Black Diamond Goes Deep with Ski and Boot Awards for Winter 08

September 2, 2008 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Black Diamond Equipment Ltd., a global leader in the climbing and freeride ski markets, announced stacks of Winter 08 awards for their skis and NEW Freeride Boot collection as well as their continued support of the UAC Fundraiser scheduled for September 18th, 2008.

Treasurer of Friends of the UAC, Colleen Nipkow comments, “We are proud of our body of work and support of the UAC. Federal funding cuts force the Center to run on a season-by-season basis, and fortunately the Center has been able to operate for the past fourteen years due to the positive community response by backcountry users and local and national businesses.”

Over 800 people attended the event last year, which will be hosted this year by Uinta Brewing, food by Rico and music by the bluegrass band Cold Creek . The party and silent auction are considered by many the unofficial precursor to ski season in the Wasatch. For more information go to http://www.bdel.com/scene/events/index.php

Coming off of a record snowfall year for much of the nation, BD is equally thrilled about Winter 08/09. Specifically, BD won Editor’s Choice from Backcountry magazine in both boot categories with their new Freeride boot the Factor, and Push telemark boot. BD also hauled in Editor’s Choice from Backcountry for the Women’s Joule Ski, and O1 telemark binding. Complementing this coverage the Verdict won Best Buy Freeride Powder Ski in SKI, the powder specialist Megawatt ski won Editor’s Set Up in Freeskier, and a total of five skis won Powder magazine’s Skier’s Choice Award (Megawatt, Zealot, Verdict, Kilowatt and Joule) along with the Factor Freeride boot, Custom telemark boot, Fritschi Freeride Plus and O1 telemark binding.

“Now we just need it to snow,” comments Ski Hardgoods Director Thomas Laakso. “The overwhelmingly positive reception to the debut of the boot line is due to listening to consumers and understanding the shifting needs and performance demands of skiers. It is not dissimilar to digging a snowpit – you have to work hard, understand the conditions and look for the subtleties in terms of the trends in snow.”

To coincide with the annual UAC Fundraiser and the debut of an entirely new boot line, BD has also launched a microsite that explores the back story and details of their new Freeride alpine-touring and telemark boots – www.skiBDboots.com Featuring 360 spins with zoom views of each boot, the site offers deep insight into the vibe, personality, new technologies and feature sets of the nine new styles of boots.

Winner of the Outside magazine 2007 Gear of the Year for the Verdict Ski, Black Diamond Equipment Ltd. is an employee-owned manufacturer of equipment for rock climbing, alpinism and freeride skiing. By consistently building innovative, standard-setting products and actively preserving the mountain environment, Black Diamond has assumed a leadership role in the international outdoor community. For more information on Black Diamond visit www.blackdiamondequipment.com