About US

Andy Taylor

Andy has spent nearly all his working life in the ski trade starting in 1980 at Europa Sport in Kendal where he served his apprenticeship before moving on to become workshop manager and technical back up for all winter products.

He set up Anything Technical in 1998, initially as an importer for Wintersteiger ski service machinery and workshop equipment. The company has grown from strength to strength in the last 20 years and a lot can be put down to his astute and intuitive business brain.

Never one for standing on his laurels, he is always trying to stay one step ahead and look at any other niche in the snowsports industry world that can be tapped into.

Pete Evans

Pete joined Andy at the very start of Anything Technical and brought with him a wealth of technical expertise across a wide range of different disciplines. He has also worked in the industry for over 30 years with the bulk of that time spent running the warranty and repair department at Europa Sports. Pete is brand manager for all our major imports and is a one man IT department. He also designs and runs our stock management and EPS systems and goes on the road every year repairing and maintaining the massively complex Wintersteiger ski servicing machines which feature in most ski workshops all over the country.

He has made skis at Vielhaber in Aviemore, worked as a head ski tech in the Alps and served his time as a ski instructor. His knowledge on technical issues regarding ski construction, repairs and binding mounting is excellent.

Chris Speight

Chris joined in 2004 when the business was fully established and growing fast. His background is predominantly automotive and he started off as a humble motor mechanic working with his father in Leeds and then at a Rover dealership in Ossett, West Yorkshire.

He has a wide range of skills having worked his way through Technical support, Customer service, Marketing and Sales at tools manufacturer Sykes Pickavant. He also worked in the aerospace industry and held a variety of sales positions in various industries immediately before joining. His range of responsibilities include running and maintaining the website, hardware purchasing, ski boot repairs and doing pretty much anything that comes his way.

Callum Highet

Callum has been involved in the business for over 10 years and is almost part of the woodwork. He pestered us for a full time job and eventually we gave in. Callum is an ex-British ski racer and brings with him all his accumulated knowledge from those days.

He has a degree in Business Management and an easy going attitude which makes him a hit with our customers, either face-to-face or on the phone. He is a first class ski technician and is particularly strong on the ski-touring side of the business. He also runs our Google website campaigns and keeps us in touch on the technical advice side of social media.

Claire Florentine Taylor

Claire is Andy’s wife and has been a salesperson all her working life and believe me when I say “She CAN sell snow to the Eskimos”. Her main roles include working in the shop fitting ski boots and she also is the first point of contact for the Drytech boot and clothing dryers side of the business. She also responsible for the softgoods purchasing and keeping the shop looking superb.

Claire went on her first ski holiday a couple of years’ ago and absolutely loved it. This has helped to enhance her understanding of ski products that we sell, and she can now join in with confidence on the ski holiday conversations that generally break out during a visit to the shop.

Greg Taylor

Greg is Andy’s son and brings youth and enthusiasm to the team. He has also helped bring the average age of the staff down by a decade or two! He is very clued up on the modern era of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and is working hard to bring Anything Technical into the modern world of social media. He spent the last season working in the retail shop as well as picking and packing mail order sales.

His knowledge of the ski industry is growing by the week and although he is currently studying a sports business and marketing course, he will still be working for us via the internet whilst in Manchester or in the shop when he’s back for the weekend.

Paul Hargreaves

Paul’s knowledge on anything outdoors is very impressive. Passionate skier, walker, cyclist, climber, canoeist… there isn’t much he can’t do. Paul works 6 months in the winter for Anything Technical and 6 months in the summer as a freelance outdoor instructor. He has a very friendly and efficient sales technique and will go the extra mile to ensure that equipment is fitted correctly and fit for purpose. He is also more than happy to take on repairs in the workshop, boot stretching, packing dryers or anything that comes his way.

Ski Trade

We originally started trading 1998 as a distributor for Wintersteiger ski service machinery and ski workshop products and subsequently added Fritschi Ski touring bindings, Colltex ski touring skins, Holmenkol ski waxes and repair tools and Snoli workshop tools to our product portfolio. Dealing with the vast majority of snowsports distributors in the UK we are recognised as being experts in our field.

Retail

We also have the North of England’s most reputable ski shop in our fantastic premises in Kendal. We sell a full range of ski equipment including hardware, clothing and accessories. We have a state of the art boot fitting department, utilising the latest equipment and techniques. We also have one of the best backcountry and ski touring sections in the country with a fantastic range of touring boots and skis and all the necessary accessories.

Custom Footbeds and Insoles

Anything Technical Ltd. has long been recognised as having one of the best boot and footwear fitting departments in the country, with people travelling from all over the UK for footwear, insoles and ski boots. The key to good fitting footwear is a correctly made customised insole which provides support and stability, therefore improving comfort, reducing fatigue and helping to alleviate painful conditions such as Plantar Fasciitis, Mortons Neuroma etc… Our staff has over 50 years combined experience of dealing with foot related problems which means our footwear fitting skills are second to none. We also stock a wide range of “Off The Peg” insoles from Sidas, with the unique “3 Feet Range” being particularly popular.

Ski Touring

Ski Touring and Backcountry Skiing are becoming increasingly popular with British skiers trying to escape the crowds. At Anything Technical we stock Scarpa, Scott, and Dynafit Ski Touring and Freeride boots and are one of the few shops in the UK with the equipment, skills and expertise to fit them properly. Fritschi Touring and Freeride bindings and Colltex climbing skins complement these boots perfectly. We also stock a wide range of Touring, Backcountry and off piste skis by Black Crows, Dynafit and Atomic plus the usual range of accessories, shovels, probes etc. by Swiss company Ortovox.

Repair Equipment

Ski maintenance is always high on the skiers’ agenda so with this in mind we stock the largest range of waxes, files, edge tuners and other repair equipment in the UK. The Wintersteiger brand covers the serious ski technician workshop but we also cater for the home enthusiast with Holmenkol and Snoli files, edge tools etc….

Workshop

Our workshop is one of the most comprehensive ski and snowboard workshops in the UK and we enjoy a fantastic reputation within the snowsports industry that is second to none. We are more than happy to advise anyone, be it a skier, home servicing enthusiast or competent ski tech and can take on most ski, ski boot or binding repair.

Training

Added to all this are our training courses for workshop technicians and boot fitters, which have been running for over 20 years with over 3000 technicians trained and working all over the the globe. This makes us  company that is unique in the UK, if not in the world!