SALT LAKE CITY & ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WNDR® Alpine – the outdoor brand launched by advanced materials company Checkerspot, Inc. – debuted its new ski lineup today, featuring the Intention 108, a ski geometry with the brand’s signature performance boosting AlgalTech® biobased materials and its all new palette of SpiralMade™ materials made from recycled production waste.
The Intention 108 takes the place of WNDR Alpine’s inaugural Intention 110 ski in the lineup, embodying the same intuitive feel, with a more purposeful inclination for aggressive, human-powered big mountain skiing in a diverse range of snowpacks.
“When we launched the original Intention 110 in 2019, it was our first and only shape in the lineup, so it had to do absolutely everything,” said Matt Sterbenz, GM of Wintersports. “Since the introduction of the Vital 100 and Reason 120, we’re now well equipped to support a wider spectrum of snowpacks and skiing styles. As a result, it was time to rethink the Intention to hone in on the areas where we believe a medium waist width backcountry ski should truly excel. The new Intention 108 remains the everyday choice for most skiers in our community, as it continues to provide ample flotation in a variety of snowpacks but now with increased maneuverability as a result of its deeper sidecut. What I am most excited about is that this new shape will also come in more lengths than ever and two camber profiles to dial in the ultimate set up.”
The Intention 108 features a more consistent stiffness profile than its predecessor, a 21.5m sidecut in a 188cm length, with gradually rockered tips and tails. Carrying on the traditions of its predecessor, the Intention 108 is available in both Camber and Reverse Camber profiles and lengths suitable for skiers 5’1” and up.
Debuting in WNDR Alpine’s new lineup are SpiralMade™ materials - embodied by a reuse of production waste developed in-house by WNDR Alpine’s team of designers, engineers, and materials scientists. These materials enter the market in the form of the Spiral Plate - a recycled binding retention insert offering approximately 35% better binding retention strength than traditional maple binding inserts. For snowboards, Spiral Plate insert packs virtually eliminate the ability for insert spin along with a 5% increase in torque and pull-out strength relative to conventional aspen construction.
The debut of SpiralMade™ represents a shift in mindset away from conventional narratives around recycling in consumer products. “It's incredibly valuable to make one’s own materials and products more easily recyclable,” said Daniel Malmrose, VP of Product Innovation. “It’s a separate challenge to put one’s own recycled outputs directly into a product in a way that improves the product. Using recycled materials to reach a tangible performance benefit is imperative if we’re to make recycling more viable in the snowsports industry.”
“We embraced the concept of ‘spiral fabrication’ as a play on circularity, acknowledging that while not every material can be recreated in an infinite cycle, we have a very real ability to reconstitute waste material into a new form that’s still valuable,” said Pep Fujas, professional skier and VP of Marketing and Product Development. “Now that the concept has been demonstrated, we’re excited to bring SpiralMade™ to backcountry athletes this season.”
The 2023 WNDR Alpine lineup is available for preorder today via wndr-alpine.com.
About Checkerspot, Inc.
Checkerspot (Alameda, CA & Salt Lake City, UT) designs performance materials and ingredients at a molecular level. Checkerspot’s vertically integrated WING™ Platform optimizes microalgae to biomanufacture unique oils that are turned into new materials that can demonstrate improved performance properties in targeted hardgoods, textiles and personal care applications and products. Checkerspot's first commercialized materials are next generation polyurethanes and textile finishes designed to improve the performance of consumer products. The company is currently commercializing performance composites engineered into skis and snowboards and sold through its brand WNDR® Alpine and others, as well as algal oil formulated into miDori® BioWick and sold in partnership with Beyond Surface Technologies. Checkerspot's mission is to expand the palette of molecular building blocks for high performance and sustainable materials for better products. For more information, visit https://checkerspot.com/.
