Empire Attire

By: Felicia Dumont

Athletes in the snow sports industry are notorious for traveling the globe to ski against the top competitors at the best mountains in the world. Freeskiing is saturated with young boys and girls who are eager to shred every peak on the planet. There are extreme benefits to this profession, like the opportunity to learn of foreign cultures and their people, but being on the road all the time is not all perks. Living out of a suitcase, eating out at restaurants, and always sleeping in a hotel bed, couch or a buddies floor can be tough on your emotions, immune system and family. So, courtesy of the professional athletes and industry friends at Empire Attire, we would like to provide all you traveling snow sports athletes with 10 tips on how to successfully live on the road.

Photo Credit: Torin Yater-Wallace

1. Peter Olenick

“Bring more clean socks and undies than you think you’ll need.”

2. Simon Dumont

“Get an agent.” Agents really help with managing travel. They will help you sort out where you need to be and when.

3. Jossi Wells

“The best tip I can give, and it’s pretty legit coming from me because I always take too much, when it comes to packing, pack what you think you need.  Then cut it in half and you’re good to go.”

4. Torin Yater-Wallace

“Don’t drink soda, ever.” Torin is still working on his travel skills, first being how to sleep on a plane, a trick not yet mastered by the young ski star. 

5. Luke Van Valin

“Always pack your bag the night before your flight, specially if your going to the after party.”

6. Jake Largess

“Pack as many socks as possible”

7. Gus Kenworthy

“Make sure you travel in jeans because getting a boner in sweatpants is not very fun on a plane”

8. Colby West

Click to Listen “Colby West Travel Tip“

9. Brian Schroy

“Stick to one airline.” That way you can rack up frequent flyer miles that provide you with priority through long lines and gets you upgraded to first class.

10. Michael Spencer

“Make sure you have one carry on that just has everything you would ever need where ever you go; computer, phone, passport, toothbrush, toothpaste. If you have all of that in your carry on who cares if you bags get lost, you can go anywhere.

By Brian Schroy

This past weekend Gus Kenworthy and Jossi Wells were busy at work for the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games. The action began in the halfpipe where Jossi finished in second place and Gus took home the gold. Gus’s winning run featured a left cork 900 tail grab to a right cork 720 tail, back to back switch 720 mutes, alley-oop flat spin 540 Japan, and a left cork 1080 tail grab to finish it off.

The next day was the highly anticipated slopestyle competition, where Gus and Jossi managed to do it again. Gus received his second gold medal and Jossi took home another silver. Gus started his run with a 450 to switch off of the down rail, straight into a switch 270 on to rodeo 630 off the cannon box. In the jump line he stomped a double cork twelve sixty mute into a switch right 1080 tail into a switch 540 onto the lily pad and a rodeo 540 off.

The final men’s event for freesking was big air. Gus continued his streak by qualifying in first, but had a little trouble in the finals. He finished with a solid sixth place result. Jossi found himself on the podium with a bronze medal for the third contest in a row. This is a great start to an early season for these two Empire rippers. Jossi faced some injuries last season and it is great to see him back on his feet and killing the competition. Hopefully, this event will foreshadow what is to come in the upcoming competitions.  

Check out Empire’s own Gus Kenworthy tearing up Mt. Washington

As we mentioned earlier in the week, Empire team member Gus Kenworthy took home the top spot from the AFP (Association of Freeskiing Professionals) overall this year. Check him out below in this killer edit of his World Skiing Invitation performance.

Check out Gus’s Edit from last season. Follow Gus on twitter: Gus’s Twitter