Volcom French Dealer Meeting: Chamshack Roundup
The folks over at Volcom have hosted their Snow Team House in the Arlberg since 2004 and for 2018 they changed things up, setting up the Chamshack in Chamonix to host French dealers. The idea was to get their key accounts testing next year’s outerwear in the harshest of all conditions in the freeride mecca of Chamonix, and the talented Vernon Deck has supplied us a One Eyed Monster gallery from the trip with the summary below from Mr Jan Prokes.
Volcom’s Chamshack. Image by Vernon Deck.
Words from Volcom’s Jan Prokes. Following the success of the joint Volcom Snow Team House/Marketing Facility in, which we’ve held since the winter of 2004, we figured that doing something particularly for our beloved French snow accounts was long overdue. It turns out not everyone can be bought with Beers & Schnitzels!
Besides, the French Alps are, after all, home of arguably THE most impressive chunks of rocks in all of Europe. Many French location options were initially considered (Val D’isere, Portes Du Soleil, La Grave, etc) but in the end all roads and arrows pointed at Chamonix. There’s just no escaping this mythical village, or small town if you like, equally adored as it is feared and even dreaded.
Given our commitment to making outerwear as technically advanced and rider-appealing as any mountain gear manufacturer out there, then field testing it in the harshest conditions available, – be it on top of Aiguille du Midi mid-Blizzard or inside Elevation Bar during Scando happy hour – Chamonix was chosen faster than CGT can set up a roadblock!
Voila! Deal sealed.
We took over a ravishing chalet for a 3-week period, then sent out invites to our dearest accounts to come join us in celebration of life, aka snowboarding.
What better place to get better acquainted with Volcom’s proprietary Zip Tech, Face Tech and TDS technologies than while riding and taking in the stunning, unrivalled high-alpine beauty of the Chamonix valley?
Sure beats a day at the office. Image by Vernon Deck.
A typical day started with a massive breakfast prepared by one of our marketing clowns, then assessing conditions, picking the right outerwear for the conditions and finally deciding, in close conjunction with one our guides, which mountain to grace with our presence.
Snow Team riders Arthur Longo, Vale Ducourtil, Oli Gittler and many others all came by for various periods of time, entertaining and pushing our guests beyond their abilities, while showing them what’s possible on a snowboard when not spending your life in an office. Then, in hot pursuit close behind or slightly ahead (all depending on the best angle) was our long-time photographer extraordinaire Vernon Deck, immortalizing perhaps some of their finest riding ever captured on film and video as an added bonus for our dear visitors.
Come 4pm it was Beer o’clock, either directly in our on-site wheels, the Volcom Snow motor home, or whereever the nearest beer on tap was to be found. Upon returning to our chalet, showering and snacking, it was time for massages, movies, story talk or simply chilling..
Then at night we went to one of our many mouth-watering restaurants of choice, before returning back home to the good old Chamshack chalet to sleep, dream of what tomorrow brings and repeat.
On the rare occasion that someone wasn’t falling over by now and even still had juice in them for more, young stallion Vince was always on standby, frothing to undo the top button of his shirt and let them chest hairs hit the highly gender-disparity challenged Chamonix nightlife.
Would you expecting anything else? Your friends at Volcom Snow always keeps an eye open for every scenario. But that is a story all of its own.
Merci Beaucoup to everyone who came to visit us, our guides, Man & Wolf Beer, Chamonix itself, Nitro and Korua for boards
