POW AND FACTION TOUR 1% BETTER

This week we introduced the brand-new, lightweight, touring-focused Agent Series. The Agent Series skis are highly capable on the uphill and rock-steady on the way down, enabling skiers to escape the crowded resorts and venture Off The Beaten Track.

To build the hype surrounding our new award-winning touring skis, and to celebrate the notion of pushing your boundaries, we are inviting you to share stories of how you use your Agent skis to venture Off The Beaten Track. Whether you’re partaking in your first-ever foray into the side country or logging a multi-day backcountry camping mission, we want to tell your stories.

From social media snippets to full-fledged stories such as the POW feature below, we will share the most inspiring stories in an ever-evolving playbook of adventures big and small. The OTBT commentary is community driven, yet it finds value in pristine nature and each individual’s right to enjoying a slice of it.

Our very first Off The Beaten Track feature stars the Agent Series on a sustainability mission in the Swiss Alps with Protect Our Winters Switzerland.

Faction Skis teamed up with Protect Our Winters Switzerland (POW) to motivate the Swiss mountaineering community staying at Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) huts to tour 1% Better. The goal was to raise awareness about the biggest environmental impact of their ski touring adventures: transportation of food and the food itself.

The Swiss diet is often rich in meat, which leaves a bigger carbon footprint on our environment. POW worked with Maighels Huette (SAC Hut) to design a locally sourced, organic, vegetarian menu for the weekend’s hungry ski-tourers. To avoid using helicopters to transport the food for 80 people, we enlisted the help of POW Ambassadors and the patrons themselves. By mobilizing the adventurous ski-tourers to carry in vegetarian food, we avoid the use of helicopters and the impact of meaty diets.

Far from deterring the adventurers at Maighels Huette, the POW meat-free weekend was sold out. Hut Warden, Nora Honegger phoned all of the guests to explain the plan for the weekend's sustainable food and transportation. The guests were tremendously excited about the use of local produce, and many volunteered to carry up vegetables alongside the POW Ambassadors.

Joining us to shout about sustainable choices were POW Switzerland Ambassador: Simon Charriere, Faction’s Head of Marketing and Sustainability Manager: Anna Smoothy and Sara Asmoarp. They were truly inspired by the terrain in the valley: immense north faces and steep couloirs tower over the Huette keeping the stoke alive.

We broke into two groups to session couloirs and faces on opposing sides of the valley. While Anna and Sara were touring up, they noticed the fleeting sunshine had destabilized the snowpack. And while sustainability never sleeps, safety also never takes a holiday and so they elected to adjust their route to minimize risk of avalanche.

The alternative couloir they chose required a bit of tricky ridge climbing, the pay off was epic - there were hoots and hollers as the team rode the colouirs brimming with cold winter snow.

As the storm closed around them, they turned to watch their friend Simon Charierre shred the gnar on the opposing face. After the exertion of these big lines, their stomachs now screamed the loudest, so they returned to Maighels to exchange stories and feast on delicious vegetarian fare.

POW Switzerland founder, Nicholas Bornstein delivered an inspiring speech to the patrons about their personal choices and how to influence their community and local government policies on sustainability issues. The avid ski-tourers and split-boarders in the audience took home valuable knowledge about how they can all be 1% better with regards to sustainability choices at home and in the mountains.

The Huts project was a true collaboration at the passionate core of skiing and snowboarding. Friends were made and ideas exchanged about how to translate sustainability practices into daily life to make positive changes for our planet.

WHO ARE PROTECT OUR WINTERS SWITZERLAND?

Protect Our Winters Switzerland is the leading voice of the outdoor community against climate change. POW Switzerland is a non-profit organization and part of the global POW network. Together with their athletes, members and partners, they are committed to comprehensive climate protection.