The Ski Bench for a Patio Built From Retired Powder Skis
Every deck has that one empty corner. Maybe it is next to the fire pit, maybe it is the spot where the afternoon sun lands around four o’clock, and for years it has held a folding camp chair that squeaks and a plastic side table that blew over in the last windstorm. If you have been hunting for a ski bench for a patio that actually looks like it belongs on a mountain deck and not in a big box aisle, the Alpine Low Back Powder Ski Bench from Colorado Ski Chairs is built for exactly that corner. It is a low back bench made from repurposed powder skis, hand painted, and finished to live outside through real Colorado weather.
Why a Ski Bench for a Patio Beats Another Plastic Chair
Here is the honest truth about most outdoor seating. You buy it, it looks fine for a season, and then the sun chews the color out of it, a leg cracks, and you are back at the store the following spring buying the same thing again. It is a slow, expensive treadmill, and nobody ever tells you that at checkout.
A ski bench for a patio breaks that cycle. This one is built from real skis that already survived years on the mountain, bolted to a solid stained frame, and painted with exterior oil paint meant to take weather rather than hide from it. It is not trying to be delicate. Powder skis are wide by design, which is what lets a skier float over deep snow instead of sinking into it, and that same width makes for an unusually generous seat once the ski becomes furniture. You sit down and there is actual room. No perching.
The low back shape is the other quiet win. It gives you something to lean against without walling off the view, so the bench works around a fire pit where people want to turn and talk, or along a railing where the whole point is looking out at the yard, the aspens, or the ridge line. A high back bench can feel like a church pew. This one feels like the spot everyone drifts toward.
And it has a look that store furniture cannot fake. Old topsheet graphics, a little history in every ski, and a hand painted scene on top. People notice it. That is not marketing, that is just what happens when you put something handmade on a deck full of aluminum.
What the Alpine Low Back Powder Ski Bench Actually Is
Let us get the specs on the table, because vague furniture descriptions help nobody. The Alpine Low Back Powder Ski Bench stands 34 inches tall, runs 36 inches deep, and stretches 60 inches wide. That is a real bench, wide enough for two adults with room to spare, or one adult, a dog, and a coffee that is slowly going cold while you watch the light change.
It is built from repurposed powder skis. Not one ski, and not one pair. A 60 inch bench with a seat and a back takes several pairs of skis to build, more than most people guess when they first see it, and Colorado Ski Chairs builds it from its own stock of retired and vintage skis so the count is never a problem. The skis form the seat and the backrest, mounted to a stained wood frame that carries the weight and holds the shape for years.
The top gets hand painted. The standard version carries a painted mountain and sunset scene, the kind of thing that looks like Colorado at the end of a good day. If you would rather keep it simple, the original ski and snowboard art is always an option and runs about 250 dollars less, so you can let the old topsheet graphics do the talking instead of a painted scene. Either way you are looking at a piece that is hand finished, not stamped out.
Price on the standard build is 1491 dollars. That is a real number for a real handmade good, and when you spread it across the years this thing will sit outside doing its job, it pencils out a lot friendlier than the annual plastic chair tax most of us have quietly been paying.
Built From Real Powder Skis, Not a Replica
Worth being clear about this, because the ski furniture world has a lot of fuzzy claims floating around. This bench is made from actual repurposed skis. It is not a replica of a bench, and it is not a chairlift pulled off a mountain. It is honest furniture built from gear that earned its retirement.
Powder skis are the wide ones, and there is a reason that matters here. A narrow slalom ski gives you a narrow slat. A powder ski gives you a broad, comfortable surface, which is why they end up as the seat and back on this particular bench. When you sit on it, you are sitting on the same shape that floated somebody through knee deep on a powder day. That is a better story than anything a catalog can print.
The frame is stained wood, chosen to hold up outdoors and to set off the color of the skis rather than fight it. The whole thing is assembled by hand in Colorado, so the proportions are right and the ski graphics get arranged on purpose, not slapped on wherever they land. If you have ever seen mass produced ski decor where the pieces clearly went together in a hurry, you already know why that care shows.
Where This Bench Belongs
The easy answer is anywhere outside that you actually use. The better answer takes a minute, because this bench earns its keep in more spots than you might think.
Around the fire pit it is close to perfect. The low back keeps sight lines open so people can pass a plate, turn toward whoever is telling the story, and lean back when the fire settles into coals. Two of these facing each other with the pit in the middle is a setup that pulls a party outside and keeps it there long after the sun is gone.
On a deck or porch it works as the anchor piece, the seat you point at the view. Along a railing it gives guests somewhere to land with a drink. Next to the back door it becomes the spot where boots come off and gloves get dropped, which is a job every mountain house needs done somewhere. And on a patio next to the grill, it is where the person who is not cooking gets to sit and offer unhelpful advice.
Because it belongs to a few different worlds at once, this bench shows up in the benches collection, in the patio sets, and in the host furniture packages built for cabins that get rented out. It is one of those pieces that reads as a splurge and works like a workhorse.
Made to Live Outside, Not to Be Babied
Plenty of furniture claims to be outdoor furniture and then quietly asks you to bring it in every time a cloud shows up. This is not that. Colorado Ski Chairs hand paints almost everything with exterior oil paint, the kind meant to hold color and shrug off sun, rain, and the freeze and thaw that Colorado runs through in a single week.
The skis themselves are already built for abuse. They spent a career getting dragged over rocks, iced over on chairlifts, and left in car racks through mountain winters. Turning them into a bench does not make them fragile. The stained wood frame is finished to take the weather too, so the piece can stay out on the deck season after season without you fussing over it.
Will it last forever with zero attention? Nothing outdoors does. A little common sense helps, a cover during the worst of winter if you want the paint to stay vivid, a spot that is not sitting in a permanent puddle. But this is a bench you can leave out, use hard, and stop worrying about. That is the whole idea. Buy quality once instead of cheap every spring.
Your Colors, Your Scene, Your Call
This is where a handmade piece leaves the big box stuff in the dust. You are not picking from three finishes on a shelf. You tell Colorado Ski Chairs what you want and, just as usefully, what you do not want, and they build to that.
The standard bench carries a mountain and sunset scene, but that is a starting point, not a rule. Want a Colorado flag worked into it? Done. A stand of aspens, a tree line, a lake, a specific ridge you can see from your own deck? They paint just about anything you can describe. Custom painting runs 75 dollars an hour, so a small tweak stays affordable and a full custom scene is priced by the work it actually takes, not by a mystery upcharge.
The color conversation matters more than people expect. Telling a builder the shades you love is helpful. Telling them the ones you cannot stand is what really keeps the finished bench from surprising you. If teal makes you twitch or you need it to match a very particular stain on your deck, say so up front. That two minute conversation is the difference between a bench you tolerate and one you actually love.
Not sure what you want yet? The photo gallery is full of past builds, and Colorado Ski Chairs posts new designs to Instagram and Facebook regularly, so there is no shortage of ideas to steal or riff on.
Can You Put Your Own Skis Into It?
Short version, sometimes, and it depends on what you have. This is where the honest math comes in. A single pair of skis does not make a whole bench. A 60 inch low back bench takes several pairs to build out the seat and the back, which is more gear than most families have retired in the garage.
So the way this usually works for a sentimental build is simple. You send the pair or two that actually mean something, your first real skis, the ones from the trip where everything clicked, and Colorado Ski Chairs builds those into the visible parts of the bench, then matches the rest from its own stock of vintage and retro skis. You get your history in the piece without needing to hoard a decade of equipment to pull it off. If a memorial or memory build is what you are after, that is the path, and it is worth a phone call to talk through what you have.
If you do not have any skis to contribute, no problem at all. The standard bench is built entirely from the shop’s own retired powder skis, so you are getting real repurposed gear either way. The customer skis are an option, not a requirement.
Why Buy From Colorado Ski Chairs
There are cheaper ways to put a seat on your deck. There are not many better ways to put a piece with a story on it. Colorado Ski Chairs is a small, locally owned shop that builds this stuff by hand in Colorado and ships it nationwide, and the whole operation is built around getting the details right and standing behind the work.
Production usually runs two to four weeks, sometimes a little longer when the shop is busy, and if you are up against a real deadline like a birthday, a housewarming, or the weekend the whole family lands at the cabin, it is worth asking, because they can often make it work. That is the advantage of dealing with actual people instead of a warehouse. You can call, describe what you are picturing, and get a straight answer.
The materials tell the sustainability story without anybody having to oversell it. These are skis that would otherwise sit in a landfill or a basement, given a second life as something you use every day. Made in the USA, built from reclaimed gear, finished to last. That is a better pitch than most eco labels, and it happens to be true.
When you are ready, you can see the product and its current options, or call 303.775.7273 to talk through a custom build. A real person answers, and they actually ski.
How Ordering Works
It is refreshingly low drama. Start with the standard Alpine Low Back Powder Ski Bench if the painted mountain and sunset scene is your thing, or reach out first if you want something custom. Decide whether you want the standard painted scene or the original ski and snowboard art that runs about 250 dollars less. Share your colors, the shades you want and the ones you do not, and any scene or flag you have in mind.
From there Colorado Ski Chairs confirms the details, gives you a production window, and gets to building. Two to four weeks later you have a bench that no neighbor can match, because there is exactly one of it. If a question comes up, the phone number goes to people who make these, not a call center reading from a script.
Whether it is for your own deck or a gift for the skier who genuinely has everything else, this is the kind of thing people remember getting. Nobody forgets the year they got a bench made from real skis.
The Garage Full of Gear Nobody Skis Anymore
Every skier of a certain age has the same closet situation. Somewhere behind the Christmas boxes and the paint cans sits a stack of skis that stopped being current about three bindings ago. Straight skis from before shaped skis took over. A pair of fat powder boards from the year you finally chased a storm and figured out what all the fuss was about. You are never going to ride them again. You also cannot quite bring yourself to drag them to the curb, because each pair is basically a photo album you can lean in a corner.
That pile is the whole reason Colorado Ski Chairs exists. Skis are built to last, which is great on the mountain and a small tragedy in a landfill. A bench like this one takes gear that already outlived its skiing life and hands it a second act where it gets used every day instead of collecting dust. The old topsheet graphics, the scuffs, the brand names half the lift line used to argue about, all of it becomes part of a piece you actually sit on.
There is something satisfying about that trade. The skis stop being clutter you feel guilty about and start being the best conversation piece on the deck. And if the pair in your garage means enough to build into the bench itself, that door is open too, which brings the sentimental route back into play for anyone who has been hanging onto their first real skis for reasons they cannot fully explain.
A Gift for the Skier Who Has Everything
Buying for a lifelong skier is a nightmare and everybody knows it. They have the jacket. They have the goggles, in three tints. They have opinions about wax you did not know a person could have. The one thing they almost certainly do not have is a bench made from real skis sitting on their deck, and that is the gap this piece walks right into.
It lands for the milestones that matter. A retirement, where a 30 year career deserves something better than a card and a cake in the break room. A big birthday, a housewarming for the mountain place they finally bought, an anniversary for the couple who met on a chairlift and never let anyone forget it. A ski bench for a patio is the rare gift that is both practical and impossible to forget, because every time they sit on it they remember who gave it to them.
The timing takes a little planning. With production usually running two to four weeks, a gift build is not a night before scramble, so order with some runway. If you are cutting it close, call 303.775.7273 and ask, because the shop can often hit a real deadline when it matters. Handmade takes time, and that is exactly what makes it feel like a gift instead of a purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many skis does it take to make this bench?
More than one pair. A 60 inch low back bench takes several pairs of repurposed powder skis to build the seat and the back. Colorado Ski Chairs builds it from its own stock of retired skis, so you never have to supply the gear yourself unless you want a sentimental piece made partly from your own pairs.
Is this a real ski bench or a replica?
It is real. The Alpine Low Back Powder Ski Bench is built from actual repurposed powder skis mounted on a stained wood frame. It is not a replica of a bench and it is not a chairlift, it is honest furniture made from skis that already had a life on the mountain.
Can it really stay outside all year?
Yes. It is hand painted with exterior oil paint and built on a weather finished frame, made to live on a deck, patio, or fire pit area through the seasons. A cover during the harshest winter stretches will keep the paint at its most vivid, but the bench is made to be used outdoors, not stored away.
Can I customize the colors and the painted scene?
Absolutely. Tell Colorado Ski Chairs the colors you want and the ones you do not, and describe any scene, flag, or design you have in mind. Custom painting runs 75 dollars an hour, and the original ski and snowboard art version is available for about 250 dollars less than the standard painted scene.
Give That Empty Corner Something Worth Sitting On
That corner of the deck has held a squeaky folding chair long enough. A ski bench for a patio that is built from real powder skis, painted by hand, and made to take the weather is the kind of upgrade you notice every single time you walk outside. Take a look at the Alpine Low Back Powder Ski Bench, browse the rest of the benches, or call 303.775.7273 and describe the one you are picturing. Worst case, you end up with the best seat on the deck. There are worse problems to have.
