Box!

Another session at the Snowdome today, I have identified an area I need improvement - I cannot olie! When I try to jump I end up pushing my feet out a bit and risk losing balance. Definitely something to work on.

This session did bring some advances though, I finally got to 50-50 a box. I'd been planning to try it, all accounts were that it is very straight forward, and I have to say, it is! I just straightened up shortly above it and rode straight over it, came off the side but that's no problem as you just ride off.

Next week I'm going to the beginners ramp night so I'll report back either with broken limbs or some success!

Better video footage

I managed another session at the Snowdome in Tamworth again, only 2 months since my last session and felt like I'd been on the board just yesterday. Got to wear my new sals - TJ Sessions signature pants, not a lot to say really, they work!
I took the Muvi camera with me again and this time adjusted the angle of it slightly so it pointed a bit lower down and caught more of the slopes than the ceiling!
Again the kicker, box & pipe were out so I used the kicker on nearly every run with no problems, it was a little larger than before as well so was good for practise.


The video footage was better this time, and also I've uploaded it at full resolution rather than compressing it like I did last time and the results are much better. I realised the compressed version did nothing to show the quality of the camera so was a little pointless.


Anyway, see here..
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Back once again...

Well, after 9 months off (for no other reason than being too busy) I was determined to get back to the snowdome so having waxed my board again ready, I managed to fit an hour in and head along to Tamworth. I also took my video camera with me (Veho Muvi - see previous entry) to finally give that a trial on the white stuff.

First off I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it took only 1 or 2 runs before I got my legs back and was tearing down the slope like I'd not been away - this is great, I was hoping I wouldn't be set back too far!
There were also a couple of pipes/boxes out and a quite large (for me) kicker - I avoided the pipes / boxes this time but went over the kicker a few times. I didn't ollie over it (that's the next step) because it was quite large, but just riding over it & dropping down had no problems.

The video camera fared well, I attached it to my helmet and just filmed a couple of runs (it's amazing how quickly an hour goes while at the snow dome!) - next time I will try strapping it to my arm or leg or something for an alternate view because obviously strapped to your head it keeps sweeping around as you're looking around along the way. Also I think the mounting point could do with some adjustment as it was clearly pointing up a little at the lights so when you looked down at the ground it couldn't adjust the exposure quickly enough. The video quality itself though is ok, I've uploaded it to YouTube - see here:




(it is actually better quality than this but I compressed it a little for YouTube)

I've got a taste for it again, going to try and go regularly on a Friday afternoon as, with a bit of luck, the kicker and stuff will be out every week - so I can progress onto riding them more.

Caught on camera...

My latest purchase has been a Veho Muvi camcorder, the plan is to use this to capture a but of boarding action on film. I opted for the Muvi as it is absolutely tiny at just 55mm high which means you can clip it onto your helmet, clothing or even your board.

Despite the tiny size, the 2 mega pixel camcorder records at 640x480 at up to 30 frames per second which gives a pretty decent picture. Initial findings are that the sound quality isn't fantastic but that's to be expected with such a tiny microphone and largely the only thing to record will be board scrape noise anyway. 

Bundled with the camcorder was the "extreme sports pack" which basically consists of an armband, helmet strap and a couple of other mounting options for handlebars etc. - the versatility of the mounting options means I can attach to my helmet, clothing, board, arm, anywhere I can think of really.

I'll be testing it out at a snowdome as soon as possible and post up the results to YouTube.

La Tania, Courcheval, The 3 valleys

For our holiday this year we headed to La Tania in France, part of the 3 valleys.

We flew into Geneva and then had a 2 1/2 hour coach journey to get to La Tania, you can optionally fly into Chamberry which is a more local airport but they suffer with delays when the weather conditions are bad or they are very busy.

La Tania itself is only a very small resort with a handfull of bars & restaurants & just a few runs of it's own so realistically you always buy a lift pass for either Courcheval or the full 3 valleys - we opted for the latter and hoped we could get as much done as possible.

The route out of La Tania is a bubble followed by a chair lift, from that point you can either ski down to Courcheval or into the next valley to Meribel.

Day 1 was spent in Courcheval valley getting our ski legs back which didn't really take too long before we were right back into form.

The very next day we instead opted to head out into the Meribel valley and beyond, I'm so glad we did because (IMO) the runs out that way were so much better than the courcheval valley (which is pretty much all pisted).

There are a lot of red runs a

nd all of the runs vary from their designated colour to "considerably steeper" than designated so I found blue runs and even green runs a lot of fun.

Day 3 we had a heavy covering of fog giving poor visibility, & it snowed most of the night / morning which was great as we had a lot of fresh powder like I'd never seen before - having never been off piste before this was pretty much my first experience of boarding in powder and I absolutely loved every minute of it!

From that point on the rest of my week was spent trying to go off piste as much as possible. As a complete beginner I didn't want to stray too far from the piste, especially as there was only me & my girlfriend who skies and didn't want to go off piste. So I spent my time just going off the edge of the piste into the powder but where I could see other people had been so I knew there weren't any nasty surprises waiting - this proved to be a lot of fun, uneven terrain & a few jumps here and there made the already interesting pistes even better!

My riding was vastly improved over last year (thanks partially to the practise I'd been getting at snowdomes throughout the summer) and I found myself bombing down the steeper runs with no problems.

One thing I will say is that Courcheval is very expensive, in fact most of the 3 valleys is. One day we stopped for 2 drinks & a single burger & chips and the cost was 36 Euros. There were one or two cheaper places if you can find them, but the best option which we used on most days was a packed lunch provided by the challet at a cost of 5 euros for sandwich, drink, crisps, friut & chocolate.

This time we opted for a catered challet rather than self catering like last time. I have to say it made a big difference for a couple of reasons, firstly because you had a cooked breakfast then just headed straight out and later got back from the slopes to tea & cake then just relaxed or had a bath while someone cooked for you, and secondly because in a challet of 16 people, we got to know everybody who were really friendly & we looked forward to sitting down on an evening for a few beers and to discuss which runs we had done during the day.

I think compared to last time, I wouldn't go back to Les Deux Alpes now, having done most of the slopes in a week I think I'd be a little bored if I went back again. The 3 valleys on the other hand is huge, and whilst we got across all 3 valleys and did numerous runs in each one, we could easily spend at least another week there without running out of runs to do - and some of the runs were so good we repeated them 2-3 times during the week. I'd probably go back to one of the other valleys next time just so you have easy access to different slopes.

So in summary, the 3 valleys is great, offers a huge variety of runs, but certainly isn't cheap!

Something else I learnt whilst out there was that it is easy to get injured! One of our friends slipped over whilst walking on the ice & dislocated her knee and another person in our challet who was an acomplished skier managed to fall on his last run back to the challet on the last day and shattered his hip!

When you buy your ski pass you can buy optional insurance for a very small fee which is called "carte neige" - this often overlooked option means the medical teams will take you off the mountain and to a hospital without charging you, otherwise you need to pay them there & then on the slope and reclaim it from your insurance at a later date - not a hassle you want with a shattered hip!!

My first waxing!

Today I finally got around to waxing my board, it's been long overdue and with another boarding holiday imminent I figured it was about time I tried this out.

I found a video on YouTube (HERE) which gave some good guidance then got started.

I'd bought a £3 iron from Argos so wasn't worried if that broke, heated it up just until it was hot enough to melt the wax without smoking and I dripped it onto the board - roughly 1 spot per square inch.

I then ran the iron over the board, "ironed" it until the wax was spread across the entire base evenly (ish) & left it for 20 minutes to dry.

Once dried properly I took the scraper and forming a 45 degree angle just scraped away until all of the wax had come off - it took quite a while and I have to say, made quite a mess!

Once it was all off I took a sponge with pan scraper bit and gave the board a rub down (front to back). The end result wasn't immaculate, there were still scratches in it etc. but I think thats the way it's meant to be. Less than 2 weeks & I'll be testing it on the side of a mountain! :-)

Another day, another slope!

Today I went for a 2 hour session at "Chill Factore" in Manchester.

First impressions, it was similar to Glasgow's Xscape in terms of the quality of snow, it also had a drag lifts just the same as Glasgow. The slope was a little wider although possibly not as long.

Half of the slope was roped off for the first hour while some sort of ski competition was taking place, then afterwards they opened up the full slope to us - obviously the new side was full of moguls but it made for a little different terrain so we stuck with it.

My only real complaint about Chill Factore was the fact that you needed to swipe your lift pass every time you went up the button lift - which is the same as real lifts on resorts abroad, except that in a snow dome with such short runs you literally get 10-15 seconds on the slope then have to take your glove off, get your pass out, swipe it, put it away, glove back on, then get on the button lift and repeat.

After a few runs I started to get a really sore foot with pins & needles etc. and after a while I realised that my inner boot was too tight - I've always made a point of tying them as tight as possible but I think once it was on and my foot had swollen a little from riding it was too tight. After loosening it I got back into it and managed to find a few moguls to get air off with varying success.

Unfortunately there were no kickers or boxes out so I'll have to save that for my next session!

One thing I did notice, when I had a go on my mate's board, was that it was noticably faster than mine - I concluded it was because mine is in need of a wax so I will be giving that a go before my next session.

Some more new gear!

Yep, my buying bug hasn't stopped with the board, bindings & boots - I've accumulated a few other things this month too :

• Snowboard tool - well I figured it was a must, has all the necessary attachments for adjusting your bindings & cost a couple of quid.
  
  
• Face mask - a neoprene face mask to protect me from the cold winds on the mountain top and on high up ski lifts! & it makes me look like a cross between a ninja and some sort of bionic commando! lol
  
  
• Bonfire snowboarding jacket - with my boots & bindings being white, I felt compelled to deck myself out with white salopettes and jacket to match, but that left a dilemma due to my helmet being black. This jacket is perfet, it's mainly white with the top part being black. Suits perfectly & a bargain buy!
  
  
• Avalaan salopettes - actually my first pair of sal's, my other ones are borrowed from my mate H. These ones are white to go with "the new style" - another bargain buy off Ebay.
  
  
• Waxing bits - so far I have wax & a scraper, planning on picking up an iron soon then giving my board it's first wax (it is in dire need of it!)

So that's it for now, I'll be heading up to the Chill Factore snow slope in Manchester next weekend so ideally want my board waxed by then & I'll be all set!

Another slope!

Whilst visiting my girlfriend in Scotland this weekend we paid a 2-hour visit to the Xscape snow dome in Braehead, Glasgow - this was my first experience of a different slope in the UK and I was pleasantly surprised!

The boards & boots I have to say weren't great, not as good as those at my local snowdome (Tamworth), but the slope itself was WAY better. It was considerably wider for a start, probably about the same length but without the corner that Tamworth has near the top. However, what really stood out was the quality of the snow, it was a lot more like riding on a proper mountain - as opposed to Tamworth which was often very icy.
Also, because of the extra width, the slope had a few things on it instead of just being a straight run - it had a rail/box affair near the top, a kicker (jump) half way down & another rail setup further down. It also had... a button lift!

Just to explain, Tamworth has 2 methods of getting you up the slope, either the travellator which is just what it sounds, you stand on it and get carried to the top. Or the alternative is a rope pull, which you just hold onto and it pulls you up the slope.

Glasgow Xscape by contrast had a button lift, which is like a metal pole with a large button-shaped piece on the bottom, designed perfectly for skiers to stick between their legs and be pulled up the slope. Snowboarders on the other hand ride sideways on making it a little more difficult to use this type of lift. I'd already read up about them but was a little unclear still, until I got there and had a go, it was basically simple, you face sideways, stick the pole between your legs (it has a bend in it to go round your front leg) and off you go, dragged up the slope. I never fell off once!

Obviously I was on hire equipment so back to beginner boards so more forgiving than my new board, I soon got up to speed after a little adjustment to my bindings. Then in the 2nd half of the session I decided to go for it on the kicker (jump) - it was a little higher than the one at Tamworth I'd already done but c'est la vie.

My first 3 attempts all ended in failure, not too bad though as I just fell upon landing in a controlled manner, but I was determined and kept at it and finally landed it - I think 4 times in a row. Only then did one of the instructors on the slope come over and tell me I wasn't allowed on it without a helmet! Never mind, the session was at an end and I was very happy with landing the kicker so we called it a day.

Almost back up to scratch!

I had another 2 hour session at the snowdome today, 2nd time using my new gear and I was hoping to make progress.

After another shakey start on my new board (but luckily no falling) I started to get back into my comfort zone and get used to the equipment more. By hour number 2 I was a lot happier, had the kicker been out I would have been going for it - I even came close to ollying but think a little more practise is in order for that one!

There were however a couple of "boxes" out (I think that's the correct name for them) and I watched some of the other guys there going down them - they were clearly hugely more experienced than me & also hugely younger which I guess is just life! lol

I was very tempted, doing a 50-50 (basically riding straight onto the box, straight down it then off without turning your board) seemed like a fairly simple prospect - I know the board accelerates when you ride the box so you need to lean forward more but that's about it.

Apprehension got the better of me though and I decided it was better left until my next session as I didn't want to knock my confidence after a successful ride.