Adventure Archives - polychromelab

Ice Waterfall – Wearing Alpine Gear

27. März 2015/in adventure

Abseiling in Iced Waterfall – Occasion for Wearing Alpine Gear

At the beginning of this winter we had installed a spot for abseiling in an iced waterfall to enable this great freeride slope for winter skiing. There’s need of wearing alpine gear to have maximum elbowroom at outdoors work without giving up on protection against snow and coldnees.

Then there was no snow, but anyway it was hard work to fix a climbing rope for abseiling in winter. Since then we had a lot of snowfalls and now, in March, there’s still snow and nearly everything is iced, as well the waterfall. This is the reason why we had installed this spot for abseiling, because otherwise we couldn’t overcome this steep, high cliff on a nice freeride session.

Now you may ask, what for we’re doing all of this? There are two reasons why: First, this freeride route is pretty cool. Unfortunately it is intercepted by this cliff. So without a abseiling spot there’ll be now freeride route. Second, we do fieldtesting. All year long we want to test our products like the polychromelab La Neve Nera winteroverall (worn this time) outdoors under extreme conditions. This way we kill two birds with one stone: we’re enjoying a nice freeride session wearing alpine gear for testing!

Finally, some pictures of our adventure day!

polychromelab concept store

Night Skiing vs. Product Test

6. März 2015/in adventure

Product Test at Night Skiing in Tyrol

Equiped with headtorches and a go pro we started at 2610 meters from our textiles research lab next to the Glungezer Hütte in Tyrol. In winter there are always some repairs to do. Additionally measured data by sensors, which we fixed to jackets for product testing, gives us insight concerning their functionality and resilience against exposure to nature.

Unfortunately work took longer as expected this time, so we had to go for night skiing on our way home. Beeing experienced with such incidents we had headtorches with us. Knowing the downhill route quite well after years of fieldtesting and product development at Mount Glungezer night skiing off the slopes wasn’t that dangerous.

At the Ready for Serial Production

Out and about in nature and Tyrol’s mountain range equipment easily is stretched to its limit. The wearout of gear is high, beeing outdoor about 300 days a year. When one is freezing, sweating, or feeling unpleasantly wind, or having to bear nature in any other way, one gets a lot of ideas of what else to wear to feel more comfortable concerning clothes.

At the ready, as you can see on the pictures, are new whole-body-clothing concepts, which we want to realise using polychromelab’s 3 layer laminate. By now there are only ideas and first prototypes to be tested at night skiing, but soon there will be more to tell.

Preparations for Free Ride Skiing in Winter

18. Dezember 2014/in adventure

Free Ride Slopes in Tyrol

Winter is coming and the want to go free ride skiing is urging. With longtime experience we know that a good free ride slope has to be prepared carefully. First of all, it is important to know the area pretty well, so one won’t get lost or hit a rock, when snow has fallen and view is bad. If you’ve found your favourite route, you should check capability of the route under loads of fresh powder.

Preparations for Free Ride Skiing in Voldertal

In Voldertal in Tyrol we’ve found an interesting free ride skiing slope. The one problem is that there is a steep, high cliff, which seperates the two parts of the free ski route. There is no way through – but the free ride skiing slope would be a lot of fun.

So we decided to make ready a spot for abseiling to enable free ride skiing in winter. Therefore we have to climb up the steep cliff and fix a stout climbing rope for abseiling at this point. We need a lot of profession to do our dangerous work without getting hurt.

Work done we made ready an abseil-spot which is fixed professionally. Here some pictures of our preparations for the free ride skiing slope in Voldertal. Soon there will be some fresh snow. We can’t wait to visit the spot again: But the next time we’ll be there on ski wearing warm winter gear.

Follow Michele Stinco on Google+ at his outdoor adventures.

Project Solo trailrunning jacket

14. Mai 2014/in adventure

Adventure with trailrunning jacket

Michele Stinco, the extreme athlete and head of polychromelab, does sports every day, to either test the functionality of our own jackets or to train himself and enjoy the beautiful nature of Tyrol.

This way he exactly knows what outdoor gear has to offer under real conditions. It’s the perfect method for him to gain a lot of ideas for the innovation of our 3-layer-laminate jackets.

He calls these Outdoor sessions Project Solo. Only on your own, one can entirely feel what makes a high quality product better than anything else. It’s like the same what is expected from a companion: reliability, quality, warranty and functionality.

To be tested now: the polychromelab Roccia Rossa trailrunning jacket. Method: trailrunning extreme plus, without mercy for the fabric. Good equipment has to stand this!

Adventure in Isolation

10. April 2014/in adventure

Total isolation, just an hour away from Innsbruck. It’s always a great feeling, standing on top of a mountain, seeing powder and can’t wait to enjoy it! Luckily I’ve taken the time to take a picture.

A good euipement makes fascinating moments possible. Only high quality and long life gear is like a companion in the mountains.