Picking the right size for your new snowboard isn't easy. There are so many variables to take into consideration, and when you're new to snowboarding, you don't really know how to make the choice. Does it really matter that much? Is it my height or my weight that I should be using as a guide? What's the difference between a beginner board and other, normal boards?

Yes, there are a lot of questions, and this can lead to anxiety - after all buying a new snowboard is expensive, so you don't want to get it wrong!

Well, help is at hand. I've written an article addressing the issue of how to calculate snowboard size, on the updated afterbang blog. Head over there (if anyone is still reading this site) and check it out. Don't forget to add your comments: are you having problems? are there things that are unclear? do you have an easy rule for how to pick the right snowboard?

Cheers.

Snowboard Tricks

Snowboard Tricks - that's a huge subject, so much to learn, so much to practice, so much to watch... What's the best way to learn? What safety equipment do I need? What are the different tricks called? Should I get lessons, or some video tuition... Well, on the wordpress version of this site, which is now essentially dormant, there's a hub page dedicated to Snowboard Tricks. Check it out. Make a trick list, make a short video with your friends from the park or from jibbing around the piste. It's all good fun. Snowboarding is good fun.

Snowboarding Wrist Guards

Do you wear wrist guards? Are wrist guards good for beginners only? Or do they have an application in the snowboard park too?

And what about styles? The type that go inside your glove can be difficult to fit sometimes, but at least they give you the freedom of glove selection - to a point. There are also over-glove-designs and built-in-glove designs. These are going to be a more "guaranteed fit", but you're more limited in your choice of gloves...

So, snowboarding wrist guards... good for lots of low impact falls, keep you going on the hill. There's a good article here:

Snowboarding Wrist Guards.

This Blog Has Moved!

Hi there, I moved my blog/website from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress setup during April, 2010. If you've ended up here somehow, please use this link to get to the right place:

afterbang | snowboarding blog

Gavin.

Union Contact Bindings: The Straps Don't Work

OK, I'd like to make some separate comments about the performance of these bindings, later. I'll do that if/when this issue is sorted out. Before that, I've got to point out the blatant failure of these bindings: the straps are too long! Both the toe and heel straps do not fit for me. The M/L binding size that I have is listed with a UK range of 6 - 9. I've seen it as 5 - 9, 5.5 - 9 and 6 - 8.5. Either way, my 32 boots are UK size 8, which puts me comfortably inside the boundaries...

Heel Strap. It's too long. The following two pictures show my boot stapped in with the straps made as short as they can go. Notice that the buckle is all the way down and there are no teeth left to grip.

In that position the bindings simply aren't tight enough. Here's the result of me trying to tighten them further:

Quick Fix. So after contacting Union support, they suggested a quick fix: take out the connector. The plastic connector is the mechanism for adjusting the length of the strap. This picture shows that using the straps without the connector shortens the length by about an inch:

These next two picture show what it's like when I'm strapped in without the connector. As you can see, the heel strap becomes a usable lenght, i.e. it is short enough for me to get the heel strap tight. There are still some available teeth.

Note that even with the connector removed, the strap is only just short enough. As you can see 3 pictures above, I can't make it any shorter as the padded part of the strap is right up against the heel cup...

But using the bindings in this way isn't ideal; use without the connector brings two problems. 1st, the washer/bolt setup is designed for use with the connector, and in that configuration moving the strap around doesn't loosen the screw. Without the connector, the screw is constantly becoming a little more loose each time you move the strap around as you strap in.

2nd, the strap isn't centered over the foot because it's dragged over to one side. It's a small issue, but still, you're supposed to be able to setup your straps for maximum support and comfort.

Toe Straps. As you can see in all of the pictures above, the buckle on the toe strap has no where further to go. They're adjusted to be as short as possible. The only solution I had to this problem was to place a folded sock inbetween the binding and my boot. Yes, that meant that every time I straped in I had to replace the sock. Useless. Without the sock, the toe strap was loose; I could push it over the front of the boot when fully tightened.

Solution? When I contacted Union I was fairly encouraged: they suggested the heel strap fix, which definitely got the bindings working in resort, and said they would send out smaller parts. This was in response to me asking for smaller straps, e.g. new straps from the S/M model. What I actually got was a smaller connector for the heel. I got nothing for the toe straps.

An astute reader might spot that the smaller connector doesn't actually make a difference; the male part of the strap stops in the same place for both sizes. If I were to cut the plast part of the strap that slides into the connector then yes, I could save 1.5cm or so. But I'm not doing that, and besides, they'd still be too long.

This photo is a little out of focus, but you can still see that with both connectors set at the shortest possible setting, the effective length of the overall strap is the same:

What Now? Let me be clear that I'm not dissing Union, not yet anyway. They sent me the shorter connectors, in good faith I believe, and I haven't told them yet that they don't work. That's because I chose to contact the shop that I bought the bindings from, which I've done twice, asking them to sort it out. They haven't replied yet. Not cool.

I wanted to post these pictures now, in part as a means to show the problem to those who need to see it. I'll update as and when the situation is resolved...

Breckenridge 2011

OK, next season is still a long way off; there are probably quite a few hills still getting fresh snow this season. But still, the current feeling for next season is Breck.

I'm not quite sure why I'm so set on this destination? My brother returned from a late week in Morzine (a couple of weeks after I'd been out there) and he was all pumped about planning something for next year. He's been keen to try some of the resorts and parks in either Canada or the USA, he did some looking, then suggested Breckenridge.

When I visited Colorado last year I was definitely impressed with the place, including Breckenridge. Breck, as far as I'm aware has always received a good review, and it's close enough to other resorts to check them out for a day. For example, Keystone, which if I remember correctly ranked highly in Transworld's recent poll of the best parks in North America. Tight.

Before next season I want to brush up on my freestyle; work the snowflex, try out some new techniques and then take them to a good resort. Right now, I'm excited about Breck...

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.

Morzine Day 2: Better

A couple of beers and a few glasses of wine... don't expect too much :)

Today was much better. Easyjet worked, for a start. We arrived at Geneva, on time, hopeful for some afternoon shredding. Slight delay as people were gathered for the transfer. Then we were off.

Transfer was smooth, drop our stuff off at the chalet, not taking too much notice of the introductions, rushing to get up on the hill. By the time we'd unpacked the essentials, got dressed, we were at the ticket office for around 2:45pm. At the top by 3:00pm.

So, a twelve day pass and a half-day just for this afternoon? It turned out that a 13 day pass was cheaper, so that's what we ended up with. (I'm skipping over the queue-rage that Ciara experienced with some guy who pushed in. LOL).

We hooked up with Ronan (Ciara's brother), and he was pretty much done for the day. Being eager, Ciara and I left them sipping on hot chocolate to get that 1st run in.

Wow, 13 months without strapping in leaves you a little rusty. 5 minutes later, things were starting to settle in.

New bindings. Nice. Toe strap was too long to the point that they weren't worth doing up. I'll adjust them before tomorrow. Time was precious today. New gloves. Nice. Not much to say there, hands were dry and comfortable.

We got 4 runs in. Not bad for the late start and it almost made it feel like a regular 1st-day. Warm up run and then twice through The Stash. Rusty. Can't ride rails straight. Near misses.

Last lift at 4:30, back to the top. Home run down all the way to Prodains. We've been here before. La Kinkerne. Ciara and I supping beer. Sweet. Pre-arranged collection from the chalet people at 6:00pm. That's novel. I like that.

Hot-tub looking over Morzine and the Plenney. 3 course meal. Not bad, I think we can get used to this...

Weather? It's a good base. It rained this morning, although we weren't here, you could tell. The snow was a soft and wet in places. Board digging in when you're looking for an edge. You know the score. It snowed late afternoon. Is it raining in the town? New snow on top is always good. Off-piste? I hear the snow-pack is a bit unstable with the changing temperatures. We can worry about that later.

First day, some nice hits bobbing up in the stash. Great stuff. Put down a pretty nice fs3. Make that a five? So it wasn't a normal 1st day on the hill, but we were stoked all the same, and it's ended well.

Snowboarding's great...

Morzine Day 1: False Start

4:15pm, Ciara and I arrived at the airport, full of beans, stoked.

Flight Cancelled.

Lame.

Seriously gutted. Technical fault or something, no other flights leaving for Geneva today. Get on the web, any connections to get there? None. The best chance was a BA flight to Heathrow and then on to Geneva. 25 minutes between the scheduled landing time and following take-off. The lady at the desk advised against it, and she was right, there's no way that would have worked. Plus, chancing your bags with a connection at Heathrow is ill-advised.

Starbucks, latte, cake. Cancel the transfer to resort. Slight depression. Back in a taxi home. Damn it.

We're on a flight tomorrow morning at 7:45. We should get into resort at around 13:00. Enough time for shred in the afternoon? Probably. We'll try, even if it's just a couple of hours. Even if it's just for those first-day apres beers :)

We're at home now, kinda don't want to do anything, just get to bed, wake up and get back to the airport. Chin up. Day 2 will be better. Snowboarding soon!

There May Be A Brief Intermission...

Just putting a post out there to let you know that the site's about to undergo some minor back-end changes. If it disappears at all(!), we'll back it out and be right back with you. And if it goes smoothly, just pretend you never saw this, yeah?

Back soon...

Oh, and if anyone has experience of moving to a Blogger custom domain from a straight FTP setup without breaking either PageRank or incoming links to other subfolders on the site, your input would be much appreciated! :)

Riding Footage From The 2008/2009 Season

I keep leaving it later and later, but, I have at least stuck to my principle of editing the footage from one season before snowboarding the season after. I'm talking about the video I took last year in Morzine. Over the last week and a half I've been streaming it all, and then did a quick edit yesterday. It had to be done given that I'm going away next Saturday...

To be honest, maybe the reason that I've left it so long is that I'm not that keen on what I shot. I don't think it's bad or anything like that, and I do enjoy watching it, it's more that I had hoped to progress on some of the things that I did in Fernie, the year before; the snowboarding in Morzine/Avoriaz took a slightly different direction.

That said, there are elements to this video/riding that really interest me. I had a lot of fun riding The Stash in Avoriaz, which is where most of this is filmed. I'd like to return to some of those features and some of the things I was trying. For example, there's a bonk (sic) around 01:14 in, that was close to being good. I just needed to 180 out. It's definitely given me a lot to look forward to.

As for the things that were missing, apart from amazing powder shots :), I guess I just didn't go big.

I'm still using Movie Maker, which although isn't fantastic, I'd have to say it's doing the job for me. The rather awesome song is "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe" by Okkervil River from their album The Stage Names. Here it is..

Bike Ride, Hamsterley Forest

I went for a ride yesterday with some friends at Hamsterley Forest. As well as wanting to be fit for snowboarding, I've started to train for a 3-day ride later this year: the coast to coast.

I think we ended up doing around 12/13 miles, all off-road. There were some pretty nice hills in there and the terrain was quite difficult in places. Actually, there was quite a lot of snow up there. It was kinda weird being out in the hills, with trees, rocks and snow around us, a week before going snowboarding. Hamsterley is close to where I grew up, and still not far from where I currently live; after visiting yesterday I started to wonder why I haven't been before now.

I read an article a while ago, Whitelines I think, that explored the similarities between mountain biking and snowboarding. This was the first time that I've used in bike in that kind of environment, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the downhills were really exciting (or scary?) Hopefully I'll do more of this in the future.

During the ride the thing that was toughest was sitting on the saddle; as time went on my bum was really aching. I guess that's to be expected given that this is the first time I've ridden an actual bike (excluding a bmx) in around 5 years. Up until now I've just been using an exercise bike in the gym. This morning, I woke up with the top of my back being pretty stiff. What I'm pleased with is that my legs don't feel tired, I handled the ride pretty well.

I'm not super fit or anything like that, but I am fairly happy with my current level of fitness. Bring on the shred...

Absinthe Flipside Episodes: Neverland

I've mentioned in previous posts that I enjoy documentary-style programs, and the Absinthe Flipside shows are an excellent example. Well, Whitelines has a bunch of episodes for their recent production: Neverland.

I'm not sure if that's the full collection yet, but what's there is definitely worth watching, if you like this type of thing. I think the one I've embedded below is the first episode? Check out Wolfgang being told to take his backpack off when he gets on a chair :)

New Base Layer: Under Armour ColdGear

I've got a new base layer to try out in Morzine - it's the Under Armour ColdGear. For anyone new to snowboarding and/or not familiar with the benefits of wearing decent layers - it's important.

For the last few seasons I've been wearing Icebreaker base layers, made from merino wool. I've always been impressed with them, especially the upper body layers. Unfortunately I tore a big hole in the bottoms, so replaced them with the equivalent from Burton.

In fact, I've been meaning to write something about the Icebreaker products for a good while now. When I get back, I think I'll post my thoughts on both options, giving a comparison between the Under Armour and Icebreaker layers.

I'm expecting the ColdGear stuff to be pretty good, but the competition is tough. I checked out the website and they've got a bunch of different athletes representing them, one of them being Lindsey Jacobellis. I'm not really into snowboard cross, but I took a quick look at the recent X-Games finals and the race was insane. I didn't know the courses they race on have such big jumps...

I don't know how long it will stay around, but there's a video here, definitely worth a look!

What Do You Look For In A Snowboard Movie?

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I watch a snowboard movie I end up thinking same old, same old. Each season, a whole load of new films come out, and I think it's fair comment that a lot of them are similar to those of the year before...

To a certain degree, I'd say that this is only natural. If you watch a lot of one type of genre, you may find films of that type to be all the same; that's not specific to snowboarding. There's an increasing number of films coming out each year, and, given the resources available to some crews, and preconceptions of the general format, it's understandable that a lot of them fit the same mold.

If you're new to snowboarding then your exposure to existing films is low. When I first started, for the first few seasons I lapped up as many of the DVDs as I could. I was hungry for them.

The thing is, I've seen quite a lot now. That's not intended to be a boast, nor does the picture below claim to show a hard-core collection. I have no doubt that there are people out there who own many more films than I, and can do stuff like name the tracks that go along with individual rider sections; I don't even own any snowboarding films on VHS, that's not core at all :)

No, the point is simple. I've seen enough now that I'm looking for something different. Although I said above that I think it's fair to say many a snowboarding DVD look the same, there are projects that provide something a little different.

So what is it that I'm looking for?

I certainly like the documentary aspect of some productions. I like to see the work that goes into professional snowboarding and the decisions that the riders, filmers, photographers and producers make. Not only that, I like to see the personalities behind the riders. David Benedek's work, Absinthe's FlipSide shows and ChunkyKnit's Drop Stitch spring to mind.

I like clips that show riders having fun, shredding stuff other than giant kickers. Watching the pro's rip through a resort, riding together, hitting terrain that you or I would. For me, sequences like that bring home how good they are just as much as a huge 1080, and I can relate to it more. It's fresh, fun and stylish, rather than just massive.

I like British productions. The variation in quality and standard, compared with the truly international scene, makes it interesting. Sometimes more real. And when someone does something really good it's like, nice, they're from England.

Women's snowboarding is appealing for a similar reason. The women's stage seems wide open in terms of progression. Each season you really can see something new because they're pushing the bar. It makes it all very impressive. Like wow. I'm not saying that the guys don't progress; it's just that I think women's snowboarding is on a steeper learning curve right now.

The Robot Food films, along with DC MTN.LAB, continue to be my favourite films. Afterlame especially. The combination of creative filming, some documentary-style elements, great riders, catchy sound tracks and an emphasis on fun, make them winners. For me, it all started with Afterbang...

So what do you look for in a snowboard movie?

The Next Best Thing

So some family and friends went to Whistler recently. I didn't go. Tres jealous.

What did happen though, is they brought us back some mugs. Surely that's the next best thing? Seriously though, I love stuff like that. Ciara and I bought a couple of large mugs in Fernie and they're without doubt the best choice of souvenir for me.

Two mugs and a piste map; a perfect combination, giving you something to ponder over while drinking some tea.

Actually, we all got together last weekend for dinner and a post-Canada chat. Very interesting. Fernie was my first (and only, so far) visit to Canada and to my mind, there were significant differences between it and the European resorts I'd been used to. Whistler again, is a different cup of tea to Fernie (ok, I'm overusing that); so I was keen to hear what they had to say. Some photos and video always help too.

Mountain layout/piste design. Trees. Bowls. Out of bounds. Size. Service. Friendliness. Travel. Cost. We talked about all of these things.

And snow. They had lots of it. In fact, similar to my own experience in Fernie, a large amount of snow can leave you with a somewhat unsettling experience. Canada is a long way to go when European resorts are almost on your doorstep (relatively). When your first visit is packed with a whole load of powder, the thought of returning to a potentially dry two-weeks is worrying.

The big question I wanted them to answer: was it so good that you're going back next year? To me, Whistler has always been touted as one of the places to go; were they totally bowled over by it?

I didn't get a straight forward answer to that. It wasn't a resounding "yes". And for good reasons too. Sure, they gave the place very high praise, but there are many factors to consider when planning a snowboarding trip! Although Whistler remains high on the list, Smaller-Canadian-Resorts, Mammoth, Breckenridge and Colorado as a whole were mentioned as potential North American alternatives...

So what about you? Anyone shredded in Canada, the USA and Europe, and have strong opinions as to which they prefer? Is it the case that if the snow is good, that's all that matters? Or do you think that if you're riding with good company, it's what you make of it that counts?

A Couple Of Brits

I don't like to simply pimp other people's videos, but in some cases I like to make exceptions :) First up is young Jamie Nicholls, a UK shredder who grew up riding at Halifax, now making his way around the international stage. I like to see Jamie progressing. I remember the first time I saw him snowboarding, at Castleford, before I knew who he was. I said something like "man, that kid is killing it. He's class. He's gotta be something like 12 years old?"

I nice guy too. Anyhow, I'm sure most readers from the UK are well aware of Jamie... here's a couple of runs from the recent Burton European Open.

Next up is Jenny Jones, who has recently won X-Games Gold. I think it's great that Jenny does so well with snowboarding; I also like the fact that although women's snowboarding is often viewed as being over-shadowed by mens, Britain's most successful shredder is a girl :) That's got nothing to do with a lack of respect for the male snowboarders we've got, but more that I think it provides us with a well-balanced view of professional snowboarders.

Here's her winning run from the X-Games (you can read about it here):

If you're in the video mood, check out a couple of links: Shaun White in X-Games pipe and Eero Ettala winning slopestyle.

A Collection Of Photos...

...I've been meaning to do this for ages. Each time I go away there are normally a few photos that I really like. I just wanted to drop them into a web album that I can update as I go; a collection of my favourite snowboarding pictures.

WSG Reviews Live!

I've gotta say I'm pretty excited :) I received an email from Steve Dowle last night, letting me know that the Portes Du Soleil reviews I wrote for the worldsnowboardguide last season are live. It took a good deal of effort, but I think the end result is pretty good. I think it was a large task for Steve to get it all sorted out online, too.

Here's a link to the Portes Du Soleil overview.

Within the Portes Du Soleil area, there are 12 individual reviews, including resorts like Avoriaz, Chatel, Les Crosets, Les Gets, Morzine and Torgon.

I'm happy with how the pictures turned out. I didn't get any great action shots or anything like that, but I tried to get images that show what things are like: towns, terrain, parks etc. And I think, perhaps, the pictures round off the words quite nicely. I haven't read too many of the individual reviews yet; probably because I've already spotted a couple of grammatical errors :)

Here's the post I wrote about the experience of writing all those reviews...

If anyone does read some of it, let me know what you think. I'd certainly take feedback, especially as it might be something I do again in the future.

Finally Got Something Sorted

Well, we've finally booked something for this season: two weeks in Morzine, starting on Saturday 27th February. That's just under 4 weeks away, exciting!

This trip has a few 1st's:

• It's the first time we've left it this late to book...
• It's the first time we've opted for a catered chalet...
• It's the first time we've organised something with Ciara's brother...
• It's the first time we've booked something overlapping with the French school holidays (I think)...

All in all, it should be really interesting. I'm keen to find out what it's like staying in catered accommodation. I'm also keen to see if it's much busier at the end of February; we normally aim for January or March.

The last couple of weeks have been a little bit of a black hole, with much to organise, and not all of it snowboard-related. I still haven't streamed my footage from last season; I normally make it a rule to do so before any snowboarding the following season. In which case, that gives me less than 4 weeks to stream and edit. Hopefully I'll get it done...

It's Been A While

I was just thinking about this today: it's been a good while since I was on a snowboard. In fact, it's probably the longest absence since I first strapped in. Even the first year-period between my first and second snowboarding holidays was broken by one or two trips to the snowdome, and maybe even the dry slope.

Looking back over the last 12 months, I haven't been on my snowboard since Morzine. Wow. Hopefully I won't have regressed too much :)

I did skate more over the last 12 months, which was something I set out intentionally to do, and had a lot of fun doing. I wanted to see if more than a few sessions would enable to me to learn some new tricks; and it did. Nothing major, but progression was made.

And in the past, I've seen the same small-steps with my snowboarding. Since I started keeping a record, I had 9 and 4 UK-snowboarding sessions in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Although I didn't make double figures in either of those years, a few trips to the Halifax kicker is, and has been, enough to learn a few new tricks and get more comfortable with the things you can already do.

So what does this mean for 2010? Well I'm getting married this October, which will take up a fair amount of time and resource. Plus, I've decided to try a cycling event with some friends in August: the coast-to-coast. Being competitive, I'm planning on training for this. And again, I'd like to skate more...

With those things in mind, I can't see myself traveling down to Halifax that often - but I suppose nothing is set in stone. To be honest, I prefer doing stuff when I can dedicate a decent amount of time. I'm not particularly fussed about making a solitary visit to Castleford or Halifax during the off-season; if it was a choice between one or none, I'd be happy to take none, and do more of whatever other project I was giving time to.

And that's probably the reason I didn't go at all last year. One trip might be fun, but I much prefer a series of visits where I can set some goals and get the feeling of progression.

And that's what I'd like to do again. I'd like to set up a handful of sessions at Halifax. Work the kicker; progress. It's flexible with regards to how you spend your time on the slope, which makes it a great spot to get some photos and video, and generally a great day out. The only problem is the time and money.

So if it doesn't pan out this year, I'd like to aim for double figures in 2011...

How about you guys? What do you do when you can't snowboard in resort?

How Much Do The Design Features Of Our Snowboarding Gear Matter?

A lot of people, and I'm definitely one of them, spend a good amount of time contemplating the different design options available when buying new snowboarding gear. It could be a new board, some boots, an avalanche beacon or maybe just some wax. There are a lot of products out there!

But how much difference do all those features really make?

Certainly, there are big differences between some designs, and these differences have a definite effect on your snowboarding. I view these as enabling designs, or prohibitive designs, depending on which way you look at it. Here are some personal examples:

• My first snowboard: a 157 Burton Clash. A bit of a beginners board, after my first week I felt I'd out-grown it. Tanking it down fresh groomers the board felt unstable at speed. The season after, I traded it for the Rome Anthem. It was a world of difference for stability, base speed and edge hold.
• Stiff boots: the Salomon Malamute. I used to own these Salomons, which were designed as an aggressive, freeride boot. My first few jib sessions on an indoor slope left me with sore ankles. Swapping them for the 32 Lashed boots gave me a snug, controlled fit that also allowed for freestyle-flex. Much lighter too.
• A short, twin tipped snowboard in deep pow. I'm sure there are many out there who shred powder with their short, freestyle boards and have no problems. When the snow was waist deep, I struggled, whilst watching friends float on the top...

Yes, sometimes the difference between kit is as clear as night and day, and therefore it's important to choose the right stuff.

But what about the smaller differences, or the latest design ideas? These tend to be the choices that we, or myself at least, spend the most time debating. How much do these matter? Should we pay attention, or just pick the one we like the look of and get on with the snowboarding?

Again, some personal examples.

• Bindings. I spent a while trying to choose between 4 bindings, arguably all pretty similar. Burton Missions, Ride Deltas, Union Contacts and Union Forces. Some would say that the Deltas and Contacts are a good deal softer; but how much? There were differences between my old Burton Missions and my Drake MLBs, but not the kind of enabling differences like those above. I could do the same stuff in both.
• Reverse Camber. To be honest, I might be naive in saying that this doesn't make much of a difference, given that the banana'ness of my T.Rice is slight. That said, I didn't feel much difference riding that reverse camber board.
• Weight. Some products make a big deal of how light they are. Sure, if you pick the heaviest option for every bit of kit, you're gonna feel it. But for a single set of boots or bindings? Will 100 or 200g make a difference?

It's fun and interesting checking out new equipment, new models, new ranges; but for gear that's in a similar category, like choosing between two, twin-tipped freestyle boards, maybe we shouldn't worry too much about making the wrong decision? Once you get the board, for example, you'll adapt to its design features and if something felt a little weird to begin with, you'll probably grow to like it.

Pick the one that fits well, that's comfortable, that you like the look of, or the one that comes in under budget. Get it and ride with it. Don't sweat over the minutia of the technology or the latest and greatest design features.

Is that fair, or asking for trouble? I'll still get interested by the new stuff, but once I've picked, I'm not too worried.

So what's your take? Is a board a board, or is it important to get the highest grade sintered base? Are there too many examples of yourself or friends buying gear that turned out to be bad, making you careful what you select? Or do you just get on with it until your gear's worn out?...

The Big 3 - 0

That's right, it's my birthday today and I'm now 30 years old. It sounds weird, but doesn't feel any different.

I suppose it doesn't carry much snowboarding-relevance; I can't see my attitude, desire or approach to snowboarding change any time soon. I suppose I've had less available time/resource over the last few seasons to go snowboarding, but there's a good chance that will change in the future. I hope so anyway.

I do however recall saying something like "I'd like to land a 7 before I'm 30". I regret to inform you all, that has not happened. I won't view that as a failure though - I could just set the goal of putting down a 9 before I'm 40 :) Haha!

Snow In The North East

Well, over the last few days the snow has started to wash away. The temperature has been up a little, so it didn't all re-freeze to create one, big ice-rink.

I did take some pictures whilst out and about. Durham, in particular, was spectacular at the weekend. We drove down there on Saturday morning to hook Ciara up with a new passport; while she was in the passport office I took a walk along the river, which looked awesome...

They say the snow may be coming back again. In fact I think there were a few airports further down the country closed today. We're not really used to these conditions here and I think the majority would be happy they didn't see any more snow this year. Whilst it can be annoying for getting around and it serves no practical purpose to me locally, I still welcome it!

One Of The Reasons The Robot Food Films Were So Good...

...They had people like Pierre Wikberg working on them. Check out this clip showing some of the photos he shot while filming Lame:

Photos from 2003. from pierretube on Vimeo.

Union Contact Bindings: Preview

So I've bought some new bindings. After considering the Burton Mission, the Ride Delta, the Union Contact and the Union Force - I opted for the Union Contact.

I first narrowed it down to one of the offerings from Union. They caught my eye, I liked what I saw, I liked the fact that Gigi operates with their bindings and I wanted to try something new.

My first thoughts were to get a freestyle oriented binding. Yeah I ride all over the mountain, but I jib around quite a bit, I've got a short board, fairly soft boots, so I wanted something freestyle-esque from my bindings.

But they were out of stock. Given my initial criteria, I was a little worried that the Force bindings might be a little too stiff for what I was after. Queue a healthy dose of procrastination, and I came to the conclusion that I would buy the Force bindings. If they were a little stiff, that's no big problem. I'd soon get used to them, and if/when I get around to buying a powder stick, I could set them up on that and get some softer bindings too...

And then... the Contact bindings were available again. So I was back to making a decision. I spoke to a guy in some shop and he was thinking the Contact bindings might be too soft, not responsive enough. Maybe they are too soft? I thought. Blah blah, I'm sure this part of the story is getting a little tired.

Conclusion: I bought the Union Contact bindings. I'll find out soon enough what they're like to ride.

So why did I call this a preview? Well, apart from some pics of the new bindings, which you can see on the Internet anyway, I wanted to mention something about the weight.

The Contact binding is supposed to be a "little brother" to one of their higher end bindings: the Force MC, which is dubbed as the lightest weight binding on the planet. Being considerably cheaper than the Force MC, the Contacts aren't quite as light weight, but light non the less...

How light?

Well, I put a small sample of bindings to the test: the new Union Contact, my old Drake MLBs and Ciara's current bindings, the Burton Lexa. All three bindings are Medium in size, although the Lexas are of course, a female specific binding.

Here are the results:

• Union Contact: 800g
• Burton Lexa: 860g
• Drake MLB: 920g

So they're lighter than my old bindings, and lighter than the smaller, female bindings :) Nice. Will I notice much of a difference? Maybe. They do feel a little lighter in the hand, but not by much.

As for the reverse-camber-specific design of the Contacts, it's hard to tell just by looking at them. I haven't strapped them onto my board yet. Also, there's the toe strap that can be worn either as a conventional strap or a cap-strap. I'll comment on these things later...

Here's the proof :)

Looking At: The Dakine Overhead

I've mentioned before that I'm quite interested in upgrading my "carry on luggage". The reason being that when I get on a plane for a snowboarding trip, my hand luggage includes a laptop, a camera and a video camera. Getting all of that into a regular backpack, along with a magazine, mp3 player, perhaps a book, and then my travel documents etc, is pretty tight.

If it does fit, you can bet that getting anything out that isn't right at the top, is gonna be a chore.

Something like the Dakine Overhead, which has a split design and a fairly large capacity would sort me right out. The specs say that it's 21 x 13 x 8.5 " [ 53 x 33 x 22cm ], and that puts it nicely inside the regulations for EasyJet.

Previously, I wasn't sure that airlines would always accept this size of hand luggage. I'm not worried about that now. And if EasyJet will take it, I can't see it being a problem elsewhere.

The only thing I'm not so sure about is pushing around two wheeled cases: this one and the larger Split Roller. Added to my current luggage setup, I'd be carrying a boardbag over the shoulder as well as pushing two cases, albeit one of them is pretty small.

Is that gonna be tricky? Do I need all that capacity? What luggage do you take?

It Just Keeps Snowing

Normally around this time of year I'm watching the snow reports for whatever resort I'm planning on visiting. Right now, I'm watching the snow locally - it doesn't seem to want to stop.

I think I mentioned it back on the 20th December, last year. Since then, there's continually been snow on the ground. This rarely happens in the UK. I can't remember the last time there's been snow like this, ever.

It hasn't been piling up mind. Probably not more than 3" - 4" at anyone time. But the difference has been the temperature. It's been cold enough to keep the snow and ice hanging around. This morning I'm sure there was a good 4" of fresh snow.

Over Christmas and New Year we had quite a bit going on - not much spare time. But I'm starting to think now that I owe it to myself to get on my snowboard somewhere on UK soil.

I have shredded in Scotland once before. That's not really an option at the moment due to time and cash, and I'm still not certain I really want to go to one of their resorts again. That said, inspired by an article in Whitelines, I would like to try getting a guide and heading in to the backcountry, but that will be a future adventure I think.

There are some fairly local options. Hills that have rope lifts. Never been to one of those, but I'm sure they're fun, to a point. And fresh snow is almost always good :)

Just this evening, Mike sent me this link to Allenheads. They're reporting 60-70cm of new snow, and advising visitors to bring their own shovels to dig out a parking space! If I get a few things sorted, I'd like to try something this weekend, providing the weather's still good enough for snow, but not so good that we couldn't get there.

And that aside, I'm sure there are plenty of UK jibbbers looking for urban sessions. It's never been something I've really tried before, but I reckon I'd still have loads of fun finding a rail to slide...

I should have had my camera with me today; if the weather continues like this I'll take it with me and post some pictures. Driving to work this morning was like driving in a french resort. If only there'd been somewhere to stop for a decent pastry and a hot chocolate; Greggs just didn't seem like the real thing :)