Dan is an unusual thing here: an outsider. Originally he is from Boston and arrived to Andermatt in 2004 while he was hunting powder around Europe. He had heard rumours of big untracked powder lines in Andermatt and was on the way.

“Arriving here I found just what I was looking for, big untracked lines and a sleepy little Swiss mountain village. Since then I have never left.“, he says. Of course love has something to do in this. He married a local girl Heidi and now hand-builds his cult Birdos freeride skis in the town. And lives with his wife upstairs of his skishop. Not bad.

Interview of Dan Loutrel, the father of Birdos Freeride Skis

[Homeboy] Dan, Birdos Skis are very special. What is your design philosophy?

[Dan Loutrel] Well, I wanted skis without compromises and skis which raw materials you know exactly where they are from. In factory produced skis you will never know what they have been made of and their features vary too much.

[Dan Loutrel] My philosophy is to hand made state-of-the-art skis of best local raw materials and customize every pair to fit best for every client personally. For example the steel edges come from a mill just over the Swiss border that has been producing for the ski industry for 50+ years.

[Homeboy] This sounds so good in these days when everything is made in China. Please name a few adjectives which describes Birdos skis most.

[Dan Loutrel] Unusual shape, unmatched stiffness and camber. You can customize nearly every detail from shape to materials and top sheet graphics. As I am producing only 70 pairs of skis per year I have the time and will to concentrate to fine tune the details. Birdos are exceptional and unique pair of skis, built specially to your desire.

[Homeboy] What is your ski choice for powder day?

[Dan Loutrel] I would say you need 120 mm minimum under foot, at least a bit of rocker tip and tail. For British Columbia style snow, steep trees and pillows, an inverse shape ski is super fine. Quick turning, massive float, the most playful powder ski you can find. For the  Alps you always have to deal with the hard windblown snow, slid out couloirs, etc. For big lines the high alpine I would go with a traditional shape, long radius and moderate rocker in the tips and tails. A ski that floats easily, but can run out the frozen debris at high speed and in fine style with full power. From my models they would be Fat Bird and Puder Luder.

[Homeboy] And what would be your choice for us in Finland, the flat land of icy slopes?

[Dan Loutrel] Heh, I think Joker and Ghetto Chicken 172 cm would work fine in your country. Ghetto Chicken is good for jibbing. However, it should be a ski at least 100 mm under foot to give you decent flotation, but probably not more than 115 mm to make it possible to ski aggressively on hard, icy snow.

[Homeboy] Good that there were something for us too! By the way, how do you see the future of skiing? Which skis we use in 2015?

[Dan Loutrel] Perhaps the next big revolution will be in the materials. Materials that adapt as you ski, a real integration into the skis that transforms even as you ski. Almost an extension of your feet. But we have to wait a long time for this…

[Dan Loutrel] Ski business would change too, I would say there will be more innovative custom companies with special shapes for special needs. Also all the big companies will have to increase their special model range to stay in the market.

[Homeboy] Thank you for this Dan. Skiing seems to live its renaissance and thanks for the guys like you the developing never ends.

Interested in Birdos skis? Please visit www.birdos.com

Photos by Antti Zetterberg. All rights reserved.

The Birth of Finnish Freestyle Skiing

In 1977 at Eastertime, holiday skiers at the Suomu ski resort in Finnish Lapland saw something new and strange. A huge jump had appeared near the ski lift. At the top of the jump there stood a young ski instructor with sunglasses and a fancy hat. A crowd of curious skiers had gathered around him. The ski instructor explained what kind of jumps were soon to be seen.

The first freestyle skiing competition in Finland was about to begin.

The young man at the top of the jump was Roger Talermo, the main organizer of the event.

The atmosphere at this first competition was enthusiastic. There were about 40 competitors. Many of them were ski instructors at Suomu, some were also ex-alpine racers. Many tried the new, hot freestyle jumps, such as back scratchers, for the first time. The audience was bigger than at any of the Finnish alpine races that winter.

Although the jump was very small by today’s standards, many competitors fell down. That did not matter: everyone got huge applause. The winner was Kai Tapani.

But what had happened before this competition? How did Roger Talermo find out that this new school of skiing existed?

Originally Roger Talermo became interested in freestyle skiing in the late 1960s. He saw photos of mogul skiing and jumps in American skiing magazines and became very, very curious.

The roots of freestyle developed in the USA when skiers started to compete in acrobatic skiing. Gradually freestyle developed from hot dogging to stunt ballet, aerial skiing and mogul skiing. The term “freestyle” covered all these three new ways of skiing.

In the early 1970s, the first freestyle films arrived in Europe. Roger Talermo spent hours watching them.

In the winter of 1976, he was skiing in the Alps when he heard stories about a professional Marlboro Ski Show. Talermo contacted the group and managed to get them also to Finland in spring 1976 with a little help from the Philip Morris company.

The Marlboro Ski Show amazed everyone in Suomu late in the spring. Talermo was one skier in the show, but the hottest skier was Phil Sifferman.

A Swedish member of the group, Håkan Kristiansson, told Talermo that later in the spring the Scandinavian Open would be held in Duved. Talermo had neither money nor proper competition clothing, but he decided to try get some sponsors.

And so he did.

He got the skis from Ski Systems, some clothing from A&K and a little money from several sources. In Duved, he participated in every competition and was finally seventh in the moguls.

That did it. Talermo decided to start serious training in freestyle. He learned the tricks of jumping in Tignes and bacame a member of the prestigious Salomon Professional Team. Before the first competition in Finland he was seventh in the Austrian Open.

After that first competition at Suomu, Talermo was convinced that it was necessary to establish the Finnish Freestyle Union. There was huge interest among skiers. Talermo realized that proper training and competitions would give Finnish freestyle a quick start. Talermo planned that after establishing a national union, many freestyle clubs would be organized.

The Finnish Freestyle Union was established on November 23rd, 1977. Talermo became the first chairman.

The main task was to organize competitions and in that way to spread word about the new way of skiing. It was also important to qualify the racers. The union wanted to allow only racers who could do their jumps without immediate danger of injury into jumping competitions.

The first Finnish championships were held in Jyväskylä on March 11-12, 1978. A proper mogul piste was built on the steep racing slope of Laajavuori. It was quite a shock to many competitors. The moguls were huge, almost two meters in height.

Before the competition the weather was warm and the slope very soft. The night before the big race the temperature started to fall and the slope became icy. The judges very quickly decided that it was best to value skiing technique more than speed.

When the competition started, there were approximately 2000 spectators in the slope. That was a huge crowd! Among the competitors were also Ari Heinilä and Hannu Mikkola, the founders of the finnish skiing magazine Skimbaaja.

Soon the audience realized that every racer had to perform two jumps during the run. After that they started to shout “Jump! Jump!” to every skier.

The hottest new skier was Risto Kanninen, a local boy. He got huge shouts when he did his first, very difficult jump. A helicopter! The audience twisted and shouted when Kanninen got the highest points. Ultimately he won more experienced skiers Roger Talermo and Uffe Tollet. Had it been otherwise, a riot probably would have erupted in Laajavuori.

The next competition was in ballet. The audience was again amazed. The performance of the skiers was excellent. Besides, they wore nice outfits, such as tuxedos! Roger Talermo won, Uffe Tollet was second and Tom Saariaho came in third.

The highlight of the weekend was Sunday’s jumping contest. A huge jump?over two meters in height—was  built. It would catapult the skiers high in the air. Many of the competitors had never seen a jump so high. It really frightened the audience.

The first round was more or less warming up. In the second round the audience saw what they really wanted: the somersaults. Michael Nyman made the first somersault, but unfortunately he fell.

The last man in the competition was Roger Talermo. He made a perfect somersault backwards. It was the best jump of the day. Talermo was awarded with a gold medal. Uffe Tollet with his high flying helicopters was second, and Kai Tapani was third. Thus ski instructors from Suomu took all medals available.

After the Finnish championships, a real freestyle fever spread all over Finland. Especially young skiers liked the relaxed and modern atmosphere which was very different from the mood of more serious alpine racing.

The first three freestyle clubs established were Jyväskylä Freestyle Club, Avalanche in Suomu and Oulu Ski Team 77. The first capitals of Finnish freestyle were Laajavuori, in Jyväskylä, and Suomu.

In winter 1980-81 there were already eight freestyle clubs in Finland. Competions were held in Messilä, Iso-Syöte, Suomu and Pyhä.

The Finnish freestyle scene had been born.

After his skiing career Roger Talermo became involved in the sport equipment business and started to work for Salomon. Now he is the CEO of Amer Sports, the owner of Atomic and Salomon.

Uffe Tollet became the head coach of the Finnish mogul skiers. A member of his group, Martti Kellokumpu won the world championship in mogul skiing in 1984.

Ylläs saunagondola is the first one in the world

I conversed with Aki Rundgren, the marketing manager at Ylläs ski resort in Finland. According to Mr. Rundgren, the saunagondola at Ylläs is the first one in the world and probably in the entire universe. There are four seats in the saunagondola and passangers can spend a maximum of 2 hours in the sauna. During these two hours passengers enjoy two rounds from the valley to the summit and back. One round takes about 15-20 minutes, and the distance from the starting point to the summit is two kilometers. During one round the saunagondola climbs 430 vertical meters.

You might think that it doesn’t sound so nice to be naked in a gondola while others are skiing all around you. Guess again! You don’t need to worry about being naked in the saunagondola because the windows are covered with dark shields. This means that the passengers in the saunagondola can see outside, but skiers outside cannot see inside the saunagondola. So you can be totally naked and enjoy a traditional Finnish sauna…

Actually, the saunagondola is not used during regular skiing hours. It is used only after skiers have left the slope, which in Finland is 7pm - 9pm in the winters and 4pm - 6pm in summer time. If it becomes too hot inside and you start feeling ill, just open the small window and breath fresh arctic air.

Unique ride in Saunagondola requires a bag of cash

So, how can you get a ride in the Saunagondola? First of all, you need to find your way to Ylläs ski resort in northern Finland. After that, reserve the saunagondola by calling +358 40 544 7743 or by sending email to yllaskammi@iso-yllas.fi. Next, enjoy the hot ride!

Notice that you cannot reserve only the Saunagondola. Instead you have to reserve the Café Gondol 718 sauna department located at the summit of Ylläs hill. The sauna department includes regular sauna services such as showers, a sauna and a fireplace. The price of the sauna department is 500 euros (maximum 12 people).

The price for the Saunagondola is 1000 euros, but as mentioned above, in order to get a ride in the Saunagondola you have to reserve the sauna department as well, which has a price tag of 500 euros. So the total price for the Saunagondola ride and the sauna department is 1500 euros, which might sound pretty high. The reason for the price is that the Saunagondola requires at least three people to operate it. And hey! It’s the only Saunagondola in the frigging world, so you got to be ready to pay for the unique ride.

Saunagondola. Oh man… This is pure Finnish craziness! Damn cool idea. I feel proud to be Finn. I hope the guys have patented their idea, because as soon as this article is published, the idea will be copied by big European ski resorts. As you know, Homeboy’s Ski Blog is THE online ski magazine!

If you have tested the Saunagondola, please leave a comment and share your experience with us!

Guys over at Scarpar say “We want to give the worlds board riders a powersports option that will compare to ATVs, snowmobiles, and off-road motorbikes“. I am convinced.

Scarpar is a privately held small-size company in Australia. If you want to know more details of the company or the powerboard, check out their F.A.Q. There are many interesting details in this innovation, such as the powerful engine and huge speed!

Oh, and guess who is their test rider? Darren Powell, the fastest snowboarder in the world.

Check out the videos of Scarpar powerboards below. Sick!

If you want to stay tuned on Scarpar powerboard, go and register to their email list and you’ll be among the first receiving news.

I wanna have one of those!

Source [Scarpar off-road powerboard]

The story of rocker skis started from the pair of broken skis

These days you see rockered skis fairly often on the slopes. And even an occasional pair of planks with negative sidecut here and there. You also hear more and more people praise the functionality of these new designs, even for all-around use, not just for pure champagne powder.

The story of rockered skis pretty much boils down to one person, the late Shane McConkey, skier and base jumper who revolutionized the act of powder skiing. Because of McConkey’s invention, the use of rockered skis started to spread all over, changing freeride perhaps the most since the the first fat skis.

McConkey started his thorough story from the very beginning. Back in 1996 Shane was skiing on Elan. But he wasn’t that happy - in fact he was a bit annoyed

“Sure, the first super sidecut skis were awesome on groomed slopes. But on the soft snow they kept sinking and controlling the deep sidecut was pretty hard. I actually hate the extended sidecuts! On the other hand the progression went in the right direction when the skis started to get wider but otherwise it was all wrong“.

According to McConkey the right kind of powder should be wide with minimal sidecut (or not any sidecut at all).

“But you couldn’t stop the sidecut craze back then, it went on like a freight train. I remember drawing a sketch of really radically shaped skis on a napkin. I kept it with me for years but didn’t work hard enough to get it into the production  for a long time”.

But still,  the napkin sketch was a start to a process that lead to Volant Spatula in 2001 - the ski that was considered really weird at the time; to most skiers it resembled a waterski more than anything you could really use on snow.

However, McConkey remembers seeing the first rockered skis already in 1998. He was testing the new Volant Huckster ski with his friend Scott Gaffney in Squaw Valley. They compared the new design to old worn-out pair of Volant Chubbs (editor’s note: the Chubbs were one of the first fat skis around in the early 90’s). Scott’s Chubbs were bent badly - the skis were actually broken in front of the binding.

The born of the Legendary Volant Spatula, McConkey’s first reverse-camber, reverse-sidecut ski

“I remember the day like yesterday. On the way up Scott said that in his opinion the old bent skis work better than the new ones - the tips seem to float better and never sink under the snow. That was it! I felt like a ton of bricks fell on my head. Of course: that’s the way the powder skis should be”!

Back then most people skied powder slightly back-seated, to get the tips afloat. To turn also required the bouncy up-and-down movement. Trying to make skiing effortless like surfing or water skiing was really a new way to think about the whole sport.

“At that time I realized that of course  the skis should be shaped so that they work FOR the skier not against him/her”…

It took a couple of years and the legendary negative-camber, negative sidecut Volant Spatula was out. Volant factory was having a busy time and at first the brand didn’t have enough time to design skis based on the crazy visions of one team rider. Luckily two engineers, Peter Turner and Ryan Carroll started to get curious and they went on and built the Spatula - starting from McConkeys napking drawing!

“Thanks go also to Mr.  Schultz Greenberger, who accepted the 3000-pair production run for Spatulas”

Even when McConkey knew he was right, people were still laughing to the weird waterski-looking Spatulas. It didn’t matter to him.

“The shape worked way too well for me to care at all. When I met people that were totally against the idea, I knew they would be totally confused or surprised when they saw how well the skis work in reality”.

Soon many people started to experiment on the new designs and the reactions were just like the “father” of the idea had guessed: great!

“Well, it was really fun to live with this evolution of the sport“.

Rocker skis hit the mainstream

The big manufacturers have been relatively slow to adapt to the rocker revolution. Until the couple of last years, rockered skis were still quite rare and didn’t hit “mainstream” skiing. It was not until McConkey went on to K2 and created the Pontoon that the negative-camber skis started to show up in (Euro) ski resorts in larger numbers (note: quite often on the feet of the ever trend-conscious Swedes…)

This season more and more rocker skis were sighted in the freeskiing comps too. This might be a big change  - traditionally the competitors have trusted a bit narrower (and often stiffer) skis. The rockers make a difference: a very wide ski can be very maneuverable at the same time.  McConkey knows this too. The big rocker skis are the usual tools for McConkey. The increased ease of skiing doesn’t annoy him at all.

“Yes, it is much more challenging to ski 210 cm toothpicks. But do you choose to go to the wooden outhouse in the wintertime? Or it is more pleasant to use the indoor toilet instead? Why take challenges from the past when we can go on and challenge us on what’s possible with the current technology?”
(Editor’s note: that answer was pure McConkey style = hilarious!)

McConkey didn’t want to take all the honor for himself, even though he has probably affected the whole sport of freeskiing the most with his ideas.

“There are a lot of people who have done or invented great things (in skiing). Mike Douglas invented the modern twin tips, Seth Morrison has broken the boundaries on what’s possible in general, Jonny Moseley, Jamie Pierre, Tanner Hall, Simon Dumont, Jon Olson, Candide Thovex…the list goes on“.

“For sure I am proud on what I have been able to do. It is great to get your ideas out into production and see the results worldwide. I have been in the lucky position to see where the sport should go (before the others, in many cases). I guess not that many people ever get that kind of chance in their jobs“.

The last question: That said, have you ever said someone on the lift/lift line “hey you have those cool rocker skis, I invented them!

“Well, I can be quite arrogant at times – but not towards total strangers, no way. I admit that I might have thought that to myself, just to boost my own ego, but I wouldn’t shout that out to anyone (laughs)“.

EPILOGUE

I truly got the shivers working with that text.

Again, thanks to our buddies at vapaalasku.com. (Check out their site, even if you don’t know any Finnish. Great guys and great site!)

I just bought I pair of Armada JJ skis and am going to ski them in Sweden for two weeks in late April. I am going to ski the JJ’s knowing (painfully well now) that without Shane these skis would not exist at all. For every “McConkey” turn/controlled slide on the soft snow I am going to send a few thoughts to the inventor himself - R.I.P Shane McConkey.

Photos: Red Bull Photofiles

“He did a double backflip off the jump and he has these releasable bindings so they come off in the air and then he flies off in his wing suit,” filmmaker Scott Gaffney, a longtime close friend of McConkey’s, told ESPN Action Sports.

“But one ski did not come off. And when that happens the drag on the skis causes you to flip over, so the skis go over your head. So he was struggling with the one ski. Then he also got into a bad spin. So he may have never even pulled his pilot chute”, said JT Holmes, who Shane was with in Italy and who reviewed the footage of the accident. 

Shane McConkey’s death is so difficult to understand

The fact is that Shane has died, but it’s just so difficult to understand. He was so good and gifted that we really didn’t believe this could happen, even though the risks were sometimes high. Shane McConkey, who appeared in several ski films such as Steep, was one of the brightest stars in the industry. He was a role model to many of us. I really admired Shane’s positive mindset, smile, kindness and courage to live his life exactly the way he wanted. He lived large, every minute. Shane McConkey was truly an inspirational person whose lifestyle so many people followed, but now he is gone. Shane will be missed, just like Doug Coombs, Trevor Petersen and many other great skiers who died young.

Shane McConkey was known as the father of reverse camber powder skis, starting with the Volant Spatula and the more recent K2 Pontoon. He was a pioneer and motivator to thousands of skiers across the globe. Shane also won numerous awards and competitions. He started as a competitive freestyle skier, but moved on to be featured in a long line of extreme skiing movies.

Shane McConkey, 39, of Olympic Valley, Calif., is survived by his wife, Sherry, and their 3½-year-old daughter, Ayla. Our thoughts go out to McConkey’s family and friends. 

Here are few videos of Shane.

Photos: Graeme Murray/Red Bull Photofiles

Why the Twin Parabolic Ski would be a revolutionary idea? According to mr. Pyott, the number of edges helps maintain downhill speed in a turn, which can be seen when comparing standard skis vs a snowboard when turning at high speeds. The snowboard only has a single edge to turn on and therefore has fewer grips on the hill in a turn then a skier who can use two edges. This means that a snowboarder will have to check their speed to stay on a racecourse before a skier.

Is this really going to work? I’m not sure, but I’m convinced with the idea. Anyhow, I can’t imagine all difficulties and obstacles of this idea. I really would like to test ski a pair of  Twin Parabolic Skis in order to see how they perform. May be one day we can do it? Especially I’d like to hit the backcountries with these guns and see how they would perform on wild snow.

Look at those binding saddles. Would they be strong enough to cope with all the forces of Super G skiing, for example?

One thought came to my mind. If doubling the number of edges and giving more surface would lead to faster skis, why not doubling again..? I mean, instead of two parallel skis a person would have four parallel skis under each foot. He he.. may be four parallel skis under one foot would require too much horizontal space.

What say ya? Is this idea going to work? Are we going to see this kind of skis in Alpine Skiing World Cup?

Source [Yanko]

Matterhorn

But Matterhorn is not the only awe-inspiring thing in Zermatt. In february 2009 I had the good fortune of spending a week in this resort, and it left me with a desire to go back. I hope this review can give you an overview about skiing in Zermatt, and perhaps even convince you to give it a shot, and book your holiday there during the winters to come.

General Resort Information

The town Zermatt is located in a valley in the altitude of 1620 m. The relatively high altitude of the resort guarantees good snow conditions and a long season. Some of the pistes at Matterhorn Glacier Paradise are even open throughout the whole year.

Matterhorn and the moon. A view from the balcony of our hotel room early in the morning.

The main square

The town itself is by far the most beautiful mountain town I’ve visited so far. It is located in the end of Mattertal-valley right under the Monte Rosa massif. Zermatt offers its residents a spectacular view of the north face of Matterhorn. This, of course, is good news for the thriving tourism industry, whose importance to the town can only really be understood by looking at the population demographic of Zermatt. While housing it’s 5500 inhabitants, Zermatt’s various hotels offer approximately 15000 beds for the tourists to fill. Walking around the city, these numbers become obvious as the vast majority of all the buildings are hotels. Fortunately they are built with good taste as most of them resemble the traditional swiss chalet style architecture. Zermatt takes its main livelihood so

A typical electric car

seriously, that in order to prevent air pollution from disfiguring the town’s view of Matterhorn, the whole town is combustion-engine car-free zone. Local commerces handle their transportation needs with small electric vehicles. The most important sights in the town include the Alpine Museum as well as the Climbers’ Graveyard both of which are located in the city center. The climbers’ graveyard, as the name implies, serves as the final resting place for some of the more than 500 alpinists who have met their destiny trying to reach the summit of Matterhorn ever since the first ascent that took place in 1865.

Skiing in Zermatt

As I mentioned earlier, the town is in the altitude of 1620 m whereas the highest lift-station, Gobba di Rollin, is in the altitude of 3899 m. The total vertical height difference is therefore a respectable 2279 m. Furthermore, its possible to ski all the way down to Zermatt from Gobba di Rollin, if one so wishes. Matterhorn Ski Paradise and its 197 km of marked pistes are naturally divided into three distinct areas:

1. Sunnegga Paradise
2. Gornergrat area, and
3. Matterhorn Glacier Paradise and Schwarzsee Paradise

Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is also lift-linked with the neighboring Cervinia resort, which is on the italian side of the border. Including Cervinia, the total number of piste-kilometers reaches 313 km.

All three distinct areas are served by their own transport system from the town. The fastest one is the Sunnegga Express train that takes you to Sunnegga Paradise (2288 m) in just 8 minutes. There’s also a ski-lift station on the outskirts of the town from where you can get to Schwarzsee Paradise. The last alternative is to take the Cornergrat Bahn cog-wheel train with which you can travel all the way up to Gornergrat (3089 m). The ride takes a little over half an hour. The lift system in Zermatt is quite impressive. There seemed to be no bottlenecks anywhere, and the overall capacity of the lifts seemed to be sufficient to say the least. Our vacation took place in the beginning of february, which should be the busiest time of the year. Nevertheless, we never had to stand in a lift queue for more than a few minutes at a time. The other side of the coin is that Zermatt apparently has the most expensive skiing tickets in the alps. We paid CHF 421 for 6 1/2 day tickets including access to the italian side.

One of my favorite pistes. The "Red 9" from Blauherd to Patrullarve.

While there are several ski schools and plenty of beginner areas, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Zermatt would be a good resort for the beginner. There are not too many blue pistes to begin with - only about 9% of all the pistekilometers are blue. In addition, not all of them are very easy. Especially the ones descending down to Zermatt are, in fact quite challenging. This of course means that there’s a huge selection of great runs for the intermediate / expert skier or snowboarder. In addition, Zermatt offers a variety of freeride runs for the experienced skier. If this is not enough to satisfy your appetite you can always hire a mountain guide for a day and go off-piste. Unlike in France, heli-skiing is also possible. There are in fact two companies offering heli-skiing services.

Gornergletscher glacier as seen from the cablecar to Klein Matterhorn

As mentioned earlier, Zermatt is lift-linked with the italian ski resort Cervinia. However, because of avalanche danger the access to Cervinia was closed for the whole duration of our holiday. This was no biggie since there’s lots and lots of skiing to do on the Zermatt side as well. But if this happens to you, it’s good to know that in this case you are entitled to get some of your money back. So better hold on to that receipt.

While skiing you will occasionally see signs about Matterhorn Ski Safari. The safari is a route that has been put together by the tourist office. It’s basically a day-long trip that gives you the chance to ski the whole international ski area without using the same lift or run twice. If you’re planning on staying only a few days, the ski safari might be a good option for you. The safari route is also presented on the piste map.

Tips for planning your holiday in Zermatt

The first thing to mention here is: book early!! The hotels with the best value for your money are the ones that get fully booked first. I’d recommend booking your hotel at least half a year in advance. We stayed in an apartment hotel with basic cooking facilities in the room. Thus we were able to cook by ourselves, and didn’t need to eat out every evening.

If you plan to go skiing on the italian side, its very important to remember to come back before the lift-link closes for the night. If you miss it, you either have to find a hotel room in Cervinia, or take a very expensive 6 hour taxi ride back to Zermatt.

Zermatt as seen from Trockener Steg (2939 m)

The runs 52 and 51 from Schwarzsee Paradise to Furi earn a special recommendation. They take you so close to Matterhorn that you’re basically a touching distance away. As an added bonus, probably because of the relatively remote location of these runs, there were very few skiers on them. Especially in the late afternoons you can pretty much ski just by yourself.

For the occasional bad weather day, there are also other things to do in Zermatt. You can go visit the alpine museum, or relax your muscles in one of the small spas. There’s a nice small spa in the Style Hotel. If you want to swim laps, you should head to hotel Christiania. It has a 25 m pool, a sauna and a fitness-room.

In order to get the most out of your stay, I’d highly recommend getting a guide book. Prior to our holiday, we bought the Mad Dog Ski Resort Guide to Zermatt. It proved to be especially useful in choosing both on- and off-piste restaurants. Indeed, there are around 30 on-piste restaurants scattered across the skiing area plus several more on the italian side. We had some really good meals thanks to Mad Dog’s recommendations. The mountain restaurant Marmottes deserves a special recommendation due to their beautiful restaurant, delicious food and excellent service.

It’s good to know that the weather, especially on the highest peaks, can occasionally get quite extreme. We experienced temperatures down to -27°C accompanied by a strong wind.

Conclusion

If it’s not obvious yet, I really liked the place. Zermatt is a beautiful resort with some excellent skiing to be done. It’s a place that every skier should experience at least once in their lives. I’d love to go back, and I definitely will at some point. And when it comes to Matterhorn, I know that we’ve all seen an endless amount of photos of it’s north face. But believe me, when you’re actually there looking at its majestic appearance, you will be impressed. It’s a sight you just won’t get bored of.

A view from Schwarzsee Paradise

Before we take a deeper look into Opedix S1 tights, I’d like to say few words about the company who sent me this product. Opedix Labs is a company that designs and manufactures performance-based ski and running tights. The S1 (ski) and R1 (running) minimize load on an athlete knee, aligning the joint better and helping it work more efficiently, essentially reducing wear and tear and the accompanying side effects that come with it. Their running tights, posture shirts and ski/snowboard tights are proven, through scientific studies, to improve joint alignment in the knees and shoulders.

Opedix tights retail for 190 dollars and are engineered for peak performance, especially when it comes to deep powder days. the comfortable compression is proven to reduce muscle fatigue allowing for days to begin with fresh tracks and last through night skiing.

Opedix S1 ski & board tights in review

It took me a while before I got a change to review Opedix S1 ski & board tights, because I got an infection in my ankle while training for upcoming half-marathon. After resting two weeks my ankle felt better and I was ready to rock. So, few days ago I went skiing and running with Opedix tights. Although Opedix S1 ski & board tights are not optimized for running, I wanted also wanted to check how it feel running with these tights.

I opened the “bazooka” package and found a smaller “cartridge” from inside. Again inside this cartridge I found the Opedix S1 tights. I carefully took them out of the cartridge, but I managed to make a little damage to the tights. The edge of the silver colored cartridge is sharp, so I ripped the tights a little bit. Hopefully the damage is not that big, so most probably it won’t matter at all.

After unboxing the Opedix S1 ski & board tights I checked all the papers that came with the product. I found details of the product, instructions and some marketing material. It makes sense to read those few lines manufacturer has written, because there are always things you might not know about the product. For example I didn’t know that the easiest way to wear the tights is when sitting. They are so tight that wearing them like jeans wouldn’t happen easily.

Before I wear my Opedix S1 ski & board tights, I wanted to “inspect” the product a little bit. I found out that sewing is done pretty well. There are no sewing mistakes, no holes or anything that would indicate low quality. I was pretty happy with what I saw, but then I found one issue. I put my hand inside one leg of the tights, and realized that the sewing ripped off a little bit. The damage is minor, but it might expand one day, but this can be seen only in long-term test. After I have used my Opedix S1 ski & board tights 50 times I will see if the damage was serious.

It was late night when I unboxed the Opedix tight package, so I did my test on next morning. I woke up early, enjoyed a quick breakfast and hit the road. I drove to my local hill in order to test my Opedix S1 ski & board tights on slopes. It was a warm morning (only -3 centigrade), so I did wear only the tights under my ski pants.

I sat down and took some time to figure out how to wear the Opedix tights. As the name says, they are a bit tight, so you don’t wear them quick. Although I am used to wear tights when running, I wanted to wear Opedix tights right, because the knee support system must be located in the right place - around persons knee. After a minute I was wearing my Opedix S1 tights, and they felt good.

Opedix S1 ski & board tights feel really good when skiing

Wearing Opedix S1 ski & board tights feels very good. My first thought was “man, these tights feel very good!“. They feel tight, but flexible. Knee support system is exactly around my knee, and I can easily go up and down without feeling pressure.

Opedix S1 tights felt also good on slopes. I went skiing couple of hours, and during that time I had no problems with the tights. They felt really good under my ski pants. It never felt like my tights would “drop down”. They kept their position all the time, even though I went from backcountry skiing to cliff dropping and jumps, as well as fast giant slalom type skiing on slopes.

After couple of hours of skiing I had a little coffee break. While drinking my coffee I realized that I didn’t even remember I was wearing the tights. Opedix tights are tight around knees because of the knee support system, but that tightness is not disturbing at all.

As an experienced skier I can say I am very satisfied with my Opedix S1 ski & board tights. They are absolutely good for skiing.

Also running with Opedix S1 tights feels good

I am currently training for upcoming half-marathon races here in Finland. I usually run one long and 2-3 short runs in a week, and on that day I was about to run my long run. Even though Opedix S1 ski & board tights are not optimized for running, I wanted to find out how it feels running with these tights. So, in the end of the day I went running in the nearby forest wearing my Opedix tights.

Just like when skiing, you don’t really notice that your wearing Opedix tights. They feel very good and natural, but may be a little bit cold, because in the end of the day the temperature went down to -12 centigrade. On summertime this problem naturally doesn’t exist.

Opedix S1 ski & board tights minimize load on an athlete knee, aligning the joint better and helping it work more efficiently, essentially reducing wear and tear and the accompanying side effects that come with it. It is difficult to notice this feature in one day, so I guess I will see the effect of Opedix S1 tights during the next few months. Anyhow, I am really satisfied with my Opedix tights, so I believe that the knee support system will bring benefits in the long run.

Just like any other gear review in Homeboy Ski Blog, also this one is purely honest and unbiased. We don’t get paid for these reviews, but we keep the stuff companies send us. By this I want to say that my review of Opedix S1 ski & board tights is purely based on my experience of the tights during one day. I truly recommend purchasing Opedix S1 tights for skiing and snowboarding. I like them very much.

If you are interested in Opedix tights, please order your tights in Opedix webshop. Use the following promo code provided for Homeboy Ski Blog readers:  skistronger09. With the promo code you get 15% discount from the normal price.

If you are interested in sending us your stuff for review, please contact us by sending email or leaving a message with our contact form.

After visiting five different places we found a nice place to stay with a reasonable price: TahoeCityInn, a nice, small hostel in Tahoe City village  only a 15-minute drive from Squaw Valley ski center. At this hostel (with breakfast included during the weekends) you could stay 9 nights instead of staying 2 nights at a pretty expensive hotel in the center of Squaw. Maybe some folks would have solved this problem by using one of their top rated credit cards, but I found it reasonable to save money this time.

Awesome opening day at Freeride World Tour at Squaw Valley

The first competition day was held  on Friday 27th on the “Silverado” mountain face under a bluebird sky and with good snow conditions. Riders chose their lines in the competition morning by watching the face with binoculars. The face offered many different line choices and the first rider had to be ready at 10:30 am on the start. Men rode before the women. The 1st competition day gave a really spectacular show for audience and judges, but unfortunately I couldn’t see more than two runs of the men’s competition because I had to climb up to the start to get ready for my turn. Anyhow, I was lucky to see one of the best lines of the first day. Jeremy Jones and Xavier de Le Rue were absolutely the kings of the day on snowboard, while skier Reine Barkered took the victory in the men’s ski competition.

It was very nice to have a new young face on the men’s ski podium, and the media was fascinated for the same reason. The smile on this new winner’s face could have told a thousand things, but you could see him simply grinning: ”This is it!” I guess he had one of the happiest moments of his skiing career. I talked to Reine afterward and he was very stoked over his first big victory and he was really relieved that this victory increases his ranking on the Freeride World Ranking (FWR) and he will have a good chance to ride in the finals in Verbier ski resort.

Not a bad day for ladies either

The women had very strong riding on the first day too, especially US female skier Elyse Saugstad. Also snowboard winner Susan Mol was acting very strong that day. The snow was pretty good the whole day, so even the last riders were able to enjoy the soft fresh snow. Some male riders started from the roof of the ski cabin, which gave a good possibilities for tricks, and we enjoyed different variations of back flips and tricks.

Kaisa Härkönen ended up in 4th place. I had a really bad run on that day, because my fluidity was not good and I had to do some line checks by stopping two times on my run. Even the two clear jumps could not score me high on the ranking, and I ended up in 7th place, which means that I was totally last in snowboard class. I was really disappointed in my run and my result of course, but once again my very best snowboarding friend and the legendary Steve Klassen made my day better by saying: ”Competing is uphills and downhills. Some days you do well, some days you feel like shit. The most important thing is that snowboarding should always bring you good feelings and you should never lose that sense of why you want to jump on your board again and again”. I realized that my whole life should not be so dependent on results and competing, but it is hard when you define yourself so much based on how you do in comps and how you ride. Damn it is hard to accept bad runs and badly chosen lines!

Squaw Valley provides spectacular backcountry riding

After the competition most of the riders went riding powder, and we enjoyed the whole scale of different lines, couloirs, jumps, and tree runs with excellent company consisting of some pro riders and local legendary Dave Hatchett (from Hachett brothers, Starndard Films Production) who took us riding in the nice area of Squaw Valley. The Squaw ski resort differs a lot from European ski resorts in its profile and elevation. Americans are so fond of giving names to jumps and cliffs, so they made a ”guide book” called ”Squallywood” which tells the names of unique runs and cliffs and jumps. Like in Europe, you normally do not name the rocks, only the couloirs and runs. In Squaw Valley every little rock has a name. It makes sense some how, because the area of Squaw Valley is not that large compared to Chamonix for example.

It was nice to ride in Squaw Valley during those 10 days, except we were a bit unlucky with the weather. It was raining water three days after the first competition day and after that the big dump started. It snowed about a meter in three days and the snow levels were pretty unstable after the rain. The ski patrol paid close attention to skiers’ security in the Squaw Valley ski area and unfortunately one ski patrol guy died in an avalanche accident during the work day in securing the places for skiers. So this happened in the ski area and it did not have anything to do with our competition.

Serious powder hunting at Squaw Valley

After waiting four days for the second competition day, the organization decided to cancel the second day. The first day’s results were the final results of the FWT 2nd stop in Squaw Valley. The two last days in Squaw were dedicated to powder riding and nothing in the whole world could not keep the riders away from that!

The places were tracked very soon after the lifts were opened and the lines on the lifts were amazing in the morning at 9 am. The local guys told us that the most fanatic powder hunters come on the line at 6.30 am to make sure that they will draw the first lines on the faces that have vertical distance of about 500m! Americans, I love them!

One thing I did not like in the Squaw Valley ski resort was that all the skiers were carrying beepers but no one had a backpack with a shovel and a probe (check also our backcountry ski gear list). I asked one of the locals why you even carry a beeper if you cannot dig your friend out of an avalanche. The answer was that nobody here carries  a shovel and you can dig your friend out  using your skis or snowboard, and that the locals pretty much trusted the avalanche security system made by the ski patrol. They believe it is only a minimum risk to be in an ”avi” like they call the avalanches when the lifts are opened for clients. Scary, in my opinion. I am used to a bit different riding culture after spending many seasons in Chamonix. Anyway we had a great week and a good show in the U.S., so thank you America!