Julbo

To read the full blog post, click here. To view the webpage and watch the video, click here.

The 2010 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc race would have had a very different outcome without text messaging…

Our friend Bryon Powell at IRunFar.com gives a fantastic and thorough account of what transpired last weekend.

Bryon writes in his blog, “It took two starts, a couple dozen bus rides, and a few thousand text messages, but Jez Bragg and Lizzie Hawker are the new UTMB champions.”

Check out the entire race report for yourself on IRunFar by clicking here.

Julbo’s own Nick Yardley was in Chamonix for the race. Here are some pictures of Nick crossing the finish line:

By Mike Horn

Few things feel better than recklessly breaking out of work early on a Friday, not telling a soul where you’re going, and setting out on a solo singletrack-riding mission. Stuff the Diablo, plug in my headphones, drop a little lube on the chain and go. No phone in my pocket or a note indicating my whereabouts left on the kitchen table. It feels satisfying as breaking out of jail—you wouldn’t leave a note then, would you?

Once on the trail my mind is clear, or filled with thoughts like these. The following came to mind on a recent Friday ride, as I thought about the things I enjoy about mountain biking. Alone.

Listening to Music – I know it’s a bit of a frontiersman faux pas, but when out mountain biking solo, I like having a soundtrack. I can’t hear the sounds I associate with pain—like grinding gears, clanking chain, and heavy breathing. One caveat, I don’t ride with tunes on the dedicated downhill on up-and-down rides in case parts fall off or a tire goes flat. Yes, I know I won’t hear a mountain lion stalking me, or another rider coming up from behind. Those are sacrifices I’m willing to make.

Pace – I’m not a race pacer, though many people I ride with are. I hate feeling like people are waiting on me; it kind of kills the relaxation component of the ride. Riding at your own pace with no consideration for anyone but yourself allows you to take time to sniff the sagebrush and stone, work on technique, deliberately test out gear, or hike-a-bike at will. Extended lunch break? Sure, why not? Change out the lenses on your Julbo Contest sunglasses three times over the course of a ride? Go for it. No one is around to care.

Isolation – Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the camaraderie of riding with friends. But I spend enough time around and talking to people, and I’m not much for talking when suffering on a steep climb anyhow. There’s something to be said for self-reliance as well—knowing that if I crash and burn or have a major mechanical the consequences are higher solo. Makes you think twice before dropping blind into a gnarly descent.

Focus – Nothing but the singletrack and me: set my eyes and front wheel on the snaking line and go whenever I please. No “who’s going first?”, secondary rattling and chain-whip noises, or people to worry about in front or behind. There are reasons it’s called singletrack. It’s all there for the taking, and it’s all mine.

By Jared Ogden

Summer in the Rockies is full of long warm days and beautiful skies, perfect conditions for peak bagging. Colorado hosts 53 14ers, enough for most of us to keep our summers busy for a long, long time. Hiking peaks is one of my favorite pastimes and started at a young age when my father would take me out each summer and we’d camp out for several days on the trail and bag a few peaks along the way. The camaraderie, physical exertion and views made each outing very memorable, and we’d often have a few little epics along the way to make each one more complete.

When I moved to Durango in 1990 to go to college, my roommate and I shared the desire of bagging peaks, and we headed for Uncompahgre Peak (14,309’). The proximity of 14ers from Durango is plentiful with no more than about two hours drive away so it’s pretty easy to make a quick trip out. Uncompahgre Peak is the sixth highest 14er and the tallest of the 14ers in the San Juan’s so we thought that was a good place to start. There are a few ways to get to the trailhead –by dirt roads either out of Ouray or Lake City. We opted to drive over Engineer Pass from Silverton towards Lake City to take in a little extra backcountry along the way. We slept out that night under a starry sky by a fire excited about the next days’ adventure.

Starting out early, we made our way up the trail and were nearing the summit after a few hours time. Rocky talus and wildflowers adorned the summit cap and the views were amazing. We didn’t see anyone on our way up so we had the summit to ourselves for about an hour. A few other hikers joined us before we started heading down. Some clouds started building by 11:30 letting us know it was smart to head down and in about an hour and a half we were back at our car in a light rain. The summit was shrouded in clouds and we could make out the other hikers coming down in what looked like heavy rain up high. We’d been lucky and bagged the summit before lightning and thunder started and toasted our success with cold ones in the cooler stashed in the back of the truck. As so often is the case, we planned our next outing on the drive back home with tired legs and big smiles on our faces.

Uncompahgre Peak doesn’t draw much of a crowd even though its one of the highest peaks. It’s about a 3,000 foot elevation gain over a seven mile round trip from the trailhead. No fees, plenty of free camping, low exposure and difficulty (class 2), and incredible views make this a must-do summit during peak summer months where lots of other summits are clogged up with crowds.

For this kind of high alpine activity in the summer months, Jared recommends the Bivouak sunglass with Julbo’s Zebra photochromic lens. The lens adjusts to the light conditions so that it darkens in brighter light and lightens when the clouds roll in. The magnetic side shields, which help block the bright light on the summit, can be easily removed when having beers later.

On Friday, Aug. 27, around 2,300 runners, including Julbo USA’s CEO Nick Yardley, will embark on what some call the most difficult foot race in Europe — the Ultra-Trail du Mon-Blanc mountain ultramarathon. The North Face-sponsored run takes place once a year in the Alps , across France, Italy and Switzerland. The distance is approximately 166 km, with a total elevation gain of around 9,400 m. The race is run in one leg.

While the best runners complete the loop in slightly more than 20 hours, most take 30 to 45 hours to reach the finish line. There is no prize money awarded.

As a frame of a reference, the route, which is a loop around Mont Blanc, follows the Tour du Mont Blanc hiking path that usually is completed in 7 to 9 days by hikers.

We wish Nick the best of luck this weekend!

We just unveiled our new models for Fall at the recent Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. Here is a sneak peak at some of our new innovative, performance designs, which will be available at retail in mid October:

We got to hang out with freeskier legend Glen Plake during Outdoor Retailer
Summer Market in Salt Lake City last week! He signed posters and talked to
fans, and showed off Julbo’s new models for Fall 2010.

Glen talks about what he has been up to and what’s on the horizon in this
interview with Telemarktips.com

Julbo’s Marketing Director, Benjamin Thaller, was interviewed by Michael
Hodgson of SNEWS during Outdoor Retailer Summer Market.

SNEWS TV features Julbo at ORSM Video

Check out more about
Julbo’s new photochromic Zebra Light lens (available in mid October) here.

We bought our first pair of Julbo Baby Looping 2 sunglasses in January. Our (then) 11 month old had just been through 2 surgeries to remove congenital cataracts from his eyes, and protecting his little eyes from UV rays became even more important. The pediatric ophthalmologist’s office sells two brands of sunglasses – Baby/Kid Banz and Julbo. We opted for the Julbo brand because of the ability to remove the elastic strap.

To say these sunglasses have met our expectations would be an understatement. At 18 months old now, our little guy is pretty tough on his sunglasses. He bends them, twists them, throws them, etc. They have held up beautifully!

Week before last, we returned home from a quick trip to the store to discover that a lens was missing from his sunglasses. We searched high & low and weren’t able to find it. I looked online to find that replacement lenses were available, but held off ordering them because we were leaving two days later to go on a beach vacation. So, on Friday, July 16, we went back to the doctor’s office hoping to purchase another pair of sunglasses before our trip. We were disappointed to find that they were out of his size.

The nurse promptly contacted Julbo for us to see if there were any other dealers in our area (Baton Rouge, LA) and found there were none. Customer service was fantastic! Julbo offered to overnight new lenses to our hotel! Since it was late Friday afternoon, we figured out they wouldn’t arrive in time, so we opted to purchase the next size up, hoping they would work well enough. And when we arrived home from our vacation, we had lenses waiting for us in the mailbox!

Thank you for your fantastic customer service! We now own 2 pairs of Julbo Baby sunglasses and will probably never own another brand to protect our little guy’s eyes!

Sincerely,

Nathan & Suzi Mitchell
and little Emory too!