Back in March I posted about a backcountry tour that we did in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Since then I've been sent some more pictures from the day, so I'm going to put them here. Looking back through the photos reminds me of what an amazing day it was...
(Click on the photos to enlarge them)
Well I've started my summer shred counter... It's (currently) at the bottom of the sidebar on the main page - it's going to keep track of my riding days over the summer. Unfortunately though, due to the lay of the next few weekends, it doesn't look like I'm going to be marking up more riding sessions any time soon. Bummer.
I've also hit a block with working on my pc: there's a problem with the hard drive so I'm gonna have to do some work to recover it. In the meantime, the editting I've been doing on the footage from this season is hanging in the balance. Then there's the post about producing/compressing my videos for YouTube that I'm working on, which is also in limbo on the problematic hard drive. And I keep forgetting that I left my camera at Martin's...
But none of that is really too bad. While I'm waiting for some of those things above, I'll be checking out destinations in Canada, which seems to be pretty set as the location for next season's riding. I'm also re-reading Todd Richards' Pipes, Parks and Powder and re-watching some of the snowboarding movies I haven't seen for a while. I've even been dreaming up a crazy scheme involving me working remotely from somewhere in North America next year, which although I can't really see it happening, it would be totally sick!
I've talked about Snowmotions quite a bit over the course of this season - and with good right too. If you've been following this blog you'll know that a group of us spent two weeks in Laax/Flims back in March, staying in one of the Snowmotions chalets. One of the things that really made the trip great was the local knowledge, specifically off-piste and back-country knowledge, passed on to us from Jason - owner of Snowmotions. In fact this trip provided the majority of the group, including myself, with our first real taste of riding off-piste, something that I now want to do more and more...
One of the options available from Snowmotions is to have them organise a Heli-Trip. It's not something that we did while we were in Switzerland, but not long after we'd gone home, Jason and some others did a day with a heli. They passed on a quick review of the action, partly to make me jealouse I'm sure, but also to give an indication of what a heli-trip can be like. Here are some details and photos from that day... take a look, it really does look awesome.
Thanks to Snowmotions for the info!
The SNO!storm park nights that Xscape put on produce a better park than the regular freestyle nights. Here are some pictures showing the Castleford park setup from the 4th May. My camera doesn't work brilliantly in there, but the pictures should give a good enough indication of the park features...
(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)
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I went to the SNO!storm freestyle night last Friday at Castleford. Again, I was impressed with the effort that they put in the park setup - most noticably this time the kicker, which was easily the biggest I've seen there yet.
It's a shame that they don't put these special freestyle nights on more often as the quality of the park is high (the next one isn't until August). I understand that it no doubt takes a large amount of effort to set it all up; but when they build kickers like this one it can be really progressive. It certainly helped me to push my own limit...
I was pretty nervous the first time I hit it, and throughout the night I didn't try anything more adventurous than straight-air variations. I probably only hit the kicker a dozen times - but I was pleased that towards the end I was feeling more comfortable, more confident. I was ready to start trying some things.
These freestyle nights definitely attract some of the good riders from around the UK - there were some sick riding on display, putting the kicker to good use.
I learned some new stuff on the rails and boxes too, which felt pretty good: boardslide to 50-50, coming in regular and switch, and also a little frontside bone on a 5-0, which probably has a name that I don't know. I'm still nothing near to comfortable with frontside boardslides - something I definitely want to fix. Now I'm just looking forward to the next one in August...
We took a little bit of video over the last handful of runs - but unfortunately I've left my camera in Huddersfield! In the meantime I'll post some pictures of the park setup and then I'll sort the video out when I get the camera back.
So last Saturday a group of us went to ride at Halifax. For most it was their first experience of snowflex, which made things quite interesting. Overall everyone had a good day, with each person wanting to ride there again...
The weather was fairly warm and windy, which made the slope pretty damn dry. I don't think the sprinkler system was/is working as well as it could do, but there was at least some water coming out, which helped a little. The budget washing up liquid did it's job.
I'm yet to ride the slope when it's wet, so I have nothing to compare the first two trips against. When the slope is dry, it makes the kicker really inconsistent: one hit you're sticking all the way down the run-in and you get no air, then the next hit is much faster.
But it's not the dryness that I'm struggling with the most - it's the transition to riding on snowflex. I'm still putting too much pressure on the heel edge which is making frontside rotations off the heel really hard. On the plus side though, I seem to be fairing much better taking off the toes, which has resulted in my backside rotations getting some much needed practice. In fact, Saturday was the first time I've paid any significant attention to the backside 180...
So, I've put some video clips together from the day. Whilst the camera was on I was trying to get to grips with a frontside shifty stalefish (I think) and a backside 180; both met some success, but they need more work yet. I just can't wait to ride the kicker again! I've used a track by The Postal Service called We Will Become Silhouettes (iTunes UK). If you like it, you can buy it here:
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There's a bit of a snowflex theme running on this blog at the moment, but given that summer is approaching and I've had two really nice sessions on the stuff, that's understandable. I hope to ride more at Halifax as the year goes on...
I was pointed at the following video on YouTube: the history/development of snowflex. I found it pretty interesting, so here it is:
I'm not much of a rail rider, but that doesn't stop me from keeping an eye out for good hand rails; purely for interest. Sometimes I'm thinking "I wonder if I could hit that?" More often though, it's something like "that would look pretty good in a video."
Well there's a pretty gnarly hand rail just outside of the carpark that I use most days and it definitely falls in the category of potentially looking good in a video part. I'm not sure about the run mind you, but, here are a couple of photos...
The first time that I tried riding on snowflex, I was surprised to discover that the method of choice for making your board faster on dry days is to apply washing-up liquid. And it really works.
Just pour the liquid onto a mat and then rub your board across the top. Job done. It seems to last for a couple/few runs and then you need another application. Of course I'll know a little more after I've riden on the snowflex a few more times...
So in preparation for this weekend's riding, I've been scouting a cheap source of washing-up liquid. I found some in town today at 13p per litre. That should do the trick nicely.
Much better would be a little bit of rain, but you can never rely on the British weather...
A quick apology for the lack of activity here on the blog. I'm in the middle of a large project at home at the moment and unfortunately it's eating a lot of my time...
Don't worry though, I will be making my way through (hopefully) a bunch of interesting posts that have piled up, just a little more slowly than usual. And in the short term, I've got a trip to Halifax planned for this weekend and there's a SNO!storm freestyle session the following Friday at Cas'.
My plan for the summer is to update the blog with my riding from within the UK, and just see where that takes me. There might also be a little skating in there too. I hope you all enjoy it.
Here's a list of the upcoming events at Cas':
SNO!storm Freestyle Nights:
Airbag Freestyle Nights:
I don't intend on visiting all of the airbag nights, in fact, I'm not sure how many I'll go to. It's good fun and you can try some nice stuff, but it's fairly pricey and I didn't like the kicker too much last time. Maybe it will be better in the future... Still, I'd like to go to at least one more, maybe two.
I do however, definitely want to make all of the SNO!storm nights. The two that I've been to so far have really impressed: good kickers and lots of good rails/boxes. There're the cool little snow-skates to play on too!
So here's the video that we took last Saturday at Halifax and Castleford. Whilst we were riding that day we met a fellow rider - Sam. It turned out that it was his first taste of snowflex too and he was heading over to Cas' to session the airbag afterwards! What are the chances of that? Nice guy, good shredder...
Just in case you like the track, it's Soul Meets Body, by Death Cab For Cutie. Here's an iTunes link:
I read an article in Document Snowboard a while ago that recommended making your own snowboard movie as one way to keep the fun of snowboarding going.
It totally does. Well, that's what I think anyway. Not only is making the movie fun, watching it back with your friends later is even better.
We recorded a fair amount of footage this season in Laax: most of it on the hill, but quite a lot of just fun-stuff too. Each person is editting their own section ready for inclusion in a group DVD. It's kinda nice to tinker on with a mini project as the season is fading out. It should be fun!
I'll post some of the sequences on here, as and when they're finished. I've only just started to look at the footage, so it could be a while before I produce something. But to start things off, here's a compilation of some slams, courtesy of my sister...
Here are some photos of the slope at Halifax. I'll try to add one or two more that show the kicker from the side/above...
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So I got my first taste of snowflex at the weekend and I've got to say I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely be riding at Halifax again.
In fact the whole of Saturday was great; really busy, but great. First off was the drive down to Halifax, then a couple of hours riding on the snowflex, over to Castleford for the airbag night, and finally a late night drive home.
There were two firsts in there for me, so here's a little bit of info about each:
The Halifax Slope I opted to pay for flexi hours on the slope, which seems to be a really good idea. Basically you get a card with some credit on it, and then swipe in and out as you please.
Two hours of credit costs £18; but at the time there was a deal giving you £35 credit for £25, which is what I went for. There's more information on the website.
Airbag Night at Cas' The airbag night at Castleford was an extra freestyle session, in addition to the regular Thursday and Friday freestyle nights. So as well as the airbag itself, there was a collection of rails and boxes too.
Time on the airbag was separated out into four, fourty-five minute slots. Each slot was limited to eight people and you needed to book yourself in. The cost of a booking was £8, but this did not include your time on the slope. That is, you need to cover your time on the airbag with paid-for time on the slope.
The guy marshalling at the top did a pretty good job of checking tickets for the airbag; but invariably there were people sneaking on which added to the waiting a little. Someone called it air-blagging :-)
Video from the day and thoughts on riding snowflex to come...
I've had a quick look on YouTube to see if I could find anything showing what the snowflex slope is like at Halifax. Check this out...
Now that I've done all of my riding for this season on real mountains, I'm starting to think about riding here, in the UK.
Historically, I've done just about all of my homeland riding at Xscape Castleford, on the indoor slope. I say just about, because I have ridden on a nearby dendex slope a handful of times.
What I've never done is ride snowflex. Snowflex is definitely a target for this off-season. Ideally I'd like to ride it regularly, but in the least, I'd like to try it out a couple of times. The slope at Halifax is well known for having a good kicker, and that's where I'd like to start.
I also plan to continue riding at Castleford, and I'd like to make use of the airbag sessions that they have lined up. I've never hit an airbag before, but I'm guessing that it's lots of fun.
So my aim is to ride somewhere between 2 and 4 times each month, and it would be nice if one of those sessions was a snowflex session. To help me in this goal, I've decided to start some kind of shred counter; a simple record of how many days I go riding between now and next season.
If all goes to plan, I should be off to a good start. I'm gonna be hooking up with Martin tomorrow at Halifax for my first taste of snowflex, and then tomorrow evening we're gonna ride at Castleford and try out the airbag. The intention, maybe not tomorrow but in the future, is to take some photos and video throughout the summer. Let's see how well I keep it up...
Whilst in Flims/Laax earlier this year I came across two really good snowboard shops that are worth a mention.
Boarderworld First up is Boarderworld. There's a Boarderworld in both Flims and Laax, each situated at the base lift. Boarderworld provides equipment rental as well as regular shopping. Due to baggage being left behind at the airport we had to hire some equipment over the first few days: the service was really good. The people working there were friendly, they knew their stuff and they were interested in getting things right.
As well as good service there was also a good selection of equipment for hire. We picked up a little Forum Youngblood which turned out to be an excellent board (it was actually preferred over the board left behind at the airport). Boarderworld is also fairly big with a good selection of new gear to buy. When we were there, towards the back end of the season there was a sweet 40% sale going on. You might not get that every year, but it sure made shopping nice, if not a little too easy.
Chopp Next up is Chopp, a cool little snow/skate store in Flims, just down the road from the main base lift. Again the service was good, with a nice selection of street clothing, outerwear and boards. Some less-mainstream products there too. The guy in charge was really laid back, friendly and helpful. Our first visit was an early-morning one, pre-lifts and just around shop-opening time. He appeared from his apartment window from across the road and shouted down to let us know he was on his way over... He obviously really likes his riding, and it shows. It's definitely worth a look.
