Our History

1957 | Where It All Began

An aeronautical engineer, aviation pioneer, veteran, and skydiver; Steve Snyder, founded Steve Snyder Enterprises in 1957. Jumping using aircraft altimeters and stop watches, Steve Snyder began producing his own mechanisms in his bedroom. 

July 16, 1958 | First Successful Baton Pass in United States

Steve Snyder and Charles Hillard successfully complete the first baton pass in the US.

1958 – 1960s | The Early Years

Steve Snyder wanted to make altimeters smaller and easier to read. He recognized the popularity and utility of analog clocks and leaned into people’s familiarity with them. At the time, most sport skydives were exiting at altitudes no higher than 10,000 feet. However, Steve Snyder chose to incorporate 12,000 feet onto his earliest analog altimeters to mirror a clock face, and allow folks to easily recognize and understand displayed readings. 

1970s – 1980s | Developments

Steve Snyder Enterprises becomes SSE, and the iconic Altimaster red and yellow warning sectors are created. 

Products developed:

    • Altimaster I, II, III –  Analog sport altimeters. Predecessors to the Galaxy.
    • MA2-30 – Tactical version of the Altimaster.
    • Paralert – First audible warner. Paralert sat in the back of frap hats. It used a simple wire with a speaker that came up near the jumper’s ear. 

1990s | Big Changes

SSE continues to produce their most popular sport skydiving products and begins producing additional technologies specifically engineered for military use. This leads to the development of the SSE Sport Division and Military Divisions. 

Products developed:

  • MA2-30EL – Added elctro-luminescent dial face.
  • MA3-30 – Only used one revolution to 30k.

 

1997 | Altimaster II and The 41st United States President

SSE had the honor of building two custom Altimaster II altimeters for Geroge H. W. Bush. Mr. Bush used them in his first AFF jump in 1997, and again on his tandem jump in 1999. He returned one of the altimeters in a framed thank you that is still on display at the Alti-2 Technologies headquarters today.

2000s | The Next Chapter

In the late 90’s, Steve Snyder sold the sport and military divisions respective product rights.

In 1999-2000,  Atli-2 Inc. is founded by veteran, Kathy Allen, and purchases the Sport Division product rights from SSE.

In 2002, Alti-2, Inc. purchases the Military Division product rights bringing everything back under the same roof.

Product Developments:

  • Galaxy – The first electo-luminescent sport altimeter.
  • Titan II – The first heads-up display (HUD). The Titan II was used in the 400-way World-Record Jump in Thailand, 2006.
  • Neptune – A digital altimeter that was the first waterproof sport altimeter in the world.
  • Neptune 2
  • N3
  • N3 Audio – The first spoken altimeter for sport skydiving. Features included a second aux port that could play music form an mp3 player like an iPod.
  • MA-10 – Tactical altimeter with an analog display and a digital pressure sensor.
  • MA-10UD – The updatable version of the MA-10.
  • MA-11 – Tactical altimeter that featured an analog or digital display.
  • MA-12 – Completely digital tactical altimeter.
  • Atlas – Visual or audible sport altimeter. 

2021 – Now | Present Day

In late November of 2021, Jens Gronemeyer, current CEO and President, founds Alti-2 Technologies, Inc. and purchases the product rights to both the sport and military divisions.

Jens has background in computer programing, 8000+ skydives, and experience as a jump pilot and drop zone owner-operator. He is currently active in 4-way, 8-way, and 16-way national competition and big way records worldwide.

Jens’ vision for the next chapter of Alti-2 Technologies is fueled by the relentless pursuit of excellence. He has renewed the company focus on quality and customer service, while leading the development of new products that incorporate the most modern technology solutions. 

New Product Developments:

    • Atlas II – The big brother to the original Atlas.
    • Juno – The visual only, lite version of the Atlas II
    • Mercury line, Crimson and Jade – Alti-2’s newest audibles only altimeters with accompanying app.
    • MA-15A – Newest tactical digital audible.