Icebreaker - Pure Merino

Julie Labrecque has just come to the end of her cycling adventure in West Africa where she has been visiting farmers’ co-ops (cotton, shea, pineapple, mango, cocoa, arts and crafts) that use fair trade to maximize national and international market access. The main goals of the adventure were to understand fair trade better, emphasise sustainable travel and promote physical activity.

The unsupported expedition was pedaled and entirely powered by calf muscles, by the sun and of course Icebreaker bike shorts!

Check out Julie’s website to find out more about her adventures in West Africa.

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

My name is Jack McCowan, and in January and February of 2009 I was a volunteer ski instructor in Kashmir, India.

I was part of a team of 8 instructors from all over the world who volunteered to teach local kids how to ski in Gulmarg as part of the free learn-to-ski program run by the New Zealand Ski Club of Kashmir. Upon my return to Australia, I started working part time at the new Icebreaker Outlet store in Melbourne.

The job was perfect, as it gave me time to work on creating a short film, called THIS IS KASHMIR, about my time in Gulmarg. THIS IS KASHMIR has subsequently been a finalist and screened at 4 International Mountain Film Festivals:

Taos Mountain Film Festival, USA
Williamstown Mountain Film Festival, USA
Bansko International Mountain Film Festival, Bulgaria
Autrans Mountain Film Festival, France.

The whole experience of creating this short film has totally changed my life, and I started to think maybe I could pursue a career in adventure film making. I applied for the Adventure Filmmakers Workshop at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. As well as being accepted into the workshop, I received a scholarship from the Banff Centre.

Icebreaker sponsors the workshop, and I was lucky enough to have Icebreaker support me by matching the amount of the scholarship. A big THANK YOU to Rob, Hazel and Kent for helping make this happen.

The workshop goes for a week during the festival and is run by two of the most credentialed adventure filmmakers of our time: Keith Partridge, best known for his cinematography in the acclaimed movie TOUCHING THE VOID, and Michael Brown, who is (among other achievements) director of photography on the IMAX movies about Mt Everest.

So how was the workshop? It was awesome! I learnt so much about adventure filmmaking, met so many great people working in the industry, made some great contacts and went up on stage at awards night to accept the award for best Mountain Sports Film on behalf of an Australian film called SOLO. Of course, I was wearing Icebreaker!

But most of all the whole experience has totally inspired me to continue down this path and try become an adventure filmmaker. Icebreaker didn’t just support me; they gave every workshop participant a free 260 weight Slalom Zip or a 320 Weight Rock Zip. Icebreaker really made a great impression on the adventure filmmakers in the workshop. Some of them are outdoors filming most of the year in all conditions possible, and I know they are going to be big supporters of Icebreaker in the future.

SO I’d like to say a big thank you to Icebreaker for supporting the workshop and also supporting me to get there. If anyone wants to get in contact with me, see my blog, www.adventureproject.org, or pop into the Icebreaker outlet store in Melbourne for a chat.

- Jack McCowan, Icebreaker Melbourne Outlet Store