K2 at the 'Slide & Sound'
K2 took part in the 8th edition of the Slide & Sound in Martigny, Switzerland - a season opening party with lots of riders, films and really cool sound!
It was sooo good to be there and to celebrate the upcoming winter ....
Zuff
Pink Chase Raises over $30K for Breast Cancer Research!
With over $30,000 fundraised for the breast cancer research, 687,260 vertical feet logged, and an assortment of creative pink costumes, the Pink Chase was a huge success! 19 teams combining a total of 57 women-skiers, snowboarders, tele skiers of varying ages-- youthful 23 year olds to bright eyed 56 year olds participated in the Pink Chase Fundraiser at Keystone Resort, CO on December 12th. Despite the frigid temperatures, the women arrived in the early hours, energetic, and dressed from head to toe in an array of pink costumes—full piece bunny suits to Lady Gaga impersonators (Gaga for Gnar of course!), snow angels, and pink capes ready for a day of riding. Apres started promptly at 3PM at Parrot Eyes, followed by the awards ceremony (and raffle), mc'ed by K2's very own Michael Powell. Tons of giveaways from our sponsors. PINK Hats were the hit, and the party didn't stop till DJ Shares turned off his turn tables.
Be sure to check out the photos from the event! Hope to see you all and your friends back next year! Check back in the spring for details on PINK CHASE 2010!
We would also like to thank all of the sponsors and volunteers for making this event possible. We couldn't have done it without you!
The PINK CHASE FUNDRAISER offers women of all ages and disciplines: the opportunity to be involved in an all women's snow event, make a difference by fundraising for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), win great prizes and have a ton of fun skiing and riding with the K2 Alliance, their friends and other women teams for a day!
The Life of a K2 Intern
K2 intern here, writing my first and sadly last blog all about my time as a K2 ski marketing intern.
I remember my first two hours at K2 like I remember the first time I skied Mt Baker, with crystal clarity. Walking into the massive south Seattle warehouse you see not cubicles but entire chambers dedicated to various departments. Epic pictures of Seth Morrison charging Haines and anonymous skiers rappelling rock faces with their skis strapped to their backs line the walls. The marketing office, where I work, has a bar, a lurking Sasquatch and what some may call a “fireplace.” The first thing I’m told is that I will never be called anything but intern. It seems like a small concession to make, especially when Steve the snowboard marketing guy manages to dislocate his shoulder on the skate ramp in the warehouse. Apparently not unheard of to do so, Steve has his shoulder popped back in with a sling around it and is back at his desk by the time I return from my tour.
Besides the dislocation fiasco my day at K2 starts off like no internship I’ve ever done before. I’m given the task of researching quotes for the upcoming catalog. From here these quotes are transformed into thematic vignettes in the catalog.
The next four months, mainly focused on perfecting the catalog, go by in a blur. I work with the engineers, designers, marketing team and photographers to get the perfect shot of each and every new ski as well as the perfect portrait for every pro, write and edit proofs, and watch designers Drew, Schmies and Erfle work their graphic magic until the wee hours of the morning to make the K2 catalog what we all know and love it to be.
December brought the annual sales meeting that came and went faster than this years K2 skins with everyone in the department working flawlessly to explain to reps from all over the world how the new backside skis could be transformed into a rescue sled or how much potential the much anticipated Free Skis for Life campaign had for marketing the skis.
K2 also gave me the opportunity to fly to Keystone CO for the K2 breast cancer fundraiser Pink Chase which brought women from all over together to see who could clock the most vertical feet in a day with a cat skiing trip on the line. Outfits ranged from bunnies to Lady Gaga to angels in various shades of neon pink with names like, “save second base” and “cancer crushers.”
After all this it’s hard for me to believe it’s over but also hard for me to believe how much experience came from this internship. The company, the incredible people you work with and the industry itself all make for a unique experience that is worth its weight in gold. If you’re looking for a jam-packed insight into skiing culture I would highly recommend applying for an internship with K2. Good luck!
Finally on the road with our BMW X1...
Last week was the day! After getting some cool sticker job our 2 X1 were ready for pick up. We got invited to Munich into the BMW World for the official hand-over fo the keys and some introduction of the cars. If you still think all one gets is 4 wheels, a steering wheel, gear shift, a motor and lights - well, trust us, these cars have way more under their hood than you think. Efficient Dynamics (so we are good to the environment as well), Dynamic Stability Control for those bumpy mountain roads), Hill Descent Control (for the way home), Tyre Puncture Warning system, GPS (so we actually find our way to the secret powder), automatic lights with follow-me-home function (awesome for pick-ups...), Bluetooth cell phone connection, climate control, 4 wheel drive, no gear shift but automatic (BMW thought since we are an Amerian company we are better off with automatic haha), on-board computer with online connection (yep you can surf the web with these cars), Ipod connection, roofbox for our skis and snowboards and a lot of other nice gimmicks that make our boss jealous.
One of our X1 in front of the BMW headquarter in Munich
So after some posing for pics with the guys from BMW we also got an instruction how to utilize all those gadgets when on the road. So one thing is certain, we´ll never miss the first runs anymore as thes cars almost drive on their own!
Roman (Backside Team), Andrea (K2 Skis Marketing), Stefan (BMW) and Stefan (ATD Team) with the keys
Andrea and Roman should focus on the features instead of being happy as a pig in shit...
Roman and Stefan stoked. Stefan even more as he is driving.
Where´s the motorway? (no speed limit in Germany...)
Felix, Roman and Dani had their first real powder day!
This weekend my Season started with two nice Powderdays.
I arrived in the Zillervalley on Thursday and had really good luck with the weather. On Friday night we had about 20 cm fresh snow in Hochfügen. It was a little bit foggy and we scratched some rocks because of the bad snow conditions in the last weeks, but Local Roman Rohrmoser, Dani Schiessl, me and some friends had a really good day with a lot of nice runs.
On Sunday a little bit more snow arrived and Charlotte (my girlfriend) could take some pictures of me in the backcountry of the Penken...
Felix
K2 @ the BMW Winterfreude in Austria
As you all know K2 teamed up with BMW this season, as part of the cooperation we are getting some new BMW X1 to make sure our teamriders won´t get stuck on their way to the mountains. If you don´t want to get stuck either you should try to get into one of the NEW BMW X1 as well and test them at the "BMW Winterfreude" stops in Austria on real snow and winter conditions.
BMW will build a special xDrive parcour where you can get into BMWs and test all their features, as well as your driving skills. Besides getting a feel for the cool cars each participant of the xDrive parcour gets a voucher for a K2 test ski for one day for FREE at a selected K2 retailer. So after BMW made sure you got some driving experiences in their cars we make sure you get the same experience on snow. It all about fun and control!
Here are the dates and locations:
Kaltenbach/Zillertal: 8.1. – 24.1.2010
K2 testski voucher valid at:
Flachau: 30.1. – 16.2.10
K2 testski voucher valid at:
Saalbach/Hinterglemm: 26.2. – 13.3.2010
K2 testski voucher valid at:
Obertauern: 19.3. – 11.4.2010
K2 testski voucher valid at:
K2 Tourenabende
Auch heuer finden wieder die K2 Tourenabende in Garmisch Partenkirchen statt! Jeden Dienstag und Donnerstag geht es vom Hausbergparkplatz auf die Drehmöser9, wo man sich mit einem Tourengeher Schmaus stärken kann, bevor man sich wieder auf die Abfahrt begibt.
Heuer gibt es 2 Routen, am Dienstag geht es vom Hausbergparkplatz über die Tonihütten Piste zr D9, oder für die die es gerne steiler haben alternativ direkt über die Horn Piste. Am Donnerstag dann zur Abwechslung über die Kochelbergpiste.
Die Tourenabende beginnen mit Öffnung der Talabfahrten im Hausberggebiet.
In Zusammenarbeit mit Sport Conrad besteht ausserdem die Möglichkeit die neuen K2 Tourenski zu testen. Gegen eine Gebühr von 5,- Euro können die Ski bis 19.00 Uhr abgeholt werden, die Leihgebühr wird bei Kauf eines beliebigen Sportartikels rückerstattet.
K2 Backside Ski Testcenter in Åre
Check out the new window display of the Åventyrsbutik in Åre. If you want to get on some serious off-piste skis - whether fat freeride or classic randonee skis - try this shop in one of Sweden´s most known ski resorts.
Åre AVENTYRSBUTIK
ÅREVAGEN 109
SE-830 13
Åre
0046 647 512 20
www.areaventyr.se
info@areaventyr.se
Even if the mountains don´t look like the alps there´s great top-touring in the backcountry. Bring your tent, some kjöttbullar, potatis mus and lingon and you will have some great days out in the nature, especially if you are on our skis.
On the way into Skäckerfjällen
Basecamp
Swedish style camp dinner - Trangia cookers, kjötbullar and lots of other stuff from Willy´s.
Ino the wild.
Almost at the top. Nice rolling and fun terrain everywhere.
Chris Fischer's Jib Park
Hey everbody,
after a lot of late nights in the garage my friends and me finished our own rail park.
Finally we got some snow, so we went to ski some powder on Saturday and then on Sunday we checked out our new rail park. It was pretty funny! Here is a short edit from our park, sorry for the bad quality.
Take care
Chris
Anna Hagspiel Sandskiing Part 3
Day one in the base camp, we did a long, long walk in the altitude up to ca. 5400 m. The dust killed Stephans lung and the altitude Verenas head, so the both had to leave our base camp. From this moment, the photographer’s job had to be done by Brigitte, Peter Schmid and me…
The day they left, we were hanging around the Laguna in some hot springs, doing nothing but still preparing the trip to the peak and relaxing and motivating ourselves for the long way to the summit.
On the third day we got up in the middle of the night, tried to eat something for breakfast and started to ride to the Cerro Solo with our offroad truck – it took four hours. Here the first surprise was that we couldn´t drive as close to the mountain as we thought, so we had to walk for three hours through dunes and a rocky highplateau to the face. After the first hour we had a big discussion in our team and the two Peters decided to let their skiing-equipment in the dunes, but Brigitte followed my opinion never to leave my skis in the middle of nowhere. I was really happy that she followed and supported me with motivation. For the guys the way to the face was already too long to carry the heavy stuff in this altitude – even though their material was light-weight…
The wind was that hard that our skis on the backpacks were like sails. When we got to the face with all that kilos on our shoulders, we were already tired, but fighting like heroes 
Second surprise: again the sand wasn’t sand - it was a kind of sandy face covered with white volcanic stones with a size of little eggs up to tennis-balls, mixed with some footballs, hahaha
As the wind was getting stronger, we were already in the face and every step was a challenge in that shitty material and this altitude. At ca. 6000 m the leader of the expedition, Peter Schmid, had to make a hard decision because of a hurricane and the time we needed to get down: we had to face the fact that we couldn’t reach the summit in time, so we had to turn around…
For sure I decide to ski down, but the base was so hard to ski that I crashed immediately. I was lucky that I wasn´t really hurt, and was still able to ski down. Brigitte also tried her best, but she decided that it was less dangerous for her to carry back down her material in a better skiable part of the face.
Down the face Brigitte and me gave us big hugs for having given our best to realize the project and that we never have given up (not like the super guys…). Then we walked back in the dunes with an incredible experience and good but also sad feelings.
Back in the civilization we rode some real sand mountains and did some more shootings with Stephan. But for remembering the Cerro Solo forever, I brought some volcanic stones for the gallery…
Big Thanks to Brigitte for sharing all this moments with me, to Peter S. for the organisation, to Stephan for the great photos, Peter J. and Verena for joining the trip and K2 and Bergans for the support!
Back in Santiago de Chile, I had to kick a rubber balls in a little fight, when he robbed my bag… Everything was going so fast, that I was just handling, not thinking but fighting for my bag, so sorry thieve for some kicks and a bag with almost nothing inside except of tampons, factures, souvenirs and sun crème!
Again, all pictures by Stefan Neuhauser, www.stefanneuhauser.com
