Where Have I Been?

My last post about where I'm going this season got me thinking... where am I not going? Where have I been so far?

This season will be the first since I started snowboarding that I haven't been to Chamonix. Chamonix was my first real snowboarding experience; over the last four seasons, including that first time, I've spent either one or two weeks there.

It's kind of a shame because I really like the place, but one of the great things about snowboarding is going to places you've never been to before - travelling and exploring. And besides, I'm not entirely sure that I'm good enough yet to get the most from Chamonix. The best off piste terrain, or at least the areas that I've read about as being good, seem pretty difficult.

This will also be the first season since I started that I haven't driven to at least one mountain resort. Another shame because I really enjoy a good road trip - the plans this season just kept pushing towards the plane. I'm not complaining though!

Actually, there's a pretty cool article in this month's (January) WhiteLines magzine that compares the three main modes of transport for getting to resort: the plane, the car and the train. In the article they use Tignes as the finish line for a race, which reminded me that I wanted to note down our experience of driving there last season...

Anyway, onto the purpose of this post. As I was reflecting on previous trips and how they might compare with what I have planned this season - I thought it would be worth jotting them down:

• January 2003 - 1 week in Chamonix (car)
• March 2004 - 2 weeks in Chamonix (car)
• November 2004 - 1 week in Les Diablerets (plane)
• January 2005 - 1 week in Tignes (coach)
• March 2005 - 2 weeks in Chamonix (car)
• July 2005 - 1 week in Zermatt (plane)
• January 2006 - 1 week in Meribel (plane)
• January 2006 - 1 week in Chamonix (car)
• March 2006 - 2 weeks in Tignes (car)
• June 2006 - 1 week in Les Deux Alpes (plane)

It's probably not much compared to some peoples' experience, but the list doesn't look that short. I wonder how it compares with doing a season?

What about the future? Well, I haven't ridden in Austria yet and there are one or two places there that I'd love to try. The crazy amount of powder to be found in Japan seems like it shouldn't be missed, and I'd really like to visit an American or Canadian resort to find out how they compare with Europe...

Where Am I Going This Season?

Back in July I was wondering about good snowboard parks in Europe - and about where to go this season. It's not that I don't think there are plenty of good parks in Europe, it's just that I don't know that much about them or where they are.

You see, I don't think that there's much information out there. Sure, some of the UK snowboarding magazines do a nice job of highlighting resorts with good parks, but there's only so much they can cover. I do read the WSG, but there's not enough room in it to show what a park is really like - and besides, they rated the park in Tignes which I thought was very average. Most of all though, it's the lack of online detail that seems a little crazy.

Anyway, given my lack of knowledge in this area, it's maybe not surprising that the two destinations I'm visiting this season are both from the list I made back in July: Avoriaz and Laax.

Yet it was due as much to word of mouth as it was from stuff I'd read/seen about them, that caused me to shortlist these resorts. These were just parks that I'd heard were good: talking about in passing or from reading a short paragraph somewhere.

You might say that Laax holds a pretty strong reputation for having a great park - renowned as one of the best in Europe - and you'd be right. But try googl'ing for some pictures... I haven't found any.

So I'm looking forward to finding out what these resorts and their parks have to offer. Despite the focus of this post, I like to ride around the whole mountain as much as I like to hit the park. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of what I find, here, on afterbang.

Needless to say - I can't wait!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Well I'm finding it really hard to make my mind up with the camcorder issue. I started out by saying that I didn't really need good image quality, yet the more I think about it, that was the thing that impressed me most about my last camera.

The editting and clip management benefits of a HDD setup are really compelling, especially as I take a lot of footage, regularly. But you can get much better quality for the same, or less money, with miniDV. There's also the possibility of stretching things a little to go for a HD camera...

For interest, I've been using this site for camcorder reviews - they're pretty good. Sooner or later I'll just make a decision, save the money and stick with it.

Much simpler at the moment is my running program. I got two good runs in last week, and I'm starting my first of this week's this morning. I'm settling in to the routine nicely - but keeping it going next week over Christmas will be a challenge!

I'm also collecting together all of the footage that we took last season, with the intent of putting one or two things together before any footage is taken this year... if I ever make my mind up about what camera to buy! So keep an eye out for some new video.

Castleford Indoor Park Pictures

Here's an example of the park layout on the indoor slope at Castleford. The pictures aren't great because I took them right at the end of the session and I was kinda in a hurry. But they should give a good enough idea of what's on offer for those who don't know...

MiniDV - But Which One?

The choice between MiniDV and HDD has been made: I'm going with MiniDV. I might be wrong, but I get the feeling that I don't need the benefits that HDD offers; whereas MiniDV provides me with better image quality for the money, a more flexible video format and there's no chance of the hard disk freezing or jumping. There's also the fact that I've aleady got a lot of miniDV tapes ready for use.

So which one should I get? Well I've done a fair amount of looking around and for the price bracket I'm looking at the choice has come down to 2:

• Sony DCR-HC96E (review)
• Panasonic NV-GS300E (review)

(Note that model names may differ outside the UK)

They're both about the same price (online) and they should both offer very good image quality. Here are the advantages of the sony as I see them:

• True widescreen: there's no clipping to get it into 16:9
• AV-in: which would allow me to attach a helmet cam

Here are the advantages of the Panasonic, as I see them:

• Optical image stabalisation, which should come in handy while on the move
• Better shape, which should make it easier to hold while on the move

It seems that I was previously misguided about wide angle converters: it is perfectly OK to use either the manufacturers own (and recommended) converter - or a 3rd party converter, providing you get the right size. I think the Panasonic has a more standard 37mm lens, which should mean a greater choice and hopefully a cost saving.

I haven't totally made my mind up yet, but I'm leaning towards the Panasonic...

Good Quality Shredding

Last Friday's riding was excellent. With the kicker being quite small I pretty much rode the rails all night. At the beginning of the session the box and the straight rail were closed off, so a run consisted of: transco pipe, flat-down, rookie rail and rookie box. However, after an hour or so they opened up, producing an excellent line: transco pipe, flat-down kink, box, 10m rail.

Riding with Martin was fun - it's always good having someone to push you and you can definitely learn from each other. At the beginning of the night I was using the rookie rail to work on that frontside boardslide. I had marginal success, and once we took the rookie rail out of our line, I started to use the transco pipe to practice the front-board instead...

To be honest I'm unsure whether this was a good idea or not. The gas pipe is so much fun but it's kinda tricky. The fact that it's round means you can get away with not committing: if you don't totally go for it you end up sliding a little bit on the side, and then just 'sliding' off.

But to really make it work you need to be confident and get yourself right on top of the pipe, you need your balance sorted and you need to commit.

With my frontside boardslide being work in progress, I had mixed results, including one really nice slam!

I did manage to work the lipslide though (frontside), coming out both regular and switch, and I was pretty pleased with that. I also made some nice progress on the box: going from a backside tailslide into a 5-0 and then a 180 out (if that's the right way to describe it). Feeling confident I tried moving the tailslide to the 10m rail, but that proved quite difficult - cue another slam...

All in all it was excellent; definitely worthy of the last riding of the year. I also took some photos of the park setup, which will follow shortly.

Last Shred Of 2006

Tonight may well be my last riding of 2006: 4 hours of indoor jibbing. I might be able to squeeze in one more session this year but it's unlikely. You never know though, we might get some freak'ish snow in Newcastle...

Here's the park setup for tonight:

• Left Top: Kicker (2m table)
• Left Bottom: Transco Spine Ramp / SNO!academy Box / Sno!academy Rail
• Right Top: Down Transco Pipe (side kickers) / Flat-Down Kink Rail
• Right Bottom: Slide Box / 10m Rail

Normally if I'm riding by myself I like to have a few set things that I'm going to work on. It keeps me focussed. But tonight I should be hooking up with a friend, Martin, so I'll wait and see what comes out of riding with someone else.

Although I really would like to get something better than the sketchiest front-boarslide on the smallest possible rail, so I'll keep that in mind.

I'll also try to get some photos of the indoor slope setup, as a few people have asked to see what it looks like...

Arcade Fire (and Jules Reymond)

It was pointed out that the song to Jules Reymond's part in More was missing from the soundtrack list. I checked in with the DVD credits and found that it was missing from their also...

So it turns out that the song is "Neighborhood 3 (Power Cut)" by Arcade Fire. I can't believe I missed out the best tune from the film!

Then something twigged and I realised that I have a couple of their albums on my mp3 player... I just haven't gotten around to listening to them yet. Needless to say I gave them a try tonight, and, at the risk of sounding a little behind - I think they're really good!

I've been listening to their first album - Funeral - which has the "Neighborhood 3 (Power Cut)" song from More. There's some great music on there. If you haven't heard it I'd recommend checking it out.

2nd Run Tomorrow Morning...

I'm gonna do another run tomorrow morning and evening, going to and from work. When starting something like this that I want to be regular, I'm always keen to establish the regime as soon as possible. But I'm gonna be careful to not do too much too soon. Last week's run told me that I'm not as fit as I used to be - so I'm only going to do it once this week and step it up to twice next week.

Besides I should be riding on Friday at Castleford so that's gonna help a little with the season fitness.

I hope it's not raining tomorrow morning :-)