Journal

After the success of our inaugural ski ballet gathering and event back in April 2024, this year we knew that we needed to go bigger - much bigger.

We’re incredibly proud to present our new documentary - Dancing on the Edge: A Ski Ballet Story - which lifts the lid on the iconic sport of ski ballet.

MGG’s new short film 日本のどこかで【NIHON NO DOKOKA DE】“SOMEWHERE IN JAPAN” explores the bleak, otherworldly face of Japan in mid-Winter, far away from the sensory overload that this eye-opening country has become so well known for.

On Saturday 6th April 2024, we went one better, and on the slopes of Verbier, an incredible scene unfolded! Fabrice Becker, winner of the gold medal at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics issued the call to arms on our behalf, and no fewer than 16 top former ski ballet athletes from around the world attended our MGG ballet skiing jam session and demonstration event. Many hadn’t seen each other for 10, 20, or even 30 years, let alone strapped on a pair of ski ballet skis, and nobody was under 50, but age mattered not in the slightest - with such incredible skill and flexibility on display, it looked like only yesterday they’d been competing professionally!

Back in November, we couldn’t wait to share with you news about our new Ski Ballet campaign, and we hope very much that you enjoyed the images and film that have made this latest MGG campaign such a great success!

Once upon a time, freestyle skiing, or freeskiing as we know it today, was truly that: free. This was an era of self-expression, when loud designs were matched by even louder hair-dos. Anything went.

Let me start by saying that I’m not a professional boot fitter, so all opinions are my own. Nevertheless, I am obsessive about my gear, and this is a subject that’s close to my heart.

If I had a pound for every time I’d walked into a ski shop and overheard the boot fitter (a.k.a. sales rep) trying to push a high-performance (read: expensive) pair of ski boots on an unsuspecting first time buyer, I’d be a rich man! It’s for this reason, among others, that I was keen to write this article. But before I start on boot fitting itself, let’s go right back to the source of the problem: gear guides.

This is a topic that’s very close to our hearts at MGG. What’s the real cost of the clothes that we wear? In this article I’m going to focus primarily on the human costs, because I’ll cover the environmental costs in more detail in future articles.

I’ve been blessed during my life to have lived on several continents, which has allowed me to discover places that I might never have been able to experience otherwise.

A key part of our brand philosophy is to bring our customers emotionally closer to the products that they wear. We believe that a supply chain should be a delicate dance between customers who use the products, and the stakeholders which make them a reality.

It’s no secret that I’m now a bonafide Japanophile. Since 2015, my ski buddy Roly and I have been lucky enough to clock over 40 ski days in Hokkaido (north island) and Honshu (main island) spread across four incredible trips. We’ve toured inside volcanic craters, hung out with snow monkeys and skied the deepest powder of our lives.

A question that we get asked a lot is why MGG (Mont Gele Gear®)? Why did we choose this name, and what’s the story behind it? In truth, it’s a homage to a mountain that we love, where countless memories have been made, and which is a Verbier legend within its own right.