During my time at Snowgum (an Icebreaker dealer in Australia) I’ve succumbed to an addiction so many people share. I can’t stop buying Icebreaker.
As an elite athlete the equipment you use becomes as habitual as the training routines you follow. This usually means that when I buy something to train with I use it until it truly dies. Thankfully I’ve managed to save quite a bit of money by using the seemingly invincible Icebreaker shirts, socks and jocks. Except now I am spending more money than ever before because my Icebreaker clothing is being “borrowed” by the people I train with.
It usually happens when I get to an event and it is pouring with rain and my “friends” haven’t brought proper clothing, or when there is a minimum requirement for safety gear and it hasn’t been met.
“Callum would you mind if I borrowed that shirt again? I forgot my warm gear”.
“Oh yeah cheers for lending that top Callum I’ll give it back after I wash it”…
“Lucky you had that jumper spare Callum. They wouldn’t let me run without it”.
These are just a few of the quotes I can remember from occasions when I have permanently lent my Icebreaker gear. The kind of thing I compensate for now by bringing along extra clothing wherever I go.
So now I have very little Icebreaker and a severely depleted bank account from constantly trying to replace gear that “must of gotten lost in the wash”. I’m going to have to give up endurance sports or win the lottery soon just to satisfy my addiction and the one my running mates now share.
Our NZ team have just hosted the inaugural Icebreaker Sock On, Sock Off Competition. Teams got together this week and were timed to see who were the quickest to dismantle their new Run socks from the packaging, put them on, take them off and assemble them back in the orginal packaging again (kind of like a sock boat race!).
Sounds easy, but it’s not quite… Check out the NZ ‘Soxy Bitches’ team attempt at staking their claim for global dominance. We wonder which Icebreaker office will beat them…
Our new season’s range has just gone live on our website - check it our here. There’s some awesome new innovations this season, make sure you’re one of the first to get your hands on some. Find a retailer.
Helen Danglmaier from Irdning, Austria, Europe (pictured below), is the lucky winner of the limited edition Icebreaker Whistler ‘10 gear, which includes a set of Bodyfit+, an Icebreaker “Whistler” Toque hat, Skier Mid Socks, the AC Glacier Scarf and the Long Sleeve Chase Crewe. Nice one Helen!
We received 255 fantastic entries to the competition — from goats to babies to boys and girls in their Nature and Beast knickers (and less). Take a look back at what was submitted here.
Icebreaker was honoured to be the Official Baselayer Sponsor of the New Zealand Winter Olympic Team, and we’re proud of the Kiwi team who competed in Vancouver last month. We had an awesome wrap up party on Monday. The band was fantastic and we sold the bar out of beer! Photos and video to come once Kent Hawkins, our marketing man in Canada, recovers from a chest infection that knocked him out that night (or so he says).
Let us know what you thought of the competition. We’d like to do again if you’re all up for it?
I live and train in Squamish, BC, Canada. It is claimed “the outdoor recreation capital of Canada”, and I am about to tell you why. I am a Junior Canadian biathlete (cross country skiing and shooting) training as a member of the Biathlon BC High Performance Team. With minimal funding for sport in Canada, our team is constantly searching for inexpensive but effective training opportunities.
Every fall season, the biggest struggle for our sport is to get as many on-snow training hours as possible. The benefits of skiing on snow at this time of year have to be considered against cost and difficulty to get there. I think we found the perfect solution.
The access road started about 2 km from my house, and travels straight into the surrounding mountains. It was foggy when I woke up, and no snow on the ground. In a matter of about 2 hours, my coach and I were hiking thru ankle deep snow, with our ski equipment and clothes for three days.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but it was about a 13km hike to Elfin Shelter (where we stayed for 2 nights). It was another 6 km to Bishop Glacier, where we found near perfect crust skiing! It was the biggest open glacier I had ever seen, and provided hours and hours of exploring. After the morning session, we would stop for lunch, and hang up our clothing to dry, before heading out again for the afternoon. I was so thankful to be wearing my Icebreaker Alpine socks. I would take them off from a two hour ski and in 20 minutes in the sun, they were dry and ready to be skied in again. I had more than one pair, obviously, but I used them for everything. The compression around the shin and calf lead for better muscle control during skiing. While on break, the same compression actually helped in quicker leg recovery. Try, if you don’t believe me!
Back to my story, it wasn’t so much as ski training as it was an adventure! It felt amazing to be the only people in the mountains, and still only 30 km out of Squamish. My coach and I trained there for three days before making our trek back down to the real world. I went on that season to win three gold medals at Canadian Championships and attend my first ever World Junior Championships.
I have just finished 7 weeks of straight ski racing that took me through 6 different countries around the world. Icebreaker was with me the entire time whether it was for my morning warm up jog or keeping me warm while hitting jumps at 50 MPH.
To go my fastest while racing I strip down to my team jersey, if I didn’t have Icebreaker on as my baselayer I don’t think my head would be half as clear, because it allows me to focus on the task at hand rather than the freezing temperatures. After a long day training or racing I can put on a clean layer and wear it to team dinner or media conference because the styles are just that cool.
Thank you Icebreaker!
PS: If you want to win a trip to Whistler click here to enter the Langley McNeal Ski Cross Challenge!
It was a stunner of a day last Friday here in Wellington, home of the Icebreaker HQ. The blue sky tempted us away from our desks and down to Oriental bay for a nice picnic, and swim (for some!).
We hope to make this a regular occurrence if only the infamous Welly weather holds out on us…
It’s all go in Vancouver at the moment for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Icebreaker is proud to support Team NZ by supplying the official base layer to our athletes. We’ve created a site www.icebreaker.com/whatsnexttoyourskin to keep everyone up to date with what’s going on as the competition and hype heats up at this years winter Olympics Games.
Check the site regularly to see our latest blog posts, photos and video’s from the action in Vancouver and Whistler.
We’re also giving away Icebreaker product daily to the best photo we receive in our “What’s Next To You Skin” competition, You can check out all the current entries (plus how you can enter yourself) here - we’d love to see a photo of you showing us whatever you have next to your skin!
Daily we draw a winner who will receive a new Icebreaker top and every entry will be in the grand prize draw to win a Limited Edition Icebreaker ‘Whistler’ top and Hat. Drawn on March 2nd 2010. View Terms and Conditions here.
Here I am on my ’special’ sheepskin when I was two. It was called ‘Lammie’. I loved it so much I ate it, almost all of it, over the course of a year as my teeth came in. I’m sure it’s why I have strong teeth.
Heavy petting graduated to true love when I met my first merino. My first merino encounter, when I was six, made me realize what a half-wit Lammie was in comparison. A fluffy slipper compared to a real beast, this sheep was magnificent. Horns like a bull, and an attitude to match. And a farmer who still fed it using a bottle.
Eighteen years later I started Icebreaker, and later than that I’m now a dad, with three lovely daughters of my own. I try and open their minds to new places, people, and nature - any of which may one day, change their life in subtle yet profound ways. They each got their own Lammie when they were born.
