Featured Picture: Rick Sorensen
This previous March, FREESKIER joined the Blizzard Tecnica Freeride Crew on the Blizz headquarters and manufacturing unit in Mittersill, Austria. We discovered a model and staff hungry for the long run, testing a particular new product that’s completely different than something Blizzard has finished earlier than.
Heritage holds exceptional prevalence at Blizzard. This assertion actually applies to many ski manufacturers, however at Blizzard, it’s unattainable to disregard. The enduring model boasts a heritage rooted in craftsmanship, high quality and immense delight in creating among the premier charging skis on earth. However by no means a gaggle to be stagnant, Blizzard is now seeking 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 Conflict II, the place the corporate nonetheless manufactures to this present day. Whereas others noticed snowboarding as a utilitarian want, inconsequential to a world recovering from the barbarity of struggle, Arnsteiner noticed a blossoming international trade.
Onerous 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 in the present day, 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 fully 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 serious about this query, however that they had a solution within the type of a brand new ski, and a brand new piece of their identification.
In additional methods than one, the Blizzard Freeride Crew is a illustration of the model as a complete: dynamic, altering and seeking to merge expertise with contemporary faces. The seasoned riders, reminiscent of Marcus Caston, Elyse Saugstad, Johan Jonsson and Connery Lundin, convey a wealth of data, each within the trade 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 staff over the previous couple of 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 types and ages sounds unusual, however it works. In actual fact, it really works higher than we’d ever know trying in from the surface. We spent 5 days with this group, and whereas that isn’t a ton of time, it’s sufficient to watch the communal environment. From staff dinners to first chair at Kitzsteinhorn and again to the weathered bar on the Kogler Resort, anybody may see this was a gathering of mates masquerading as coworkers.
However the Freeride Athlete Summit wasn’t a mere team-building train. This was one other step in a undertaking 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, presently dubbed Challenge Carte Blanche. The true identify of the ski gained’t be revealed till the discharge this fall, however the staff 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 parts and masterful building.
This sentiment isn’t only a promoting level, it’s what the staff 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 a perfect affect on Carte Blanche. “I’m tremendous excited to be part of this story and to use these to my very own fashion. What we’re creating is one thing extra than simply one other pair of skis, and I can’t look forward to folks to see why.”
Kunst isn’t the one current addition to the Blizzard Freeride Crew who’s elated by this undertaking. 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 staff.
“[Blizzard] is basically stepping out of their consolation zone as a model to make one thing new and galvanizing,” stated Sosnkowski. “As a skier and an engineer, it’s felt like a dream. I’ve undoubtedly needed to pinch myself on occasion. It’s been a surreal expertise being an athlete behind the wheel of a undertaking like this. Previously 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 occurring right here is greater than the person, and a chunk of that’s because of the continuation of a proud heritage. You possibly can really feel it within the city, the place the Kogler Resort’s wood beams are embellished with Blizzard skis relationship again 50 years. You possibly can 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 may really feel it inside the group, as each particular person is as invested and up for the problem as the following.
As all 40 or so people, together with the athletes, advertising and marketing personnel, engineers and administration from world wide gathered to debate the following chapter of Blizzard Tecnica, you possibly can really feel the optimism within the room. Sure, the discussions had been tense and the suggestions wasn’t sugarcoated, however that’s what you might want to create one thing distinctive.
Whether or not by probability or intention, the journey was the proper exposé for a corporation trying the terribly tough, which is to tug from previous experiences in an effort to craft each a product and a zeitgeist which might be new. However there is perhaps no higher group to aim such a activity 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 staff unite throughout one of many closing levels of this lengthy undertaking, we will agree that you just’ll have a tough time not liking what’s on the best way.
Keep tuned as we sit up for sharing this subsequent chapter of Blizzard with our readers Fall 2025
