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Kathmandu Styper Snow 3 in 1

New Zealand-based adventure gear manufacturer Kathmandu have a great range of skiwear and other kit available for winter 2020. Unlike many competitors, the company’s Styper range of jackets for both men and women come in every version you might prefer – a shell, a fully insulated jacket or a 3-in-1 jacket that combines shell and a fleece inner. We got hold of the 3-in-1 jacket to test out the company’s pitch that for 30 years, they have designed their gear to take on the rugged landscapes of their homeland, using Kiwi ingenuity and an open mind to continuously adapt their gear to endure different weather conditions, diverse terrains, and different needs. So we took the jacket out on the slopes…

snowhunter 15th January 2020
GearLifestyle

Burton Snowboards Founder Jake Burton Carpenter Has Died

Jake Burton Carpenter who creator the Burton snowboarding empire, a name synonymous with boarding since the early years of the sport, has died of cancer at the age of 65. Burton, founded his company in Vermont in 1977 selling 300 snowboards in its first year.  In the more than four decades since Jake Burton and his company, which now employs more than 1,000 people with offices worldwide, has been as key driving force behind the sport of snowboarding. The included initially getting ski areas to accept snowboarders on their slopes, then promoting the creation of terrain parks and in the 1990s pushing for the inclusion of snowboarding in the Winter Olympics. A statement on his company’s social media says, “It…

snowhunter 21st November 2019
AdventuresGearTechnique / Safety

Freeride Week in Off-Piste Favourite La Grave

PFD Skis (Pure Freeride Design) has launched a brand new dedicated freeride week in the legendary ski area of La Grave, France which will run in the last week of the coming wintertime, from March 14-21, 2020, when snow conditions should be at their best. La Grave is known as ‘The Freeride Mountain’ with its reputation for big lines and uncontrolled terrain that makes it a unique proposition for skiers in search of the ultimate freeride adventure. In recent years the resort’s fans have battled to ensure the future of the area in its ‘unspoilt’ state but that future appears to now be secure. It’s the first time that PFD Skis is have run a dedicated freeride week that combines…

snowhunter 20th November 2019
AdventuresEnvironmentGearTechnique / SafetyWeather

The Off-Piste Awareness Tour 2019

Henry’s Avalanche Talk (HAT), which over recent years has become a leading source of advice on the dangers of avalanches and how to avoid them when heading off piste, is launching a tour of venues in the UK to give skiers and boarders the chance to gain valuable advice on saying safe in the mountain. The 2019 Off-Piste Awareness Tour will kick off next month and includes more than 30 live events in venues across the UK, along with several in  France. The talks focus on how to manage risk when skiing or snowboarding off-piste and are aimed at all levels of riders from off-piste first timers to experienced veterans looking to reinforce their knowledge. Participants can sign up for…

snowhunter 18th September 2019
AdventuresGearLifestyle

Jean-Yves Michellod Patron of new Verbier4All Association

Jean-Yves Michellod has agreed to become a patron of Verbier4All, the new association which aims to improve all­-year round accessibility to the mountains for people with a physical or visual deficit. Mountain guide and extreme skier, Jean-Yves Michellod  won the Xtreme Verbier in 2004. But two years later, following a serious accident in the mountains, he found himself with partial paralysis. But Jean-Yves didn’t let this slow him down. He stunned the sporting world and beyond with his resolve and unaltered desire to tackle untracked faces. With the Falquet brothers, just one year later, he won Hike and Ride and was also the subject of the film ‘Skieur Libre’ which was awarded gold at the highly acclaimed International Festival of…

snowhunter 26th August 2019
AdventuresGearLifestyle

New Charitable Association Aims to Improve Access For All to Verbier

A new charitable organisation ‘Verbier4All’ has been launched with the aim of working towards providing access to all of the many activities that take place in Verbier and the mountains that surround it. By providing access to the necessary equipment and trained ‘buddies,’ Verbier4All aims to ensure that anyone, regardless of physical or visual deficit, can access the mountains all year round. Verbier4All has already received the backing of Téléverbier which is now actively planning to make its infrastructures more user-­friendly for people with a physical or visual deficit, with some improvements will already be apparent this summer. Verbier4All is the result of a long-­cherished dream of Valérie Vaucher and Annick Meystre. Valérie Vaucher, who has extensive experience of running…

snowhunter 18th July 2019
EnvironmentGear

100% Electric Piste Groomer Unveiled

One of the big factors in the battle to make ski resorts 100% green powered has been the grooming tractors (or ‘piste bashers’). Whilst it is possible to power lifts, snowmaking and almost everything else with renewable electricity, in quite a few cases now actually generated on site with local wind, solar or hydro schemes, sometimes producing much more than the ski area needs and exporting to the grid, the groomers have still needed diesel.  There are somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 groomers working on the world’s ski slopes each evening through the season too. There have been big steps forward in efficiency with attempts to run groomers on bio-diesel, with hybrid engines and diesel electric drives. The introduction of…

snowhunter 17th May 2019
AdventuresGear

Australian Brothers Launch Kickstarter Campaign to Build ‘Bodyboard for Snow’

Two Australian brothers have launched a Kickstarter campaign aiming to raise funds to build what they’re describing as, “The world’s first carving sled designed to bring snow bodyboarding to life.”  Co-Founders Ben and Michael Bateman say that they have been working on their ‘Snoogee Board’ which is designed to combine the control of a snowboard with the thrill of bodyboarding for eight years. The inspiration for the Snoogee Board came to Co-founder Ben Bateman during a gap year in The United States. He found himself surrounded by snow, but living far from the country’s ski fields. “I’m an adrenaline junkie, and a bodyboarder since I was 13. I saw people using sleds, but there’s no progression of skill which can…

snowhunter 23rd February 2019 5
EnvironmentGearLifestyle

Get your Skiwear Fixed for Free in Resort

Skiwear company Patagonia are taking an unusual approach to selling gear – by offering skiers and boarders the chance to get their damaged skiwear repaired for free, regardless of the brand. The company’s ‘Worn Wear Repair Tour’ has just launched in Innsbruck, Austria and will make its way to snow destinations across Europe over the next few months, repairing zips, buttons, rips and tears, including Gore-Tex apparel. Patagonia have a strong environmental focus, and encouraging people to take good care of their gear - repairing it as necessary, to ensure it lasts as long as it can rather than buying new, is part of that focus. “Fixing your gear and using it for many seasons reduces overall consumption, which is…

snowhunter 30th January 2019 1
AdventuresEnvironmentGearTechnique / SafetyWeather

Skier Rescued Alive After Being Buried 3 Metres down in an Avalanche for Over an Hour

A skier is rescued to have been rescued alive despite being buried three metres below the snow for more than an hour after getting trapped in an avalanche. Three skiers were skiing in a steep off-piste area at the Swiss destination of Jaun on Monday last week when the avalanche occurred. The avalanche risk at the time was set at 3 (considerable) out of 5 on the European Avalanche Danger Scale and an avalanche 50 metres wide and 250 metres long was set off engulfing the three skiers. A witness called immediately for emergency assistance and a rescue team from REGA (Swiss Air-Rescue) came by helicopter with an avalanche dog and a RECCO detector. A 22-year-old man got buried completely.…

snowhunter 25th January 2019