Salomon wins Transworld Team Shootout

Team Shoot Out: Salomon

Jenny Jones takes the Gold at the X Games Europe

Salomonder

When I saw the board about a month ago featured in some online forum, I thought to myself that the drawings were pretty weak but quickly I realized that it was very much like skateboarding (at least like Toy Machine) and because it is a rail board, It actually makes sense and in addition it is something different from other manufacturers.

I have been lucky enough to check out this board a week ago and actually the graphic looks much better in real than online. I felt I had a skateboard in my hands, you know ready to f&cking shred some kinky rails. With some new tech like Easy press core and no chip tip this board is ready to score.

Bode Merrill

Bode Merrill has been nominated for both Rider of the Year and Best Video Part...Here is a quick look at his skills from the video Neverland:

Salomon team waveskiing!!!

I guess those guys wanted to be surfer on skis, cool to see that they are trying something new. For practical reason there is not much potential for this sport to grow but the little sequence of kiteboardskiing got me thinking because freeskiing has grown so much that it could do the same in the kiteboard world!

Salomon Freeski TV - Wave skiing in Hawaï
par BuzzParadise

Salomon Riders Sweept Riders’ Poll Nominations

The biggest night in snowboarding is coming to Denver! The 11th Annual TransWorld SNOWboarding Riders’ Poll Awards will be held at The Fillmore Auditorium in Downtown Denver, Friday, January 29, 2010 during the SIA trade show. The Riders’ Poll Awards honors snowboarding’s top riders—the nominees and winners are determined by polling more than 125 professional snowboarders worldwide.

"Transworld Snowboarding Magazine announced the Rider’s Poll Nominations and Salomon Team riders are nominated in every single category.

Bode Merrill’s ender part in Absinthe Film’s Neverland blew people’s
perception of what a rail riding, double corking, multifaceted video part
could look like and earned him a nomination for both Rider of the Year and
Video Part of the Year.

Annie Boulanger’s backcountry footage single handedly raised the bar for
women’s riding in the same film giving her the nod for both Rider of the
Year and Video Part of the Year.

Louis-Felix Paradis brought back the age old ethic of letting his riding do
the talking with mind blowing jibs and a new rail variation in his ender
part in Videograss. His nomination is for Standout of the Year.

Looking to the next generation, 18 year-old Jed Anderson spent the season
gaining a reputation for being one of the best snowboarders alive while
filming his ender part in Transworld Snowboarding’s movie, Get Real."

Salomon team tour

Salomon just put Louif Paradis, Jed Anderson, Bode Merrill, Scotty Arnold, Harrison Gordon, Chris Grenier, and Chris Carr, in an RV to see what would happen.

Snowboarder participation

In one of my previous blog, I wrote about the latest SIA report and how the number of snowboarders has decreased since 2004.

While an excellent snow season certainly helps boost the sales like in 2008 and be a good equalizer. It is obvious that the snowboard industry is facing numerous threats.

U.S economy
More than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. And it is close to 20% in States that experienced a big housing bubble (like Ca, Az, Fl) or have large manufacturing sectors, like Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Additionally sales in snowboarding have shown a market decrease over the past years. One of the reason is that the initial participant demographic has aged and while there is a new market niche (older snowboarders), O\overall they are not being replaced like-for-like by younger participants.

Generation "Millenial"
It is obviously the most important target for the snowboard industry but it has to compete with other leisure activities such as freeskiing, street sports as well electronic entertainment (online game, videos..).

A bruising sport
15% of people that try snowboard go on to become core snowboarders. Rental equipments are usually pretty bad and so are group instruction. Again before buying all the gear for my wife, the boots and bindings she rented were terrible. Then she went into a 4 hours group lesson while I was hitting the snowpark. After two hours I could see that they couldn't take care of everyone in the group and she didn't make any progress and had numerous bruises. While many of those beginners gave up, I decided to be her instructor and buy her sick equipments.... 4 hours later she was riding by herself.

Demos, Contest & Programs
For the past few years, resort and companies have developped several programs to get the mainstream youth to try the sport and get hooked up such as LTR, SOS, Chill, demo days and big contests. In addition new board designs have stepped up to facilitate the fun and learning curve.

Downtwon Rail Jam contests are an excellent way to reach the wider audience and also show kids that you may not need lift tickets to have fun on a snowboard. Just like skateboarding, find some good rails and build a little kicker could be enough to enjoy this exciting sport.

"Hosted by Salomon Snowboards and The Art Institute of Colorado, the homegrown rail jam brings the best up and coming pros and amateurs from the Rocky Mountain region and beyond to compete in the heart of Denver's Golden Triangle District on November 21st.

Visit the John Jellico Gallery at The Art Institute of Colorado during the event to browse one-of-a-kind snowboards, all individually designed by Art Institute of Colorado students, alumni and potential students as part of a selective design competition. Over 30 designed snowboards will be on display in the gallery.

The event is free, open to the public and will include food, refreshments and a wide range of entertainment options. Games, giveaways, autograph signing with pro riders and a DJ booth will all be a part of the day's activities."

Design Snowboard Competition - Salomon

Here are some news from Whitelines mag with the Salomon Design contest. Salomon launched its Snowboard Artist Contest for the first time in 2003.

I love contests, there are fun, pretty cool to see (example like the pacsun contest) and can get you hooked up with some prize money or gear if you are the lucky winner. Action sports consumers usually want to be involved beyond purchasing products.

"Design your own snowboard – and win it if you’re lucky! Designs must be drawn by hand completely and incorporate the Salomon Snowboards logo symbol somewhere. Apart from that any colour and/or any style is possible. Don’t forget to state your age and contact details when entering.

There are 3 age catagories (under 10, 10 – 15, 16+), with one winner in each. Salomon Snowboards will have the winning designs airbrushed professionally onto a Salomon snowboard. The runner up in each age group will receive a subscription to Whitelines magazine!

Last Entries will be taken on Dec 10th 2009 and the winners will be announced on Dec 24th 2009 on Salomon.

Takaharu Nakai joins Salomon international team

Takaharu Nakai grew up riding the legendary powder of Hokkaido, Japan and first gained international notice at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. He currently rides the varied terrain of Whistler Blackcomb where he combines technical precision with big lofty airs all over the mountain.

“I decided to join the team after really enthusiastic talks with Rio Tahara, Bonfire and Salomon’s Sports Marketing Manager in Japan. He helped me see a bright future with both the brands. I look forward to riding and hanging out with the international team and the team in Japan. It’s an awesome crew,” said Takaharu.

His departure from Burton and Analog was based on his decision to ride for Salomon Snowboards and Bonfire Outerwear.

New Salomon 09/10 site

Salomon Snowboards announces the launch of its new website featuring the award winning 09/10 product line, Global and Am team info, exclusive video content that you won’t see anywhere else, photos, and a regularly updated community page.

Salomon Snowboards current Pro and Am team consists of Josh Dirksen, Louif Paradis, David Benedek, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Jed Anderson, Annie Boulanger, Sylvain Bourbousson, Scotty Arnold, Jenny Jones, Chris Grenier, Bode Merrill, Desiree Melancon and Werni Stock.

The Salomonder

Jed Anderson and Chris Grenier are testing out a Salomon prototype called the Salomonder, it first appeared online beginning of August but was then pulled out..so here is the video showing some sick tricks, particularly from this kid who works his magic and joined the Salomon team earlier in 2009.

An equalizer side cut - Salomon

I was reading different interviews from the snowrev website and I really enjoy when product director from Snowboard companies take the time to explain the technology and the ideas behind it.

So here is a copy/paste interview with David Farcot from Salomon:

SR: Equalizer, is it basically straight edges instead of the traditional radius that has been on boards since the beginning pretty much?

DF: An equalizer side cut is made out of straight lines (3 or 5) and kinks, instead of a radial or elliptic curve. It's a patented geometry that we introduced in (07-08).



SR: What was the idea behind it and who came up with it?

DF: The idea is to equalize the pressure distribution along the edge by maximizing its contact with the snow. In a 3D world with complex terrain (snow surface), straight lines are easier to bend than complex curves. On a regular snowboard, the pressure peaks on 4 narrow spots (feet, wide points). This creates instability. When pressure is more evenly distributed, you're more stable, like running with flat soles vs. high-heels. The theory and prototypes came from our board wizards here, and surprisingly were originated to answer a random request from our former CEO. You guys should work on a technology that makes the snow softer; its getting really packed everywhere



SR: What are the benefits?

DF: More maneuverability and a smooth and constant edge contact, even on hard packed, with no hiccups. David Benedek and Bode Merrill both say it makes switch in-runs and take-offs a bit more relaxing.



SR: If it distributes the pressure farther along the edges does that mean you ride a shorter board than normal or ride your usual size and it just rides radder?

Salomon: It means that you can ride a soft board that still holds the edge when the snows not perfect and youre still charging. (Official / Drift) It means that you can ride a longer board with some pop and stay in control (Lark)



SR: Where the people at Salomon nervous the first time people rode it?

DF: Yes we were all pretty amazed by how well the theory was confirmed by riding...we were more than doubtful before.

SR: It won a "Good Wood" award for 2009 in Transworld's board test; did that seem to justify the theory of the whole Equalizer thing?

DF: The fact that our riders have adopted it is the best proof for us that this technology rides perfect. Of course, the Good Wood awards for Official and Drift have been a great help to convince kids to give them a ride.



SR: Which of the team riders ride boards with equalizer edges?

DF: David Benedek, Matt Ladley, and Sylvain Bourbousson on the Official, since the first year, Wolle Nyvelt on the Grip, Scotty Arnold on his updated pro board, Desiree Melancon on the Lark, Jed Anderson on the Drift…Even carving Josh Dirksen likes it..



SR: How has feedback been from consumers, dealers and other everyday riders that have ridden it?

DF: Really great! Kids and retailers from hard-packed areas and park-riders (East Coast, Canada, Scandinavia,) have been super stoked since the early days. Last summer we had an overwhelmingly positive response at Mt. Hood. Kids loved being able to file down their edges for rails and then still hold an edge cruising down Palmer in the morning.



SR: For 09/10 how many boards will have Equalizer?

DF: Same as last year + Grip (all mountain bamboo freestyle board) / Gypsy (park & Jib for girls) / the updated Arnie (he asked for EQ after trying the official).



SR: What other features does the Salomon Official have that make it stand out from other boards on the market (as if straight edges were not enough)?

DF: Well, it's pretty loaded with very smart and efficient tech: an alien light core (wood + low density foam) with a popster profile (increase the pop, keeps the strength) and sidewalls with rubber rails (dampening layer) are the main highlights.

Salomon goes green 2.0

Couple of months ago, I wrote a blog about Salomon green iniative. Some people may argue it is partially a marketing stunt and to ride the green wagon but being a material engineer myself, I have found that we as designers have the responsability to search and provide technology that can be as good (or better) by using more carbon neutral materials. Of course Salomon is not alone in the race of the greenest company but I find it is healthy for the snowboard industry to look for alternatives.

So in this snowrev report, Rian from Salomon talk about using green materials and so on.

"wood core boards sandwiched in bamboo veneers which allows using less fiberglass and less epoxy which are the two nastiest compounds in a snowboard. This lowers the amount of materials used and the amount of carbon out put and the gas and energy burned."

"With ABC sandwich board we replace fiberglass with bamboo, which is locally sourced by our factory; reduces the phosphates and cuts down on our energy and CO2 output. With ABC wrapper it uses also cuts down on the plastic use."

"bindings are made with recycled plastic baseplates. We took parts from old bindings and stuff that was lying around the factory, reground them and turned them into new baseplates. We are using corn based plastics instead oil based plastics. In our boots we are using some recycled rubber and rice in the tread. We eliminated all PVC and we eliminated the chemical microbial lining and replaced it with a green tea treatment."


One last comment, I remember that about 10 years ago Salomon board graphic used to be very safe...they have come a long way as well.check this one out, pretty sick.

What a sick stick: Eco friendly snowboard

Sick Stick is the board from Salomon made out of Bamboo that is available in three size for this season 156, 160, 163.
Back in January 2008, Salomon team won the Volvo Sports Design Award at the ISPO 2008.

Here is more info I could find from the ispo website:
"In terms of design, the SickStick is based on an entirely re-usable bamboo core. The top sheet is made with significantly less acrylic, plastics, fiberglass and resin than conventional boards. Even the resin in the sidewalls could be entirely replaced with durable, waterproof bamboo rods. In each board, 400 grams of bamboo are used to replace 300 grams of plastic, 100 grams of resin and 200 grams of fiberglass.
The Sick Stick is packaged in a cotton-bamboo knit bag instead of a PVC sleeve, while the hangtags are printed on recycled paper instead of coated stickers. In terms of performance, the boards are about 10 percent more resilient at the same stability and flex as conventional boards."

How about that, now I am going to France for Xmas, I hope I go to the Alpes and try this board for a backcountry session.