PRESS RELEASE

Blakely, Georgia

May 11, 1999

CONTACT INFORMATION

Kathy Murphy-Tubbs Snowshoes 800-882-2748

Dean Schorno-Atlas Snow-Shoe

800-645-SHOE

For Immediate Release

TWO LARGEST SNOWSHOE COMPANIES 

MERGE TO HELP EXPAND INDUSTRY

Stowe, Vt. (May 11, 1999) -- The two largest snowshoe companies in the world - -Tubbs Snowshoe Company of Stowe, Vt., and Atlas Snow-Shoe Company of San Francisco, Ca. -- today agreed to join together. The Tubbs business will be owned and operated by Tubbs Snowshoe Company, L.L.C., and the Atlas business will be a subsidiary of Tubbs. Ed Kiniry, who has been instrumental in driving the rapid growth in the sport of snowshoeing as the President and C.E.O. of Tubbs Snowshoe Company, will lead the new holding company as well as retain his current title and responsibilities. Dean Schorno, the current CEO of Atlas Snow-Shoe Company, will continue in his position. Atlas founder Perry Klebahn will maintain his involvement in the company as a strategic market development advisor. Klebahn's initial partner, Jim Klingbeil, retired from the business in 1992. Both companies will retain their respective headquarters and factories; Tubbs in Stowe and Atlas in San Francisco.

"This business combination will quite simply, allow both of our operating units to dedicate resources to building the sport of snowshoeing. We'll continue to compete with one another, but the competition will be for a greater purpose: to grow participation from about a million and a half to 10 million in the next few years," said Kiniry.

A cornerstone to the success of the new business is the financing package provided by Horizon Partners of Milwaukee and Allied Capital of Chicago. "We saw enormous potential in the sport of snowshoeing and believed that with the proper funding and the most talented people in the business under one entity, we could help accelerate the sport's growth and make this new business successful", said Paul Stewart of Horizon Partners.

The two operating units will continue to compete head-to-head for the specialty outdoor and sporting goods market segments and concentrate more heavily on building new market opportunities independently such as the women's, fitness, children's and backcountry niches.

"Growing this sport and making it both accessible and "cool" to as many people as possible is where you will see the greatest impact of our combined resources," Kiniry said. "We also believe we'll have the opportunity to leverage financial, purchasing and distribution resources because of our size which will enable us to reinvest more resources into sport promotion and growth”. 

"This has never been anything but a friendly rivalry between our two companies, and we expect to continue that" said Dean Schorno. "But our futures are now interwoven, and our success will be measured by how well we communicate all of the benefits of snowshoeing to that vast universe of people who have never tried it. They're the ones who will tell us how good a job we're doing. And they'll vote at the cash registers of our retailers by buying our products."  Neither Kiniry nor Schorno expected many changes in the way each business unit operates.

The most significant change will be in the joint marketing effort the two companies plan to implement for the 1999/2000 winter season. Details of the plan are currently being formulated.

For background information on each company, please call Kathy Murphy, Tubbs Snowshoe Company, 800.882.2748 or Dean Schorno, Atlas Snow-Shoe Company, 800.645.SHOE.