For optimal comfort, equipment manufacturers are redoubling their creativity to offer products to better resist the cold or to improve the riding experience on the slopes. Here is a quick tour of the latest innovations on the market.
A connected helmet to communicate on the slopes
After offering the system for motorcycles, Cardo Systems is now advising skiers with its wireless connected helmet. The Cardo Packtalk Ski is a communication system that allows you to ski down the slopes and communicate within a group. With your children or your friends for example. This system is water and snow resistant, and works at a temperature of -20°C. It adapts to all types of helmets available on the market and is interchangeable from one helmet to another. 15 people can talk on the same channel (separated by a maximum of one kilometer) while the autonomy is announced up to 8 hours of communication in a cold atmosphere.
Heated gloves
More and more popular on the slopes, the heated gloves offer of course an all-round comfort when it comes to fighting against low temperatures. Like the Racer and Sturiatronic brands, some models heat the fingers individually and work with rechargeable batteries (which are stored in a waterproof zipped pocket). The autonomy of the latter is about 10 hours for a level 1 heat (there are often different levels of heat up to 3), which is more than enough to wear them a whole day. LEDs indicate the level of battery charge while the additional weight is finally quite limited (a little less than 100 grams for a pair). These gloves are most of the time associated with a waterproof and breathable membrane.
Connected skis and snowboards
It is with an electronic chip integrated directly into the heart of the ski or snowboard that the French start-up Black-Line has managed to create connected skis and boards. It is then possible to couple the equipment to a mobile application to follow the evolution of the product but also to find it in case of loss or theft. By scanning your board or skis, you can have access to different information: The specifications and info of the ski or snowboard. The number of outings made. The state of life of the equipment based on a 5 star rating. The follow-up of the equipment maintenance personalized to the user profile. Alerts when there is maintenance to be done on the product. Assignment of equipment so that no one can resell it. Reporting lost or stolen equipment to the entire Black-Line community and indicating the location of the lost or stolen product if someone scans the equipment.
A connected sole for better skiing
Equipped with 48 contact points, the Carv sole collects data while you ski thanks to a sensor attached to the side of the boot. Processed and analyzed, the data then allows the smartphone application to give you advice on how to ski. Or more simply, you can also take ski lessons to progress under the guidance of an instructor.