I'm not one to toot my own horn much or overhype things, but when I learned recently that some of the Swiss National Ski Team wear Slytech Nervous Shin Guards as opposed to the LEKI guards that their team is sponsored by, I just had to share it with you.

So, we're all hangin' at the World Championships of Alpine Skiing in Val d'Isere, France checking the action out when a friend leaned over to me and said: "you see Zurbriggen there? Recognize those shin guards?"

I zoomed my 400mm camera on him and couldn't believe my eyes. He had SLYTECH NERVOUS GUARDS on with a LEKI STICKER!

Now, that's a guy who knows what gear he likes. He also needs to keep his sponsor happy, so he slaps a sticker on them.

Actions speak louder than words, I guess.

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.

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.

It's been since March that the 07/08 FIS ski and snowboard season came to an end in Bormio, Italy. While the conditions were so-so for the men and women's alpine final (several events were canceled due to warm conditions and rain), the action that did happen was pretty sweet and the crowd loved every minute of it.

Check out some of the scenes from the hill in the action blog photo gallery...

In the end, the athletes that use Slytech gear were some of the TOP performers...

1. Lindsey Vonn -- Women's Overall Title Winner uses Slytech Nervous Shinguards
2. Ted Ligety -- Men's Giant Slalom discipline winner. Ted uses Slytech 2nd Skin, and Slytech Nervous Arm and Shinguards.
3. Daniel Albrecht -- 2nd in Bormio Men's Slalom Race. Daniel loves to slap those gates out of the way with his Slytech Nervous Armguards.

Next week we'll see what's happening on the Freeski scene as we site down and chat with Taylor Felton. See you then...

Shredfully,
The Slytech Team