Spyder visits ZG.

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The crew at Spyder recently hit up Aspen Highlands and AJAX for some quality photo time with one of its new big mountain athletes, Chris Davenport, along with a few local rippers for the Spyder Boy’s line. Spyder has been hard at work over the past two months putting together a team of legit big mountain skiers, including Davenport and Stian Hagen. The duo just returned from a three week expedition skiing some of the biggest lines around the Antarctic Peninsula, all the while breaking in some Spyder gear. They will also be designing and testing a new backcountry influenced line of ski apparel in the near future.

Aspen photo shoot for Spyder Boy’s Collection. Photo: AspenSpin.com

The Spyder Slippery Suit out for nighttime run. Photo: Spyder

Posted in: Outdoor Industry News, Skiing \ Tagged: , ,

American Lindsey Vonn Takes 3 World Cup Races in Austria…Wearing Boa!

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Originally posted on SkiRacing.com
Lindsey Vonn became the only racer in American history to win World Cup races three days straight on Sunday in Austria. Wait, there’s more…she did this wearing the Exos Wrist Brace featuring the Boa Lacing System!

Read the rest of her story Here.

2010 Olympian Lindsey Vonn, USA, wears the Exos Short Arm Brace (in Leopard) featuring the Boa Lacing System

2010 U.S. Ski Team member Lindsey Vonn wears the Exos Short Arm Fracture Brace (in Leopard) featuring the Boa Lacing System

Posted in: Skiing \ Tagged: , ,

Aspen Highlands Opening Weekend

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I spent Saturday and Sunday skiing my new home mountain, Aspen Highlands. The mountain opened with 750 acres including parts of Highland Bowl and has received over 30″ in the last week (over 12″ in the last 48 hours).

On Saturday morning I ran into Meredith McKee (Aspen Skiing Co.), who was kind enough to let me tag along with her and her friends.

those are our tracks! (photo courtesy Aspen Skiing Co.)

those are our tracks! (photo courtesy Daniel Bayer/Aspen Skiing Co.)

this

this was our view at the top (12,392 ft.)

Although visibility was poor due to the storm, Sunday brought lighter and fluffier snow.

poc

thankfully I had my POC Iris goggles with photochromatic lenses to keep me on top of the variable light conditions

kastles

... and Kastle MX 108's to keep me on top of the snow!

Cale (Black Tie Ski Rentals) in the zone.

Cale Hutchins (Black Tie Ski Rentals) in the zone

Pat Sewell (photo courtesy Aspen Skiing Co.)

Pat Sewell slashes (photo courtesy Matt Power/Aspen Skiing Co.)

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Gratuitous Client Plug, Skiing, Uncategorized

Everyone Deserves a Snow Day

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This post is a bit premature as there isn’t a single flake of snow on the ground here in Carbondale, but I thought I’d post it now so that Penn and Nate have time to forget about it by midwinter when I may need to put the following tools to use.

The theme of Copper’s new micro-site is “Everyone Deserves a Snow Day” and they provide everything you need to get the day off from work.

A Ferris-Bueller-style soundboard gives you the essential sounds to call in sick to your boss: (go to www.yoursnowday.com and click on “I’m Employed” to hear them.) Unfortunately they are all apparently made by a throaty-sounding man, so the legitimacy if I used them might be questionable.

Picture 1

They also provide a doctor’s note that you can download, fill out, and print to give to your boss.

Picture 2

Unfortunately the stamp reads “Snow Day Medical Group” so again, the legitmacy is likely to be questioned. Even if I won’t be getting any days off courtesy of Copper Mountain, the website is amusing and good example of a very creative web campaign.

Posted in: Making fun of the boss, Skiing

Skier caught in avalanche lands on CNN

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What makes online content go viral?

While there is interesting discussion on engagement and new terminology created everyday on the ever changing front of social play – what makes virality happen remains a bit of a dark science. There are emerging agencies that can help with virality, but nothing works as well as great unadulterated content that is compelling and somewhat “sticky.”

Yes, you can crowd source to build interaction and explore viral loops – but this quick case study  supports the unpredictability of it all. Last winter, Black Diamond received helmet cam raw footage of a skier in AK getting caught in an avalanche and buried while wearing an AvaLung. The skier is quickly rescued by his group – but the footage is powerful and when BD released it on their site, they saw solid traffic.

Scroll forward to two weeks ago, the same raw footage video went viral on vimeo – and the reach has been staggering. While the raw footage is longer to view, it lacks  any attachment to commercialism. But why has the now dated, raw video propagated so much more extensively than the initial clean version unclear. In the last week alone we had calls from major networks news and leading talk shows. Either way this is likely the first documented case of a skier getting caught in a slide in AK and landing on the cnn.com homepage…

Posted in: Skiing, Social Media

Cloudveil and Black Diamond Win Outside’s 2010 Gear of the Year Award

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We are thrilled to announce that Cloudveil and Black Diamond both garnered the coveted Gear of the Year awards this year in Outside magazine’s winter gear guide. Both clients have been with Backbone for over ten years and continue to produce incredibly progressive product collections on the cutting edge of outdoor industry technology, as proven by this great award.

outside-magazine-logogear_2010

115009 Justice Lava 2The Black Diamond Justice won the award for Best Backcountry Ski- Testers said “For such a light ski, the wood-core Justice has remarkable pop, guts, plus any of the dozen or so other words testers used to describe how lively and unflappable it performed in leftover snow. You can see how it saves weight: BD simple machines away core material where its not needed, which is why the topsheet looks like a contour map.”
Dimensions: (140/115/125, 9.2 lbs), $729

6012_820littleThe Cloudveil FirsTurn Soft Shell took the award for Best Backcountry All Purpose Jacket. Testers said “One of the most versatile soft shells we’ve ever seen, the FirsTurn easily beat back steady 20-mph winds and driving snow…and also kept us comfortable on a sunny 40-degree day of backcountry laps. Ski, skate, run-the FirsTurn even held up on a cold and rainy bike commute. It was harder than giving up my woobie,” said the tester who was reluctant to give it back.

Congrats to both companies!

Posted in: Client News, Skiing

Cloudveil Multi Media Campaign Makes and Breaks Promises in NY Times

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Everyone is talking about it.

How does one make an awesome bowl of multi-media soup? That is the question and  yes, we are talking about feeding consumers, publishers, bloggers, dealers and even sales reps.

Skip work for a Powder Day? Send flowers...

Skip work for a Powder Day? Send flowers...

The ingredients you get to use? How about advertising, marketing, PR, and social media. Maybe, throw in a dash of mountain town attitude and some humor.

That is what Cloudveil has done with help from Boulder based, TDA their creative agency. Is it good? Well the NY Times thinks so.

Strangely, I have yet to receive a single mug like this in over 12 years

Strangely, I have yet to receive a single mug like this in over 12 years

The concept is that Cloudveil consumers “abuse etiquette in pursuit of recreation,” as explained by Jonathan Schoenberg from TDA.

What’s next? Look for additional upcoming viral plays that focus on mountain culture.

Posted in: Client News, Design, Fishing, Gratuitous Client Plug, Outdoor Industry News, Skiing, Social Media, Technology

August is the official start of ski season!

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Yes, it is August. School has not even started and the Denver Broncos have played only one meaningless pre-season game. But with the first crisp morning already come and gone and some fall foliage spotted yesterday on a mountain bike ride – ski season is officially here.

Thomas Hodel ripping the BC near Davos

Thomas Hodel ripping the BC near Davos

Need more proof? Bears are wreaking havoc foraging for what promises to be a HUGE winter and all the snow mags are on the newsstand.

Houdini, the Aspen local bear 8/19

Houdini, the Aspen local bear 8/19

And best of all, for kicking your dreams into powder filled visions are films like this one from the POWDERWHORES, titles Flakes.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Colorado, Skiing, Snowboarding

“Signatures” Inspires Snowflakes in August

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Our friend Nick Waggoner from Sweetgrass Productions spent the past year in Japan with his crew filming their new movie, Signatures, a “board, no board, ski and drop-knee” film featuring locals of Hokkaido as well as our local boys, Nick DeVore and Will Cardamone. The Roaring Fork Valley got a taste of Sweetgrass’s amazing and soulful filming during the 5Point Film Festival when we got a sneak peak. Now, the official trailer is out, and we’re pumped to share it. If Signatures is showing in your area this fall, make sure to check it out. World Premiere is at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen on September 19th.

Posted in: Skiing, Videos