In today’s world of cheap airfares for long distances flights with limited luggage weight allowances, we as the traveler are always looking to save as much weight and room as we can while still packing everything in. Traveling with your skis or snowboard can be a pain especially when these items take up a lot of our weight allowance and space. If you’re going for an extended time you may want to pay the extra fee on that budget airline and get an additional bag. If you’re going to get the extra bag, look at the not so budget airlines as these usually have the additional baggage allowance built into the airfare price. Here are a few hacks for saving weight and room. Board bag and ski bag. When buying a ski or board bag always keep an eye on the weight of the bag empty. Just because it’s a big bag and you can fit everything in it doesn’t mean it will save you in the long run. A bigger bag means more weight which can mean less gear to take with you. It’s a catch 22. You could get slogged for overweight baggage and the bag might not even

The French Climber Lionel Terray famous term “Conquistadors of the Useless” Which I think is a perfect description of the enlightened ones that call these beautiful mountain towns home for the winter and life becomes a lot simpler. After many years of living this dream myself I dedicate this to our fellow Conquistadors! 1.     You consistently buy bulk instant ramen. 2.     You have all the free Wi-Fi passwords in town. 3.     You think beer is a legitimate form of currency 4.     You use duct tape to fix everything clothing, furniture, vehicles etc. 5.     “Doing Laundry” consists of cycling through different flannels on your floor. 6.     You have a day job anight job and possibly a third job for the “hookups” 7.     You might not have been a gear head but you are now. 8.     You collect all your old seasons passes and grow your moustache all summer for the photo. 9.     Your goggle tan is the only tan line on your whole body. 10. You find yourself storm chasing with a car full of gear, sleeping bags and beer. 11. You yank broken skis and snowboards from a dumpster and think: “With a touch of epoxy, these could last an

Kyneee Snowboards X Epic Snow Tours As most of you know, Epic Snow has teamed up with Kyneee snowboards for our Epic Col-lab board. But did you know when you book on tour to any one of our destinations you have the option to buy a Kyneee Pow Board or an Epic Snow x Kyneee board for HALF price! Check out the Japow Tour HERE to come ride with us in the deepest snow the world has to offer. To give you a little more incite about the Aussie snowboard brand we sat down for a quick chat with Kynan from Kyneee to pick his brains about what motivates him and what kyneee has for install for the future. Tell me a bit about the brand when did it start and where? Kyneee is a small board brand based out of Sydney. The brand officially started May 2013 but it’s been in the works for a lot longer. The “nope, we’re doing this” happened on a Canada trip. Doing research to purchase a new board and all the info seemed like jibberish. Companies get so caught up in branding tech features with individual names for their brand that it just

A short Myoko Powder run from Yesterday 24th January 2016 after a solid 50cm dump. This was shot Akakan off the Champion 3 Chair. There were so many more good turns had that day and more to come! love this place! To find ou more about Epic Snow Tours check out www.epicsnow.co

When travelling to cold places its always good to plan your wardrobe before you go. I have so many first time working holiday visa kids heading to places like Canada, USA, Europe and Japan coming in to the shop saying that “they will just buy every thing over in place X when they get there”. To me this is dumb. What do you do when you get off the plane in say Calgary and its -30 outside and you brought your “Australian winter hoodie” yep thats right you freeze your arse off until you get to a shop to buy one and that may not be right away as soon as you land. Us veterans do know how to do the luggage pack and know that when we are on holidays that wasting time searching for that jacket that is just right takes away form precious time on the hill. So its always good to be prepared before you go and have every thing you need. A good start is the basics. Here are a few essential items to start with. Walking around wear – not ski gear although the cool kids do both Soft shell Jacket down parker/jacket for the

Avalanche Safety is imperative when going in to the back country, always Know Before You Go! ” It doesn’t matter if you have made thousands of good calls – all it takes is one bad call and that is one too many. Some days the mountains are screaming GET OUT OF HERE and some days they are saying come on in – it’s time to party.” – Jeremy Jones

Yes the title says it all Mc Ski the ski in, ski out Mcdonalds in Sweden’s resort of Lindvallen north of Stokholm has been serving the burger giants famous foods since 1996. “No need to take off your skis. You just ski up to the counter, order your food and ski off” Customers wanting to get out of the weather will also enjoy a modest a 140-seat restaurant.

Your ski and snowboard boots are the make or break of a good day on the hill. It is a must when purchasing your boots to have them properly boot fitted by a professional ski boot fitter for that perfect day on the mountain. After purchasing and using your boots, storing your boots correctly is key. This will provide proper hygiene and increase the lifespan significantly. Having them ready to go is important, but looking after them is equally important. For the start of the season good preparation starts with the last day of the previous season. First of all you should always make sure your boots a dry before storing them. When your finished for the season use a damp cloth and some mild soapy water clean the shell of any dirt marks or impurities and leave to dry. Pull the liners and foot beds out and leave them in a dry place to dry for a few days (I leave mine in outside undercover in the sun for a day then bring them inside to dry for another few days). Note: if liners are not removable leave them in a dry place with news paper scrunched up to draw

Building Booters Who doesn’t love watching those epic video parts where the pro launches off a perfectly placed booter built in the middle of nowhere, spinning some switch 1660 quadrillion triple cork thing (pretty sure that’s a thing -ha) landing in to a perfect down ramp of untouched powder and riding out like the wizard they are. How did the booter get there? did they use a snow groomer ?why is it so perfect? Well, it takes patience and an understanding of the snowpack. All those backcountry booters are handmade and built by the filming crew and the riders. 1. Find the right location. When searching for that sweet spot, always make sure that there is a good run in where you will have enough speed and good landing zone (if you crash you don’t want to end up cartwheeling into a tree). Test the run in before you build to ensure you have enough speed. 2. How big do you make it? Once you have established that sweet spot you will want to work out the exact size of the height/distance you will travel in the air. If you want to go higher for a steeper landing build the

To get you stoked on the next Epic Snow Tour here is a 30 second short of Co-Founder Benny V shredding some deep deep powder in one of Myoko Japan’s secret spots. Its constantly knee to waste deep in this run with face shot after face shot. To find out more about Epic Snow’s tours, visit www.epicsnow.co for full tour details.