Andy Finch World Heli Challenge Champ!

Congrats to Andy Finch, newly crowned Champion at the Rip Curl World Heli Challenge in Wanaka, New Zealand! www.worldhelichallenge.com. Read Andy's observations about being on top of the world down under on his blog at http://www.go211.com/u/Finch/blogs/6574.

Along for the T Ride

I/O is next-to-skin with Kim Havell and 3 Telluride-based amigas on the T Ride Women's Ski Mountaineering Denali Expedition. The accomplished skiers are already on the massif, where they will attempt some fresh lines on N. America's biggest mountain. Read the ESPN article here:

http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/blog?post=4230474

Follow Kim's blog at havelltravels.com.

Proof of Concept

Mark Glick (shown here blurring down with Switchfoot's Jon Foreman) corresponds,

"I still haven't washed my I/O shirt after a dozen transcontinental flights and 2 years of regular wear. Still smells new. Is that a record?"

Mark, yes it is, and we commend you for taking corporate warfare to a new level of HUN-dom. Kudos for pushing back against the laundry, and please keep us in the loop on the merger and acquisition of Civilization (Inc.) and its Discontents (LLC).

Hawaii in Black and White

The Old Hawaii: Duke Kahanamoku in a white rayon shirt with lei.
The New Hawaii: Makua Rothman sporting a black wool I/O hoodie. No Lei.

Matthias Giraud blasts first ski-base off Telluride's Ajax Mountain

I/O daredevil Matthias Giraud skiied a sketchy line off Ajax Mountain, opened his parachute and landed....on Good Morning America! Check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBENYzwenZY

Matthias dedicated his jump to the memory of Shane McConkey.

I/O presents The Gathering at Red Mtn

I/O Bio was proud to present the first annual Gathering at Red Mountain March 13-15, 2009. John Falkiner, Ace Kvale, Marko Shapiro, Paolo Tassi and John Eaves were only a few of the many legendary skiers, photographers and filmers who visited Red Mountain last week for the first annual Gathering. As chronicled in the current issue of Ski Journal, John, Marko and Ace along with a crew of friends perfected the free-ski alpine lifestyle, melded mountaineering with mogul-mania, fashion with free-dog, and managed to stay under the radar to all except the cognoscenti of the ski and mountain industries.

The Gathering at Red celebrated a remarkable convergence of these international adventurers who have crossed paths in far-flung locations but have rarely been captured in the same place at the same time. Saturday night marked the end of a three-day powder-filled ski fest culminating with an evening of slide shows and videos by these international artists as well as locals from the Kootenay region. The audience was wowed by the level of talent and quality of imagery during the presentation and finished off the evening dancing in the Rafters pub to the rocking blues tunes of seven-time world freestyle ski champ John Eaves and the Blues Riders.

Bamboozled?

Henry Krieger gets to the root of bamboo fabric manufacturing:

"Most bamboo fabric that is the current eco-fashion rage is chemically manufactured by “cooking” the bamboo leaves and woody shoots in strong chemical solvents such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH – also known as caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide in a process also known as hydrolysis alkalization combined with multi-phase bleaching. Both sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide have been linked to serious health problems. Breathing low levels of carbon disulfide can cause tiredness, headache and nerve damage. Carbon disulfide has been shown to cause neural disorders in workers at rayon manufacturers. Low levels of exposure to sodium hydroxide can cause irritation of the skin and eyes. Sodium hydroxide is a strong alkaline base also known as caustic soda or lye. In its dry crystalline form, caustic soda is one of the major ingredients of Drano."

For the complete expose, see Henry's website at http://turnanewleaf.ca/green-pages.htm