Helly Hansen

ANDERS DAHLSJÖ Born: June 28, 1972 Birthplace: Onsala Hometown: Onsala Nationality: Swedish Family: Wife Malin. Daughter Nellie, 4 months Interests: House and home. Sport in general. Hidden talent: Can free-dive down to at least 20 meters. Sailing Achievements 2007: 2nd, Match Cup Sweden with Magnus Holmberg, bow 2007: 5th, Louis Vuitton Cup with Victory Challenge, mastman 2006: 2nd, Portugal Match Cup, Magnus Holmberg, bow 2006: Victory Challenge, Acts 10, 11 & 12, mastman and boat captain 2005: 2nd, Swedish Match Cup in Marstrand with Magnus Holmberg, bow 2005: Victory Challenge, Acts 4 to 9 2004: Winner, TjÖrn Runt (Sweden's biggest sailing event) with Dominant 105, as skipper, helmsman 2004: 4th, Swedish Match Cup, with Chris Law, as bowman 2004: Portugal Match Cup, with Chris Law, as bowman 2003: Winner, Gothenburg offshore race, IMS & LYS class, with X-99 2003: Winner, Swedish Match Cup, Marstrand, with Chris Law, as bowman 2000-2003: Mastman and boat captain, Swedish America's Cup campaign 2002: Louis Vuitton Cup, all races, as mastman on Victory Challenge 2001: 2nd, TjÖrn Runt with Mumm 36 2000: Winner, TjÖrn Runt with Mumm 36 1999: 3rd, IMS Swedish Open Championships as pitman on Mumm 36 1998: Winner, IMS Swedish Open Championships, doing mostly downwind trim on Mumm 36 1997: Winner, 6mR Open European Championships in Cannes, doing maintrim and runners 1995-1997: Skipper and helmsman of 40-foot cruiser/racer, two-time winner of Swedish west coast series, sailing under LYS handicap MARTIN STRÖMBERG Born: April 3, 1982 Birthplace: Orust Home town: Gothenburg Nationality: Swedish Family: Single Interests: Fishing and other outdoor activities Sailing Achievements 2007: 2nd, Bermuda Gold Cup, Hamilton, Bermuda 2007: 3rd, Knickerbocker Cup, New York, US 2006: 1st, ACI Cup (World Match Racing Tour), Rovinj, Croatia 2005: 6th, Match Race Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2005: 3rd, Open de España, Calpe, Spain 2005: 4th, Knickerbocker Cup, New York, US 2005: 5th, Warren Jones Memorial Regatta, Perth, Australia 2004/2005: 1st, STSS, Spring Cup, Stenungsund, Sweden 2004: 10th, Danish Open (World Match Racing Tour), Copenhagen, Denmark 2004: 8th, International Match Race Series, Auckland, New Zealand 2004: 4th, Warren Jones Memorial Regatta, Perth, Australia 2004: 1st, ISAF student World Championships, Rimini, Italy 2003/2004: 2nd, GKSS Championship, Gothenburg, Sweden 2003: 1st, Danish Match Race Youth Champion, Copenhagen, Denmark MARTIN KRITE Born: December 8, 1980 Birthplace: Gothenburg Home town: Lund Nationality: Swedish Family: Wife Emilie^ son William, 4 months. Interests: Ice hockey and soccer. Hidden talent: At 23, he performed on Sweden's TV3 channel at Christmas singing "When you wish upon a star." Sailing Achievements 2005-2006: Victory Challenge, America's Cup Challenger (midbow) 2004: 1st, TjÖrn Runt (with Anders DahlsjÖ's Dominant 105th) 2003-2004: 2nd, Swedish Match Tour (fore deckhand for Magnus Holmberg) 2003: 1st, Nordic Championship Match Racing 2001: 2nd, TjÖrn Runt (with Mats Johansson's Mumm 36th, FärskÖl) 2000-2002: Victory Challenge America's Cup Challenger (midbow) 2000: 1st, TjÖrn Runt (with Mats Johansson's Mumm 36th, FärskÖl) 2000-2007: Swedish Match Tour / World Match Racing Tour (fore deckhand for Staffan Lindberg and Magnus Holmberg) 1999-2000: Youth national team (Soling) 1996-99: Lerum's sailing high school 1999: 1st, Junior Swedish Championships Laser^ 1st, Swedish Championships Match Racing 1998: 2nd, Junior Swedish Championships Laser

Awesome conditions in the mountains around Oppdal, Norway. Tor Eivind and Jon Anders Lindstad woke up to a magic meter of fresh pow this Sunday. Check it out!

"Back in 2002 when I started the Summer Gravity Camps, we were the first week-long freeride MTB camp in the world. Our first year we saw just thirty-five campers. Since then our camp has grown to over two hundred people. We see people from all over the world who want to ride in the world-famous Whistler Mountain Bike Park and be coached by the best athletes. You will have the opportunity to ride with past and present World Cup and National DH champions, Slopestyle winners and featured athletes with segments in the most recognized MTB movies. But most importantly our staff of coaches and counselors are experienced, professional and approachable people who love to ride their bikes and help others improve they're riding. I guarantee you will ride more in one week with us then you can imagine. You will improve your riding, learn new skills, meet great people and have the best week of riding imaginable. Come and see us this summer." Andrew Shandro _____ Ride with the pro's!! Andrew just launched the new website for his Summer Gravity Camp in Whistler, check it out^ http://www.summergravitycamps.com/index.php"

Juneau, Alaska 10 of us came to Juneau Alaska for a heli ski trip. We had a 3-week weather window and finally when a high-pressure system starting moving in we got on the plane from Tahoe and headed to AK. The 1st day we spent at Eagle crest Resort....what a rad little place! It was snowing so the visibility was low but you could tell that there was some epic, rowdy terrain only a short hike away. There were barely any locals so every run was fresh, untracked powder. Day 2 was spent beating up our livers in the town of Juneau. Day 3: Yehaa! 1st fly day and it was SICK! The Mendenhall glacier, one of the gateway's to the Coast Mountain Range, is a beautiful site to fly over. The mountains were huge, literally 3600 vertical runs. The longest runs of my life. It's been years since these mountains were explored by heli skiers so it was a pretty cool yet spooky feeling standing on top of a peak for the 1st run. The snow was some of the deepest snow of my life. Due to the fact that these mountains were new to use and not certain of the snow pack stability, we treaded lightly and skied safely, letting it setup for day 2. Day 2: Another amazing day with huge runs. The mountains here are crazy, spread apart more than in the Chugach range and not as many ski lines but the peaks that do have ski lines on them are true beauties. All in all it was an awesome trip with 9 awesome guys! A great warm-up to the season and it felt really good to get the WOW factor on again ? -Jessica Sobolowski

The Swedish capital, Stockholm, was yesterday announced as the final stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 before its finish in the Russian Baltic port of St Petersburg in July 2009. During the stopover, between 16 - 25 June 2009, Stockholm will also host an in-port race as well as a pro-am race in its famous archipelago. At a city hall press conference in central Stockholm, its Mayor, Kristina Axen Olin, was joined by Ulla Hamilton, Vice-Mayor and Chairman of Ports of Stockholm, together with Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, to make the formal announcement. Stockholm is the home port of Ericsson Racing Team which has two boats entered in the race, built by Killian Bushe in Stockholm. Skipper of the all-Nordic crew, Anders Lewander was also at the press conference.

Last week was a bit hectic at the training base on Lanzarote, with the arrival of the boat building team from Kista, Sweden and a deadline set to put Ericsson3 into the water, a whole lot of leap frogging and double timing has been going on. The rig was stepped while the boat was still on shore. The shore and boat build teams worked pretty much around the clock to achieve this goal. The effort payed off and the deadlines were met, with the boat touching the water late last week. The team has just completed a trial pullover test , a visually dramatic sight as the boat is tied to the dock by its mast and then winched over. A surprising excercise witnessed by the gathered crowds in Puerto Calero. By all accounts every one seems happy, no loud bangs were heard and the days generally passed by with few incidents. And as of this week, the crew have been out sailing on their new yacht. An exiting adventure, photos and more will follow....

Slovenia Roadtrip 08 After the Poland Trip last year was such a good time, we (Tobi Reindl, Faby Hyden, my Helly Hansen Teammate Tobi Tritscher , photo-dog Pepo, our Aestivation filmers and myself) decided to head east again this season and check out a resort called Rogla on the slovenian border close to austria. The Resort just build the biggest Funpark in the country and invited us to be the first crew to check out their new obstacles. And they didn't promise to much, the park was amazing and so was the support of the resort to shoot some extra Jibs. Trucks Full of Snow, Sled or Quad tows, everything was possible, in Rogla! We got some amazing stuff done, met a lot of really nice people and will definetly come back, maybe even end of this season to shoot some more park stuff! Thanks to Clemes, Alesh, and the rest of the Rogla supporting team. Nico

Monday the 7th of January started off like any other day. I got the call from Todd that the turns were bomber off the back side of Proctor Mountain. So we packed our gear and left. The Avalanche bulletin for that day was considerable in the tree line, and we knew the dangers with the 'deep slab instability' within the snow pack. So the game plan was to play in the mellow trees beside the turns from the skiers the day before. After a 10 km drive we loaded the sled and ripped up the valley another 15 km to the skin trail. Staring at the back side of the three sisters and Mt Bizzaro was making us giddy as we envisioned the turns we were so close to making. A coffee break and a bite to eat was in favor when we gained the ridge so we stopped, examined the snow and took some photos trying to work with the sun's early light. Everything felt good and we were tired of post holing for photos so we headed for our planned decent. Todd stopped us at a nice spot in the trees and described the features and aspects of the terrain we were about to ski as we packed up our skins and sipped on our bevi's. He set himself up for his first shot, and waved me down. Milking our turns, we skied together down a mellow, semi-clear slope one at a time. About half way down was when we encountered our first slab. Ian's ski cut the edge of a chute that had been skied the previous day and it ripped way too big for our liking. Ian headed up the group on what was happening and we dipped into the tight trees to regroup and decide on a safe way out. One at a time, and feeling very vulnerable, we staggered ourselves out, skiing tree to tree, one at a time in constant verbal and visual communication. Then without warning as we stood still, there was a massive settlement and the slope began to slab and run towards Todd. Slab avalanches are usually larger, more destructive and harder to predict than loose snow avalanches. Clinging to the trees for dear life and screaming "avalanche!" to Todd, who was below us, we waited for the avalanche to finish and that's when I heard Todd yelling as he was taken down. Looking down at Ian I realized that I was hanging on the hang fire, which is the remaining unsupported snow-measuring 1.5m that could go at any time. I was forced to jump the hang fire to get myself to Ian. Todd got taken down in a class 2.5 slide and it carried him around 350m. Ian and I, straight away had our beacons out and on search mode. We skied the avi debris carefully, and we finally both got a signal right at the end of the debris. The lowest reading I got on my Beacon was 4.2 m which means he was buried really deep. We got our probes out and started spiral probing and I was lucky enough to randomly hit him. We started digging quickly then realized that what I had hit was his head so we dug all the snow from around his head. His face was blue and he was unconscious but he had a pulse. We finally dug down to his chest and pushed all the snow away and he let out a big breath of air. Then after five minutes or so he started mumbling. After that it took us another 20 odd minutes to dig out his whole body. He was buried 2 m deep. What I've learned from this experience is, if you like to go ski touring , take an AST course and read the avalanche bulletin every day to know whats going on out there and to learn the terms. I can't stress enough about taking an Avalanche Skills Training course. Courses are available in almost every ski town. I believe that some of our training from the AST course just recently taken in December with Ian is what helped us in finding Todd and prevented more serious injuries. Learning new digging and probing technique that have been recently introduced played a big part in our rescue. Play it safe out there and be aware of who your heading out with. If you get caught in a slide, will they be able to rescue you and save your life? Janina Kuzma - Helly Hansen Athlete

We're working to build a position of strength," says assistant shore manager, Anthony "Spillers" Spillebeen. "We have a strong international presence and more of the Nordic crew will arrive later." In terms of apportioning sailing time, there is a strict rotation to ensure that each crew member has plenty of opportunity to learn the boat and show his abilities on the water. "There's lots of experience in this group, which comes to good use as they know how to hatch good ideas and test theories of what works best." For the present, the team will train more locally to test gear and learn the boat and their duties inside and out. Later, when the new boats have arrived and are working well, the scenario will shift to more distance sailing. This will include seeking out more extreme conditions and wind strengths during extended ocean passages. In the meantime, the synergy of superb preparations and support at the base combined with the great local wind conditions will allow the team to train very efficiently throughout the winter. "And no one is complaining about the weather," says Spillers.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (January 15, 2008) - Wedding bells will ring and Elvis will croon for one lucky couple at the SIA tradeshow in Las Vegas. Helly Hansen and Aspen/Snowmass have selected three couples who are willing and ready to tie the knot in front of the industry. The final couple will be determined through votes cast at the Helly Hansen booth (E28) by SIA tradeshow attendees the first two days of the show. The winning couple will exchange vows in the booth before an Elvis impersonator serving as the wedding officiant at 5 p.m. on January 30. Following the tradeshow, the couple will receive a weeklong dream honeymoon in Aspen. The three finalist couples, selected as the most likely to actually get married at a tradeshow in Las Vegas and stay married longer than a night are: * Top Picture - Jane and John Doe (couple to remain anonymous until surprise engagement is accepted prior to the show. Wish him luck.) * Middle Picture - Perette Ross and Jim Geraghty from Atlantic Beach, N.Y. (long-time lovers, best-friends and co-habitants who have created their own unique Brady Bunch family unit). * Bottom picture - Vince Falco and Laura Lohrmann (met at a tradeshow and want to close the deal at a tradeshow for real). Each of the couple's stories and photos will be posted for viewing and voting at the Helly Hansen booth (E28) January 29-30 during show hours. Beverages and tissues will be provided by Helly Hansen for all industry witnesses following the ceremony. The Get Hitched ceremony and Aspen/Snowmass honeymoon is a gift provided by the loving marketers behind Helly Hansen and Aspen/Snowmass who consummated a perfect marriage this season through a multi-year uniform program. To book a tradeshow date with Helly Hansen's sales team, e-mail russ.rowan@hellyhansen.com or visit booth E28. To plan your dream ski getaway, visit www.aspensnowmass.com.

"Diego Negri and Luigi Viale reach the top after two seasons only in the more glamorous olympic sailing class "Star". Last 2007 issue of the Isaf World Ranking List place the two sailors of the Helly Hansen Team at the second place, behind the polish Kusznierewicz, former plurichampion of the Finn class, and before than three Star World Champions as Loof , Rohart and Scheidt. This is the first time that an Italian crew achieves a so good result in the world ranking. The 2007 season has been full of great results for Diego and Luigi, they had been classed third at the European Spring Championship in Palma de Mallorca, fifth at the Isaf worlds in Cascais, qualifying Italy for the Bejing Olympic Games, first at the Breitling Regatta in Medemblik. They became for the second consecutive year Champions of the 14th District and Italian Champions. Now the next important appointment will be the OCR Regatta in Miami, end of January, penultimate regatta of the Italian preolympic trials, having Diego and Luigi an advantage of 250 points on second italian competitors the hope is the OCR conclude the italian trials. The season will go on, always in Miami, with Bacardi Cup in March, last regatta of italian trials, and the Star worlds in April. Their web site: www.negri-viale.it"

"As the team has slipped into the New Year crowded with the arrival of our new boat, Ericsson3, as well as the quick overall of our existing boat, Ericsson 2, many things have been happening around the training base in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote. People have been scurrying around doing different things all with one purpose , to get the boats in the water and commence our two boat testing program. Amongst all these activities the Nordic crew were yesterday morning, quitely and with minimal fuss and drama, put to sea on there own. This is part of the next step for the crew's steep albeit exciting learning curve. With Jens Dolmer taking the wheel to guide Ericsson 2 off the dock, Anders Lewander and his crew together with coach Magnus Olsson, headed out to conduct the first offical Nordic crew training day on Lanzarote. This training opportunity for the Nordic crew only will last until Thursday following the intended slash of Ericsson 3 after which the boats and crews will once again be pooled to continue our boat speed objective. Anthony "Spillers" Spillebeen on site in Puerto Calero says that "All reports received on return to the dock by the Nordic crew were positive."

For the first time i celebrated Christmas away from home but with my family. My sister had just booked a journey to Israel for my parents and me, so we had no chance to say no. First we were in Jerusalem for two days . So many different cultures and religions live together in this little country. The old city of Jerusalem is just mind blowing. When you walk through the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters you get so many impressions! and then we went down to the red sea and we also stopped at the dead sea. It is so much fun to swim in there. Must be pretty cool to go there if you cannot swim, cause you just float in the water. From there we headed on to the red sea. Elat, which is the most southerly city of Isreal is right on the border to Jordan and Egypt. It is a very nice place to go snorkling or diving. We just snorkled, but it was pretty cool, we could see so many different kinds of fish. And above the water the landscape is just stone desert, with a few, very beautiful oasis in between. After three days there we went back to Tel Aviv and had a nice Israeli dinner at my sisters friends. Tel Aviv is the more modern city, but there is also the beautiful historic Jaffa port. On our whole trip we saw Kalashnikovs everywere. It doesn't give a very good feeling, but it seems to be a normal situation for the Israelis. I really enjoyed the trip, the people were all friendly and nice and the food was amazing. Check out the pics and I wish you a Happy New Year! Shalom! lisa

At 1245 UTC with 619.3 miles or 1115 kilometers covered at an average of 25.8 knots, Thomas Coville on Sodebo beat the 24 hour record distance sailing single-handed. In this way he beats the record held by Francis Joyon (616.03 miles) by 3 miles. The record is currently awaiting approval from the WSSRC. At 1250 UTC, Thomas climbed up on deck to reduce the sail when he noticed, with the boats change of behavior, that the crash box on the starboard float had been pulled out. The extreme section of the float bow, the crash box serves as a fuse in the event of impact and it is designed to come apart in the event of impact in order to prevent the float itself from exploding. Thomas realized in a fraction of a second that his solo record attempt around the world was over. It should be noted that his average speed had but increased over the past few hours and that, without this damage, he would have established a 24 hour record at an even greater level. All of us here at Helly feel strongly for Thomas in this situation. And already now we can say we remain committed to him and his Sodebo/Jules Verne record attempt. We will take this opportunity to work even harder so we can support him with better and even safer gear for the next record attempt. Our micro site will remain open for another two weeks and we will keep it updated until then. http://www.hellyhansen.com/sodebo

First to announce their participation, an exclusive design deal with maverick Argentinian Juan Kouyoumdjian, an extensive R&D programme including access to the French Ministry of Defence tank test unit, a vastly experienced crew and lavish funding. Most of the ingredients were in place for Ericsson. There were the odd setbacks like the departure of John Kostecki, the original choice of lead skipper. Then along came Torben Grael - the icing on the layer cake. "It's darn good icing," says Richard Brisius, Ericsson Racing Team's Managing Director, delighted to have snared his quarry when Kostecki decided to depart in August. So now it is Grael who will lead a phalanx of Whitbread/Volvo veterans on Ericsson's international boat including Jules Salter as navigator, Stu Bannatyne and Brad Jackson as watch captains. Men you would want by your side in the trenches when the going got tough. Men just like Torben Schmidt Grael in fact. The 47-year-old Brazilian is dripping with Olympic bling - two golds, a silver and two bronze medals from Star and Soling campaigns dating back to 1984. His world, European, pan-American and America's Cup achievements are too numerous to mention here. Google it if you have the time to spare. It should include such vital information as - Occupation: sporting genius. Likes: winning. Dislikes: losing. "In every sport, every 10 or 20 years a very unique, strong, gifted individual stands out," Brisius says. "In tennis we currently have Roger Federer. In Sweden in the past we had Bjorn Borg and in skiing we had Ingemar Stenmark, sportsmen who have that special something that most of us ordinary people don't have and can't comprehend. In modern-day sailing, Torben has that aura, that special something." "He has an incredible record of successful yacht racing," adds Brisius. "He has been winning so much over the years there is not the time or the space to write down all his achievements. "For this campaign a lot of things were in place and a lot of decisions had been made but because of his strength of character the timing is right for him to come in and still influence key decisions. If you add the experienced people we already had working on the programme to Torben's capabilities it's a good match." On the international scene, Grael was known a tough-as-teak inshore match racer, a cerebral tactician in the America's Cup arena, but unproven on the high seas. Round the cans is one thing, round the world quite another. His first taste of freeze-dried food had been restricted to a leg of the 1997-98 Whitbread aboard Norwegian Knut Frostad's Innovation Kvaerner. However his exploits in coaxing an under-funded and temperamental Brasil 1 to third place overall in the 2005-06 race made him a must-have for Brisius when Grael's own attempts to put another Brazilian entry together ran aground. Ericsson's second boat, with an all-Nordic crew, will be helmed by Anders Lewander. The 43-year-old Swede is conducting his crew selection trials under the beedy eyes of Magnus Olsen, who has been round the globe enough times to make your head spin. Five to be exact. The first of the new boats, emerged from Irishman Killian Bushe's boat yard adjoining the Ericsson corporate headquarters in Stockholm in December. Ericsson will launch the second boat in the summer of 2008. In the meantime training continues in earnest at the team's base in Lanzarote. Both the Nordics and the international crew - which Grael has added the Brasil 1 refugees João Signorini and Horacio Carabelli to recently - have the former ABN AMRO ONE as a trial horse. Yet more icing. ERICSSON RACING TEAM ERICSSON ONE (international crew) Designer: Juan Kouyoumdjian Builder: Killian Bushe Boatyard: Kista, Stockholm Managing Director: Richard Brisius Skipper: Torben Grael Navigator: Jules Salter Crew (confirmed): Brad Jackson, Dave Endean, Richard Mason, Ryan James Godfrey, Stu Bannatyne, Tony Mutter, João Signorini, Horacio Carabelli. Training base: Lanzarote ERICSSON TWO (Nordic crew) Designer: Juan Kouyoumdjian Builder: Killian Bushe Boatyard: Kista, Stockholm Team Coach: Magnus Olsson Skipper: Anders Lewander Crew (confirmed): Aksel Magdahl, Thomas Johanson, Stefan Myrälf, Jens Dolmer.