Featured Picture: Rick Sorensen
This previous March, FREESKIER joined the Blizzard Tecnica Freeride Group on the Blizz headquarters and manufacturing unit in Mittersill, Austria. We discovered a model and group hungry for the longer term, testing a particular new product that’s completely different than something Blizzard has completed earlier than.
Heritage holds outstanding prevalence at Blizzard. This assertion definitely applies to many ski manufacturers, however at Blizzard, it’s not possible to disregard. The enduring model boasts a heritage rooted in craftsmanship, high quality and immense pleasure in creating a few of the premier charging skis on earth. However by no means a gaggle to be stagnant, Blizzard is now trying to push in a brand new path.
The model’s historical past is suffering from improvements and achievements going again to Anton Arnsteiner, Blizzard founder and ski pioneer. Within the quiet alpine village of Mittersill, Austria, Arnsteiner opened his authentic workshop after World Struggle II, the place the corporate nonetheless manufactures to today. Whereas others noticed snowboarding as a utilitarian want, inconsequential to a world recovering from the barbarity of struggle, Arnsteiner noticed a blossoming world business.
Arduous to foretell on the time, Arnsteiner was proper. Blizzard has gone on to turn into a staple of snowboarding. Everyone knows that, however chances are high you didn’t know they’re credited with creating the primary polyethanol bases, the primary blended wooden and foam cores, the primary asymmetrical skis and the primary binding-mounting plate. That proud heritage remains to be alive as we speak, and it’s fueled Blizzard all through its many chapters. However how do you make the most of that lengthy line of expertise whereas being open to one thing completely new? That’s what we went to Austria to seek out out.
Inside moments of uniting with the crew within the Munich Airport en path to Blizzard’s Freeride Athlete Summit, it turned clear that not solely had the model been eager about this query, however that they had a solution within the type of a brand new ski, and a brand new piece of their id.
In additional methods than one, the Blizzard Freeride Group is a illustration of the model as a complete: dynamic, altering and trying to merge expertise with recent faces. The seasoned riders, similar to Marcus Caston, Elyse Saugstad, Johan Jonsson and Connery Lundin, carry a wealth of information, each within the business and the game alike.
Equally noteworthy are the brand new athlete additions. Zeb Schreiber, Piper Kunst, Kaz Sosnkowski and Noah Gaffney have all joined the professional group over the previous few seasons. At simply 17, Schreiber is the youngest of the crew. However together with all of the names above, his ardour and composure far outweigh his years.
This dichotomy of various kinds and ages sounds unusual, but it surely works. The truth is, it really works higher than we’d ever know trying in from the skin. We spent 5 days with this group, and whereas that isn’t a ton of time, it’s sufficient to watch the communal ambiance. From group dinners to first chair at Kitzsteinhorn and again to the weathered bar on the Kogler Lodge, anybody may see this was a gathering of associates masquerading as coworkers.
However the Freeride Athlete Summit wasn’t a mere team-building train. This was one other step in a challenge years within the making. For many of the season, these skiers had been testing a brand new mannequin slated to enter the Blizzard lineup in 2026, at present dubbed Mission Carte Blanche. The true title of the ski received’t be revealed till the discharge this fall, however the group thought Carte Blanche was becoming within the meantime. The sentiment is evident: we’re going to make a ski that’s new for us, however do it higher than anybody else. It’s no shock there’s a powerful confidence on this mission, as Blizz is well-known for bombproof elements and masterful building.
This sentiment isn’t only a promoting level, it’s what the group believes. “To witness Blizzard throw its spin on an athlete-driven ski is inspiring as a brand new rider,” Kunst instructed FREESKIER. The Alta native formally joined the crew simply this winter, and her historical past of snowboarding outdoors the traces makes her an excellent affect on Carte Blanche. “I’m tremendous excited to be part of this story and to use these to my very own model. What we’re creating is one thing extra than simply one other pair of skis, and I can’t look ahead to folks to see why.”
Kunst isn’t the one current addition to the Blizzard Freeride Group who’s elated by this challenge. Sosnkowski, the aforementioned racer turned freeride artisan, has a transparent ardour for the method that’s gone into Carte Blanche. The Tahoe-native studied engineering on the College of Colorado Boulder, and his twin pursuits in each ski building and efficiency present only one instance of the multifaceted personnel onboard this group.
“[Blizzard] is absolutely stepping out of their consolation zone as a model to make one thing new and provoking,” mentioned Sosnkowski. “As a skier and an engineer, it’s felt like a dream. I’ve undoubtedly needed to pinch myself every now and then. It’s been a surreal expertise being an athlete behind the wheel of a challenge like this. Prior to now two seasons, I’ve skied about 16 completely different prototype skis of this new lineup… it simply reveals how a lot Blizz is placing into this whereas concurrently listening to us.”
You get the sense that what’s taking place right here is larger than the person, and a bit of that’s due to the continuation of a proud heritage. You may really feel it within the city, the place the Kogler Lodge’s picket beams are embellished with Blizzard skis courting again 50 years. You may really feel it within the well-known manufacturing unit, the place each single ski is handmade in rooms that join again to Arnsteiner’s authentic workshop. And you’ll really feel it inside the group, as each individual is as invested and up for the problem as the subsequent.
As all 40 or so people, together with the athletes, advertising personnel, engineers and administration from world wide gathered to debate the subsequent chapter of Blizzard Tecnica, you may really feel the optimism within the room. Sure, the discussions have been tense and the suggestions wasn’t sugarcoated, however that’s what it’s good to create one thing distinctive.
Whether or not by probability or intention, the journey was the proper exposé for a corporation trying the terribly troublesome, which is to drag from previous experiences with a purpose to craft each a product and a zeitgeist which might be new. However there could be no higher group to aim such a process than Blizzard.
This isn’t a reinvention, only a new department in a really achieved tree… one which likes to ski actually quick. Historical past suggests they’ll don’t have any drawback stretching out into this new frontier. And after seeing the Blizzard group unite throughout one of many ultimate levels of this lengthy challenge, we are able to agree that you simply’ll have a tough time not liking what’s on the way in which.
Keep tuned as we look ahead to sharing this subsequent chapter of Blizzard with our readers Fall 2025
