Enviro-Mental: Salomon Sick Stick

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Wolle Nyvelt plumes his powdery tail for Mother Nautre. AK spray. Photo: Oli Gagnon

Words: Tom Monterosso

In the winter of 2007, Salomon Snowboards launched The Green Initiative for Tomorrow, or G.I.F.T, for short. The centerpiece of the G.I.F.T line is the Sick Stick freestyle powder snowboard, which utilizes a revolutionary bamboo core.

Salomon Sick Stick Facts
● 20% reduction of petroleum-based materials content.
● 25% reduction of non-renewable materials.
● 10% reduction in board weight.
● The Sick Stick comes in a cotton-bamboo knit bag instead of a PVC sleeve, and the hang tags are printed on recycled paper instead of coated stickers.
● There are no petroleum-based topsheet materials or lacquer coats on the Sick Stick. The graphic is direct-printed on the board, making it less toxic and, in turn, lighter.
● The Sick Stick won the Volvo SportsDesign Award for Eco-Design in boardsports for its eco-friendly production methods.

According to Salomon Product Line Manager Alex Warburton, the Sick Stick is made by sandwiching a core between two structural bamboo veneers, lowering the needed weight of traditional fiberglass and resin by 25%. So, aside from the board’s forward-thinking production methods, it’s also lighter and more responsive, snaps and pops like Justin Timberlake’s back-up squad, and powers through the pow.

 salomon sick stick snowboard

Longtime Salomon team riders Wolfgang Nyvelt and Josh Dirksen joined forces to make this board come to life, and Dirksen says, “Simply put, the G.I.F.T. project is a wood-core snowboard completely surrounded with bamboo. They use less fiberglass and epoxy, and replace these non-renewable materials with a guilt-free product called….bamboo!” Warburton adds, “Because the boards are made in China, the bamboo is a locally-sourced raw material, further lowering the product’s carbon footprint when considering its construction holistically.” Of course, good intentions are nice, but how does the Sick Stick ride? SNOWBOARDER’s 2008 Rider of the Year Runner-up Wolle Nyvelt attests to the board’s design, saying, “The pintail works really well, but still allows you to land fakie in pow. It’s a real speed machine!”

Give this board a turn or two at your local mountain’s next on-snow. Even if you end up getting a little bit ill on the Sick Stick, Mother Nature will get a little bit healthier in the long run.

For more information, visit salomonsnowboards.com.

Enviro-Mental is a monthly column in SNOWBOARDER Magazine dedicated to environmentally friendly products and initiatives.

COMMENTS

Posted Fri Dec 5, 2008, 11:45 PM — By jeffH
thats good, environmentally friendly is a good thing. but check out Arbor snowboards, they have been doing this kind of construction for a while. support them and you support a snowboard company, not a ski company. think about it.
Posted Sun Dec 7, 2008, 6:16 PM — By nick stallone
arbor snowboards??? hahahahahhahhahhahha!!!!!!!! nice one.
Posted Mon Dec22, 2008, 3:00 AM — By aurelien Pollet Villard 74
I am sure this board is made in China. So if you add the cost of transport the environmental impact of the ecco friendly chinese subcontractor, the child labor etc... I wonder if this is the future of eco snowboard

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