Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Feedback from another satisfied Icebreaker customer…:

“I cannot express enough my extreme satisfaction with your product during our 21-day trip to Mongolia.  We were horseback riding, camel riding, kayaking and camping.  The trip of a lifetime!

Since we needed to pack light - I was especially drawn to the low-stink factor of your shirts.  Everyone else on the trip was spending time doing laundry when we got into camp - but I just kept on having fun because my shirts didn’t stink!  (And I looked good and felt comfortable).

Thank you for your great product!”

- Debra Gagner, Minneapolis, MN

After our wonderful sailing experience my family and I spent some time on the island of Crete. My dad decided it would be a fun idea to walk the Samaria Gorge - the longest gorge in Europe.

The gorge is 16 km long, starting at an altitude of 1,250m at the northern entrance, and ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea in Agia Roumeli.

Dressed in Icebreaker GT and Superfine, the family was all geared up to tackle the gorge - we had convinced ourselves it was nothing more than a “walk in the park”. Everything we read said you only needed a medium level of fitness, there was a well worn “footpath” to the end, and as it was all downhill it wasn’t very strenuous. I mean, we had all done the Tongariro Crossing, this would be a piece of cake - right?

WRONG! The guide on the bus had warned us - if you are having any knee pain within the first 4km, then turn back…it’s only going to get worse. At the 4km mark, after a very steep descent, I had rolled both of my weak ankles numerous times, and my left knee felt like it was facing the wrong way. I then started favouring my right knee, which started feeling the strain very quickly!

The terrain was definitely not what I would describe as a well worn footpath - more of an uneven rocky stony trail - often there wasn’t a trail to follow and you made it up yourself.

The hardest part was trying to beat the heat. We started the gorge at 8am but were advised to try and finish before pm as the last 3km were exposed. With temperatures in the high 30’s, walking in the blazing sun was to be avoided - so keeping a fast pace became essential.

We had a quick stop at the half way point, the ancient village of Samaria where we lunched with the Kri-Kri’s - Cretan goats that are only found in that area.

We made it through the most famous part of the gorge, the Iron Gates, where the sides of the gorge close in to a width of only four meters and soar up to a height of 500m.

We reached the 14km mark at a painful shuffle. Mum and I were experiencing bad knee pain from the constant downhill over rocks, and my feet were more than ready to get out of my trail shoes! The shoes and Icebreaker socks came off, and the jandals went on…and suddenly I thought I was hallucinating. Up ahead was a small shack with a sign “Bus to Port - 1 EURO”. Not surprisingly I was the first person on that bus for the last 1km ride to Roumeli!

We shuffled into a taverna, put our feet up, and enjoyed ice cold beers for the rest of the afternoon before a ferry took us back to Hóra Sfakíon.

Wearing Icebreaker was a saviour - the heat was intense, but our tee’s kept us cool and dry. I have no doubt that wearing Icebreaker socks saved our feet from blisters!

Luckily the knee pain only lasted a day, our calves and feet were back to normal a couple of days after that…but the photos will last forever!

- Leah Evans, Global Communications Executive

In an effort purely to make my Icebreaker colleagues extremely jealous, I thought I would share my recent experience of wearing our gorgeous Icebreaker products in extreme heat - and in a glorious location!

I have just returned from a month long holiday in the Greek Islands with my family (Mum, Dad and my brother Richard). For one of those weeks, we sailed our wee yacht, Mikinos (a Dufour 385), as part of a Nautilus Yachting flotilla around the Sporades Islands.

Highlights of the week of sailing were seeing various sites from the Mamma Mia movie - including THE church (and yes, humming the songs while we were there), having dolphins surround the boat and play around our bow, and visiting gorgeous quaint Greek villages on the islands of Skiathos, Skopelos, and Alonissos.

Greece was experiencing a heat wave in June (as most of Europe still is!) and temperatures averaged 35 degrees plus each day. To say that we lived in nothing but Icebreaker is an understatement!

I think our fellow yachties thought that dad only owned one t-shirt as his Icebreaker GT Velocity Crewe was pretty much his skippers uniform each day; Richard liked to pull out his Superfine tee’s or Stripe Club Polo for dinners at the local taverna’s each night; and mum and I (who are lucky enough to be the same size) simply shared Superfine tanks - together we had eight different colours!

The other members of the flotilla were amazed to hear that we had all been wearing nothing but Icebreaker for a couple of weeks, yet the garments didn’t smell.

When you are travelling and living out of a backpack, and then confined to a small yacht, space is of a premium. Being able to pack light and make the most of the garments we took was essential.

The fact that one t-shirt could take us from hoisting the sails and sweating during the day, being thrown on after a swim off the back of the boat, and then worn out for dinner at night and still look good was just awesome!

- Leah Evans, Global Communications Executive

Icebreaker is supporting the 2010 Czech Seakayak Expedition which sets off on the 24th of July to East Greenland. Here is a short update from the team prior to their departure:

The first Czech seakayak-expedition in the coastal areas of East Greenland has the ambition to journey about 200-kilometers in the system of local fjords and islands.

Greenland is a place where local residents (Inuits) have been using kayaks as an aid in hunting whales and seals for over two thousand years. We’d like to meet them and compare our experiences. For this purpose, we developed a completely new type of sport seakayak.

Areas that we´d like to visit are some of the most photogenic parts of the planet, so the whole project is designed not only as a sport, but also  as an ethnographic and documentary expedition. The expedition has already had lots of media interest in magazines, newspapers, and for talks on radio stations.

Icebreaker has provided us with premium quality merino underwear to keep us toasty warm in severe conditions of the Greenland. BF150 and BF260 tops and leggings paired with brand new RealFleece jackets and super, super warm and comfortable Hike socks will be our best fellows on the trip.

The three experienced paddlers on the team are:

Petr Novotný: photographer and journalist (more than 200 professional travel and outdoor publications in several journals in the country); organizer and popularizer of many first sea kayaking expeditions (including I. Czech expedition to Iceland 2002, as many others - almost always the first ones - trips to the region Skagerrak, Stocholm skargard, Aland - Sweden, Sardinia, Corsica, Cyclad islands - Greece, Costa Rica, Panama, Tasmania, Madeira). A former contestant on a wild Water (USK Praha Dukla Brandys), an international instructor rafting and canoeing IRF trip leader.

Standa Klokočník: Author and designer of the Czech-art prototype sea kayak. Instructor Guide and the sea kayaking, since 2003, passed 22 missions.

Jan Kolanda: Long-term representative of the Czech Republic in the many water sports; Canoe racing - multiple champion and participant in the World Cup marathon, the participant surfski Ocean Racing Australia, quadriathlon - world champion and winner of several World Cup races. Participant in a number of sea kayaking expeditions. Professional guide in Australia and the Pacific.

Check out the photos below of preparations and stay tuned for an update on their expedition.

After 30 hours or so in transit, New Zealand band Electric Wire Hustle are enjoying their second tour through Europe wearing none other than Icebreaker Superfine.  Here’s a quick update from band member and Icebreaker Graphic Designer Dave Wright:

“So far we’ve had a couple of amazing shows in London followed by Vienna, Frankfurt, Poznan and Berlin. Next to come are Basel and Amsterdam.

With temperatures in the mid to late thirties the entire trip, our Icebreaker Superfine t-shirts have been integral. Traveling with a load of instruments while disembarking trains or planes to get to different venues and go straight into set-up, our Superfine tee’s have eased the heat and stink that would have accompanied!

This picture is of the three of us in our Superfine prior to traveling from London to Vienna to perform in a planetarium.”

Have a great rest of your tour guys, we’re stoked you’re wearing Icebreaker on your travels!

Having made the painful decision to leave the Icebreaker family in pursuit of the age old Kiwi tradition of heading on an OE (Oversees Experience) the first stop was to visit my father who is currently working in AL Ain in the United Arab Emirates.

After appropriately celebrating my 3 years with the company and my bags packed I was off. It was quite an experience cutting everything you own down to one back pack, luckily you can roll Icebreaker gear up pretty small so you can fit a lot in.

With a brief stop over in Brunei, I arrived in Dubai. The scale of construction here is almost overwhelming, everywhere you go you will find the biggest something in the world, be it the Burj Tower, or the largest aquarium which is found in the Dubai Mall.

Abu Dhabi was also thriving with construction. I was also meet with a lot of greenery which I was not expecting in a desert nation (there was a lot of irrigation going on to maintain this). I really admired the planning that has gone on in this city there have been a lot of family park areas created and these seemed to be very popular in the evening as the temperature cooled. They were also redeveloping the Corniche area (sea front) which looked to be a great place to hang out.

The 40 degree heat was a real experience and I was glad I had packed in a couple of my favourite Superfine tee’s, being so breathable these really combated the heat. Al Ain was a fantastic experience and great to catch up with Dad. He also proved to be a great tour guide, driving me around the local forts and organising trips through the National Museum and Zoo. We also enjoyed a desert safari which included driving sand buggies through the dunes, a short ride on a Camel, treated to some local cuisine and a belly dancing display.

If I had to pick one highlight it was definitely climbing to the top of the Jebel Hafeet Mountain in Al Ain. The views were staggering looking out over the desert and across to Oman, this was such a stark contrast to the New Zealand environment I have grown up in, here is where it really sunk in that my journey has only just begun.

Next stop London…

Jacob Horan, ex Icebreaker team member

When I found out I was going to Portland for meetings in April/May, I emailed my fellow ex-Wellington Icebreaker HQ mates (who now work in our Portland, US office) to see if they were free & keen for a weekend mission to somewhere new & interesting.  After a bit of back & forth, we had settled on a camping trip to Utah.

There were a few hairy moments when a certain Volcano interrupted my travel plans but thankfully everything worked out, and before we knew it we were touching down in Salt Lake City.

The crew:
Halina Fuller - Graphic Developer (Portland).
Emma Stableford - Product Developer (Portland).
Amanda Cranston - Graphic Designer (Portland).
Me, Becs Ryan - Operations Analyst (Switzerland/France).

All of us have been working at Icebreaker for between 4 & 5 years; that might not sound like much, but that’s a lot of service in the Icebreaker world!  So we spent the 5 hour drive to Moab catching up on old times and sharing the new.

On day 2 we explored Arches National Park.  Crazy-spectacular windows & arches, rocks balancing on other rocks, rocks that resembled people (and body parts) or animals.

On the morning of day 3 we got our IcebreakerGT on and we all went for a run along the banks of the Colorado River (Hal & Emma are both in marathon training - go you good things!).  After that we ventured further afield to Canyonlands; research told us that some of the best views in Utah were found here, and we were not disappointed - Green River & The Colorado weaving through the vast landscape & massive canyons blew us away.  Luckily the winds weren’t too strong so we weren’t too uncomfortable mucking around the cliff-edges to get some cool photos.

On day 4, our final day, we checked out the south end of Canyonlands before driving back to Salt Lake City. The south is a visual contrast to the north, its like you are within the canyons, where as the north (which we did the day before) is more like you are on top looking down & in.

In terms of clothing, well, we work for Icebreaker, so we were well equipped to handle the changeable weather.  It was snowing in the outskirts of Salt Lake City! (Which made us question our tent accommodation..!).  And when we got to Moab it was a real mix; sunny & warm one moment, raining/hailing the next, and like any desert, it was cold at night - perfect for our natural merino clothing.  The non-stink trait of Icebreaker was a plus too, especially for me as I had been living out of a suitcase for 2 weeks already.

We’ve had this saying at Icebreaker since the very beginning - “It’s about our relationship to nature & to each other”. And that pretty much sums up the trip!

GOOD ROADY GIRLS!! Looking forward to the next adventure.

- Becky Ryan, Operations Analyst- Icebreaker Switzerland & France

The team have just come back from shooting our new Spring/Summer 11 range, lucky things.  They travelled to Portland (US), up to Rotorua in the North Island (NZ), and down to Arthur’s Pass in the South Island to capture our gear in action.

We wanted to share a couple of shots with you as we’re pretty stoked with the outcome.  Can’t wait for the range to hit shelves.

Traveling overseas for work is always a long journey.  I try to always add some extra time at the end of my work trips to experience the country I’m in.  Last year along with fellow workmates, I climbed Mt. Hood in Oregon with Darren and Craig, skied with Heidi at Mt Ruapehu, and hiked Mt. Helene’s with David.  But, the real mountain event was still missing…

New Zealand is the country of my dreams.  Especially the South Island and the Southern Alps as it is a region which offers it all in one (mountains, wild nature, the ocean, great people, wine, and good food).   In my previous trips I visited NZ in winter times only.  I did some mountain biking and hiking with Max, skiing with Heidi, but no mountaineering.  As mountain guide, I decided I would really like to experience climbing in Southern Alps.

When a meeting was set in New Zealand for March, it was clear that finally the chance was here for me.  Even though March is end of the climbing season in the Southern Alps, it was still a good chance to do some mountaineering.  Firstly I tried to find a climbing partner (or partners) within Icebreaker, but everybody had something else to do.  I decided to contact the famous guide organisation Adventure Consultants in Wanaka.  They offered me the possibility to join one of their expeditions.  Before I arrived in NZ, it was not really clear exactly what we would be doing, but all looked promising.

During my stay in Wanaka for work, I got a very positive message from Adventure Consultants “one client has booked a climbing trip to Mt. Aspiring and you can join the trip as a second (shadow) guide.”  This was wonderful news.  I spent a fantastic 5 days climbing Mt. Aspiring and Rolling Pin (small summit beside Mt. Aspiring).  We had great view from the summit of Mt. Aspiring and it took us 2 days in heavy rain to get back to the civilisation.

Now looking back I can say it was definitely one of my best times from working perspective.  And I was lucky to add some extras as usual. (Sea-kayaking, racing in the Mototapu challenge, and climbing the summit of Mt. Aspiring).

Branislav Adamec (Gabo) - General Manager, Icebreaker Eastern Europe

Adventure seekers love Icebreaker, and Icebreaker loves adventure seekers.  For that reason we were ecstatic to get involved when Anthony Bonello and his team at b4apres got in touch with us about their backcountry ski film that was being shot in the Himalayas.  To be exact they are based out of the Gulmarg Ski Resort in Kashmir.  Spending a good portion of the winter season in the cold and snow, these film makers are creating a documentary showcasing the beauty and culture of Kashmir in hopes to dispel the stigma that this is a dangerous place to travel.

Icebreaker could not think of a better way to help these extreme skiers and artists out than to provide them with some Icebreaker Merino socks, leggings and tops to keep the warm while hiking the mountains, packing film gear, scoping fresh powder lines and interviewing the locals.  Their film promises to impress and the team here at Icebreaker wish them all the best.

Here is a synopsis from Anthony on the film and their project:

b4apres Media’s debut film is a cultural documentary as seen through the eyes of skiers. We will travel into the mountains surrounding the Gulmarg Ski Resort, Kashmir in order to capture the aesthetic beauty of the landscape and the livelihoods of a people eager to dispel the stigma that Kashmir is a dangerous place to travel.

We intend to single out the colorful and iconic local characters within the skiing culture of Gulmarg and convey their passion for the mountains. By allowing the Kashmiri people to show where they are from and significantly, where they are going, the essence of what Kashmir means to its people and what it can mean to the rest of world will be articulated. As foreigners with relatively little experience or understanding of Kashmir, we believe expressing the temperament of post-war Kashmir is best left to the locals.

With its fertile valleys and glaciated mountains, that form the very beginning of the Great Himalaya Mountain Range, the region has a distinct allure for skiers/snowboarders and travelers. With the world’s highest gondola rising to 3980m above sea level, the skiing potential is boundless. We intend to explore the mountains surrounding Gulmarg in search of the ultimate ski run.

To follow the trials and tribulations of making a film in India that is largely dependent on mother nature, check out b4apres.com

Watch the Gulmarg Ski Teaser video here