Jans History

Jan Peterson’s father started the first ski shop in Utah – Pete’s – and Jan learned the business growing up. After ski racing and coaching, Jan decided to try his hand at his other avocation, writing, and became an advertising copywriter. While he was successful at it, Jan found he preferred casting a fly and talking with customers about the latest ski equipment a lot more than worrying about ad deadlines, so he returned to the outdoor industry.

In 1980, the same year that Deer Valley® opened, Jan started his own namesake shop not far from the location of the current Jans flagship store. Fortune smiled on the fledgling operation and soon stores were opened at Deer Valley and at Park City Mountain Resort.

Over the years, Jans has expanded from just a ski shop to include mountain biking, road biking, fly-fishing, and snowshoeing. Through its affiliation with White Pine Touring, Jans and jans.com are able to provide clients with Nordic skiing and alpine rock climbing in addition to the original offerings.

Jans Historical Photos

One of the defining differences between Jans and other outdoor specialty stores in a resort town is that Jans is staffed by longtime industry experts. On staff are national champions, ex-pro racers, television analysts, and judges in their respective sports. While we have our share of youth and enthusiasm, our staff is primarily comprised of seasoned professionals who have been with us 10, 15, or 20 years, and in a few cases, such as George Sideris and Fran Meehan, since the day the doors opened for the first time.

When you are looking for expertise that transcends what’s written in a manufacturers’ catalog, come visit with the experts at Jans, or look through this website for their insights. You’ll find that as often as not, the Experts at Jans helped the manufacturers develop the products in their catalogs.

Jans History

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