When Archimedes thought up his revolutionary water-pumping screw, little did he know that one day a group of high school students in Lyon, France would find a better use for his design. Their Propul-Surf uses a pair of horizontally-mounted screws to push a snowboard through the snow when gravity doesn’t provide enough momentum. More »
England has been having quite a bad winter this year, with snow continuing well into this month. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Who landed his TARDIS somewhere in the UK and encountered this… a snow Dalek.
Thankfully, Davros didn’t create an actual snow Dalek. It’s just a harmless sculpture made by DeviantArtist E-The-Zombie and her sister Fezhead11, and it’s not even in the UK.
While a snow Dalek might want to exterminate you, the good news is that you can actually just pour warm water over it to put it out of commission. I suppose that’s easier than having to install staircases everywhere.
Using traditional fabrication techniques the folks at Signal Snowboards have made decks from all kinds of crazy materials, including glass. But this month they’re trying out a radically different fabrication technique to see if you really can make a usable snowboard with a 3D printer. More »
This Millennium Falcon sled probably won’t do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, but if there is snow, this ship has got it where it counts. Sean Murray built this awesome sled for an office event – and also for his Star Wars loving daughter to enjoy.
Each year, Sean’s job holds a Winter carnival where each section forms a team and selects a theme. So he put a team together and chose Star Wars. One of the events was a human dogsled race – and what better ship for a dogsled race than the Falcon? After all, Chewbacca was inspired by an Alaskan Malamute, a dog best know for its ability to pull a sled.
The Falcon sled is made entirely of cardboard and mounted to a plastic toboggan. While the cardboard might not hold up to snow as well as the mass-produced Falcon sled, this one is way cooler, plus it’s a great way to get around Hoth.
Well done Sean. It would be fun to see two kids inside dressed like Han and Chewie.
[via Wired]
It’s March, which mean it’s still a little colder than you want it to be. Which means eventually you’ll ask yourself why in the hell is it still cold. Which will lead to yourself questioning why does it have to be cold at all? And then you’ll see this converted silo in Cedar Falls, Iowa and the cold, winter, slushy snow, all of it will make complete sense. The world gets cold so that people can create an epic ice climbing wall. More »
A flexible soled shoe can be better for traversing rocky terrain because it contours to irregular surfaces providing additional grip. And that’s the same thinking behind TSL Outdoor’s new semi-rigid Symbioz snowshoes. They flex and contort to ensure as much surface area as possible makes contact with the snow on uneven terrain—and as a result they’re supposedly comfier to wear than traditional designs. More »
Patagonia has produced the first 1,000-fill-power down parka. It doesn’t come cheap, but if you’re looking for the ultimate cold-weather coat, this just might be it.
For their latest creation, the folks at Signal Snowboards traveled to Italy where they took advantage of skilled local artisans to create what has to be the world’s first functional glass snowboard. More »
Strapping your feet to a board and then sliding down a snow-covered hill requires skills that most humans aren’t born with. So to make it just a little easier for novices to learn how to snowboard, Australia’s Streetboardz has created a board with a built-in handbrake that lets riders easily stop before things get out of control. More »
Like having a set of snow chains on your feet, nothing makes traversing winter’s icy conditions easier than metal spikes on the bottom of your boots. But indoors, they can really tear up the floors and carpeting. So Germany’s Meindl has created the perfect compromise: spiked boots with a geared mechanism to retract the metal studs when not needed. More »
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