Helly Hansen

WELCHES, Oregon (February 15, 2008) - Where IDEA left off, the new webisode series of "Hunting Yeti" begins. The short films feature the sliding abilities of Pep Fujas, Eric Pollard, Chris Benchetler, Andy Mahre, and friends. Witness all the action as the Nimbus Independent crew begins the season at Mt. Hood and finishes up at North Cascade Heli-Skiing during the epic snows in January. Nimbus, along with Rip.Tv and its partners, is building a new model for filmmaking and what it means for audiences, athletes and sponsors through online distribution. "Hunting Yeti", presented by K2 Skis, is now streaming using the Rip.Tv media player on our supporting partner websites: K2 Skis, Evogear, Helly Hansen, Oakley, Tecnica, Marker, Dragon, Dakine, Atomic, Line, VAS Entertainment, Freeskier, Fri Flyt, Transition, Fall Line Skiing, Skieur, Freeskiers.net, Chill Factor, Poor Boyz Productions, and Rip.Tv. Three versions of the first "Hunting Yeti" webisode are available for viewing. Streamed versions on the partner sites consist of two segments at 13 and 10 minutes in duration with a third full-length 28-minute version for computer and iPod viewing available for download off of the producer's page at www.rip.tv/nimbusindependent. "Hunting Yeti" is presented by K2 Skis and produced by Nimbus Independent in association with Poor Boyz Productions. Nimbus is producing five webisodes premiering on the 15th of February, April, August, and October. Check out the final cut of "Hunting Yeti - The Film" in early September on DVD or on tour in a city near you.

The concept of the "Red Bull Tribal Quest" is easy: Eight teams, consisting of one photografer, one Snowboarder and one Freeskier meet in the swiss village Nendaz (quatre Vallees) to produce the best possible photo in the categories: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? (Ski&Snb). Each Team has four days, before all participants judges the pics of the other Teams and the after party... The whole concept itsself is not to far away from our normal shooting-days. But usually shooting doesn't have to do anything with competition. But all teams had the same conditions and throughout the days the teams became more and more competitive and everybody wanted to win the event. Each and every one put in a huge effort to produce the best possible shot. My Team-members Klaus Polzer (Photo), Andre Kuhlmann (SNB) and myself had a perfect gameplan for the days and decided to rather focus on jibs than on the not really existing powder. As it turned out in the end, we were right with that plan. Our opponents were big names like Phil Meier, Xavier DeLaRue, Erik Thema, Nicolas Falquet and others, but we were the only team that could win two out of the six categories. And as you can imagine I'm even more stoked because we won the form e most prestigious category: Best Action Shot Ski. My winning photo was a Tailpress on a nice looking rock in the sunset... a really nice photo which wasn't easy to get at all. A big shout out to my teammates Klaus and Anre, a had the best time! More infos and all shots on http://tribal.openmountain.ch Greetz Nico Zacek

Three versions of the first "Hunting Yeti" webisode are available for viewing. Streamed versions on the partner sites consist of two segments at 13 and 10 minutes in duration with a third full-length 28-minute version for computer and iPod viewing available for download off of the producer's page at www.rip.tv/nimbusindependent.

In order to race for victory you need more than the best sailors and the best shore crew. There is a say that it is all in the details, and in a VOR team that the reality. Thousands of hours are put into optimizing the different parts. Here come a handful of these details: Rig On Ericsson's boats the side stays, which hold the mast in place and carries the sail, is made of carbon fiber. They are manufactured by Southern Composite Rigging. Steve Wilson from Southern Spars is the principal Rig designer. "The compressive load on the mast and the stay can 50 tones, and the side stay loads can reach 20 tones" he says. Winches The nine Harken deck winches, four of which have below-deck gear boxes, have been specially modified to transfer the muscle of the crew into the highest level of performance possible. The gearing for each winch is determined by its location and purpose on board. To enable the open gear mechanisms to operate as maintenance-free as possible, custom-tailored lubricants are specified that have been tested to perform from -20º C up to +40º C , covering virtually any weather condition that the boat will encounter during the race. Sails A total of 24 sails are allowed to be used in the race - all designed by North Sails in close collaboration with the Ericsson Racing Team. On any single leg of the race, only 11 will be used. The inventory includes four downwind sails, four headsails, two reachers and a mainsail. For optimal performance, the whole suit of upwind sails is manufactured using North Sails proprietary Kevlar 3DL™ thermo-molding process. To provide the best durability-to-weight ratio, downwind sails have panels of nylon, reinforced with Cuben Fiber to enhance strength and stability. Hull Because the overall weight of the boat must fall between 13,860 and 14,000 kilos - a difference of merely 140 kilos - the completed hull has to be just as rigid as the tough requirements specified by the Volvo Open 70 Rule. To do so, every possible gram of excess weight must be shaved from the largest single component of the boat, without sacrificing a single gram of strength. Based on previous race successes, Advanced Composites Group (ACG) - specialists in high performance pre-impregnated (prepreg) composites - has been selected to manufacture and supply the various hull materials. Keel Always below the surface, but at the very top of considerations that determine the overall design of the boat, the fin and bulb combined must weigh 7,400 kilos or less. The canting keel for the Ericsson entry, constructed by Caraboni in Italy, is designed to pivot to windward up to 40 degrees. In order to determine the optimal relationship of weight, size and shape for the keel, advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies were utilized.

From the blog of Anders Lewander, skipper of the Nordic ERT boat: After two week's of sailing and a Name Giving Ceremony of Ericsson 3 in Barcelona we are now back on Lanzarote. We have covered more than 2600 nautical miles and been through a great reality check with teams, gear and boats. On the way back from Barcelona we sailed with the Nordic Crew on Ericsson 2 and the International Crew on Ericsson 3. It's been very stimulating weeks, to further develop the opportunities of this project on the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. We have had variable conditions, from motoring with light winds to strong +40 knots easterly winds through Gibraltar on a westerly course. We have also experienced a couple of front passages on top of that. It takes a cold front passage to achieve a cold front passage experience... I mean that its so valuable to crack of from tuff limiting sea state at 60 true-wind-angel (TWA) down to 70 TWA and increase speed to 16-18 knots, sailing best course to next waypoint of desire. The breeze picking up to +35 knots and the thunder clouds over and to starboard west of us quickly moving north east. We were set up for saving our sources having only three on deck, short rotating watches and constantly working the 2 reefed main and J4 as the wind pulsed in the squalls and the spray, or the more or less solid water with bits of air in it constantly hammering over the deck... As the day approached the final day and the expected wind veered (wind shift clockwise in direction) the routing took us over on starboard tack towards Lanzarote and back to our training base for the coming months. /Anders

WELCHES, Oregon (January 17, 2008) - Nimbus Independent, a new ski film production company driven by Eric Pollard, Pep Fujas, Andy Marhe, and Chris Benchetler released its critically-acclaimed debut film "IDEA" in September 2007. In 2008, Nimbus intends to reach a much broader audience with the release of five short-film webisodes through Rip.Tv that showcase an innovative and creative viewpoint on skiing and film making, followed by a feature film release of "Hunting Yeti" presented by K2 Skis. "Hunting Yeti" takes skiers on a global tour as seen through the eyes of the athletes. Unique to Nimbus Independent, the riders in the film share the duties of producing, directing, filming and music selection for the final cut while Pollard creates the edits. After successfully capturing the artistic and soulful footage in IDEA, videographers Justin Wiegand and Ike Smith return to help document the "Hunting Yeti" quest. The webisodes and the feature film follow the tight crew around the globe and share life from their perspective as they meet up with other skiers, both professional and locals, to capture all aspects of skiing and culture along the way. Nimbus is developing a unique business and distribution model founded on digital/web technology and has partnered with Rip.Tv to host their website, webisodes, and become their digital distributor. Check out the online Nimbus Independent producer channel at: www.rip.tv/nimbusindependent. Sponsors and media partners can embed the Rip.Tv media player for skiers to view the "Hunting Yeti" short films. Each webisode will be broken up into multiple 5-8 minute streams with the option to download the entire 15-24 minute feature in Standard or High Definition format. Catch all five free webisode premiers on the 15th of February, April, June, August, and October. Additionally, Nimbus Independent has partnered with evogear.com. Evogear.com will be the official online storefront for all things Nimbus. Look for limited edition products, new product releases, pro models, and the option to purchase exactly what you see in the "Hunting Yeti" films. "Hunting Yeti" is presented by K2 Skis and produced by Nimbus Independent in association with Poor Boyz Productions. Look for more information on the crew, films and partners at: www.rip.tv/nimbusindependent.

The concept of the "Red Bull Tribal Quest" is easy: Eight teams, consisting of one photographer, one Snowboarder and one Freeskier meet in the swiss village Nendaz (quatre Vallees) to produce the best possible photo in the categories: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? (Ski&Snb). Each Team has four days, before all participants judges the pics of the other Teams and the after party... The whole concept itself is not to far away from our normal shooting-days. But usually shooting doesn't have to do anything with competition. But all teams had the same conditions and throughout the days the teams became more and more competitive and everybody wanted to win the event. Each and every one put in a huge effort to produce the best possible shot. My Team-members Klaus Polzer (Photo), Andre Kuhlmann (SNB) and myself had a perfect gameplan for the days and decided to rather focus on jibs than on the not really existing powder. As it turned out in the end, we were right with that plan. Our opponents were big names like Phil Meier, Xavier DeLaRue, Erik Thema, Nicolas Falquet and others, but we were the only team that could win two out of the six categories. And as you can imagine I'm even more stoked because we won the form e most prestigious category: Best Action Shot Ski. My winning photo was a Tailpress on a nice looking rock in the sunset... a really nice photo which wasn't easy to get at all. A big shout out to my teammates Klaus and Anre, a had the best time! More infos and all shots on http://tribal.openmountain.ch photo credit - Red Bull Tribal Quest / Klaus Polzer Greetz Nico Zacek

"From ERT weather man Chris Bedford. Until recently, "liquid lead" sunscreen protection has been the go here in Lanzarote. But over the last few days, the sun has been well hidden by thick cloud cover. This even prevented our ability to enjoy the Lunar Eclipse which would have been visible in the early hours of Thursday morning - a real pity. All this cloud is due to a trough in the upper atmosphere which has done a nice job of hooking up with a very wet sub-tropical jet stream. This jet stream is bringing heaps of moisture northeast from the tropics and directly over the Canary Islands. There is enough moisture in the air to produce something else we don't see often - rain! Although not heavy, there has been enough rain around to wash the dust off most things and keep us wearing our Helly Hansen wet weather gear. The winds have been disappointing as well. After a long period of moderate NE-SE breezes, the upper atmospheric trough has killed the wind here. The Volvo Ocean Race weather laboratory normally supplied by the Canary Islands has been on holiday. However things are shaping up. The cloud should clear out over the weekend and we can expect strong northeast trade winds next week. Everyone is excited about that!"

The Collective, producers of Roam and The Collective have launched a new website and trailer in support of their latest mountain bike film, Seasons. The website is at www.thecollectivefilm.com and includes the trailer, rider videos, photo galleries, and more information about the film and its sponsors. Seasons is a film that follows seven of the world's top mountain bikers through the course of four seasons of one year. The film explores what it means to be a full time rider as told through the lives of downhill racers, slopestyle competitors, and big mountain freeriders. The main riders in the film are: Darren Berrecloth, Matt Hunter, Cam McCaul, Steve Peat, Andrew Shandro, Steve Smith, and Thomas Vanderham. There will also be some guest appearances by others who cross paths with the main seven riders. The Collective has been working on Seasons non-stop for the last twelve months, and is now in post production on the film, cutting together footage from multiple shoots with every rider, ranging from slopestyle competitions to World Cup downhill races, to epic backcountry freeride shoots. "The film has been a ton of work for everyone involved," says Jamie Houssian of The Collective, "so it's nice to finally see it come together in the studio. It's a new type of film for the action sports genre. We're stoked to show people something a little different". Seasons is sponsored by Specialized, Shimano, Adidas Eyewear, Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Bontrager, Dakine, Helly Hansen, and Pinkbike.com. The film's theatrical World Tour starts in April 2008 and the DVD will be available in May 2008 in bike shops worldwide and from

On Feburary 2nd Ashley, placed first at the oldest and largest freeskiing event held in the US, The US Freeskiing Open at Copper Mountain, CO. On Feburary23rd she again placed first at the largest freeskiing event held in Japan, The Nippon Freeskiing Open. Both competitions bring the best skiers from around the world to the US and Japan. In the US Open Ashley stomped all her big air jumps and totally slayed the rails. The Nippon Open held at Joetsu Kokusai Resort in Japan saw few girls hitting the big side of the jumps exclusively used by the guys. Ashley spent the better part of training struggling with whether or not she should hit the big side of the jumps. Maiko Hara from Japan started hitting the big side of the second jump. Ashley knew she had to step it up, and crashed hard on her first run of the best of two run finals. She, shook it off and kept her mind in the game and not only hit the big side, but threw a huge switch 7 in the process, clinching the top spot on the podium.

Just got back from a 3 week long Euro trip with the Storbis posse. Had so much fun and a lot of sunny days. Trip started from Munich where we all got together at ISPO. We have two cars from Nissan and we decided to split up. The crew(Jukka, Jaakko, Anssi, Harri, Jani, JaniL, Aleksi) I was in headed to Switzerland and the other crew(Rasmus, Kurula, Teo and Janne) into some super special hook up high in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. Our crew stayed in Switzerland for 2 weeks and the first week we happened to get some really good snow. We got the chance to shoot with Pat Vermeulen and got so much stuff done. After that initial dump during the first few days we didn't see a cloud in the sky for the next 2-3 weeks. Jani, Aleksi, Harri and JaniL split up after a week or so in Switzerland and after that we had a pretty good sized crew. The other crew(excluding Janne and Teo) met up with us in Switzerland and we kept filming. Snow started getting pretty tracked out and hot pow so we decided to go to Austria to look for some better snow conditions. We split up again and had a small crew now. Only shadow spots still had some powder and we found this super cool zone with a bunch of pillow style jumps. Stayed there for 3 days and then headed to Italy to film some park stuff. Italy was super fun and big thanks to Franz for hooking us up! I hiked so much on this trip, drunk a lot of water, slept under the comfiest puffy comforters (though a little short), drove a bunch, used sun screen excessively and laughed a lot. Got a lot of stuff done and can't wait for the next one. Check out some photos from our trip. You can also see some preview pics of my new apparel line at Helly Hansen for next season which I designed. For the future my plans are to stay in Finland for a bit and film some jibbing stuff and then head back to Europe for some more powder jumps.

"Shin Campos points it to the skate park, chugs, and goes home with a $500. Check out the event coverage at: snowboard.com"

Just got back from a 3 week long Euro trip with the Storbis posse. Had so much fun and a lot of sunny days. Trip started from Munich where we all got together at ISPO. We have two cars from Nissan and we decided to split up. The crew(Jukka, Jaakko, Anssi, Harri, Jani, JaniL, Aleksi) I was in headed to Switzerland and the other crew(Rasmus, Kurula, Teo and Janne) into some super special hook up high in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. Our crew stayed in Switzerland for 2 weeks and the first week we happened to get some really good snow. We got the chance to shoot with Pat Vermeulen and got so much stuff done. After that initial dump during the first few days we didn't see a cloud in the sky for the next 2-3 weeks. Jani, Aleksi, Harri and JaniL split up after a week or so in Switzerland and after that we had a pretty good sized crew. The other crew(excluding Janne and Teo) met up with us in Switzerland and we kept filming. Snow started getting pretty tracked out and hot pow so we decided to go to Austria to look for some better snow conditions. We split up again and had a small crew now. Only shadow spots still had some powder and we found this super cool zone with a bunch of pillow style jumps. Stayed there for 3 days and then headed to Italy to film some park stuff. Italy was super fun and big thanks to Franz for hooking us up! I hiked so much on this trip, drunk a lot of water, slept under the comfiest puffy comforters (though a little short), drove a bunch, used sun screen excessively and laughed a lot. Got a lot of stuff done and can't wait for the next one. Check out some photos from our trip. You can also see some preview pics of my new apparel line at Helly Hansen for next season which I designed. For the future my plans are to stay in Finland for a bit and film some jibbing stuff and then head back to Europe for some more powder jumps.

"Portsmouth, England: Norway's Knut Frostad (40) has been appointed as Chief Executive of the Volvo Ocean Race. Frostad, who has taken part in the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race four times, twice as skipper and manager of his own projects, will take up his position at race head quarters in Whiteley, UK, on 3 March. With background in business management and administration, Frostad has also been a board member and industrial advisor to leading companies as well as a sought after business speaker in Europe. Knut Frostad said that the Whitbread/Volvo has been a big part of his life for 15 years and that this would be a dream job. "My immediate focus is the present race. The 2008-09 race is pretty much laid out. My job is to ensure that the race is organised expertly and that we have the most successful and exciting race possible as we continue the event's evolution. The team in place in race headquarters is experienced and professional which will ensure a seamless transition." The 2008-09 event will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain on 4 October 2008, it will for the first time, take in ports in Asia. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at around 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews."

"The Ericsson 3, the first of Ericsson's two race yachts, has been given its name in an event that lit up the Barcelona night sky. A large, glowing sphere suspended in mid-air displayed a journey from the sun to earth, zoomed in on Barcelona and then the World Trade Center, where skippers Torben Grael and Anders Lewander stood by the Ericsson 3 along with Ericsson's Senior Vice President Communication Henry Stenson. Henry Stenson says, "This is a race that we are proud to be associated with. For a company like Ericsson, leading the way in technology and innovation, there is no better way to express our goals and ambition than to go right out there and compete in one of the toughest yacht races the world has ever seen." While the audience watched images from the boat-building process, crew training sessions and challenges from the previous race, Ericsson's two crews entered the courtyard and the skippers were invited onto the stage. "The naming of Ericsson 3 is a milestone in our campaign. We have had great offshore tests and we feel very confident on this boat. Juan K did a great job and we are very proud of the new boat. But with 235 days to go it is important to make every day count", says Torben Grael. "There will be some very competitive teams in this race. We feel good about where we stand right now, but make no mistake: this is going to be a tough race where we will need to do our best at all times", complements Anders Lewander. At 9:30pm, Gordana Kovacevic, President, Ericsson Croatia, broke the champagne bottle and the yacht was officially named under lights and visual effects. Guests were then invited to look at the boat for the first time. The team will now head back to its training base in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, and continue training until the race kickoff in Alicante, in October. The new course of the Volvo Ocean Race will take the fleet to stops in India and China before finishing in St. Petersburg, Russia, in June 2009."

Check out this Step Child Snowboards video with Shin Campos. If this is not what snowboarding is about then I am a deeply confused human. Shin is the king of powder, pillow lines and snow machines. This video is just pure fun captured and shared with the masses. Enough said. Click the link and think about calling in sick on the next good day. Thanks to Step Child and Transworld for putting it out there. http://www.transworldsnowboarding.com/snow/videos/video/0,26810,1710664,00.html

On Sunday Feb 3, the delivery trip, with Barcelona as final destination, commenced. In Barcelona, the sailing and shore team will attend the christning of the new boat together with several invited Ericsson customers on the evening of February 12. The international and nordic crew have been equally split between both boats for the delivery. During the sail to Barcelona the intention is to conduct some thorough two boat testing excercises. All reports from the boats say the delivery is going all well and with quite strong winds somewhat quicker than expected.

This year at the 2008 X Games we decided to bring people in out of the cold at the Helly Hansen Warm Party. This party was to announce our new relationship with Aspen Snowmass as their Official Uniform Supplier. The night got going at about 8:30pm and by 10pm the dance floor was packed with everyone gettin down to the grooves of DJ Naka G, Aspens #1. We had three beautiful Go Go Dancers dressed from head to toe in Lifa Warm and they were making sure that everyone that couldn't make it inside was entertained outside while they danced all night in the windows. Chris Davenport made an appearence and was interviewed by RSN, we were told that Anakin Skywalker showed up. I had no idea because all I was doing all night was pouring Vodka 14 and Red Bull or twising off another Budweiser. The party was so good that the Aspen Police decided to drop in to see how things were going. After talking to them for a few minutes and realizing everyone was having a good time they gave us a wave and walked out the door. We were only going to run the party until midnight but we thought we would run it until we ran out of booze which wasn't too much later. Once everyone was gone by 1am we looked around and thought, there was a good party here! You know it's a great party when one of your mannequin's hands are stolen and someone leaves their walking cane.

We finally did it! 2 days of promoting the wedding and getting the invitation ballots into peoples hands at the SIA Tradeshow in Vegas got us our winning couple. With over 2000 ballots given out at SIA we got almost 800 back and the race was surprisingly close. 16 votes separated our winning couple from one of the other two, a close race considering. The winners were the Love Birds from 8th grade Chris and Brandi and they couldn't have been more excited! The wedding got going at 5pm sharp with Ryan Hayter (our PR guy and MC for the wedding) getting things going by announcing our groomsmen, Chris Davenport, Shin Campos and Ian Foreman and our bridesmaids Jessica Sobolowski, Alisha Kirby and Kelsey. Elvis started the ceremony by singing Fools Rush In, I walked the bride down the isle to her future husband Chris. Their vows were filled with lines from Elvis' hit songs when they exchanged rings and locked lips they were now man and wife. Elvis went into a few more songs as the bride and groom cut the cake. We handed out almost 500 bottles of Budweiser and went through 10 bottles of champagne in half an hour, those were some thirsy wedding attendees. Chris and Brandi will now be making their honeymoon plans to spend in Aspen/Snowmass. They will have one week all expenses paid ski honeymoon in one of the best resorts in the world. I'm sure they will have an incredible time on the slopes there! I would like to thank all the couples that submitted entries and to the three that were chosen for taking part in this special event.

"The annual Powder Magazine Awards just went down at Aspen during X Games and the Helly crew was there to celebrate. These awards signify massive amounts of hard work by the skiers and do not come easy. Eric Hjorleifson received the award for "Full Throttle". If you want more explanation on what this means check out his work in MSP's "Seven Sunny Days". Eric gives'er like no other. Eric Pollard got the trophy for "Best Pow Line" for his skiing in the movie "Idea". Eric is an artist on canvas and also on the mountain. What he does to powder with his skis is a thing of beauty. Both Eric's and Mark Abma were also in the top ten for reader poll awards. Nominations included: Best Male Mark Abma Eric Hjorleifson Best Powder Eric Pollard Best Line Eric Hjorleifson Best Natural Air Eric Pollard Eric Hjorleifson Best Jib P.K. Hunder Full Throttle Eric Hjorleifson -Winners Best Natural Air Eric Pollard Full Throttle Eric Hjorleifson Read more at: http://www.powderawards.com/"