Former Brit Ski Racer Builds Million Pound Business
Former Brit Ski Racer Matt Aitkenhead has built a million pound turnover business since crashing out of the sport with a serious injury last year. Matt had hoped to spend a year racing as a pro and had saved the money for a season but ripped ligaments put paid to his plans. Instead he took his savings and used them as seedcorn along with a government grant to launch a simple, yet effective idea: the Sticmat.
It is a bit like a huge wine gum. The stickmatz will stick to a surface such as the dash of a car and will then hold any object. No more mobile phones and sunglasses dissapearing out the wind on sharp corners.
Chinese Clean-up Everest
Chinese volunteers have collected 10 tonnes of rubbish from the slopes of Mount Everest over the last 10 days. The team was composed of 31 people has now returned to Peking. The climbed to 8,000 meters altitude to collect the rubbish.
The 400 sacks of rubbish included empty bottles, oxygen tanks, tents and even cigarette butts. The operation was organised before the Olympic flame passes over the highest peak in the world before the Peking games in 2008. Another team already cleared 8 tonnes of rubbish last year.
It is estimated that the 1,600 summiteers have left over 600 tonnes of rubbish on the slopes of the mountain.
Dix tonnes de déchets collectés en dix jours sur l'Everest.
Völkl Shifts Ski Production to China
After the consolodation between Quicksilver and Rossignol and Atomic and Salomon it seems that Völkl is the latest ski manufacturer to be affected by globalization.
Völkl management has long threatened the workforce with a move of production to China, now it is carrying out its promise. Forty nine will be fired in the first move with more job losses to follow. According to boss Christoph Bronder Völkl
"must make savings, in Austria costs are 27% less compared to Germany".
The move follows failure by Völkl to negotiate greater flexibility with the workforce including overtime and weekend work. Völkl currently employs 530 in its Straubinger in Bavaria. The parent company K2, already manufacturers 60,000 pairs of ski annually in China.
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