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ZAG: The history of the freeride brand

Powder to the people

In 2002, the ZAG brand saw the light of day in the freeride world in Bourg Saint Maurice in the Albertville arrondissement. ZAG is the baby of Stéphane Radiguet, who at the time was a snowboarder, ski instructor and shaper for the Niedecker brand. His vision: a revolutionary pair of skis that delivers the same awesome surfing feeling in powder as a snowboard and also carves well on the slopes. In 2003, ZAG introduced the Rocker and completely turned the ski market upside down. The innovation of the brand, which was still young at the time, was rewarded with an ISPO Brand New Award.

Let there be Rock!

In 2008, the Haute-Savoyard followed up with the first Double Rocker. First introduced in the SLAP line, the technology enables effortless turns and provides plenty of buoyancy. The popular SLAP line is still in the program today – the acronym SLAP stands for "Stile Libre Arrière Pays", the literal French translation of backcountry freestyle.

CHAMONIX: A NEW CHAPTER AT ZAG

Since 2010 the brand is based in Chamonix, at the foot of Mont Blanc. There, the passionate skiers opened their own development laboratory in 2015 with the ZAGLab, in which the best solutions are relentlessly tinkered with from now on. Very little time elapses between the conception of a prototype and the first tests on the mountain. 


With the UBAC line, the brand is setting new standards in the free touring segment in 2012. The ski models find the sweet-spot between easy ascent performance and fun on the descent. The UBAC line should also be cemented in the ZAG range with its sophisticated concept and continuously developed over the years.


Chamonix-tested and loved by freeride professionals: The entire ZAG team consists of passionate freeriders, ski mountaineers and mountain guides. This not only gives the brand a high degree of authenticity, but also means that the skis are developed for their intended use down to the last detail. Before the ski models come onto the market, they have to prove themselves on the demanding, steep slopes around Chamonix. ZAG athletes such as Julien Lopez and Wadeck Gorak repeatedly demonstrated on the Freeride World Tour that ZAG ski models feel comfortable on the toughest lines in the world.


Happy Birthday ZAG!

The core brand can now look back on twenty years of passion for skiing. Since it was founded, ZAG has developed from a small ski shop for insiders into an established brand for powder connoisseurs.

Sustainability at ZAG: ZAGREEN

As outdoor athletes, skiers are inevitably exposed to nature – in the age of the global climate crisis, this is truer than ever. With ZAGREEN, the passionate ski inventors from ZAG started an initiative in 2016 to successively reduce the environmental impact caused by the products and the entire work of the brand. The motivation behind it: only if a brand acts sustainably will the mountains remain a place for future adventures.


That is why ZAG obtains most of the materials required for ski construction from Europe, in order to shorten delivery routes. The skis are then manufactured in Poland and Tunisia. The brand has increased the proportion of bio-based components in the resins and plans to expand their use to all models in the future – some top sheets are also made from bio-based materials such as castor oil. The steel edges used are made from recycled material, the wooden cores are FSC-certified, i.e., they come from forests that are managed responsibly.


For the 2022/23 winter season, ZAG said goodbye to plastic packaging and is delivering its ski models in high-quality cotton bags. These can be used again or converted by customers into ski bags.


If you want to learn more about ZAGREEN, you can find details on their website or on our ZAG brand page.

The ZAG lines

The French ski brand has four lines in its range, the intended use of which ranges from ski touring and alpinism, all-mountain to backcountry freestyle and free touring to pure freeriding pleasure. Three of these lines can be found at Sport Conrad: UBAC, HARFANG & SLAP.


UBAC

"UBAC" is French for north-facing slopes, where powder snow lasts longer. With the UBAC line, ZAG set out in 2010 to solve the dilemma of downhill-oriented tourers, also known today as "free touring". Because light, uphill-oriented skis usually offer significantly less fun on the descent compared to their fatter and heavier colleagues from the freeride segment. That's why UBAC free touring models combine the best of two worlds: light materials for less drudgery on the ascent and wider geometries to provide enough buoyancy for fun descents.

HARFANG

The name of this line also refers to snow sports: "Harfang" is the French name for the snowy owl. The all-mountain models are versatile companions that, depending on their average width, either feel more comfortable on-piste or off the beaten track. The narrow models have more camber, while the widest model, the Harfang 106, is more suitable for technically demanding freeride descents due to its moderate camber, double rocker and stiff flex.


SLAP

The backcountry freestyle line SLAP consists of playful ski models with double rocker technology. The narrow representatives can be carved very well on the piste, while the widest model helped Wadeck Gorack to victory on the Bec de Rosses. The SLAP models feel comfortable in all terrains – from fun tree runs to big mountain lines.   Good to know: ZAG has a detailed size guide for choosing the right ski model and length: https://en.zagskis.com/ski-touring-size-chart-zag