Icebreaker - Pure Merino

An inspiring and exciting message  from long boarder and Icebreaker fan  Adam Colton who, with a few of his friends, has long boarded thousands of miles through some pretty exotic places; Morocco, Peru, Bolivia, France, and  New Zealand – just to name a few! They are also already planning their next trip to long board throughout  Asia sometime this year. If you’d like to read up on their past travels and share in their future ones, these brave souls can be found at whoisadamcolton.com

“One of our most recent trips went a little something like this: 14,000 foot mountain passes, 128 kilometres of uphill riding, and a grand total of 2414 kilometres – did I mention our mode of transportation was a human powered long board?  In 2009, myself, Adam Colton, and 2 of my friends, Paul Kent and Aaron Enevoldsen set out to long board through the Andes crossing Peru and Bolivia . We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but that was an understatement. We crossed some high  peaks and harsh terrain while much of the time being completely malnourished. In order to keep our packs as light as possible we chose not to pack food and cooking utensils  which meant we depended solely the local fare we found as we roamed from  town to town. But there were many times when  cookies, stale bread and bananas  became the  main  staples of our journey. Besides our dietary downfalls, we pushed through horrible potholes, stinky tarry pavement, and cold cold  rain that chilled us all to our bones.

But our passions for the long board, for human powered transportation, documentary film making, our friendship and a damn good sense of humour is what pushed us to carry on, on  this unorthodox journey. On an arduous trip such as this; you could imagine that gear was crucial to our success. I rocked a pair of Icebreaker Bodyfit 200 Boxers and some Icebreaker Hiker Mid Crew Socks. The gear was amazing, it took some hard abuse and made it the whole trip with just a little bit of expected destruction. And let me tell you – Icebreaker merino wool Boxers control odour! After eight days straight in my BodyFit Boxers (yeah I know, its a little gross), I sat next to two pretty Australian girls at a restaurant in Potosi, Bolivia and actually had a conversation without repulsing either of them from what otherwise would have been an eight day old stench of stale perspiration! I didn’t offend anyone – I was stoked!

I invite you all to take a look at our journey – as well as our others – as they have been some of the toughest things we have ever done! But at the end of it all we were stoked – so stoked in fact that that we just completed skating across Morocco in June of 2010 and have our sights set on Nepal for October 2011.”

- Adam Colton – an Long boarding Icebreaker fan

Hi, I’m Craig Manson, and I’ve been working at Icebreaker for almost 18 months as the Upper North Island (NZ) Account Manager.

Last year I completed my first marathon – the Auckland Marathon. My time was an agonizing 4:00:28. That’s correct – 28  seconds quicker and I would have broken the illustrious sub 4 hour mark. However I didn’t! So, about 6 months ago, I signed up for my second Auckland marathon… this time determined to go under the 4 hour mark. I started serious training after our magnificent Fall Winter 11 product launch. My training consisted of 4 runs per week – averaging 50km a week. This lasted for 4 weeks until I decided to up the anti to 80km a week. This was a major increase in kilometres, but I had to achieve my goal. Some of my mates thought I was on the verge of insanity!

As D-day approached, I seriously started to self doubt my targeted finish time. I’d been very busy with work and my training intensity wasn’t great. Two weeks before the marathon I decided to spoil myself, in the hope of increasing my speed and also a reward for doing a 35km run the week before, I bought myself a brand new Icebreaker Run wardrobe. I purchased an Ace Short Sleeve Tee in Field, a pair of Beast Anatomica boxers and a pair of Run Ultralite Micro Socks – the BEST run socks in the world!

D-day, the 31^st of October, 5:30am, preparation complete – it was just me and the course! Nerves running wild, I was going to run under 4 hours no matter what. The first 5kms were pretty difficult but I was feeling good. As I approached the 10km mark my speed increased and at the half way mark, my time was 1:43hrs. I knew the last 10 kms were going to be the hardest. I was very mindful of this and kept pushing on as hard as I could…well the last 10kms were pretty difficult and slow, however…… at the 40km mark I knew I was going to achieve my goal. With my goal almost  in the bag, I started to enjoy my time out there, although it was still really difficult. About 100m from the finish line, I acquired a special friend, Ramotaur!! I crossed the finish line in a time of 3:45:41! I was pretty stoked and as always my Icebreaker performed perfectly. No stink, only a very sore body!

If you’re ever looking for a running buddy up in Auckland, feel free to drop me a line. Next year’s marathon time…………… who knows?

- Craig Manson, Icebreaker NZ Upper North Account Manager

A 20-foot tall image of merino sheep is being hung, and the paint is still drying, but this Friday, November 19, is the soft opening of Icebreaker’s first TouchLab store in New York City located in SoHo!

Since it’s 8,815 miles from New Zealand to New York, please help us get the word out!

Give your New York friends our SoHo store Secret Password!
If your friends say “Baa Baa” at checkout between now and January 1, 2011, they’ll receive 10% off their purchases (not to be combined with other discounts). Please invite them to follow us at facebook.com/icebreakernz and twitter.com/icebreakernz.

Enter to Win
As a way to say thanks for your help, we’re giving away 50 pairs of delicious Icebreaker merino socks.  Just email cs@icebreaker.com a copy of your Facebook or Twitter post or email to your friends and you’ll be entered to win via random drawing on January 5.  Please put “Baa Baa” in the subject line of your email.  Please include your full name, mailing address, phone number and sock size (S, M, L).

Kiwis, Friends & Family Event Dec. 2
We’ll have a special event on Thursday, Dec. 2 for Icebreaker friends and family and all East Coast kiwis!  Watch the events page on facebook.com/icebreakernz for details!

Store Details
The Icebreaker TouchLab store in SoHo will showcase our complete line – from Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, to Underwear and City collections, all made from handpicked merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.

Address: 102 Wooster Street, between Spring and Prince Streets (Spring Street subway station)
Hours: 11-7 Monday-Saturday; 11-6 Sunday
Phone: +1 646.861.2523