.

And it's a total reflection of what they love, that color, that design, that photograph, that picture of their kid, their dog, whatever it is, they just get so connected to it.

And then let's get rid of this real hard zone here.

And then they're proud of it.

They're proud to display it when they're on the chairlift and talk about, yeah these are my graphics, and this is this, and this is that, and this is why it's on here.

And I made these skis.

And so it's just a wonderful part of the whole experience and the whole conversation.

(motor or heat source humming) - Wow, look at that!

- These are amazing.

Yeah, I can't wait to see them in their final shape.

- Here.

- [Atila] Beautiful.

(footsteps crunching on snow) - [Narrator] Since Francesca has never skied before, Michael volunteers to take her on her very first run with her new skis.

- Yeah, let's kinda start over here.

Okay, I'm gonna put the ski there, and then toe in first.

Just gonna step down.

(ski book clips closed) Nice.

Okay, we're gonna kind of aim this way a little bit.

Good, good.

For now just kind of keep your feet together.

- Okay.

- I'm gonna kind of move us that way, so we lose some speed.

That's good, just take your time.

- I'm skiing on my own skis that I made myself.

So it's a great satisfaction.

It's great to put them on the snow.

- [Atila] That way, look at that, nice, huh.

- Okay.

- The fact that I made them myself, I don't know, it just adds something more to the experience overall because I made them, I'm here trying to learn myself and it's amazing.

- Good, use your hands.

- Whoa!

- (laughing) Nice.

Okay, let's do it again.

- Okay, let's go.

(no audio) - [Narrator] Kristin met Michael by answering a job posting.

Michael had started making skis in a mobile workshop in Mammoth, California.

His business was taking off, and he needed a business manager.

- Immediately, when I first met Michael, I felt very comfortable with him.

I felt okay, this persons is gonna-this is where I need to be right now.

Okay, this goes here.

- You know, of course, living in a small space too, people are like, "How do you do that, if you're not together and you're living in this tiny space?"

But we just did, it just worked.

We just had separate sleeping spaces, and we kind of had our own routines, and we just figured it out.

(hydro lift coming down) - We were business partners probably up until about five months ago.

And then after 10 years in close proximity, I mean, all of our facilities have been small spaces.

After about six months ago, we finally got together.

So now we're a couple.

- [Narrator] Kristin learned ski-making from Michael, but she added a new dimension to their business.

Drawing from her background working in restaurants, she developed the House in the Fields.

(knife chopping food) House in the Fields is a one table restaurant, a movable feast you could say, with a changing view wherever it is parked.

(water pouring) This is the way Michael and Kristin like to cap the workshop experience.

- And I think that all the things we've gone through over the years, the fact that we're here now, and the vision we're putting forth that we're doing now and that we'll keep growing and developing, it's kinda exponential.

The further along we get, the more we kinda feel like we get back from it.

(breeze blowing) (birds chirping distantly) (no audio) - Getting inspiration for your next adventure, kinda why you're here, right?

Well you can support more of what we do on Oregon Field Guide, and everything else you see on OPB, by going to OPB.org/video and becoming a sustaining member.

(upbeat music)