PartnerNews | Manuela Mandl on the Julbo Shadow One Line goggle

PG: Here in Austria we now have the second "hard" lockdown.

MM: I'd like to say: great, no problem, I'm calm, my Zen is centered and everything is great. BUT I'm a very social herd animal - and I'm just realizing how important it is for me to interact with lots of different people.

We're all in the same situation - and I'm already looking forward to post-corona - many people will probably appreciate the obvious more then - and these will certainly be very intensely positive times.

So, I'm slowly but surely feeling the restrictions on our quality of life and maybe getting a bit weird because I'm not socializing so much...

PG: How are you spending your time in lockdown?

MM: I'm working for university and making plans for the new normal. And I'm walking around a lot - partly to train and partly to clear my head. I've also been out and about on a splitboard - but the snow situation is still a bit sparse. And sure, you could do a few crazy lines high up in the Alps now, but I'm not quite in that mode yet. I'm just lacking the routine on the board that I normally build up with endless hotlaps in the ski area at the start of the season. And the current conditions don't forgive mistakes. I'm also already looking forward to Christmas cookie baking excesses! Cookies are also great to send in the post!

PG: Tell us a bit more about the OneLine goggle, why is it particularly great?

MM: The OneLine has a specially developed lens with a reddish tint that increases contrast in low light. That was important to Eva and me - we both believe that good freeriders can have fun in all conditions, so the goggles should always work well. They are also reactive - they get darker or lighter depending on the light conditions. (Cat. 1 to 3 - visible light transmission rate: 17% to 75%) The lens is also made from a super-light but extremely durable material. And then Eva and I put our heart and soul into design....

PG: What exactly did you do in terms of design?

We developed the graphic concept and the general story, chose the colors, I did the strap design in the graphics program and developed it via endless WhatsApp messages and phone calls with Eva and Julbo then supported us with the logo. We ran around with Pantone color fans to find the right yellow. For the details, we worked our way through endless material samples. It's really amazing how much work goes into a design like this. We put a lot of personal messages into it: for example, one of the mountains on the strap is the Dachstein in an abstract form, because Eva and I both developed as freeriders there. We also enjoy being out in nature in summer and environmental protection is important to us - the trees and the bee are intended to express this. And there's nothing like a good coffee on the mountain, so the coffee cup was a must!

And then we want to get a general message across: Namely OneLine - OneWorld - OnePassion. That it doesn't matter where you come from and that you can achieve anything with passion.

PG: Thank you and we'll keep our fingers crossed for the coming season!

Manuela Mandl won the FWT in the women's snowboard category in 2018. After an injury break, she is back at the start of the tour in the 2020/21 season. She is good friends with Eva Walkner, three-time winner of the FWT title in the women's skiing category. You can find out more about Manuela in an in-depth interview we conducted with her at the start of her professional career at the FWT. Here are some more moving images of the new goggles and Manuela and Eva:

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