Icebreaker - Pure Merino

We asked the Aussie team to take a photo of themselves - here they are taking a break on the beach near their office in Melbourne.

My name is Mitch Gourley, and I’m stoked to say I’m Icebreaker’s newest athlete! Given my relative anonymity, I’ll take a few moments to introduce myself in this first blog.

At 18, I am the youngest member of the Australian Paralympic ski team and hence carry the obligatory list of nicknames that goes with this mantle. After enduring almost four years with an array of mostly food and height-related nicknames in multiple languages, I seem to be stuck with the moniker “Spinach”, along with its German counterpart, “Spinat”.

Beyond the incredibly serious business of nicknames lies the actual ski racing, both on the national team and in terms of my own preparations for the 2010 Winter Paralympics, to be held in Vancouver.

Following an interesting year - which included my first national championship, a full season on the world cup circuit and the world championships - I entered this Australian winter with high hopes.

In reality, my 2010 preparations began months ago, in the Victorian Institute of Sport gym, about three weeks after returning to Australia from the northern hemisphere winter. Following a disappointing world championships on a somewhat biased hill in Korea (I’ve seen steeper staircases!), I was on a quest to add some bulk to my scrawny 52kg frame.

Thanks to a fresh approach, some much-needed consistency and the eating program from hell, I managed to achieve more success in Australia than in Korea. I gained around 7kg and discovered that even eating, as appealing as it often may seem, can become a chore when done routinely 6-8 times a day.

Following some physical testing at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and unprecedented amounts of study in the lead-up to my dreaded mid-year exams, the snow began to fall in the mountains. It was with great anticipation that I embarked on my first trip to the Australian Paralympic Committee head offices in Sydney for a day of uniform fittings and team processing as a member of the shadow Paralympic team. It was pleasant to finally meet some of those responsible for the amazing funding and support I have received over the past few years.

From the palatial surrounds of our airport hotel, we departed in the small hours of the next morning to begin our on snow training for 2009 at Mt Hutt in New Zealand.

The happening town of Methven put on a show with two weeks of almost flawless weather and cold, hard snow - perfect for us ski racers. We were even treated to the rare privilege of having a pleasant bunch of Kiwis to train with, the national development team, as it were, headed up by former Aussie coach Mike Gould.

After enduring a month of the Kiwis and two weeks of us Aussies, I’m sure Methven was glad to get rid of us…only to find we’d all be back in September!

Returning home, I was greeted with an empty house as my mother had shot-through to follow the Tour de France for four weeks! As you do on your 50^th birthday! However I was even more horrified to find that she’d taken off with some of my Icebreaker!

Following this devastating revelation I continued my studies for two whole days before departing for a slalom block at Falls Creek.  After returning from a week of good slalom - a rarity for me - I was greeted with my mid-year results for attendance and my only exam, chemistry. After setting a new record low for attendance, 53%, I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected A for chemistry.

That will have to do me for now, as my flight has just been called. I’m off to Canberra for some more training at Thredbo and Perisher. After that I’ll be competing in the nationals, where I’ll endeavor to defend my GS title against three of the best skiers in the world - my teammates.

-  Mitch Gourley, Paralympian and Icebreaker athlete

Dear Icebreaker Team

I’m a Kiwi, living in rural Victoria, Australia and I’m just sending a note of appreciation for your wonderful clothing.

You will no doubt be aware of the horrendous fires that engulfed large areas of Victoria back in February - I’m writing to tell you about the part that Icebreaker played in our own fire experience.

In February, two weeks after the events of ‘Black Saturday’, fires were still burning out of control across large areas of Victoria. Our part of Victoria -80kms northwest of Melbourne - was placed on high fire alert, with evacuation plans in place for all households. On the afternoon of 23rd February, one of the fires turned and headed for our property.

I’ve attached a photo taken from my phone of the fire just after it started - located about 45km West of us. With a gale force Westerly behind it the fire was travelling at extreme speeds. As you can see by the plume in the photo it wasn’t long before the fire had completely blocked out the sun and ash and charred debris were raining down around us. It was a very eerie feeling being in the heat and darkness at 4.00pm in the afternoon.

As the fire approached us, my husband and I put our evacuation plan into play. Paul readied our property for fire fighting by surrounding the house with hoses and sprinklers and starting up our emergency generator to run the water. I packed the car with our essential belongings and prepared to leave as soon as the fire threatened our escape routes. Our three children, Thomas 6, Amy 4 and Chloe 2, were readied for evacuation - and this is where Icebreaker played a part.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) issues guidelines to the public on bushfire safety and survival. It states:
‘Remember, the deadly effects of radiant heat are increased by the amount of skin exposed to it. Cover exposed skin as much as possible with clothes made of natural fibres - not synthetic clothing. Put on natural fibre long pants and light long-sleeved wool jumpers or close weave cotton shirts or overalls.’

As all three of the children have Icebreaker garments, purchased on our trips home to NZ, I was able to comply with the CFA guidelines to the letter, with each child dressed in Icebreaker beanie, long sleeved jersey and socks. What a relief it was for me to open their wardrobe and grab their Icebreakers!

I’ve attached a couple of photos taken of the kids after I got them ready for the impending evacuation. As you can see, they thought it was all highly exciting - unlike their parents, who could see the very real prospect of fire devastating our family home. I took the pics on the spur of the moment as  I found it a brief moment of light relief, to see that good old kiwi merino wool was playing a part in our Aussie fire drama.

The fire came within 8km of our house after a Southerly change came through and forced it to swing back across the parts of Victoria that it had just devastated. We spent the night in shifts, still on high alert, waiting to see if we would be told to evacuate.

When this particular fire burnt out, in excess of 3000 hectares was destroyed, and it had taken 400 firefighters, 100 tankers and 8 aircraft fire bombers to put it out. Very, very scary.

So cheers Icebreaker, we’ll be stocking up on our Icebreaker firefighting gear when home in July! I bet when you were designing Icebreaker clothing you weren’t thinking about its suitability for fighting Victorian bushfires!

-  Megan, Victoria, Australia

The winner of our ‘Where on earth is Fred’ competition has been found!  Thanks to all of you that entered, we know it was a pretty tough one, but most of you got the location of our Spring/Summer 10 photoshoot correct - it was Australia (good on ya mate).

We had a group of our merino growers visiting from the Southern Alps today, and Emma Subtil from Omarama Station was able to make the draw for us which was pretty exciting.

Congratulations to Penny Tennant who gets a new Icebreaker top.  Watch this space for more competitions to come.