Ski Equipment Launch 2012

Each year at the start of the season, the Snow + Rock  Equipment Supervisors from across the company come together in Manchester at the Chill Factore to find out about hot new products for the year ahead, improve their skills, expand their knowledge and test ski equipment.

The Equipment Launch is run over 3 days and covers a vast array of topics from making and moulding foot beds to sales figures and trends, to hands on product testing with each day having an overall theme.

Day 1

Day 1 was reserved for the fitting process of boots, including manufacturing custom footbeds, and fitting transfoam liners. All of the staff had the chance to make custom footbeds using the Sidas custom moulding process, while under the watchful eye of Martin Driscoll and Julian Thorpe from Sidas.

In addition, many equipment staff also worked with the Transfoam custom liners, with the experienced staff shared their tips and tricks with those newer to the foaming process.

Big thanks to Sidas for continued support on such an important day.

Day 2

New for this year was the inclusion of a Backcountry product day where we had experts from across the field come and share their product knowledge & hands on experiences with our team. Throughout the day there were multiple practical workshops from all of our suppliers who were always there to ensure that our staff have some of the best training in the industry.

Chill Factore Manchester Real Snow Centre

Prepping for the first climb up the slope

• Noble Custom were on hand with Ortovox transceivers, shovels and probes giving the staff a chance to have some practical time with this year’s products, plus walking us through the new Ortovox Zoom transceiver and explaining about what makes these products unique.
• Black Diamond worked with all the groups passing on key information on Avalung, skin cutting and the many exciting ski and pole products on offer this year – showcasing their strong, lightweight equipment which is as much at home on piste as it is carving in 2 feet of snow.
• Anatom who closely work with BCA, set up a simulated search scenario in the car park to let our staff work with the BCA Trackers and find “buried” victims. In addition, there was the opportunity to try out the new BCA Float Avalanche Airbag system – both inflating it and packing it away.
• Working with Noble Custom, ABS sent over from their head office Daniel Buss European Export Manager who worked with all our staff to make them familiar with the ABS system. Everyone had the chance to try on the packs, and experience an inflation simulating what happens in an emergency.

To cap the day off, Snow + Rock were awarded the distinction  of “PRO Dealer” from ABS  thanks in part to our level of understanding,  depth of product offerings and long partnership with ABS . This is quite the honour as we are the only retailer in the UK to have this status, and one of only a handful outside Europe to hold this distinction!!

It was a really successful day for all the staff and a great opportunity to share knowledge and hear from industry leaders and experts in the field about backcountry equipment. It became quite clear to everyone that the products we have on hand for the year ahead are better and simpler to use than ever before as manufacturers continuously work to make off piste skiing safer and the equipment more cost effective.

It is worth noting that proper education in the use of these tools is essential – if you’re considering heading into the backcountry this year, pop into store and speak to the Equipment Team for guidance and information.  You can be sure that if you’re heading off piste this year, there is something on offer for almost every budget to keep you safe.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Sam Noble and Miles Parry-Jones at Noble Custom; Daniel Buss at ABS, Dan Phillips at Black Diamond and Mark Staddle from Anatom.

Day 3

Climbing the Chill Factore Slopes

One of the key reasons that Equipment Launch is held at the Chill Factore is to allow everyone to try the ski equipment that will be in our stores, and offers first-hand slope experience to the staff. This year is no exception and we had a huge offering of equipment, products and activities throughout the day to give everyone the maximum opportunity to try various products.

Everyone tried equipment from all our brands, from Piste to Big Mountain and participants could see why each piece of ski equipment was particularly selected to go into our range.

One of the day’s highlights had to be Nigel Shepard working with everyone to introduce and experience the new Salomon Guardian Binding, as well as making sure that everyone tried their hand at putting skins on trekking to the top and skiing a few laps.

K2 Rescue Sled

In addition, Simon from K2 spent time building the K2 Rescue Sled using the parts from the K2 Rescue Shovel. The key thing here was how relatively simple it was to do and that in an emergency – this sled could literally be the difference between life and death. Of course once it was complete, it was important to test it out to see a) how comfortable it was and b) how easy it was to pull. On both accounts it stands up to muster and in an emergency it would be a welcome addition.

These events are key to making sure our staff are up to date on the latest products and have the best training and experiences, which in turn means they can offer a better level of service and understanding to our customers.

A big thanks to the brands for all their help on the day and for bringing such great equipment to ski:

• Atomic – Russ O’Neil
• Salomon – Eric Davies, Pete Waghorn, Pat Sharples , Dan Botham, Kayleigh Hill
• Scott – Mark Wood, Lee Hardy
• Rossignol – Chris Best, Hugh Scott
• Lange – Scott Dobson
• Head – Matt Humphries
• Fischer – Robert Reid
• K2, Volkl – Simon Smith

Thanks to everyone involved in the setup and running of the Snow + Rock Equipment Launch 2012. Here’s looking forward to a great year ahead!

Useful Links:

Winter 2012/13 ski range 

Transceivers & off piste safety kit at Snow+Rock

Ski touring and backcountry at Snow+Rock

Ski Buying Guides

Sherpa Training Day – Peak District

I was lucky enough to be invited on a training session for some Snow+Rock staff by Sherpa Adventure Gear, a brand new to the UK this year. Obviously I jumped at the chance and did a bit of research into the brand, their history and why we’re stocking them this year.

Sherpa Adventure Gear are a family owned business, founded in 2003, that make quality outdoor clothing. What really sets them apart is that they’re based in Nepal, setup by a Sherpa, and have a charity ethic.

It’s named after the “Sher-pa” (people of the east) who trekked from the snowy reaches of Tibet into the Khumbu Valley of Nepal some 300 years ago. These people have since become synonymous with Himalayan expeditions, on which they’ve helped climbers reach the high summits by carrying loads, laying ropes and setting the routes. They are known as tireless and trustworthy people.

The company itself is based in Kathmandu bringing much-needed manufacturing to Nepal. As they phrase it; “’Made in Nepal’ means the world to us socially, economically and environmentally.” They go on to describe how this brings much needed jobs and money into this poor corner of the world.

Not only does the company take the name “Sherpa” but its founder was himself a Sherpa – Tashi Sherpa, a relative of one of the Sherpa’s on the first successful Everest expedition in 1953. He set the company up to leave a lasting legacy in the region and to benefit the local people. To this end they give $0.50 for every item sold to a local charity that provides education to underprivileged Sherpa children.

All this gives you that nice confident feeling that you’ll be investing in a product that will do some good in the world. Which is great – if the products also perform. I was inspired that they’d be able to do this by the fact that they’ve signed some of the British climbing royalty – in form of Kenton Cool (10 times Everest summiteer), Neil Gresham (arguably Britain’s top climbing coach) and the young gun Ed Hamer to act as ambassadors and testers of their products. People with the experience these guys have don’t put their names to just any brand.

So on a cool November morning we arrived at Stanage Plantation car park, closely followed by the guys from Sherpa. After a quick, hot cup of tea and a change of clothing later, and we were kitted out and ready to go. The guys each had a Sherpa Men’s Dorje 1/4 Zip Top, Sherpa Men’s Lithang Jackets, and a Sherpa hat. Rosie, our female representative, got to try a Sherpa Women’s Diklia 1/4 Zip, Sherpa Women’s Lithang Jacket, and a Sherpa hat.

We then watched a video (also available here) on an iPad, providing an interesting and thorough introduction to the brand. This was followed by a discussion of the products features you might look for, who would be interested in them. At this point the rock was still a little damp and the wind was blowing so our first test of the kit would be to head up to the edge at a good pace (to test out the breathability), before scrambling up and down the edge a couple of times to test out the durability and comfort. All the tests worked well and full reviews of each of the items are available as part of our shopping site.

We had lunch back at the car park (a good selection of pasties, piccalilli, and Mule bars) and then headed back to the now dry boulders. Personally I found the Lithang Jacket to be a little hot for bouldering – as you’d expect from a Gore-Tex Pro jacket. The Polartec Powerstretch in the Dorje was superb at keeping my temperature regulated – which was needed, as we’d moved on to the highball (well for me anyway) “Pebble Arête” high up on this is definitely not where you want to be worrying about what you’re wearing! Other classics soon followed with plenty of time spent working the “Green Traverse” (Matt showing us how it was done) followed by “Crescent Arête” and “Not To Be Taken Away”.

All in all it was a top day – lots of fun and a good introduction to the brand and all they stand for. I’d highly recommend Sherpa both as a brand and for the quality of their products. Checkout some of the pics in our Facebook album here and for more information on Sherpa go to http://www.snowandrock.com/sherpa/content/fcp-content

Written by Oliver Mentz – E-commerce Manager, Snow+Rock.

Ollie is a keen climber, mountaineer and skier who looks after the development of our website. Most weekends you’ll find him hanging off one of the many cliffs in the UK.

‘Few Words’ UK Premiere – Interview with Candide Thovex

Last night Snow+Rock went to the London premiere of Quiksilver’s new Candide Thovex movie Few Words.

The film is a biopic tracking Candide from childhood, his early X Games wins and climb to fame, to his devastating accident in 2007 when he broke his back and then coming back to win the Freeride World Tour on his first attempt.

With retro footage and amazing new freeride segments the film is epic and demonstrated why Candide is considered a god among freeskiers! Here our Marketing Manager Claire Collins got to interview the star before the film:

Snow+Rock interviews Candide Thovex

S+R – I’m very excited about seeing the film, the trailer looks amazing! You’ve been filming Few Words for the last couple of years. What would you say is your favourite place to ski?

CT – Definitely home in La Clusaz and then I’d say Canada. The terrain is great there – totally adapted to my type of skiing. It’s perfect for freeride, I always say it’s like my Disneyland!

S+R – Were there any scary moments during filming? In the trailer there were some close encounters with wolves and bears..

CT – Yes for sure, there were wolves and scary moments, but the scariest is standing on the top of a steep, attempting a line we haven’t tried before, you never know what might happen… Avalanches or falling onto rocks. But being scared is good, it get’s you on the defence so you protect yourself.

S+R – You started competing at 16 at the X Games and then won the Red Bull Line Catcher your first comp after breaking your back and went on to win the Freeride World Tour in your first attempt. What would you say is your best podium achievement?

CT – I think the Freeride World Tour because when I broke my back I didn’t know whether I was going to be able to ski the same way again. I wasn’t confident at all, the first thing they told me when I broke my back was that I wouldn’t be able to ski or jump the same way. So I never expected to win in my first competition.

S+R – Was that your decision to go back into freeride more than the park?

CT – Definitely – the landings are much softer on the screws in my back. It took me a year and half before I started jumping again and getting the feeling back. Then I went into powder and we started filming – the first film we did was Candide Camera, which was great because I didn’t know whether I was going to be able to ski again. Then I started competing again, my first competition back was the Red Bull Line Catcher and I won it. So I thought maybe I should do the Freeride World Tour. So I tried and won, which was great because it was a different type of competition.

S+R – Which do you prefer? Park or freeride?

CT – In terms of competition they’re both great but FWT taught me a lot of things, about studying your line. To start with it was really easy to get lost, because when you get to the start line there is nothing to see.

S+R – We’re getting excited about the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Are you excited about the prospect of Freeskiing being included?

CT – Yes it’s great for getting the sport out to the masses and into mainstream media, but we have to make sure it keeps the spirit of freeride because the whole reason we took up the sport was because it was removed from the serious side of alpine and mogul skiing with all the coaching and training. We were inspired by snowboarding because it was something new, fun and creative, and it was all about style. I hope it keeps that spirit, as many Olympic sports get too strict and serious.

S+R – James Woods is currently ranked number one in the world for the Olympic qualifiers. Have you had any contact with ‘Woodsy’ over the past couple of years and what do you think of his chances in Sochi?

CT – I haven’t skied with James but he’s super cool and very modest. I’ve checked out some of his stuff online – he’s great. He’s probably a good chance for you guys.

S+R – Who is your favourite person to ride with?

CT – Definitely my friends back home, I travel a lot so it’s always great to come back home.

S+R – Is that where the Candide Invitational came from? Inviting all your mates to your ‘hood?

CT – Yes, getting the chance to build these big jumps in my backyard, it was like a dream. I used to ride the jumps when I was a kid but to be able to build exactly what i wanted was a dream. But I haven’t done it since I broke my back, but we’re talking now with Quiksilver about starting it again.

S+R – Coming back from any injuries is tough but did you have any dark days when you thought you wouldn’t ski again? How do you pull yourself back from that?

CT – It was super tough but you have to be positive and it’s all in your mental attitude, you have to stay positive mentally and the passion drives you. I’ve been super lucky though. I didn’t believe them when they told me I wouldn’t ski again, and then a year after I started skiing again it was painful. Every little bump hurt, so I started to think maybe they were right, and that’s when I started stressing about it. But I kept believing I could do it and I had a lot of work on my back with massages and stretching, I started feeling better and better and then it was like a crescendo.

S+R – You have been at the very top of the freeski industry for years. Does it feel like things have changed over that time?

CT – Yes, when I started it was nothing. Just small jumps and pipes and nothing in terms of tricks, and there would only be a few skiers in the park. Now we go to the parks and see young kids getting involved and doing their thing. You can definitely see the evolution of everything we’ve been trying to build, with more and more people it’s finally been accepted into mainstream and Olympics.

S+R – Thanks for taking the time to speak to Snow+Rock.

CT – No worries, I hope you enjoy the film!

Note to Candide… We definitely did!!

Quiksilver Scope Jacket

The Candide Thovex pro-rider range from Quiksilver (as featured in the movie) is available from selected Snow+Rock stores and snowandrock.com

http://www.snowandrock.com/pws/UniqueProductKey.ice?ProductID=QUI0477RR

Useful links

Quiksilver range at Snow+Rock

Pre-order ‘Few Words’ on DVD

Salomon Freeski Team – coming to our Chill Factore store today!

Legends of the freeski fraternity – Mike Douglas, Josh Dueck and Andreas Fransson are coming to Chill Factor^e, Manchester this afternoon!

The team are over to celebrate the launch of Salomon’s first UK Brand Store in partnership with Snow+Rock.

Along with Snow+Rock Croydon, these new stores have the largest range of Salomon anywhere in the UK!

Come and meet the ‘godfather of freeskiing’ – Mike Douglas, along with Josh Dueck and Andreas Fransson  in store at midday, watch their movies, and then ride with them out on the slope!

Day: Today!

Time: 12 -4pm

Where?

Snow+Rock Chill Factor^e Store

Trafford Way

Manchester

Watch the team in action:

Tempting Fear (Andreas Fransson)

Freedom Chair (Josh Dueck)

Sit Ski Backflip (Josh)

Useful Links

Visit our Salomon Shop-in-Shop online

Subscribe to the Salomon Freeski Team’s youtube channel 

Servicing your skis with SnowGlide tools

The winter season’s just kicking off, so now’s the time to delve into your garage/attic/cupboards and see how your skis have fared over the summer.

If you heavily waxed them before you stored them, then it’s time to strip off the old and put new wax on.  If you’ve not touched them since you got back from your ski holiday last year, then you might want to think about getting them serviced, so that they’re in tip-top condition before you go on your next adventure.

With full ski and snowboard service facilities available in the majority of our stores, we can service them for you.  However, if you fancy doing it yourself, we have a range of ski tuning and maintenance products to help you.

One of the brands we’re really proud to be working with this year is SnowGlide – we’re their sole UK retailer.  SnowGlide offer high performance tools for sharpening skis and other winter sports equipment. The Scottish National Team and UK skiers and National team members Dougie Crawford & TJ Baldwin  (to name just a few!) have all purchased SnowGlide equipment from us.

The range consists of:

• AF-L which can sharpen the side (lateral) edge of the ski
• AF-1 which has the ability to tune both the base and side (lateral) ski edges
• AM-1 Angle Meter, which helps determine the edge angles and assess the accuracy of the ski tune

Here’s a pic of the famous world cup and Olympic Champion Ted Ligety’s ski tech servicing his skis.  Ted then went on to win the race in Solden on 28th October 2012!

So whether you’re looking for top of the range tools, or some more race wax, we can help.

Useful Links:

Ski tuning and maintenance products at SnowandRock.com

SnowGlide at SnowandRock.com

The winner of the Volcom snowboard is….

….Íde Bríd from Cork, Ireland! Congratulations!

Here’s the board against the realistic mountain backdrop in the office, just before we post it out…

Gutted you missed out?  Check out the rest of our snowboards and watch out for other competitions coming soon!

A view from the warehouse as the new winter gear rolls in!

It’s that time of the year in the Snow + Rock warehouse where we start to get excited about the new winter season. Our buying teams have been out sourcing the very best brands from all over the world and ensuring all the new kit arrives in the warehouse before the weather turns cold and we all start thinking about skiing and boarding.

Some of the team have been here for many years. Marc & Penny who run the warehouse have a combined S+R life of 33 years! But even they are still inspired by the literally hundreds of lorry loads of new winter stock arriving about now, although it is lots of hard work for the whole team (we have about 80 people during our busiest time).  Deliveries are booked in by the suppliers a week or two before they arrive; it is important to book a slot because there is not much room for big container lorries outside our building and we don’t want them all arriving at once. Most of the stuff comes on pallets, which makes life a little easier because (once we have checked all the quantities and sent the paperwork off to our accounts department) we can then forklift the pallets straight to the appropriate floor of the warehouse (equipment on the bottom, then clothing and finally accessories at the top).

It all comes out of its boxes and is given S+R labels before being split between stock going straight out to stores and stock put away in the warehouse storage (for web customers and restocking the shops later in the season). Every day our system automatically generates a long list of items that need to go into shops or that people have ordered online, and we have a team of pickers whose job is to whizz round the warehouse finding all of those things and getting them to the web dispatch team or into big metal cages for our delivery drivers to pick up and take to stores first thing the following morning. For newbies like me (this will be my first winter here) it’s just like being the kid in the candy shop. As the photos below show there are rows and rows of cool new jackets, pants in all the latest must-have colours, fabulous new technology skis and boards, cosy base layers and fleeces, the list is endless.

Top of my wish list to Santa will be the new Salomon X-Max boot which has some incredible new “Twin Frame” technology offering mouldable inners and the amazing Smith recon goggles with heads-up display that instantly tells me how fast I’m going and a load of other key stats with which to impress my mates in the après bar. They’re quite expensive but just the coolest gadget on the slopes. Most of this stuff is in our lovely shops already so do go in and have a browse. Alternatively the website has our full range and the new brochure has some great shots to whet your appetite. Fingers crossed for lots of snow (I hear it is already chucking it down in the Alps) and here’s to a great season skiing in the very best kit money can buy!

Hamish, Head Office Team

Voluntary Recall Notice from Wild Country – Wild Country Ropeman 3

“This is a Voluntary Recall Notice from Wild Country”

29th October 2012

For the safety of all of our customers we are issuing an immediate recall of the Wild Country Ropeman 3. If you own a Wild Country Ropeman 3 please read this notice carefully and follow the instructions:  “How to Return the Product”.

Reason for the recall:

The Ropeman III ascending device meets the requirements of EN567 (Mountaineering Equipment. Rope Clamps), however it has come to our attention that in certain circumstances, rather than locking on the rope as expected, the Ropeman III may slip when initially loaded. This slippage is more likely to occur when the rope is under significant tension and the cam of the Ropeman III has not been specifically set in position on the rope by the user.  Once the cam has been properly located on the rope and the Ropeman 3 loaded without slippage the device will perform as expected.  Nevertheless we recognize that there may well be scenarios particularly in difficult conditions such as poor weather, extreme fatigue or during the course of an accident where the Ropeman 3 may not in our opinion be fully relied upon to meet the reasonable expectations of the user.

Our first priority is the safety of our climbing and mountaineering colleagues and customers, therefore we have taken the decision to recall the Ropeman 3 with immediate effect.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

How to identify the product:

The Ropeman 3 is clearly marked with its name, comes in red and blue and can also be identified by it’s ridged aluminium cam (a replacement version with a spiked stainless cam will be available).

Stock Code
14ROPE3B   14ROPE3R  14ROPE3BSET  14ROPE3RSET

Product Description:
Wild Country Ropeman 3 Blue / Red  // Wild Country Ropeman 3 Red / Blue Synergy Lite Set.

EAN Barcode:
14ROPE3B = 5033286040458        / 14ROPE3R = 5033286040472
14ROPE3BSET = 5033286040465 / 14ROPE3RSET = 5033286040489

Batch Codes Affected:
LAL, LBL, MMA, MMB, MMC, MMD, MME, MMF, MMG, MMH, MMJ

The products marked with the batch codes listed above can be identified by their aluminium ridged cam. Following product modification future Ropeman 3 will have a stainless steel toothed cam.

How to return the product:
Please return the Wild Country Ropeman 3 either;

1. To the retailer where you purchased the Wild Country Ropeman 3.
2. Directly to Wild Country Headquarters in the UK.
3. To the national Wild Country or Salewa distributor.

Contact Information:
Please make sure you securely attach your address, your e-mail and telephone number to any unit returned.

Postage Costs:
As a compensation for shipping cost, you will receive a Wild Country Xenon 10cm quickdraw.

Return Addresses:      
Wild Country UK
Meverill Rd
Tideswell
Nr Buxton
Derbyshire
SK17 8PY

Wild Country International
Via this link you can find your nearest store or national distributor;

http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/store-locator/

What will happen with my returned product?
We will deal with your product as quickly and efficiently as possible.
We will replace your Ropeman 3 with your choice of Ropeman 1 or Ropeman 2 together with locking karabiner.

For more information, do not hesitate to contact us:
Via e-mail :  info@wildcountry.co.uk
Via Phone : + 44 (0) 1298 871010

Product not affected:
Please note the Ropeman 1 and Ropeman 2 are NOT affected by this recall.

For more information please visit the Wild Country website