Snowflex vs. Indoor Snow

Which is better? Which is better for you? Which would you build if you had a choice?

We got a letter through the door last week that included a survey regarding some improvements to the Stadium close to where we live. They're thinking about building a new "Sports Village", possibly including an indoor snow slope, and they wanted to find out what people were interested in...

My first thought was cool, that would be handy. Then I started wondering what the slope would be like, and then, would I actually prefer an indoor slope or a snowflex slope?

Which is better? I'm certain that for people learning to ski or snowboard, indoor snow is better. It's closer to the real thing; more accurate. Easier? Probably.

But then, I've never learned to snowboard on snowflex before, so I wouldn't know how different the experience is. But what about once you've stopped just learning? For most people, a 150m slope doesn't really cut it for giving them a fast carving experience. It's not steep and it's not long. It's nothing like the real thing.

So what about for freestyle? I know there are a couple of indoor half-pipes in Europe, which by all accounts, are pretty damn good. I don't see anyone in the UK being forward-thinking enough to go for something like that. No, I'm thinking about our current freestyle offerings in the UK; I'm contrasting something like the Halifax slope with something like the freestyle night at Castleford.

For me, snowflex wins. The kickers are better. End of story. I'd agree that it's easier to build a challenging and varied jib setup on an indoor snow slope, but that doesn't mean a good jib setup for snowflex is out of the question, given the space...

And that's my point. Those indoor snow slopes are so expensive to run. The little of what I've read/been told, suggests that the slopes themselves suck money out of the big centres; by themselves, they'd lose money. It's only the shops and the cinemas and the restaurants that make the whole thing profitable.

What if you had one of these big recreational parks, like Xscape at Castleford, but instead of an indoor slope you had a really well polished snowflex slope? Aim for the best one built to date. Surely they're much cheaper to build and maintain? You could have a slope for just riding and then a slope purely for freestyle. A kicker line; a jib park. Flood-lit. Fast.

The only snowflex slope that I've been to is stuck out in the fields at the top of a big hill. As far as other attractions go, there's a soft play area for kids and a small pub. The sprinklers don't work. If it's a dry day you need to bring your own washing up liquid for lubrication. And it's still great!

How much attention would a snowflex slope get if it was right in the middle of a large leisure & shopping complex? If it was marketed like the indoor snow slopes are? With a significant investment, how good could it be?

I accept that my view is heavily biased toward freestyle facilities. I also accept that I don't really know anything about the revenue plans for these businesses, and how important the concept of real snow is to the overall picture.

But putting that to one side, if someone was going to invest a large amount of money into a slope, right on my doorstep, I'd choose a well planned, well designed snowflex slope. Wrap it up with some restaurants and bars, some decent snowboarding shops, an indoor skate park, build a scene. But definitely give me those perfect jumps, every time!

What would you pick?

Tip Tricks With SnowboardAddiction.com

My brother found these freestyle instructional videos on YouTube - they're made by SnowboardAddiction.com.

The first one that I watched was Part 1 of the Advanced Spinning Lesson, which I'll embed below. I was immediately impressed. Some good tips that I haven't seen in other instructional videos. The presentation and attention to detail are excellent also.

I then watched the lesson on frontside boardslides, and again, was impressed. It will seem obvious to those who've got the fs bs on lockdown, but I really like the way they showed the counter-rotation of the upper body. They also cover good, practical methods of building up your confidence before taking it to a box, and then a rail.

And get this: there's the option to watch all of the jumping lessons in either regular or goofy! I'm not saying that providing both views is particularly difficult, but it definitely makes sense. It reinforces the effort that they've put into their productions, and again it's something I haven't seen before.

Addendum: I've just watched the goofy version and it seems it's actually the same video, just reflected. That's funny! I'm not sure whether it actually matters? Seeing the trick the way you ride it definitely helps with the association - so this probably works. I'll check it out next time before blindly singing praises :)

On the main website there's a big collection of lesson material. I think the idea is that you either buy their DVDs or download the videos; the second option being cheaper. I'm pretty sure I read that they're good for playing on your iPhone? And then there're the teasers and some free material - like the stuff I've been watching on youtube. I wonder how much more is in the purchased material?

I signed up for their newsletter which was supposed to unlock access to part two of the advanced spinning lesson. That didn't seem to work out, I still can't watch it.

But I'm still impressed. I'll be checking out more of their videos and might end up buying some downloads also!

Here's part 1 of that lesson...

Advanced Spinning Part 1 (Regular) from SnowboardAddiction.com on Vimeo.

Snowboarding Trick Tips

The last copy of Whitelines came with a trick tips DVD: Whitelines School, Volume 1. I've always been interested in trick tips video, as there's a full range of stuff produced, from totally awful to good. To me, trick-tips and instructional video, if done well, are probably going to be appealing to many people. Unfortunately a lot of productions are pretty poor...

...And this one was, well, pretty average. The DVD has a mix of different pros covering 2 or 3 tricks each. As you might expect, some of the pros are better than others at explaining the tricks.

And it reminded me of how difficult it can be to communicate learning a trick to someone else. In my experience, sometimes people are at a stage where they're simply not going to get what you're saying. At other times, all you need to do is give someone a single pointer and they get it straight away.

Perhaps though, the best way to receive help for learning a trick/technique is to have someone watch you. If they understand the trick/technique well, they'll soon spot what you're doing wrong. In which case, they can give you the particular pointer that you need.

For example, common pointers in trick tip DVDs are: stay centered over your board on take off, lead the spin with your head and shoulders, and, spot your landing. That's all well and good, but if you're struggling with a trick, even if you have the full set of tips to get it right, you don't always know what you're doing wrong...

And so how do you make a good trick tip video? Well, I remember liking elements of Jumping with Jussi and Riders Ed; it's been a while since I've looked at either of those. However, I have received a tip for some good videos on YouTube, or at least, part of the full material that's available to buy. That's what I'm going to look at next...

Article: Alarming Numbers Out On The Piste

This is a pretty interesting article from Confused.com about travel insurance coverage with respect to being on the piste after drinking. I'm sure there are a lot of people who have a few drinks at lunch time, or more than a few late into the night. It's worth thinking about. I'll be putting in a claim to my insurance company for the recent injury in Morzine; luckily I wasn't under the influence :)

Alarming Numbers Out On The Piste

Thinking about hitting the bar before hitting the ski slopes? Well, it's a risky business; as not only are you less likely to be fully in control, but also you're unlikely to be able to claim on your travel insurance for accidents resulting from being three sheets to the wind.

In recent research carried out by Confused.com, it was revealed that 24 per cent of skiers admitted to swilling more than four units* of booze before taking to the mountain. As a result, one in four skiers are affected by inebriated people out on the slopes. What's more, over 30 per cent of those polled erroneously believed that they're covered by their winter sports insurance for accidents which occur after drinking.

Two groups were identified as being most likely to get sloshed before strapping on their skis – men, and those in the 31-35 age group. Thirty five per cent of chaps drink regularly and heavily whilst on ski holidays, and the same goes for over a quarter of 31-35 year olds.

This isn't the smartest of ideas. All travel insurance policies contain an exclusion which will prevent policyholders from claiming for incidents which have arisen as a result of their own alcohol consumption. In short, too much indulgence in the après-ski can invalidate cover. Insurance providers are fully within their rights to decline claims involving alcohol, as it's reasonable to assume adequate care was not taken. And it would appear that a significant proportion of those on skiing holidays are simply unaware of this risk.

Not only might an excess of sauce cause accidents, but those who've been on repeated skiing holidays have noticed an increase in aggression from inebriated skiers towards others on the slope. Our advice to those going on ski holidays is: if you must have a skinful, please at least be nice. Oh, and try not to have an accident.

*More than two pints or two glasses of wine.

Morzine Round-Up: Days 8 - 14

I decided not to update the blog on a daily basis after the end of the first week, given there wasn't much happening in the way of snowboarding. This is quick round-up of how the rest of the trip went, and I want to mention a few things I'm gonna write about soon.

Saturday: my ankle was both sore and stiff after trying to ride the day before. I rested it, ice packed it, etc. Another day off. I think Ciara had mild concussion from a slam she took the day before also, she was ill on Friday night and generally feeling rubbish on Saturday...

I tried again on Sunday. Went up, took two runs and then came down again. My ankle simply wasn't up to riding. In fact, when I got down I went to the doctors just to get it checked out. 70 euros, ouch. But I can claim that back. In fact, I think a visit to the doctor's was necessary for the pending insurance claim.

Monday and Tuesday were used for resting the ankle. I finished a book, watched a bunch of films and met Ciara for either late lunch or a some drinks after she'd come down from the hill. The intention was to try riding for the last three days.

Wednesday was OK. I could ride around, but that was about it. Nothing fancy. I still didn't feel I could aggressively use my edges, and freestyle was out of the question. Still, I just about managed a full day on the slopes, and it was really nice to get out with Ciara, given she'd spent much of the second week shredding alone. It was around this time I realised how bad the straps on the new bindings are. More of that later.

Unfortunately a full day on the hill made my ankle swell up. It was pretty painful on Thursday morning; there was no way I was going to snowboard. A full day of rest, keep it up, ice pack it, and go out for the last day...

And, Friday, Day 14 was pretty damn good! Ciara and I rode around in the morning, just blasting down runs. Two runs in particular were awesome; just following in Ciara's tracks and then her doing the same. Much fun. In the afternoon I actually tried riding the park a little. Painful, but it was the last day, what are you going to do, right?

All in all, not the best snowboarding experience I've had :) As well as missing out on the actual snowboarding, I kinda feel a bit sad that there wasn't much to show and tell here. Writing about my snowboarding trips is the thing I enjoy most with this blog. I'd happily have simply followed Ciara around, taking photos and writing about what she was doing, but I needed to rest my ankle. I did at least do that for one day.

But these things happen, and we enjoyed just being there as well as relaxing, which isn't something I normally do in the mountains (the relaxing part that is). Eating, drinking, too much eating and just having a holiday together. I'm not going to say I wasn't feeling sorry for myself at times, because I was :) But like I said, these things happen and besides, there's no point in worrying about something you can't change...

Anyway, I'm back now, and there are a few things I want to touch on when I get a bit of time:

• Union Contacts: my new bindings with their lame straps
• Other gear: my uber fast board, an old jacket, new gloves and my goggles
• Thoughts on catered chalets: are they for you?
• Making a claim on your snowboard insurance - which I'll have to wait until it's been resolved...
• Thoughts on next season: where to go?

Morzine Day 7: Tried Going Up

Yesterday, I tried going up on the mountain. There were two reasons: first off, I wanted to see how well the ankle would hold up; second, following a series of dull days it was blue skies all the way, and I thought that even if I don't move around too much I can still take some photos.

So in the morning I got a lift down to the chemists and picked up some athletic-tape. A long time ago, I used to tape up my ankle(s) when playing basketball. I decided I'd try to strap it up for support. I don't know whether that's a good idea for snowboarding? But I did it anyway. I took a quick look on YouTube for a guide, found one, and although it was hard taping my own ankle, I got it done.

I went up at lunch time with one of the chalet hosts, Steve, and we took a couple of runs to meet up with the others. Riding regular runs seemed ok, but I didn't put any aggressive toe turns on, none at all. The strapping within the boot also seemed ok. I didn't really notice it once I was going and my toes didn't go numb or anything like that. Bonus.

In terms of pain, the lifts were the worst. Getting off actually. Lining up on a full chair means a certain twisting of your leg; that hurt. Once, I was kinda squashed, didn't like the pain and almost ended up "staying on". LOL. The ankle ached sometimes on the chairs too.

So I spent a bunch of time taking some photos. My quick investigation into setting the exposure definitely worked. Most of the photos I took kept the detail in the bright areas, rather than being over-exposed. I took raws too. I've gotta say that the current version of the Windows picture viewer does a good job, mostly, of rendering the raws. I need to look into this more, later, and get something where I can adjust the images myself...

Anyhow, here are some of the photos I took:

Ciara's started to get more air this week, nice:

A few indys and the occasional mute too, although this isn't the best example:

Some dude with smooth style:

This was almost a really cool photo, but it happened right after the one above and I didn't have time to adjust the zoom. Sweet method on the hip:

Some dude on the rainbow rail:

So after having something to eat, we took a few runs before coming down. I got a little more confident with the ankle, but still held off anything hard on the toes, and played it safe around the less-flat terrain.

It felt good to be out on the hill, but I was worried that I was either setting myself back, or slightly less bad, holding up the recovery. We got dropped off in town for a few happy hour beers. Yum.

It came to taking the tape off before getting in the hot tub. I couldn't get hold of any pre-wrap, or at least couldn't communicate what I was after, so the tape was straight on to the skin. Ouch. Like an insight into having your legs waxed. Ciara was loving this; told me I was a wuss (or similar adjective). She was probably right - haha. I'm sure she enjoyed stepping in to rip the last bit off in one go :)

Morzine Day 6: Still Resting

I'm still resting up, in the Chalet. Bummer. That's 3 days now. I think I'd be happy if I can shred all of next week, from Saturday or Sunday onwards, that would be cool. If it's later than that I'll probably end up grumpy :)

It's snowing though, which is good. I wouldn't say the place desperately needed it, but the top-up is welcomed. It would be nice if I could get back out there to some fresh, that would be cool.

My ankle is getting better each day: the swelling goes down a little, the range of movement increases and I can walk more comfortably on it. Now for example, I can stand on one leg (the bad one), and bend a little. Not much though; that's painful. The things that's troubling me is I simply don't know when to go up and give it a go. I'd be mad if I went too soon and set the whole thing back. Especially when I've potentially got a full week to look forward to.

So today is rest, and tomorrow probably too. Unless it's clear skies. In that case I'd like to go and maybe try to get a nice photo of Ciara. That would be fun.

I spent a little time yesterday extending my limited knowledge of the camera controls. I remember last year some of the mountain-shots I took for the guide were over-exposed, so I needed to figure out how to prevent that. It turns out exposure-compensation is easy.

The D60 also makes it easy to spot over (or under) exposure, which is good because simply looking at the image on the small screen isn't always enough. So if I take a quick photo in a given situation, I can adjust if necessary.

I'm also going to start capturing raws; last year I didn't and that was a mistake. I probably could have adjusted the images afterwards quite easily, had I the full data. It makes me wonder though whether one is better not adjusting the exposure at all, and only manipulating the histogram afterwards?

Morzine Day 5: Piste & Park Update

I just wanted to touch on something that I mentioned previously, but wasn't sure about. The old Arare park in Avoriaz has been moved and the bigger park, now called Snowpark des Lindarets, sits alongside the Stash.

This means there's a whole lot of freestyle in one area, which personally I think is a great change. Off the Prolays lift you can now choose either to ride through the park or the Stash. I think you can even cut across after the park to make some of the bottom hits from the Stash.

Notice also that they've added the Lil'Stash, something I mentioned briefly in this review of The Stash. I haven't had a chance to check this out yet, not being able to snowboard and all, but I'm keen to see what they've done.

So, Avoriaz has 3 parks: small, medium and large, an awesome pipe, The Stash and now a Stash for the kids... That's pretty impressive!

Morzine Day 4: Binding Update

I've taken the day off today. It's painful walking so I don't think it's worth trying to snowboard...

Anyhow, I just wanted to mention something that I encountered yesterday, but forgot to say in the previous post.

On Sunday, which was the first day I'd used the new Union bindings, I didn't really have time to adjust the straps once I'd realised the default settings were too big. So yesterday morning I shortened both the toe and heel straps. For each, there was only one level of adjustment available in the direction I needed to go (shorter), which didn't leave much margin.

And it turns out that the straps are still kinda too long. I can ride with them, for sure. But as I'm cranking up the heel strap I'm always stopping on the last tooth; same with the two strap. I'd definitely like to be able to make them tighter still.

I did try using the toe straps as a cap-strap, but that doesn't work out too well. It's a shame because the bindings feel really nice. I was a little worried that they might be too soft, but the seem ok in that department. As for their lightness and freestyle-suitability: great.

Does anyone have the Contact bindings? My boot size is right in the middle of the range for the Medium/Large size so it seems strange that the straps should be this long!

Morzine Day 3: Ups And Downs

Today was great. It started so good. A pure blue bird day, really warm. We spent the morning lapping the area under the Prolays lift in Avoriaz. They've moved the park (I think) from the Arare spot to run in parallel next to the Stash. It's still big, like the Arare park was (is? not sure if it's gone... I haven't been up there), but there are some nice features in there. Makes for a really good run.

Ciara got her first proper grab; indy. She's kinda grabbed before, but this was nice. I was so pleased. She just stomped it. A nice hit from the side of the piste. Awesome. I was getting some decent air and starting to get back in the swing.

We went for a bit of a cruise after lunch; I wanted to check out one of the runs in the Linga area, for possible rock features/drops. On the way over there I think I dropped the best frontside 180 I've even done.

Then it all turned a little sour. In the space of 30 mins, I managed to tweak my back and bust my ankle. Is tweaking your back something that happens to older people? :) Actually, the base of my back is a little weak, so this is kind of a re-occurring thing. I was so annoyed; all I did was ride into a dip and then over a bump. Didn't even leave the snow, it was the compression and then extension that caused a twinge.

Not the end of the world, but on the way back to Avoriaz I managed to stretch my left ankle. Just riding down the piste, albeit pretty fast, actually I was horsing it, a guy veered to the right and I needed to slow down quickly. It was my fault, I made a judgement and got it wrong. It was fairly choppy and I ended up with that bounce you sometimes get when you try to hammer an edge on and it gives way as you encounter a bump. On the toes, it really shocked my ankle.

Immediately sore, but I was still able to snowboard all the way back. Since then it's really stiffened up and I'm limping. Cack. Can't believe that I've done two lame things and managed to injure both my back and ankle. But I guess that's snowboarding. It happens.

So it was up and down today. It started so well, a blue bird, the first time we've snowboarded with Ciara's brother. Good jibbing. Good air. And then an injury.

Not sure what I'm going to be like tomorrow. Right now I'm not too optimistic. It hurts. But I am in the mountains. Ciara is riding well. It's all fun. I'll sort it out. I'm tired, good night.