MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2019

58 The path to success is fraught with... serious ski lines. Phillips in his pro days. PAUL MORRISON “The business of buying and selling is not new,” Phillips says. “Our approach and the way we engage the community is what differentiates us. We didn’t reinvent the business, we reinvented the experience—it comes from a place of commitment and passion.” The evo campus in Seattle is also home to restaurants, a skatepark, giant murals and plays host to everything from underprivileged youth fundraisers, musical performances, film premiers, backcountry seminars and more. “I’m really proud of the skatepark,” Phillips says. “It’s such an awesome, inviting welcoming, healthy place for the community to come together.” There will be no skateparks at evo’s Whistler locations, but after spending the entire summer up here with his wife and two young children, Phillips is visibly excited to be back in his second home. And the full-circle vibe of buying the Whistler shops that he used to purchase used skis from is not lost on him. “Whistler is where it all started for me,” he says. “And Dave Milley, who owned Whistler Village Sports was part of my journey right from the beginning—I first purchased his used demo skis 20 years ago. We’ve always built relationships and the evo culture around shared passions. Dave and his team are really fantastic, they get it.” As a pro skier, Phillips travelled to Europe, Japan, Argentina, and across all the best North American powder stashes. Thinking of those simpler times, he is quick to grin and point out that opening a handful of stores in Whistler will certainly translate to more days riding the mountains he loves. But what gets him the most stoked about returning home is seeing people still living like he and his friends did back at the turn of the millennium, before anyone thought of “I had no tech capabilities, no tech background. I was literally selling out of my garage and off the side of the road."