Wow, what can you say about Kitzbuhel’s ferocity? That place seems to always chew up and spit out one poor soul every year.
You may remember the 07/08 season when American Scott McCartney crashed on the final jump of the Hahnenkamm downhill.
Well, this year there was another casualty. Daniel Albrecht of Switzerland took the final jump, lost his balance and landed right on his back, skis shattering in the process and Albrecht sliding to a halt at the finish.
He was wearing back protection when he crashed going some 130 km/h, and thankfully so. He came away with a crushed lung and head trauma, but no doubt without back protection and a helmet, things would have been much much worse.
As of the writing of this blog, Albrecht was still in an artificial coma, his hemothorax stopped, lung infection staved and head trauma progress positive (information taken from http://www.skionline.ch/index.php?section=news&cmd=details&newsid=7472&teaserId=) .
We all wish him well and remind ourselves as avid winter sports enthusiasts to protect ourselves with quality safety gear.
In the video clip below Romed Baumann of the Austrian Ski team chats about the SLYTECH 2ND SKIN BACK PROTECTOR on Austrian ORF TV.
Unreal things happen when two friends get together and look for trouble. This video of Romain de Marchi — Slytech’s newest shredder — and Travis Rice hitting Chad’s Gap in Utah. The gap is about 120ft wide and consists of 2 piles of old abandoned mine dirt.
It was considered completely unridable for snowboarders, but one day when the boys were out, they looked at one another and thought, damn, we can do this!
This is what resulted… please, do NOT try this on your own, unless you’ve got serious balls, adult supervision, are a bit “off” in the head, solid medical insurance, a Shred helmet, and a Slytech 2nd Skin Back Protector.
Ted looked deep into Vladimir’s eyes and… saw a friend.
Haha. I’ll never forget the day George “dubya” Bush said that about Vladimir and lo and behold, it turned out Russian relations went down the tubes!
But, thanks to Ted, there couldn’t be any smoother sailing between the USA and Russia. He even had the balls to hand Putin a Barack Obama bumper sticker and said: “here, put this on your car!”
That takes some serious serious guts. Good stuff!
On Friday January 2nd, 16 of the top men’s alpine skiing athletes participated in a promotional event meant to create enthusiasm for the 2016 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Organizers estimated over 25,000 people attended the FIS alpine promotional event held on a specially constructed ramp towering 183 feet over the heart of the Russian capital.
Even though he had Vlad pulling for him, he managed to come in 4th, behind Bode (3rd), Grange (2nd) and Neureiter.
Wild stuff that event, and it made you think: imagine they pulled that off in Central Park in NYC? Or in Chicago? Or any major European city? Fun…
Whether you’re in the Rockies, Alps, New Zealand, or Moscow: RIP IT UP!
The Slytech Fam and I want to wish you Happy and Healthy New Year! I don’t know about you, but it always shocks me when I think about just how FAST the year cruises by. You blink once and whamo, it’s over.
What’s the take-home lesson?
Milk every day you’ve got! Are you hesitating about hitting the hill on an average winter Saturday? Use your gut instinct and TAKE ACTION! In any case, NO REGRETS!
The ladies in Semmering had no regrets this past weekend in Austria. One of the biggest and most visited events of the ladies FIS Alpine World Cup circuit, Semmering night slalom boasts 12,000 screaming fans in attendance and hundreds of thousands more glued to their TV. Bright lights and the most cutting edge ski gear in the world can be seen at events like these.
The technicians of the top tier skiers are constantly tweaking the skis, using the newest waxes, sharpening edges just right for the snow conditions and then of course reporting back to the ski manufacteurers on their findings of what works and what does not. Countless personnel is always on hand to drive the R&D process.
Slytech, in just a few years of being on the scene, has been able to penetrate the market and convince many skiers that their gear, both 2nd skin back protection and nervous arm and shin guards are at the vanguard of engineering R&D. It says a lot when long established companies suddenly see a newcomer come in and (A) look cutting edge and (B) see them worn by the world’s best!
If you ever have the privilege of sitting in the lunch room with all these ski girls, you’ll always see a bunch of of them wearing Slytech 2nd Skin back protectors and their Nervous Guards.
