Gear

Iconic French ski company and the worldwide leader in winter sports equipment sales Salomon is celebrating 75 years in business. The company, still based in the historic old town of Annecy, has launched a series of initiatives to celebrate the achievement, including a four-part YouTube series highlighting the company’s innovative history across winter sports as well as other outdoor and action sports and a call on the company’s fans to share their own memories. Salomon started as a family wood saw and ski edge shop in 1947 and has grown into a globally recognized outdoor brand with more than 1600 employees worldwide, including approximately 750 at its global headquarters—the 33,500m2 Annecy Design Centre Known as the ADC. It is home…

A company called First Track Lab has been building a reputation for creating prototype skis and snowboards in just a matter of hours.  The company has been working with a variety of brands in the capacity of a research and development business. However this autumn the Fast Track Lab has opened its doors to regular members of the skiing public, giving everyone the chance to design their own skis! The ski creation process involves choosing the shape of your skis then taking part in two half-day sessions and discovering all the stages involved in making a ski. Budding designers can take part in each part of the manufacturing process before testing their babies out on the Verbier ski area. The…

A sustainable skiwear retailer has launched an online, sustainable skiwear rental service in what it believes is a world first. EcoSki Rental, described by the company as, “a contemporary, sustainable skiwear rental service” is the result of a collaboration between EcoSki and rentals business My Wardrobe HQ. “For many of us, skiwear only comes out of our wardrobe once or twice a year. Quality, well-made kit comes with a price tag to match. As a result people are often driven towards the cheaper, poorer-quality alternatives. This is what I want to help change – making high-performance, better-quality (and often kinder) kit more accessible and affordable for all. I hope the EcoSki Rental service will make skiers feel like they are…

Artificial ski slope manufacturer Skitrax has reported a mini-boom in sales of mini-ski slopes for home use during the pandemic lockdown. “Many young people in Germany have decided to build a small fun park themselves. Dozens of kids have bought between 15-30 sqm of our Slopetrax mats and added their own obstacles to further increase the fun!” said Wolfgang Schmidt of Skitrax. One snowboarder, Tom Avisic, built a launch ramp with a height of about 2m out of wood. A few metres of wood were then laid across at an angle of inclination of approx 25% to create the slope with the Slopetrax surface attached with wood screws. For the run, the sliding mats were then laid on the lawn…