It seems that the Swiss resort Davos is only around an hour and a half away from our location in Flims/Laax. I don't know much about the resort other than it is rated highly, in particular by the World Snowboarding Guide.
I really like trying new places so it seems a good idea to check out Davos whilst away. I'll have to see what the rest of the group think, but it's definitely something I'd like to do...
I normally travel to European resorts either by car or by plane, but I've also done the journey once on a coach (26 hours worth). Although I've never used it before I have looked at the Snow Train quite a few times.
The Snow Train, which departs London on a Friday afternoon and arrives in resort on Saturday morning has some useful advantages, a key one being that you have the option to ride Saturday.
However, it was this press release from National Express that I was pointed at today, which prompted this post. They offer an overnight coach service - a similar setup to the Snow Train - that turned out to be quite popular last season.
The Eurolines Ski Coach, which also departs from London is no doubt a little slower than the Snow Train. However it does share quite a few of the Snow Train advantages, and being a fair bit cheaper it provides a useful option for budget travel...
Living in the North East, neither is really a good option for me as I would first need to travel to London. But for those near by I'm sure they're both worth considering.
It's now just about one week until I head out to Laax, I can't wait. There were a few things that I wanted to write about/show in between the last trip (Avoriaz) and this next trip (Laax). They were:
As you can see I've managed some of that, but not all. I'm not sure that I'll get it all done before I go away, but the list will still be there when I get back...
In the meantime, the snow in Laax is looking pretty good, with some fresh stuff falling this coming week. I'm gonna put this forecast here to keep an eye on things.
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Most of the travel deals make use of international holidays where all the hotels are pre-booked and they lease out apartments as well as car rental agencies.
The McNab instrucional snowboard DVD (Go Snowboard) is very good, it's excellenty priced and comes with an accompanying book. Perhaps non-beginners may find it more useful than those just starting out, but if you're in the market for instructional guidance, I'd recommend this.
Who's it for?
In my opinion the terminology and demonstration used for beginners is a little over-complicated. Pressure control, edge control, steering and using opposing pressure seems a little much to begin with. Too much to think about. I get the impression that it will mean more to you once you know how to ride...
A rider comfortable with the basics, an intermediate, or a more advanced rider on the other hand, will be able to think about and practice the techniques discussed, as they won't be concentrating so hard on simply not falling over. These techniques, I beieve, are excellent. "Turning the board by design".
So I'd say that the DVD covers a wide range, but I'm not 100% sure about absolute beginners. The DVD certainly made a positive impact on my riding.
Go Snowboard broken down
That's not to say that there is nothing of use for beginners. Far from it. To begin with the book is excellently produced; great pictures and great layout. The book supports the DVD and the DVD supports the book. The book includes a lot of good off-the-hill information in there that will help you get started.
The stance, body posture and your first movements on the hill shown to beginners are also good. The regulars: slide slipping, diagonal slipping, falling leaf are all included... I just think that too much emphasis is placed on how the board works, too soon. Maybe I've got it wrong? Maybe the beginner should focus on precise manipulation of the board from the start? My current thinking on this however is: get comfortable with basic linked turns, build a little confidence, then start to refine your technique.
Intermediate riding - this is where I believe this instruction comes into its own. Controlling the board throughout the turn by applying the correct pressure at one of the four pressure points, at the right time: the McNab pressure control system. I was definitely missing out on some required pressure at the rear of the board later in the turn. Straight away when watching the DVD I knew this was something I needed to try... following this method made my lines much tighter.
The DVD covers some useful techniques to help you become in-tune with how you're really interacting with your board: pointing at the pressure control points and riding with your hands on your knees. There are also exercises to help you refine you skills: "counting", the "funnel" and the "corridoor". They really are worth trying out.
Advanced riding. From the whole DVD I was most interested by a technique called the cross under edge change, where the board crosses under the body as it moves from one arc into the next. This technique is used to control the board correctly on steep, technical terrain.
It's interesting to me because although I feel I can ride with good technique on intermediate terrain, I can't make consistent speed-controlling arcs without pushing edges out on steeper stuff. Following good technique just causes me to go too fast.
It's listed as an advanced technique, which I'd agree with. It's certainly too hard for me at the moment, especially without further guidance. It looks good though and it feels like the way forward, so I'll be working on it.
Go Snowboard also provides a very good introduction to freestyle, short but well thought out. There's good coverage of the ollie and the guidance for catching your first air from kickers is right on.
Similarly the topic of freeriding is only slightly touched: a brief look at how to adjust the pressure control system to work in powder. But that's fine in the context of this DVD/book.
In summary, I don't think you can go wrong with this DVD, especially given the price. It covers a wide ability range, providing good excercises to work on aswell as sound technical instruction that's up to date. Go buy Go Snowboard.
Recently I've been quite interested by some of the "carry on bags" available. Why you might ask. Well, the whole luggage-via-plane thing is kinda getting on my nerves. In particular, I don't think that my current setup is working that well.
I'm using the Burton Wheelie Locker, and, by accident, I've got the 188cm variety. If you've read my previous review you'll know that I have reservations about the practicality of this bag. On my recent trip to Morzine the locker weighed in at 31.9kg on the way out. That's pretty heavy; not only to lug around but it's also close the airline's limit for a single piece of luggage.
So, on the way back I decided that I was going to off-load some of the weight to my carry-on allowance - and stash it in the ruck sack. With this approach I dropped the weight to a safer 26.5kg. On the down side my little ruck sack was bursting at the seems.
So, when a shiny new Burton Wheelie Flight Deck caught my attention in Snow & Rock I started thinking...
Are the going to fit?
They look kinda big; are they too big to carry on?
Do they qualify as carry-on bags? Both Burton and Dakine quote "legal carry on size for most airlines". Hmm. The two airlines that I've used the most are British Airways and Easyjet.
So, by the numbers neither bag is allowed with Easyjet, and only the Over Under will pass with BA. That's all I've got to go on though as I don't have any experience with how strict the airlines actually are...
What do you need all of that space for?
Well, this is what originally attracted me to the idea. I carry a laptop, my camera, my video camera, an mp3 player, a book, magazine and a few other things with me in my hand luggage. It's totally full and everything is stacked on top of the previous thing. The extra space is great if you've got a lot of items you don't want to be thrown around with the rest of the cases.
In addition, these carry on bags are well designed, with good, seperate compartments, meaning you can organise your stuff properly. I think the Burton bag even comes with a cool little laptop case. Also, the additional space can be used to move some of your gear out of your board bag - if you need to. In my case, this would help me distribute the weight more evenly...
Are they worth the price?
The prices seem quite high in comparison to the other "split" bag designs. For example the Dakine Over Under is the same price as their Split Roller 90. I suppose they do offer good flexibility: maximum storage from a bag you can carry on, especially with the Over Under, which can expand to become a bag you check in (under instead of over). But what about £ per L capacity? I'm still not sure about the price.
Overall, is it worth it?
I'm not sure, I'd probably say no, especially if you're starting from scratch. There are three down-sides to a travelling snowboarder that jump out at me:
However, if like me you went for a one bag solution and you're finding that 30+kg is a problem, maybe a bag like this will help you spread the load. It also remains a good option if you've got a lot of delicate items you don't want down in the hold.
When I first watched Jumping With Jussi I came away not-too-impressed. But I was wrong. After watching a second time, and then more viewings to check on specific sections, I began to think that it's an excellent instructional DVD. Here's why:
Often is the case with instruction/tuition that one pointer is all you need to for something to "click", and you see/feel a big improvement. I think Jussi's/MDP's DVD is produced in a way that helps to communicate some of those valuable tips.
For me, Jumping With Jussi really helped with spotting your landing: where to look and when. For each trick covered you see Jussi repeat it over and over. What's good is that the video pauses or slows down to show key points during the jump, one such point being the moment in which Jussi spots the landing. I found this really helpful.
Body position on take off is another aspect that is covered well. Again the video pauses to show Jussi's posture as he reaches the lip of the kicker. It's good presentation because you don't need to faff around pausing it yourself - the production gives good coverage of this type of thing for each trick. Personally I found this more useful for backside rotations as I've done less of them; but in general I'd say it's helpful to see the upper body and head position just before take off. If your spin isn't quite working it's an important factor that you can watch and then try tweaking yourself.
There are a few handy tips throughout the DVD. The main one that stood out to me was to do with the cab 360: view the second half of the spin just like a backside 180, which is a trick you're probably comfortable with if you're taking on cab 3s. The advice works for regular frontside 3s also, if you're used to switch backside 180s...
The DVD also provides a progression route. I'm unsure whether or not this is meant to be interpreted in this way, but Jumping With Jussi kinda suggests an order in which to learn the tricks. For sure there're no hard and fast rules here, but if you're looking for decent route to progress along, you could do a lot worse than following the order that the tricks are covered here. I made decision after watching it a couple of times to go out and try some switch straight airs on the kickers. I see now that my ability to learn some tricks will benefit from being able to do other, simpler tricks, switch.
Jumping With Jussi also includes a short section on tuning tips. It's got nothing to do with waxing. It's all about preparing your edges in a freestyle-friendly manner, dulling them down and blunting them around the nose and tail. You may well be familiar with this type of thing but if not, the demonstration should give you the confidence to work on your edges. In the least, it's pretty funny watching Jussi take the file to his board... Speaking of funny, the out-takes at the end of the main feature are excellent!
To be honest, I didn't pick all this up the first time that I watched it. I think that instructional material can sometimes suffer becuase the demonstration is delivered by someone who can already do it. Easily. You're just being told how to do it. Jumping With Jussi does move through a fairly long list of tricks, and the format is almost the same for each one. This gave it a repetative, just do this feel. Especially with each of the tricks being repeated switch.
But look past this and you'll see there's method in the order and selection of the tricks, and each section helps you to understand how to perform the trick.
Sure if you're stomping your 9s this DVD probably isn't for you. It also might not be as useful for those of you that ride in groups with accomplished riders who can point you in the right direction. But if you're like me and you've still got a lot to learn and try out, it's a great DVD. I'll certainly be taking it with me on future trips so that I can check things out as I learn new tricks. It's great.
Nice one Jussi!
Here's a list of the tricks covered:
So, James/The Network has put together a seqeunce from our 2006 footage. I think it was as much about playing with iMovie as anything else. Here's what he had to say:
dude i've been playing with iMovie...it's canny good - got a toy video together in like 3 hours (and most of that time was waiting for my slow ass machine to import clips...)
it's nowt special like, just me learning iMovie really, as you will see from the ratio of footage to titles and stuff :) I'm loving imovie like - youtube takes the MOV files it generates directly... no renaming to avi etc... :P
So here it is, enjoy.
One of the main things I was interested in trying/developing whilst in Avoriaz was using my head/shoulders to help with the rotation on frontside 3s. I was quite sure that where I was looking whilst in the air was stopping the last part of the 360 rotation...
But now I'm not sure that that's the whole story. Sure, it's important/necessary to use your shoulders and head to lead the spin, but I now think that part of my problem has been not spotting my landing.
So what do people mean when they say "spot your landing"? Well I've always thought that the concept is pretty simple: before you land, if you wanna land well, you've got to see the landing coming. Seeing the landing helps you prepare; think of the extreme case of hitting a kicker blind folded...
At the same time however, I've also assumed that this was something done more easily on bigger jumps, when you've got more time. And, that while I've been developing on smaller stuff it's something that I don't need to think about too much.
So perhaps it's the case that I simply haven't hit enough jumps? Maybe I haven't been thinking about it when I should have been? Maybe writing more words than "dude, make sure you spot your landing" is over analysing the issue? I don't know...
What I do know is that a couple of small adjustments in Avoriaz felt really promising. It all started when I was watching Jumping With Jussi, which by the way, I will be reviewing some time soon. I was keen to see what advice was given to "using your head/shoulders" during a frontside 3. I noticed that Jussi was often looking down, or down-and-back-a-little, in order to see the landing...
I'm not sure why, but I always thought that with a frontside 3 you needed to get your head all the way back round to forwards before "spotting the landing" came in to play. But I don't think that's true. You can see the landing much sooner than that.
Well, at least that's what I started to feel when I was experimenting with this. I was approaching the kicker thinking look back over the left shoulder to lead the spin. As I did so I was like hey, I can see the ground coming. It wasn't so bad committing to the spin and it became easier to put the board down straight.
This, I believe, is why I've always felt comfortable with frontside 180: you're always looking forwards and you don't need to consciously think about seeing the landing - it comes naturally.
In fact, I also think that this is where my aversion to spinning backsid has developed from. I got comfortable with the FS 180, first jibbing on the piste, then hitting little jumps on the piste and then hitting kickers. My comfort lies in the ability to "put the board down flat" - to stomp it. Building my way up, confidence came from success. The frontside 3 followed on from the 180, but to be honest, the fronside 180 is the only (non-straight) air that I really put down clean. The others are all a little sketchy (but hopefully improving!).
It seems kinda crazy when I think about it, but it seems that up until now, I haven't really thought about looking in the right places to prepare for landing. Experimenting with spinning backside, little ollies on the piste and some more floaty stuff on the kicker, was really nice. It felt a lot easier to land flat based.
This is nothing ground-breaking; it's pretty basic to be honest. And maybe I'm the only guy out there to not have given it due thought? But just in case, my advice is this: regardless of whether it's a small or big jump, think about spotting your landing.
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People are known to travel more during the december holidays, because of the cheap flights as well as the cruises opportunity.
It seriously is hard to concentrate at the moment. Simon's still in Fernie, hopefully enjoying some fresh powder; if not, just enjoying snowboarding. Ross, as I write this, is on the way to Whistler for a couple of weeks. That's two pretty amazing destinations. Then there's my trip to Laax coming up in a little over 3 weeks time.
With myself and my friends going to new (new to me) places this season, I'm already starting to think about possible destinations for next year. I've got thoughts heading in the direction of Japan or Canada. What's more, this is making me think about doing more riding in the UK during 2007: more riding and more filming.
And yet whilst right now I can't wait to hear about my friends' snowboarding experiences when they get back, and of course being excited about Laax, I'm still really high on the riding we did in Avoriaz.
Snowboarding has me totally gripped.
Here are some pictures from the park in Avoriaz, taken winter 2007. There are 3 parks on the piste map, but this is the only one that I rode.
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The halfpipe in Avoriaz is not too far from the above park, just one lift away. They were holding a competition while we were there, so there was a pretty big quarter pipe too!
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Well I got back from Morzine/Avoriaz yesterday - and it was an excellent snowboarding trip!
We were lucky with the snow as it lasted the whole week: the park we rode was in good condition and we were able to ride a lot of runs. Things did get pretty icy towards the middle/end, but the flip side is that we had clear skies every day and it was like riding in summer.
There was clearly more snow in Avoriaz so we spent five out of six days there. As a result I haven't really seen much of the Morzine terrain at all, but there was enough snow to get a good feel of Avoriaz. I reckon that with better conditions it's an excellent resort; the off-piste potential looked great.
So I've worked on improving my riding technique a little and I learned a couple of new things in the park. I did suffered a nasty little elbow injury due to some rocks on the piste and a slam, but nothing bad enough to stop me riding... There's loads of stuff to report on that I'll be adding over the next few weeks.
I returned from Newcastle airport to find this month's WhiteLines waiting for me - it looks like an excellent edition, bonus. It seems that I missed a Sno!Storm session at Castleford while I was away, but there's another one in May that I'm looking forward to.
What's more, I'll be heading out to Laax in 4 weeks, which I'm really excited about. Simon's cat boarding today in Fernie which should be excellent - I can't wait to hear about it when he gets back and hopefully see some photos and video. All in all I've had a great week, learnt some new stuff, grabbed a little bit of footage to look back on and I'm generally stoked on riding.
