Hasta La Ideas

Three thrill-supplying destinations and the sporting gear to go with them

Even as our hemisphere finally begins to thaw, we at Cool Hunting think that everyone who’s suffered countless blizzards, waist-high slush and bone-chilling cold deserves a break. For sun-worshippers, powder junkies or anyone in between, we put together our latest favorite getaways and the accoutrements—classic products with exceptional design—that complement the locales we’ve found and make these destinations truly next-level.

Surf Costa Rica’s secret break with handmade wooden boards

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica: Salsa Brava Break

Puerto Viejo, a village on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast (about three hours from the country’s capital, San Jose), attracts diehard surfers who are looking for a more relaxed vibe than that of the often-crowded spots on the Pacific. Salsa Brava, a break that has been called Costa Rica’s heaviest and best, provides the main draw to the area while still remaining relatively untouched. Surfers can expect swells that are head-high to triple overhead (swell is biggest from December through March) at Salsa Brava, a name that loosely translates to “fierce sauce.”

42 Surfboards

If you’re going to surf an epic break, then it’s essential to have a board worthy of such a storied wave. Hand-shaped in Oregon, the products crafted by 42 Surfboards more than stand up to the challenge. Shaper Lars Bergström, a fifth-generation wood-worker who has been making surfboards since he was in high school, leads the team, producing classic American surfboards that not only ride waves but ride the test of time, lasting buyers a lifetime. Setting the brand apart is both their use of sustainable wood in making the board, as well as their attention to detail and pride in their bespoke creations that combine traditional wood-working technique with CAD technology. Whenever possible, the board will be hand delivered to its buyer—so be sure to order well before planning a trip to Salsa Brava.

Find your “true stoke” at Jackson Hole’s first eco-tel

Jackson, WY: Terra Hotel

Hotel Terra in Jackson Hole provides shelter for skiers who’ve traveled to Wyoming to shred some of the country’s best and most challenging terrain, as well as for the many visitors who come to take in the spectacular Teton Mountain Range and nearby national park. The lodgings combine all the luxury and amenities of a boutique hotel with a LEED-certified building and sustainable operating practices (including providing guests with reusable aluminum water bottles and access to alternative and energy efficient transportation). Working with the credo that an eco-hotel is healthier for both its guest and the land it inhabits, Terra demonstrates that luxury and eco-friendliness can go hand-in-hand.

ScottyBob Skis

Though some visitors to the Hotel Terra will hole up in the resort’s Chill Spa, most will hit the slopes, where the go-to gear for navigating Jackson’s trademark waist-deep powder is a pair of ScottyBob’s handmade skis. When Scotty Bob Carlson was working as a telemark instructor, he noticed that the symmetrical design of skis was inherently flawed. Building on this discovery, he put together a set of asymmetrical skis, a means of construction that ensures the highest level of precision, responsiveness, and ease and fluidity of turns, which will no doubt help you achieve the Telemarker’s coveted sublime moment or “true stoke.” Each and every pair that Scotty Bob produces is handmade in Colorado, ensuring that all the equipment that he manufactures is built with love and attention to quality and detail.

Image via The American Craftsman Project

Hike Twin Farms’ expansive acres in custom boots

Barnard, VT: Twin Farms

Ten miles north of Woodstock, VT lies Barnard, home to Twin Farms, a country estate-turned-resort and spa. Guests stay in a variety of accommodations scattered about the property, from rooms in a 1795-era farmhouse to freestanding cottages, and eat locally-sourced meals custom prepared by the in-house culinary team. In addition to tennis, swimming and croquet, Twin Farms’ property includes over five miles of hiking trails on their 300 acres of property; ranging from beginner to intermediate, these hikes lead guests through wildflower meadows, a hardwood forest, and a smattering of ponds. Those who wish to traverse a little more serious terrain can easily access nearby Mount Ascutney, Camel’s Hump, and the Appalachian Trail.

Limmer Custom Boots

Choosing to venture to these strenuous trails requires a comfortable, supportive hiking boot—that’s where Limmer comes in. Launched in 1925 when the Limmer family emigrated to the U.S. from the Bavarian Alps, the boot company represents a longstanding tradition of handcraftsmanship and the highest in walking shoe quality. Though Limmer’s custom products are built to suit the needs of each individual customer (who often opts to go for a custom model due to a fit challenge or simply looking for the best performing shoe), the boot generally includes a Vibram® sole with a multi-layer system designed to support and stabilize the arch, ankle, toe and heel. It’s worth the cost (around $625) and the wait (usually around six weeks); Limmer’s repair shop often sees boots that are 50 years old (or more) come in to be patched up and sent back to their satisfied owners. Whether you’re summiting the peaks of some of Vermont’s most beautiful mountains in a pair of custom Limmers or just braving unplowed sidewalks, trust us—your feet will thank you.

This post is brought to you by
Volkswagen

Our latest Rough Cut video with an innovative Spanish outdoor furniture maker

In the early 60’s, in a Spain still suffering the repercussions of the civil war and a population living under the hard handed rule of Franco, Kettal founder Manuel Alorda took a trip to Germany with his Dutch father in-law to purchase outdoor furniture. Alorda had never seen outdoor furniture before and was immediately struck by the opportunity to bring beach and camping chairs to the Spanish market. A van was purchased, machinery was bought and Alorda began producing the German line of outdoor furniture for Spanish consumption. Ten years later, as Franco’s influence declined and international trade normalized, Alorda began making his own designs and exporting his product throughout Europe. This transition began the recognition of Spanish design excellence in outdoor furniture and cemented the framework of the Kettal Group.

Kettal stands out amongst the many excellent outdoor furniture designers in the Spanish market due to their awesome attention to detail. This ranges from the choice of designers they strive to work with to the time and energy put into finding or constructing raw materials. The focus of Kettal’s design is to fit the needs of modern life creatively, while maintaining a commitment to timelessness.

We had the chance to talk to vice president Alex Alorda about Kettal’s commitment to quality through innovation of custom raw materials, check it out in the rough cut below:

In addition to their innovations in furniture Kettal has also branched out into the art world, the senior Alorda began collecting at a young age. This commitment to the arts led to the founding of the Alorda-Derksen Foundation, a space in Barcelona dedicated to contemporary art and fully funded by Kettal.

Take our reader survey and enter to win a CH Edition Jambox!

Climb every mountain and ski any path with the world’s first GPS-enabled goggles

For backcountry trailblazers, Recon Instruments‘ new Transcend goggles introduce advanced technology for carving your own path while providing essential protection from sun and snow. The GPS-enabled goggles “require minimal interaction” yet boast an impressive amount of features, including a full-color micro LCD display, Google Maps overlay, real-time statistics (speed, altitude, vertical, run-counter, temperature and more), and keep a log of averages, maximums and minimums for each run over the entire day.

Vancouver-based Recon fitted the goggles with lenses from Boulder, CO-based Zeal Optics, who created two versions—polarized ($400) or for an even greater sun shield, polarized and photochromic ($500). Both styles are PC and Mac adaptable and through a micro USB port you can easily upload your stats at the end of the day.

The goggles weigh just around nine ounces, last six to eight hours through a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and sell online from both Recon Instruments and Zeal Optics.

Tackle slopes with carbon fiber skis designed for ice and versatility

Ski magazines typically depict stylish athletes gliding effortlessly down tufts of powder, but those who live on the U.S.’ East Coast (dubbed the Ice Coast) know a different reality. Growing up on the slopes of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, skiers Ben Callaghan and Joel Nashett understand the challenges of conquering less-than-ideal conditions and designed Avant Skis—high-performance skis shaped for what the conditions are, not what we’d like them to be.

“The big trend now is to have super crazy wide skis, which is great when there is waist deep powder, but for the East and even 90% of the conditions out West, they are kind of overkill sometimes,” Callaghan explained in a recent interview. Designed using their own extensive experience skiing, the Hartford, CT-based label have created three variations of their Aviator model.

The Ace is 181 centimeters of carbon composite, making it much lighter and more responsive than fiberglass models, and its striking reflective strips heighten visibility, where the slightly shorter Bomber (165 centimeters) allows for tighter turns and its thick steel edges are perfect for pushing maneuvers to their limit, hitting rails and rocks. For women, the Wasp is the same length as the Bomber, offering the same sturdy construction and steel edges suitable for ice and rocks.

All three models sell online for $800 each, but the innovative duo plan to open a full-service shop with a ski factory and R&D center open for tours in the future. Explains Nashett in an interview with New York ski blog Harvey Road, “I think that if people could come to a ski resort to ski and to watch how skis are made, or even get their hands dirty working on their own boards, it would be a must-do item on a travel itinerary.”

How an iconic Canadian parka company is taking their handmade parkas in a new direction

Nothing quite signifies cold like the image of a bundled-up kid with arms splayed to the sides. For those who’d rather minimize the bulk and unnatural limb positions, Canada Goose is in the midst of reinventing their typically function-over-fashion parka with more street-ready style. When the brand recently invited Cool Hunting on a tour of its factory in Toronto, we went along to learn all about their iconic parkas.

Canada Goose’s appeal rests on two pertinent facts—the jackets are made entirely on Canadian soil by Canadian hands and the quality is irrefutable—a process we saw first-hand on Canada Goose’s factory floor. Starting in the design room, cutting patterns are developed and prototypes are stored. The jackets are cut out of Canada Goose’s proprietary blend of Arctic-Tech fabric, in one of their several heritage colors. They’re then stitched by hand and filled with different combinations of goose and duck down, using an ingenious device invented by former Canada Goose owner David Reiss that measures down by volume instead of weight.

After finishing touches, quilting and trimming with coyote fur, the jackets are packaged, and shipped all over the globe from one of Canada Goose’s eight factories. Each jacket features Canada Goose’s signature design features, implemented for function in an Arctic environment—reflective tape, coyote fur, and grab loops on the neck and shoulders. Their parkas are standard wear among everyone who has to work in extreme temperatures, from Hollywood grips who stay on set all night to the champion dog-musher Lance Mackey, whose custom-designed parka has extra water bottle pockets on the interior and an extra-large ruff.

Their reputation for quality—as well as their luxury prices—have made the jacket something of a status symbol among those in colder climes. Along with the police officers and park rangers whom the parka was originally intended for, Canada Goose also includes club bouncers among its fans, and its street appeal spread from there. With that in mind, Canada Goose has started developing different branches for this year, including jackets by acclaimed Japanese menswear designer Yuki Matsuda (pictured below) and a new Hybridge line, which we previously featured for its distinct gender-specific insulation.

Prices range from $400 for the Hybridge line to several thousand for the Yuki Matsuda collection. Canada Goose parkas sell online or at select locations.