New label Yew Clothing www.yewclothing.com has announced the launch of its new range of active wear made from 100% recycled materials. The company believe this is the first collection of high performance sports gear that’s kind to the environment.

Designed by athletes who wanted a little more from the sports clothing they wear, Yew’s selection of jackets and Everywear performance tops feature everything you would normally expect from high quality sports gear, but are made with 100% recycled polyester from consumer waste.

This means that the fabric used to create them is produced from re-processed plastics like drinks bottles or food containers, helping to reduce waste and using much less energy to produce than brand new fibres.

The resulting collection of high quality, durable garments are built to last, fit well, and will keep you comfortable and dry as a base layer on the slopes.

The range includes cosy, fleece-lined jacket that will help keep you warm when the temperature drops. The jacket features hidden pockets, a seamless shoulder to aid comfort and a fold over zip to protect the neck. The warm, breathable material will keep you snug and dry and is available in Carbon Grey and Skyrise Blue priced £55.00.

Yew Clothing is Jun Wong and Kresse Wesling, two athletes and budding environmental entrepreneurs who wanted a little more out of the sports clothing they wear. Unable to find clothing that reflected their ethical values and aspirations, Jun and Kresse formed their own sports wear company, Yew, which offers stylish, high performance gear made from 100% recycled or organic materials.

The material is manufactured into Yew active wear at a modern factory in Istanbul with good facilities for staff. Yew recycled polyester comes from Taiwan where recycling is more prevalent.

The US Clif® bar, an organic-certified energy bar, is introducing the first iPhone application to combine ski resort snow conditions with environmental steps the resorts are taking to combat global warming.

The unique, portable and playful Clif Bar Save Our Snow (SOS) iPhone App can be downloaded free from iPhone or iTouch App Store (search “Save Our Snow”) or from www.clifbar.com/sosiphone.

Scientists predict that global warming will lead to more drought and shorter ski seasons due to unseasonably warm weather. Colorado College has said in its annual State of the Rockies Report Card that as conditions worsen, snow sport participation in the Rocky Mountain West may become entirely unviable by the year 2050.

“Global warming threatens skiing, snowboarding and other winter sports more than any outdoor activity,” said Ricardo Balazs, sports marketing experience manager at Clif Bar, “As skiers and riders ourselves, we want to help others who share our passion get a glimpse of what individual resorts are doing to help Save Our Snow.”

The Clif Bar SOS iPhone App enables you to find snow conditions at any of the more than 500 ski resorts in North America. You can learn current powder, temperature and wind conditions, the percentage of lifts open, a three-day weather forecast and the resort’s phone number. For extra fun, you can blow into your iPhone microphone and cause your screen to “ice over.” You can use your fingers to brush away the ice or just watch it melt away. If it’s snowing at the resort you choose to view, “snowflakes” fall across your iPhone screen.

Icons on each resort’s screen page also allow you to see what ski resorts are doing to combat climate change in the areas of renewable energy, transportation, waste reduction, and education and outreach. In addition, you’ll learn if a resort has received a Clif Bar Golden Eagle Award, which annually honours North American ski resorts for their overall environmental achievements.

“We hope the new Clif Bar SOS app helps winter last longer for skiers and the planet,” said Balazs. “It’s the only app that gives you environmental info when you choose a place to go play in the snow. It’ll be available on iTunes indefinitely, so you can use it now to extend the current ski season, this summer to dream about snow and again next winter when you head back out to the slopes.”

Clif Bar has, for the past three years, helped raise the awareness of winter athletes and enthusiasts about global warming’s impact on the ski industry. From mounting veggie-fueled mobile tours with top skiers like Alison Gannett and riders like Jeremy Jones to providing carbon offsets for chairlift energy use, the Clif Bar SOS campaign has informed thousands of winter resort-goers about the need to quickly address global warming if they want to continue to enjoy outdoor winter activities.

The eighth annual edition of the World Lift Ticket Price Report has been published.

The 2009 World Lift Ticket Price Report compares the cost of a six-day, non-discounted, high-season lift pass in more than 600 ski areas in 40 countries, and over 20 currencies, around the world.

All the information is compiled in to tables with pricing converted in to Euros, US dollars and British pounds for easy comparison and to allow the generation of average country, continent and world prices which are then compared with previous years to show trends. Included in the new facts this year are prices from the growing Chinese ski market and the first $600+ lift ticket.

This winter of course there have been seismic shifts is exchange rates and the Report tracks the rising costs of ski areas in Japan, Switzerland and US (and corresponding savings for citizens of those countries skiing overseas) as well as the mid-range costs of Canadian and Euro-zone countries and the lowering costs of ski areas in Australia, Scotland and New Zealand where the currencies are weakest.

The World Lift Ticket Price Report 2009 is a 44 page, 12,000 word document containing over 4,000 statistics and is delivered by email for a cost of 150 Euros, please use the contact below for more information or to order.

Patrick Thorne
Snow24
www.patrickthorne.com – personal business site.
patrick@patrickthorne.com