Nate Rhode

Finn Sisu may not have been the first place to sell skis in the Twin Cities, but it was the first “ski shop.” Ahvo Taipale, a Finnish immigrant and Agricultural Engineer, had spent a decade competing (and often winning) cross-country ski races across the Midwest before he looked around at the growing number of Twin Cities skiers doing new races like the American Birkebeiner and realized that someone would need to provide all those skis....