KUUsport and the KUU brand were established and developed by Ron Kuus. One of three children in an active family with northern European roots, Ron grew up in a home where athletics, fitness and self discipline were simply part of everyday life. His father Herbert Kuus instilled in Ron and his siblings at an early age the recipe for preparing his children for life ahead: a daily 6AM run through the parks and ravines of their Toronto neighborhood! Those early morning runs helped shape not only Ron’s character, but the spirit behind KUUsport and KUU today.

On winter weekends Ron’s father’s Northern European DNA would not be denied. As president of the local Estonian Ski Club, he seized every opportunity to take to the slopes with family and friends. His background as a tool and die machinist soon saw him developing products to improve the quality of their ski experience, the first of which was the patented Kuus Electric Ski Waxer. Young Ron was fascinated by how much ski preparation could change performance. Before long, he was spending almost as much time in the wax room with his dad as he was out on the hill, soaking up every bit of knowledge and sharing in the joy of skiing together.

When Ron was just 14, his father Herbert passed away. It was a heartbreaking loss, but by then Ron’s love for skiing and his talent for ski tuning were already deeply rooted; in many ways, those passions became a steady anchor during a time when finding a positive outlet for all that teenage energy, especially without a father, could have gone in many different directions. Fortunately, Ron had two powerful guiding forces love of skiing and engineering. At 18, he was accepted into the engineering program at Seneca College and was also named to their ski team. For the next three years he raced for Seneca as well as at the Toronto Ski Club, blending brain and body, classroom and mountain.

When he graduated, the next step felt obvious. If he truly wanted to ski at the highest level, there was only one way to go-west!    

Armed with his engineering skills, a strong work ethic and his passion for skiing, Ron aimed his car for the setting sun and drove west. Stopping at the first rocky mountain ski hill he encountered, he settled into a rented a room in Banff and began training with the Norquay Ski Club. To keep his dream alive, Ron spent his off seasons working tough jobs, helping to build the Revelstoke hydro dam, working in coal mines and planting trees. Those long, hard days paid off. Not only did he manage to fund his racing, but he also steadily climbed the rankings until he qualified for the Alberta Ski Team, eventually becoming its top racer. More milestones followed including racing on the Europa Cup circuit and being named as an alternate on Canada’s national ski team. During this intense period of FIS racing, Ron continued to hone his tuning and waxing skills and took every opportunity to learn more from other elite racers and their ski technicians. Joining the professional PWA circuit, he developed a reputation for technical waxing and tuning knowledge. “The Wax-Guru” soon had friends and rivals alike vying for his tuning and waxing services.

In 1982 Ron accepted an athletic scholarship to Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, where he studied business while continuing racing. During this time, he made a heartfelt decision: to carry on the work his inventive dad had started a decade earlier. In 1984, with determination and a wealth of hard-earned experience, Ron returned to Toronto and got to work. From the humble beginnings of his mother’s basement, he began developing what would become KUU’s core product: an ultra-fast base wax. Retailers often told him he was crazy, the market was already full of strong, well-established competitors, but Ron believed in his vision. With quiet persistence and a lot of heart, he kept going.

Using his late fathers’ tool and die machines in his basement, along with his engineering training and deep knowledge of skiing and tuning, Ron began creating and selling his own precision ski products in the Canadian market. Encouraged by his early success and proud of his growing line of high-performance gear, he officially incorporated KUUsport Manufacturing Ltd. in 1986. He was truly a one man show – inventor, developer, manufacturer, marketer, sales rep, shipper, secretary, delivery boy and janitor. But word started to spread. KUU products were selling, customers were coming back for more and before long, 18-wheelers were backing-up his mum’s driveway to pick up full pallets of product from KUU’s basement “head office”

It’s been a long time since KUU was responsible for traffic jams on Deanvar Drive (over 40 years), but, that humble address is where it all began. The alpine, Nordic and snowboard product lines you see today can trace their roots right back to Ron’s mom’s house.

Their head office has only moved a short distance since those basement days, but their products have gone incredibly far. Today, KUU waxes are being used by national teams in both Canada and Austria and KUU accessories can be found in ski, snowboard and X-C shops around the world from Japan to Switzerland to New Zealand to USA.

KUU – WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED!