This post is part of the Slam Video Contest we got going on. Win a $200 back protector every month all season long if you have the hottest slam video (the highest "likes" and tweets wins). If you want to enter to win it, submit your entry here: http://slytechprotection.com/slamvids

Skier: Danny

Location: Steamboat Springs

What’s the deal with this slam: It was my first day with some brand new poles and at the end of the video you can see that one of my poles got stuck in the snow and stopped me from hitting my friend who was standing there. The cliff was about 15 feet (we measured it the next day).

This post is part of the SLAM VIDEO CONTEST, where we give away a $200 back protector to the best slam video (the one with the most FB Likes and Tweets) and tons of swag for runners up.

If you like this slam, click on the FB LIKE and/or TWEET button.

Rider: Alec Girten

Location: Vail, CO, USA

What's the deal with this slam: I was racing in Vail for the smartwool speed series and i was already injured so i was skiing very poorly and conservatively. I saw the finish and sort of shut off my brain and you can see what happened after that.

If you like Nick's slam, click on the Facebook Like Button and or Tweet about it by clicking the twitter button...

Rider: Nick Abate

Location: Horseshoe Valley, Ontario, Canada

What's the deal with this slam: Hey Slytech! My name is Nick Abate and I have one hell of a slam for you. I've been boarding for many years now (about 7) and this was a slam I'll never forget. One because it was on video, and two because I almost broke my whole face. Long story short, a boardslide + catching the rail = FACEPLANT. Or, by the looks of the video, you might want to call it a face GRIND. Take a look and see!

This post is part of the SLAM VIDEO CONTEST, where we give away a $200 back protector to the best slam video (the one with the most FB Likes and Tweets) and tons of swag for runners up.

If you like this slam, click on the Facebook Like Button and or Tweet about it by clicking the twitter button...

Rider: Ian Staton

Location: UK Milton Keynes Xscape - TSA Winter Games

What's the deal with this slam: This is my son at the weekend for the high jump contest at the TSA Winter Games in Milton Keynes Xscape snowdome UK, He cleared all the previous levels with ease and then took this one a little too fast and took a hit right to flat on his back. Think he deserves a decent back protector after this, the one he was wearing got put a bit out of shape after the crash. He's came out of it with no serious long term damage and just suffered some serious whiplash to the neck lower back and coxxyx and should be riding again in 3 weeks.

Head on over to the SLAM VIDEO/ SLAM PHOTO SUBMISSION PAGE and enter to win a $200 back protector or tons of swag!

Check out Slytech rider Naku hit the mini pipe...

When he's not on the mountain absolutely ripping it up, he's out skating. This from a recent email sesh:

"It's been the hottest summer ever in Finland, so i've just been skating, swimming, playing etc. while not working... "

Funny, everyone else I talk to in Europe says they had exactly 3 weeks of summer. How does Finland get the hottest summer and the mainland gets nothing?

Well, whatever, Naku took the time to send us this little skate clip...

2nd day skating after my surgery from Eero Ettala on Vimeo.

Hard-charging Leanne Smith joins the Slytech team! For those of you who don't know her, here's a little introduction.

BIOGRAPHY
Olympian Leanne Smith followed her older sister Laurel into skiing, latched onto racing and has kept shaving microseconds from her time. A NorAm champion and topflight junior skier, she inked a spot on the World Cup elite after finishing 23rd in her career first World Cup start, which also happened to be the first downhill of the 2008 season.

Coming back from injury is never easy, but it didn't slow Smith in 2010. After missing the latter half of 2009 with a torn ACL, this Granite Stater linked World Cup points in seven races (scoring in downhill, super G and super combined) and notched a Europa Cup downhill win en route to three top five finishes at her first Olympic Winter Games. Then she won the U.S. downhill title.

Early summer, she was nailing the Center of Excellence with a bit of rehab following a minor knee scope and a procedure to remove a screw from her ACL surgery, but all things are pointing in the right direction and Smith was full speed by New Zealand.

LEANNE SAYS
It was definitely cool to be a part of the Olympics for the first time, but I didn't want to just be a part of the team, I wanted to kick some butt and I think I could have skied a lot better.

I'm proud of my season and things are coming along. I was more consistent towards the end of the year and feeling more confident. I got my butt kicked in the gym this summer doing a lot of things at the Center of Excellence and I made the switch to Rossignol, which I'm really positive about. I'm psyched on our new coaches and I'm excited about next season and the few after. I'm ready to do some damage.

FIRST TRACKS
On skis at six, Smith followed sister Laurel into skiing at Cranmore, the heralded Mount Washington Valley ski area made famous when instructional legend Hannes Schneider arrived from Austria in 1938. Smith skied for Cranmore’s race team until she entered Kennett H.S., where she continued racing. She spent a year at UNH and took leave for Winter ’07 when she moved to the Mount Washington Valley Ski Team...and erupted for a breakout season as a double NorAm champion.

OFF THE SNOW
Smith is in her third summer taking classes at Westminster. It's easy to stay motivated on school and working out with roomies/teammates Alice McKennis, Julia Ford, and Hailey Duke around. Spends as much time back East as possible, especially kicking it in NH during the month of May, which for some reason always has amazing weather.

The Hintertux Glacier in Austrian opens its park earlier than any other resort in the Alps. It's got a fully functioning park and will be hosting a HUGE event OCTOBER 1-3rd.

You gotta go check it out if you...

a. are in the area
b. love to ride
c. are nowhere near the area and love to ride.

There will be all kinds of contests, prizes, swag, DJ's, party, and a Slytech Protection Demo as well. You gotta go hit that! Check it October 1st-3rd at the Hintertux Gletscher.

To book rooms, check out http://tux.at and for updates on the event head on over to http://hotzone.tv .

Light the Wick | Got to See It

When a world-class athlete, decorated across several disciplines shoots you an unsolicited email, asking you to please give him the opportunity to wear your protective gear, you stop, drop and roll: You're sitting on a product that has caught fire.

This is why I immediately stopped what I was doing when the email from Daron Rahlves came through to our help-desk email and got on the horn with the team.

Here's his introduction of his email to us:

"To who can protect my back-
I'm interested in getting involved and being part of Team Slytech. I wish I 
had your spine protector on last April skiing in AK with TGR. I took a 
nasty crash and suffered a heavy impact between the shoulder blades above my 
pack."

"What crash is he talking about?" you may be asking. Well, luckily (and macabre at the same time), for us voyeurs, Daron's nightmare scenario was captured by the Teton Gravity Research team shooting their new flick "Light the Wick."

With a serious, potentially fatal crash like the one you're about to see: Seeing is believing...

The most amazing thing about Daron contacting us is that this wasn't some marketing or promotions campaign initiative, shelling out big bucks to attract top talent, no. It's that top talent, understanding the value in protection seeking you out for one reason, and one reason alone: after the hugest, nastiest crash of his life, he now knows he needs the best back protection available in the industry (period).

This says it all:

"I'm a big supporter of protective gear. Helmets are a given that everyone sees, but back protectors/protective gear are just as important and they aren't visible.

In the motocross industry everyone runs some protective gear. I want to help bring that knowledge to the ski world and educate the benefits to skiers. This is where I'd like to help Slytech.

I believe it's a must for all skiers in racing, park and free skiing."

Biography:
Formerly coached by four-time Olympian and skiing great Casey Puckett, the resume' of Alice McKennis reflects a thing or two about speed events. Evidence: McKennis claimed multiple World Cup top 10's in downhill, finished 20th in the World Cup DH standings and made the 2010 Olympic Team in her rookie World Cup season.
Coaches, fans, journalists and other athletes took notice immediately when McKennis landed 18th and 10th in the season opening World Cup downhill races in Lake Louise. But they really started paying attention when she backed those up with World Cup points in six other races, including a downhill ninth in St. Moritz, Switzerland just prior to the Olympics.

A fluke disqualification in the Olympic downhill placed a minor ding in her season, but didn't stop a 20th place result in the overall World Cup downhill standings rocketing this young star from the U.S. C to A Team status. Guessing she's OK with skipping a step.

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ALICE SAYS
When I think about my season I can not believe how it has gone for me. My biggest accomplishment was making the Olympics. I had always dreamed about going to Vancouver as a kid but as it got closer it only seemed more and more difficult to reach. I remember looking at the Olympic and World Cup Finals criteria last fall and thinking there was not much of a chance of me going to either event.

Coming into last summer during the prep period in New Zealand, Chile, Austria and Colorado I was often the slowest in training. This was not exactly the best way to enter an Olympic season where everyone is gunning it to reach the same Olympic goal as you.

So I set my sights on trying to score in the top 30 in my first World Cups and then things went about 10 times better than I had hoped! After my tenth place in Lake Louise I thought there was no way that I would reach the top ten again this season and then I did one place better in St. Moritz. I ended up scoring in six out of eight World Cup Downhill races; two top 10's, one top 15, two top 20′s (plus a 16th in Garmisch) and two top 30′s Although the Olympics did not go quite like I had hoped I learned so much from them and it was such a great experience for me. I am so proud to be an American and represent my country even if I did not perform to my best ability.

FIRST TRACKS
McKennis grew up on a hay and cattle ranch, but she lived close enough to the mountains for her future career path to make sense. Her father Greg took her to Sunlight Mountain Resort in Glenwood Springs for the first time before she had even turned two. She began racing at age five, following her older sister Kendra, who later competed on the FIS (minor league) level for two seasons. At about the same time, tragedy struck, when the girls' mother Jill died in a car accident. The family continued to ski as a way of coping with the loss. When she was nine, McKennis joined Ski Club Vail, the club that, at the time, was nurturing the all-around skills of Alpine star-in-the-making Lindsey Vonn. McKennis watched in awe as the U.S. Ski Team phenom - who was five years older than her - tore down the slopes, and took some valuable mental notes. After several years of bouncing around different ski clubs in Colorado, McKennis landed with the Aspen Valley Ski Club. One of her coaches there was former U.S. downhiller Casey Puckett.

OFF THE SNOW
McKennis was a competitive equestrian competing in jumping, cross country riding and dressage until she was about 14. Now a full-on member of the U.S. elite she made the move to Park City in order to take advantage of both the Center of Excellence and also pick up some classes via the U.S. Ski Team scholarship program with Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Summer activities also include mountain biking and the occasional whitewater rafting trip.