Seventy-five-year-old Edouard “Buck” Thys is a gold-medal-winning skier on the National Masters Racing Circuit, a Korean War veteran, a former business owner, a father of four, and a grandfather of six. Although he’s now retired, his life is busy. When it comes to his ski jackets, however, he wants them anything but busy. “I like that Squalls don’t have tons of extra bells and whistles,” Buck told us. “And I buy them for the colors!” Everyone in his family is a big Squall® fan, too.

As his daughter Beatrice writes, her own Squall Jacket is almost 20 years old, and four of Buck’s grandkids wear Squalls, too. That’s not surprising when you see how much this family adores the outdoors. Buck and his wife Nina, married since 1956, live in Olympic Valley, California and ski just about every day on the slopes of Squaw Valley, overlooking Lake Tahoe. Buck’s love of our jackets is second only to his dedication to skiing. Two years ago, he broke his femur in three places and doctors had to implant a metal rod in his right leg. But that didn’t stop Buck for long. By the following winter, he was racing again. Buck has been honing his skills on the slopes since 1935. He began skiing with his Belgian parents on the hills near their home in Sacramento. In the 1970s, while operating his metalworking business in San Francisco, Buck, Nina, and their young children (Ann, Beatrice, Barry, and Edith) drove 400 miles almost every week-end to ski together in Squaw Valley. After selling his company at age 63, he devoted the winter months to serious race training, coached by his son Barry.

Because their father’s love of the sport was contagious, Ann was competing by age 10, Edith at 6, and both Barry and Edith eventually became members of the U.S. Ski Team from 1980 to 1993. When Edith competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Winter Games, Buck and Nina traveled to Calgary, Canada and Albertville, France to cheer her on.
As you can see, the Thys family knows snow — and they prefer our Squall.
We can’t think of a better compliment.