Volume 1 - Issue 4

61

Sustainability and Skiing 26

The Art of the Webisode

2012 Ski Demo

34

56

8

10

In The Mind of Eli

LBRT To Ride

Gaper Day 14

Thank you

7Letter from the EditorInSight Skiing - Volume 1, Issue 4

Editor-in-Chief Jason BadgleyContributing Editor Jim Sanco

Contributing Columnist Elias LittenbergCopy Editor, Reporter Jen Allen

STAFF

There are many items that bring back memories of the early days of newschool skiing to me. The original Salomon 1080 – While I spent the entirety of my early youth on skis, I made the switch to snowboarding for a few years simply because I had gotten bored with skiing. My interest with skiing was re-sparked when a group of skiers at my local mountain began riding the first 1080. Shortly after, I picked up my first pair of real skis from ebay, the K2 El Camino, it was with these woody-inspired single tipped wonders that I learned 540’s on and did more hunteny grabs than I care to remember. I then graduated to my first pair of twins, the Volkl V a few monhts later. The first ski movie I watched? Happy Dayz, and it absolutely blew my mind. Freeze magazine will forever be remembered and missed. All these great memories, but there is one more item that can now be referred to as old-school that I cannot leave off my list. Recently I purchased a slightly used copy of Jonny Mosely Madd Trix for the PS2. Yes, really. For those of you that are not familiar with this little gem, search youtube immediately for some clips of gameplay. Easily one of my favorites, this game starts out with a ridiculous music-video styled short of Mosely, T-Hall, and friends partying it up and talking about how cool it would be to ski in San Francisco. Realistic? Hardly. Enjoyable? Definitely. Ripping AK lines in the game as iconic freeski-pioneer Vincent Dorian is just...awesome. Now I have to admit that I entered the ‘unlock all’ code in after playing the game for a couple hours over a few days. Hey, its not the easiest game to beat. However the satisfaction this piece of newschool skiing history brings cannot be replicated. Not exactly playing fair, but much easier than spending hours upon hours to shred as Skier-X. The challenge with JMMT is not in performing tricks, as you are able to misty- or rodeo-7 from flat ground, but with creativ-ity in how you link tricks and integrate grabs. Since its release there has not been another skiing game of a similar caliber. There have been countless rumors and hype over the years about a new freeski/newschool skiing game and still, we have nothing. Maybe someday we will get an up to date video game of the sport that we love, but until then JMMT will have to be sufficient for me.

Jason BadgleyEditor-in-Chief

Letter from the Editor

while, there was still a pile of snow up in the mountains. Core and passionate skiers in each town were not going to let it go un-shredded. Something seemed to happen around that time, a kind of ‘farmers market’ attitude was being adopted by freeriders.

There have always been indie brands before, but now people were supporting their local brands in far greater numbers. You saw Icelantic, Liberty, High Society, etc really start to take off in Colorado and beyond. Surface and 4FRNT in Salt Lake City really popped and, out in Tahoe, Moment has definitely made a name for itself. And that’s just a few regional examples. With ski presses being relatively inexpensive and easy to obtain, it seems like every ski town has a half-dozen crews building quality gear for their friends and community. You can’t look anywhere without seeing another fresh faced brand touting progressive skis and a chance for you to pick your own shape or customize a graphic.

Indie brands are having a big impact on skiing and ski design as a whole. A major advan-tage that a local brand has is being relatively small in the first place. Unencumbered by red tape, gear can be adapted and updated quickly – sometimes in a matter of days. Even better, in my opinion, is the total lack of fake technology. You just won’t find chunks of plastic glued onto your topsheet with claims of ‘vibration control’ or anything like it. New shapes, sidecuts, and rocker recipes will be constantly churned out and put to the test by the locals up on the hill and not by R&D guys on a cat skiing trip. The shreds in each town help to dial in skis that are perfectly suited to the local conditions and terrain. When you grab a Moment ski, you know it is purpose-built to rally chopped up and bumped out Sierra snow. Liberty and other Colorado ski brands? Perfect for threading aspens, smoking down groomers, and ripping the park.

Keep that in mind next fall when you’re checking out the new stuff. While it is super fun to ski on the flashiest stuff from the big brands, take a look at your local indie manufacturer. You might just stumble across a ski that’s seemingly built just for you.

- Eli

In The Mind of Elias LittenbergContributing Columnist

Aw man we’ve all heard it so often that it has become a cli-ché, “It’s the Economy…!”. While the Great Recession has been blamed for everything from the price of food and drinks (remember when Red Bull was $1.99?) to the extinction of Pontiac (you mean my high school buddy’s P.O.S. Firebird is suddenly worth some-thing?!?!), one collective of people used the down times as an op-portunity to get noticed. I’m referring to your favorite local indie ski brands. While the economy was getting beat up, resort visits were falling. The hotels weren’t getting booked, and the traditional big-time ski brands were having a scary year trying to sell skis. Mean-

Eli is a wintersports product buyer for one of the largest online retailers in the country - his knowledge of ski products is fueld by his passion for skiing and the industry. Oh yeah, and its part of his job to know what he’s buying

April 1st has a special place in many skiers hearts, it marks a day full of folly and fun, party-ing and dressing up in the most ridiculous outfits one can find at their local thrift store. An unofficial holiday that hundreds cel-ebrate across the county, Gaper Day is really just an excuse to gather. The Beach at A-Basin has some of the most dedi-cated on this day and we were on location to cap-ture the fun.

Ski manufacturing is not the most environmentally friendly process, pure and simple. Fiberglass, plastic, wood, epoxy, and metal are some of the mainstream materials used and that is just the tip of the iceberg. With environmental-awareness on the rise around the world, more and more companies have begun adopting greener designs and procedures to manufacture their products. Another area in the ski industry that is revamping their policies to promote sustain-ability are resorts. Resorts are on a constant-push to reduce their carbon footprint. According to the Environmental Protection Agency “The traditional definition of sustain-ability calls for policies and strategies that meet society’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Keeping the mountains covered with snow will be just as important to future generations of skiers as it is for us. Sustainability can be important to a company for a variety of reasons from personal convictions to sales strategy. It is GREAT marketing to manufacture products that are ‘greener’ than their previous versions.

10 years ago a bamboo ski core was virtually impossible to find. Next year in 2012 bamboo is starting to rival aspen, pine, maple, poplar, and ash as a core material. Liberty Skis was the first company to put bamboo in every ski of their lineup and continues to utilize it exclusively as a core ma-terial. Chris Sears, Liberty Skis COO explains this decision “Bamboo is the largest component of our skis. Bamboo’s high coefficient of restitution, or the ability to bounce back after being flexed or loaded, makes it an ideal core ma-terial. The bamboo we use in our cores give the ski tremendous rebound and energy return, which gives the skier incredible feel and response while skiing. Bamboo also is very torsionally stiff, which makes Liberty Skis damp at high speeds, and allows for holding an edge in crusty, manky, and variable snow”. Years ago they made the choice that bamboo was the only way to go with their skis based on the performance aspect bamboo provided and its environmental attractiveness. Since their commitment to incorporating this extremely renew-able resource in their skis, other companies have added bamboo to their ski production in varying degrees. Salomon has integrated bamboo cores into two models, the Shogun and Sentinel, while Moment Skis is dipping their toe into bamboo with the 2012 Ghost Chant. Now going into their fourth year of production, Boone Skis is also putting bamboo into every ski that ships from their warehouse/factory in Alameda. From one model to an entire product line, ski manufacturers are recognizing the beneficial attributes of bamboo. It is extremely resilient, light-weight, and durable and core imperfections such as knots are virtually non-existent. “Bamboo is light, strong, and environmentally friendly. We are not perfect, but when we can use a material that is the fastest growing plant in the world that naturally regenerates after harvesting, which makes it an abundant and renewable resource, then we can diminish the use of other woods that take a much longer time to grow. Bamboo is not only a eco-friendly material, but happens to be very light, very tough, and has springy “power fibers” along the outer layer, making it ideal as a ski core material.” says Chris Sears

Ski Cores

Basic Eco by ORAGEOrage has taken a direct approach to utilizing recycled materials in their manufacturing process through their Eco Baselayer. Product, packaging, and display are all created with sustainability in mind. The cus-tom display racks found in Orage retailers nationwide are built from old barn boards, while the product is packaged in recycled outerwear fabric trimmings. The EcoBaselayer top itself comes from approxi-mately 24 plastic bottles, recycled and woven into a lightweight, moisture wicking garment. Orage has also made a commitment to responsible global sourcing, and every product on their website is Bluesign certified. The Bluesign standard was created to ensure health and safety, both in the manufacturing pro-cess and for the end user.

1% for the planetThe concept behind the organization is inherently simple, yet serves a divine purpose. Their mission is: “1% for the Planet exists to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet.” Members pledge one percent of their sales to a non-profit/charity of their choosing, in addition to annual membership fees. Active since 2002, 1% for the Planet was co-founded by Yvon Chouinard, who also founded the iconic brand Patagonia. Yvon’s dedication to environmental preservation dates back much earlier, when he began donating 1% of Patagonia’s sales. Helping both international and domestic grassroots efforts, they have contributed over $40 Million to date and show no signs of slowing. Since its inception, over 700 businesses have joined to promote environmental

preservation and restoration, including Trew Gear, Volcom, Outdoor Technology, and Teton Gravity Research. Playing in the environment will be as important to future generations as it is to us today, 1% helps ensure we leave the planet in similar state that we found it in. Outdoor Technology takes it a few steps far-ther, having been around since only 2008 the mak-ers of the popular Yowie® face tubes have made environmentalism a large part of their business model. In addition to being a member of 1%, OT is proudly involved with Project Kaisei, another environmentally conscious organization that is fundamentally based around removing plastic debris from our oceans and waters. The company donates 8% from each sale of their co-branded OT X Project Kaisei stainless steel water bottle. In addition to promoting reuse through the OT X Project Kaisei Steel Bottle, Outdoor Technology also manufacturers stainless steel carabiner cups and re-usable plastic coffee tumblers. Not satis-fied? OT T-shirts are made from bamboo, and their tear-resistant wallets are made from Tyvek, a paper-thin plastic material that can be sent to

Dupont to be recycled. Still want more? Their 1966 Airstream Safari Trailer that is brought to trade-shows and events is solar powered! These SoCal guys are definitely down for the cause.

Eco-Resorts On the resort side of the industry, companies like Mt Bachelor and Aspen are going over and above the norm to give their patrons the best possible experience. Bend, OR based Mt Bachelor is 100% powered by renewable sources and has greatly reduced their carbon footprint. They have introduced many policies in support of their belief that “Outdoor recreation thrives on the beauty of pristine sur-roundings”. Their ‘no idling program’ takes the worlds health and the individual customer experience into consideration. Eliminating company vehicles from idling prevents patrons of the resort, and espe-cially children from inhaling their exhaust fumes. All this paired with an aggressive recycling program attests to their commitment. If being an environmentally conscious company is the popular thing to do these days, Aspen Ski-ing Company would definitely be the trendsetter. Aspen can lay claim to many firsts, they were the first to run a lift on 100% wind power, first to be ISO 14001 certified, one of the first to build LEED certified buildings, and the list keeps going on. It becomes immediately apparent that conscientious preservation operations are part of everyday life at Aspen, so much that roughly half their employees make a weekly one dollar donation to the Environment Foundation. The legendary mountain resort even paired up with Sylvania to analyze and strategize a plan of action for lighting in multiple retail locations.

Photo Contribued by Aspen Mountain

The result? Rental techs could now see what equipment they were looking for much better and ultimately, helping the customer faster. Installing more efficient lights and well-designed lighting layouts greatly decreased the stores energy consumption by more than 35%. Keeping virtually every resort up to speed with ski resort environmentalism, the National Ski Areas Association started Sustainable Slopes in the year 2000 with the primary focus to educate and promote action. Their Environmental Vision Statement: “To be leaders among outdoor recreation providers by managing our businesses in a way that demonstrates our commitment to environmental protection and stewardship while meeting public expectations.” They provide conservation guidelines for many areas of a resort, from water management and product reuse to transportation and air quality. Truly an invaluable resource, the NSAA also awards grants allowing resorts to increase their sustain-ability efforts. What you have just read is only the tip of the iceberg, every day more companies are stepping up and taking the responsibility of sustainability upon themselves and making changes. Large and small, every effort helps. There are many more companies making a difference than what we mentioned here. Their dedication to promoting the healthy future of our environment can be appreciated by all that enjoy the giant playground nature provides us with.

Photo by DOS Media

Photo by DOS Media

Photo by DOS Media

Photo by DOS Media

By now, most ski areas around the US have stopped running their chairlifts, pulled their park features, and started prepping for the next ski season. If you live in Colorado you still have the chance to get some late season turns in at Arapahoe Basin, or you may be fortunate enough to spend some time at a summer camp. For us here at InSight, this time of year signifies our fourth and final issue of the 2010/11 Ski Season. This is just the beginning of the beginning for our E-zine. In the coming months we have a lot to look forward to, including our website going live, development of softgoods, and preparing for a new season of E-zine issues. We are expanding our operations, creating partner-ships with film crews, athletes and manufacturers. Looking back, this season has been an exciting one for us, growing each issue, meeting new people, competitions, events, SIA, etc… the list goes on. Huge thanks goes out to all involved in the creation of our first season of E-zines! Jim Sanco - after we discussed your participation in this project you hit the ground running and haven’t stopped yet. Thank you for everything you’ve done. Eli Littenberg - A recent addition to InSight as a regular contributing columnist for 2012, I am stoked to have you on board. Jen Allen - Without you our SIA coverage would have been virtually impossible! You have been invaluable when it comes to editing our editorial content and researching new opportunities for the company. Next I would like to thank the companies and invididuals that choose to support us, meet with us at SIA, and that participated in our articles. Lastly I want to thank all of our readers for giving InSight a chance. Without you, we wouldn’t be doing what we do.

Cheers to Next Season!

Thank You