MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2019

56 they love. Skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking are not easy to afford; used gear helps people find a way. Who ever starts a sport with all the latest and greatest brand new stuff?” By 2001, still wintering in Whistler, Phillips knew he needed a website of his own. “I had no tech capabilities, no tech background. I was literally selling out of my garage and off the side of the road. So I worked with Mark Simon, a fellow Yankee living in Whistler, to build evogear. com—that was a pivotal stake in the ground.” With a website up, Phillips did $300,000 in revenue that year, and began sourcing demo and rental gear from the big American resorts as well. By 2004 business was so busy that, after seven straight years of Coast Mountain powdery bliss, he didn’t move to Whistler for the winter. He had a store to open and a new business to build, one based in the culture of true mountain living he had been entrenched in since getting those first Atomic Arcs as a child. “We blurred the lines between retail—new and used—and art, music, film, galleries and community,” Phillips says. “In 2005, when we opened the first store, I identified that there was no gathering place for those of us who really loved the sports and the lifestyle. That first warehouse in Seattle was as much a community centre and venue as a store.” Phillips began developing a set of values to guide every part of evo—online, in the store, on the mountains and beyond. Rooted in respect, balance, giving back, and what he describes as “a restlessness to take smart risks, embrace failures and work relentlessly to improve ourselves,” Phillips humbly created the foundation of an outdoor sports empire. During the biggest days of the year, evo will sell as much gear in a single hour as Phillips did that entire first year with the website. This life and culture isn’t about the gear or toys we’ve been able to accumulate. It’s about the commitment, camaraderie and passion for the sports that we all love.” TOP LEFT The original evo. In the early years Phillips used to clean, store and sell garage out of this one-car garage in Seattle. TOP RIGHT Community. evo flagship stores are as much gathering places as they are retail shops.A well attended skate jam. ABOVE LEFT Phillips (left) out for a weekend rip on his hometown hill in Oregon in the era of rear entry. COURTESY BRYCE PHIlLLIPS. ABOVE RIGHT On the road to success. DAMIAN CROMWELL