Absinthe's Ready Soundtrack

There're some great songs on this soundtrack:

• "Waggoner's Lad" by Bert Jansch
  USA:
  UK:
• "Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself)" by Oingo Boingo
  USA:
• "Space Oddity" by David Bowie
  USA:
  UK:
• "Bad Kids" by The Black Lips
  USA:
  UK:
• "L.E.S. Artistes" by Santogold
  USA:
  UK:
• "Back in the Summer of 72'" by The Sun
  USA:
  UK:
• "Sleeping Lessons" by The Shins
  USA:
  UK:
• "Strange Times" by the Black Keys
  USA:
  UK:
• "Look Back and Laugh" by Minor Threat
  USA:
  UK:
• "Fa Fa Fa" by Datarock
  USA:
  UK:
• "Cattle Call" by Eddy Arnold
  USA:
  UK:
• "Love's an Enigma" by Simple Kid
  USA:
  UK:
• "Wimps" by Goons of Doom
  USA:
  UK:
• "Staring at the Sun" by Simple Kid
  USA:
  UK:
• "Six Barrel Shotgun" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
  USA:
  UK:
• "Ambush" by Figurines
  USA:
  UK:
• "Hey Ya!" by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
  USA:
  UK:

I'm starting to really like the Amazon mp3 store. Their coverage isn't as good as iTunes yet, but you can sample most of the ready soundtrack here:

Skating And Other Stuff...

I went for a skate this morning with Dave, the first of the year. I'm hoping to make Sunday mornings a regular thing. It's nice to get out, plus, if I skated more than a handful of times each year I might progress past the just-beyond-noob sticking point that I'm currently at.

I'm most interested in riding some rails, frontside and backside, because the balance and body position is so similar to a snowboard. I can feel it helping. I'd also normally say something like wanting to get some air on a skateboard, like a spine transfer or something out of the coping, but I always say that, and it's too far off. For now, I'll just leave it as it's fun skating...

It's also an opportunity to practice with my new camera. I'm not intending or trying to be a good photographer or anything like that; I just want to be able to take some half decent shots when snowboarding. You know, like picking good settings on the camera and maybe being a little creative. I'd be happy with that.

To date, since buying the D60, I've been full auto, a point and clicker. Today I played around with the burst mode, shutter-priority and manual focus. Elementary, I'm sure, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

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Feel free to critique :)

Snowboarding? Well, there's a Quiksilver sponsored event on next Friday, 27th, at Cas'. No doubt they'll put out a decent park. A good kicker? Good jibs and rails for sure. I'm tempted to go, but also thinking about planning a week away at the end of March/beginning of April, which would require all available funds...

On that note, the destination could potentially be Mayrhofen; either that or Lenzerheide with snowmotions. We'll see.

686 Tool Belt Review

It's a belt, there's not much to say, right?

That's fair enough, but here are a few points:

Tools.
Most of the 686 tool belts come with two tools: a #2 phillips and a flathead. I have seen one with just a single phillips, for skateboarding, but all the snowboarding belts have both.

Is it useful? Definitely. I've been caught out twice on the hill, one time I had my tool belt on, the other I was wishing I did, as my right binding had come loose. Most of time someone in the group has a tool, or there are the tools near lift stations - but the tool belt prevents you from ever being stuck, you get the screw drivers for free.

The buckles are also designed with an integral bottle opener, sick!

Comfort.
The buckle and loop on the tool belt are both finished well: smooth with rounded edges. You're less likely to notice this with all your snowboarding gear on, but if you wear the belt off the hill, you'll find the belt comfortable. No pointy bits of metal sticking into the skin.

Style.
There are loads of different styles available, for both men and women; just check out the 686 website, and hope you can find the one you like best in a shop. The belts come in different sizes, so make sure you get the right one. The straps are all 100%, full grain, waterproof leather. They feel good, take on a natural, worn look, and don't get ruined by all the snow.

Summary.
They're comfortable, stylish, useful and they hold you pants up. They make sense!

Burton Custom Smalls Snowboard Review (and Some More)

The Custom has been marketed as "the snowboard that does everything and some more". The Custom gets so many good reviews, it sounds like a legend and Burton keep bringing out new versions with improvements every year. After reading about the Custom I was expecting good things!

Gavin and I did quite a bit of research into boards before we picked the Custom Smalls. In fact there were three of us on the case: myself, Gav and Arran (Gavin's brother). I am 5ft 1 and 47kg so I am on the petite side and need a board suitable for my size and build. After a bit of investigation we realised that there is not a great deal of choice for petite women; well, it's not easy to get hold of all the boards available. See the post on snowboards for petite women.

Arran then suggested that I consider a kids board, great idea. A kids board means that you can get a nice short length and as long as the weight range is ok I don't think it matters that it is labelled kids.

Background
I have purchased two boards since learning to snowboard and hired one. My favourite board by far has been the Youngblood, which strangely, was the hire board. I got the YB when my luggage went missing and I had to get a hire board for a few days. They say everything happens for a reason. Well, I was pretty disappointed to hear that all my snowboard gear was in the UK and I was in Laax, but ridding the youngblood made me realise what I was missing. I found the Forum board really fun to ride, it was a new lease of life. When my luggage finally arrived I reluctantly took it back...

When I took my Destiny out (my first board) it felt like I had bricks attached to my feet. I hadn't realised until then that I don't like heavy boards, they sap your energy. It's not always easy to know when you start out what you want and what you need. I think it was at this point that I started to get a feel for what I liked.

My destiny is very stiff, great for blasting around, but way too stiff and tiring for me to jib on. My Second purchase the Santa Cruz, is the complete opposite. The SC is good for jibbing around and in the park but horribly unstable at high speed; it really chatters. It's also the slowest board that I have ever been on, it makes shallow trails a nightmare. So after riding the youngblood I decided to look for a new board, one that was stable at high speed and fun to jib on. And so I bought my Custom Smalls, well actually Gavin bought me a Custom ;-).

What was it like?
The custom feels really light and poppy. It's got a nice flex and is easy to ride. I found it really fast and stable at speed, it didn't chatter like some boards that I have ridden. My destiny was a fast board but I think I've probably progressed more with the Custom. I could tear around and not get tired. I found the destiny hard to ride all day as you have to be quite aggressive; the custom is easier to ride and feels more responsive. I was always nervous going fast on my SC and felt like I was going to bale spontaniously. With the custom I just went for it! I don't know, maybe I was just in a good mood ;-) or maybe its natural progression. It felt good and gave me the confidence to relax aand have lots of fun.

The custom smalls is twin tip and has the option for a wide stance. Actually it has a super wide stance. I normally use the widest stance possible but when I measured that setting compared to my two other boards it was about two inches wider! I decided on the second widest setting. I haven't ridden the adult's custom so I can't really compare them, but from what I have read they sound pretty similar. There are a few top pros who ride it, Mads Jonsson, Heikki Sorsa, Mason Aguirre, so it can't be bad!

Powder
Despite that fact that it's short and light I managed fine in powder, in fact I got some of the best lines I think I have ever had. I felt like I was floating! I used my SC last year in Fernie and combined with my inexperience with the pow I spent most of the time sinking or rag dolling... I was a fully trained gymnast after two weeks. I think the fact that the nose on the smalls has a decent scoop helps slightly. The snow in Avoriaz was slightly different to Canada and probably no deeper than 30cm.

Base
If I had to find fault I would say that the base is not great, it's not the same as the adult's board, which perhaps contributes to the low cost, who knows? The glide of the board has always been an issue for me. I have never had a board that's had a good base, indusive to speeding across the flats. I did hope that my next board would have better tech... But now that I have thought about it, it's not that important. The time I spend on flats/shallows is few and far between. Even If I had a better base I still don't have the weight to glide well. So really it's not that high on my list of priorities.

Graphics
I must admit I am not especially bothered by board graphics, I see them more as a bonus rather than a necessity. I do like the graphics on the custom, they are bright and... I love bright colours... But, had the graphics been horrible I would have still bought the board!

Summary
All in all I am totally pleased with this board, I have ridden it in Powder, on the piste (groomed and choppy), in the park, and it ticks all of those boxes. I didn't think it was possible to get a board that was good to ride around and in the park, but I am pleased to say Burton have proved me wrong. Who said you can't have everything!

It's ideal for me, and at a fraction of the cost of an adult's board it meant that I had some change left over to buy a new jacket, perfect ;-)

Lib Tech Travis Rice Snowboard Review

The T.Rice is an awesome snowboard. I wanted a soft-flexing, freestyle board, that I would ride in the park and around the whole mountain. I was willing to compramise on out-right powder performance. The Lib Tech passed with ease.

My previous board was a Nitro T2 (review), which performed well in the role that I've stated above. However, after the board got banged up riding snowflex, and I suffered in the deep freshies provided by Fernie (trip diary), I decided that I'd opt for a slightly shorter, softer flexing freestyle board, with a view to add a powder stick to my collection.

I bought the 153cm, blunt T.Rice, with Banana Tech and Magne-Traction. After riding this Lib Tech for two weeks on a variety of conditions: park, rails, piste, some ice, soft snow and roughly 30cm pow, this is my review.

Jibbing & The Park.
The T.Rice is great for jibbing around the piste. It's certainly not as stiff as I'd feared; a lot of the magazine gear reviews seem to rate this board as a fairly stiff freestyle board. I don't think that's the case. The bend-the-board-by-hand-in-the-shop test was the first clue. But after riding it, I'd say it has a lovely freestyle flex. It's not as soft as something like a Kink, but it's closer to a DH than it is the T2. It butters well, almost easily but not quite, it's lively, producing nice ollies, and it's easy to move around.

It's got smooth pop. It's not the type of board that you need to put a lot into before you go anywhere, but it doesn't give it up freely either. It's springy. I say smooth because the board seems to respond well no matter how much you put into your ollie.

I ride rails and boxes, but I don't do big gaps/transfers on, so the rail lock that I'm sure is important to some people isn't that much of a factor to me. It doesn't feel much different to the other boards that I've hit rails on, but like I said, I don't really push it that much. No problems here.

Directional Twin & Stance
Before buying the T.Rice I kind of had it my head that I wouldn't compramise on a true twin setup. Obvisouly I did, as the T.Rice is a directional twin. Similar to the Rome Agent, I can't say I ever noticed a difference in riding switch, and I'd say I spend almost as much time riding switch as I do regular. The stance is centered so there are no problems there, and on that note, there are a lot of holes to choose from. Max stance on the 153 is 25", then 23.5", 22" and I guess 20.5" (I didn't bother measuring the narrowest, centered stance). It rides well in both directions and good stance options is a definite plus.

Banana Technology (BTX)
Compared with some of the other boards in the Lib Tech range, the amount of bend to the T.Rice banana is slight. Whilst it looks noticably different from a conventional camber, I can't say I ever noticed the difference when riding it. That statement does come with a few caveats:

• I thought the pressing the board/buttering felt nice. This could have been in part due to the banana tech
• Despite being relatively short I didn't have any problems with the nose diving into fresh stuff. This could have been helped by the reverse camber
• It was the only board I rode for the two week stretch, so there were no immediate/direct comparisons with a regular board

Magne-Traction (MTX)
I had one or two doubts about the serrated edge design; I guess I wasn't sure that I was going to like it. However, similar to the Banana Tech, I can't say that I noticed that much difference. For example, lining up for jumps, gliding in a straight line, and, I'm fairly sure, riding down regular pistes, felt quite normal.

It seems kinda strange to me that such a different design wouldn't feel any different? Well, I didn't notice one difference. Towards the end of the two weeks the slopes started to get a little icy. As I mentioned above, I didn't perform any kind of board comparison, but from memory, I'm confident in saying that the Magne-Traction helped with edge hold in the icy conditions. For example, it felt better than the T2. That was impressive.

On regular pistes, I didn't really feel it. I'd say the T.Rice has good edge hold, but not fantastic. Similar to the T2, but not better.

Powder
Like any 153cm board (for me), the Lib Tech isn't going to excel in freeride conditions. However, in the two weeks that this review is based on, I did have 3 or 4 powder days, so how did it perform?

First up, let's talk about the pow itself. It wasn't especially dry or especially deep. I'd say ranging between 20cm and 40cm. In these conditions the board did well. I was loving every turn and not digging in. Nothing like the problems I had in the deep Fernie snow with the T2. All's good.

Was it because the snow wasn't too deep. Am I a little better riding fresh than I was then? Does the nose profile have a better scoop? Does the slightly wider nose from a directional shape help? The Banana Tech? All of these little things contributed I'm sure. The board did well. I was still riding twin stance, 22.5". I didn't witness a huge dump of snow, but I sirfed the resort pow nicely.

If you're packing a beeper, shovel and probe, and hiking for fresh lines, you're probably not in the market for a short, twin tipped board...

Summary
I love this board. I'm sure I'd have been happy with a DH, which was probably what I would have bought, but I have no regrets. I would say that it's the overall board that impresses me, the flex, the pop, the ride and the feel, and not something specific like the Banana Tech or the Magne-Traction, although those features obviously contribute. I was attracted to the board in the shop because of how it felt in the hand - it seemed to ooze quality. It's exactly the same on the hill.

Since I've Been Back...

Well I've been back for a little over a week now, so what have I been doing?

First up, I wanted to post all of the daily entries from the trip, and, after sorting through a bunch of photos, I've retrospectively added some pictures to go along with what happened each day. It felt a little strange adding these posts after I'd returned home, but still, I enjoy having the diary-style entries for my snowboarding trips, and now they're there.

I definitely missed having an Internet connection in the accommodation.

I've started to stream some of the video. There isn't loads, but a few tapes can take some time. I don't know about you guys, but when I stream video of myself/friends, I make small, individual clips direct from the raw tape. I find the editting much easier this way, and it serves as a first filter for anything that's not worth looking at. The downside is that it takes longer...

I took a dictaphone with me to help with the wsg review, so I've been busy taking the notes from that, making sure I haven't missed anything. As far as the review goes, my plan is simply to take one resort at a time and work my way through. I wonder how long it will take? Once all the work's done, I'll reflect on how well the process mixed with a 'holiday'.

We've also watched quite a bit of tv, well, tv series' actually; I don't have a licence for regular tv. Just before we left for Morzine, Ciara and I finished watching season 1 of Jericho... season 2 was promptly purchased the day we returned. If you haven't seen Jericho, I strongly recommend it, it's awesome. Since then, Battlestar season 4 and the first season of The Wire. I'm not sure where this surge came from, but it's been good.

Work. It took all of the first morning back to feel like I hadn't been away. I guess reality hits back pretty quick.

And what about more snowboarding this season? Well, I'm hoping to set something up, maybe a week in Switzerland, but nothing is definite. Shame...

Day 13 - Last Day

Another sunny day, blue skies. All of this good visibility makes a nice change from some of the heavy snow and white-outs we had in the first week, but after being spoiled with fresh snow, it feels like this place could do with a top up. Ice is starting to creep in.

Actually, it's the occasional areas of ice that have highlighted a possible difference attributed to one of the two, standout design features of my new board - the Lib Tech T.Rice. My board has Lib Tech's Magne-Traction edges and Banana Technology base. To be honest, I haven't really noticed a difference.

Until now.

Of course it's difficult to provide an accurate comparison given that I've been riding this board on all conditions for around two weeks, and I don't have a regular board to strap onto and ride the same conditions. That said, the lib tech does seem to have better edge control on icy conditions as compared with conventional side-cut boards. That's interesting...

So, the day started with Ciara and I heading up to Avoriaz to leave a copy of the world snowboard guide with Jean Noel and the Tourist Office. We then went to check out the Arare Park; Avoriaz's largest park. On the way there, we stopped to take a look at the half pipe too.

Man, where does the time go? Two weeks here and I haven't taken a single run through the half-pipe!

So the Arare park isn't quite finished, but there's still a lot there, and what is there is pretty good, and pretty big. We got plenty of photos for potential use with the online guide...

After that we spent most of the day in the stash. It's pretty addictive. Lots of hits, lots of fun, and something that Ciara and I have been happy to lap again and again, just the two of us. And being serviced by a fast, 6 man chair helps too. There's a pretty long, natural log right at the entrance to Main Street, and on our last run through I just about hit the end. It's round and knobbly, so not particularly easy. I was stoked. Also, Ciara got a couple of indy grabs, the first I've seen her do. Sweet.

Those final runs through the stash, and the rather excellent home run from Avoriaz down to Prodains, Crot, made for an excellent end to our trip. I just wish we didn't have to go home. More snowboarding would be good, and I need to sort myself out hitting kickers.

The whole group was assembled at the bottom, ten of us, drinking beers in what has become our regular, La Kinkerne. The hospitality there is exceptional. We sat around talking about what we'd done that day, and over the two weeks in general. Those ice cold beers go down so well. What a great trip...

Day 12 - Main Street

After our meeting yesterday with Jean Noel, the directive today was to session the stash - Main Street.

So much fun. It's a bit of a shame that it's taken until day 12 for us to try these lines, but better late than never. We took 4 or 5 runs through, and Ciara worked some of the hits on Prolays. I had the video camera with me.

It was a good morning, I did some things that I was pleased with. I haven't gone bigger on this trip, in fact the truth might actually be the opposite, but I have progressed in other areas. I was pleased.

After a late lunch we found the Stash was a little busy in the afternoon, but it was already quite late, so we went to the Avoriaz Chapelle park instead. Ever since I hit the blue kickers there last week, they've been playing on my mind. Not good. I didn't hit them today either. I'd like to say that I'll come back tomorrow and hit that line, but to be honest, I don't think so. It's in my head now, and I'd rather not let it bother me, especially when I'm having fun shredding other parts of the mountain.

It was a great day, over too quickly, I'll address the kicker issue when I get home...

(click to enlarge)

Day 11, Jean Noel From The Stash

This morning we headed over to Crosets to ride some fast runs with the group. Sunny, early morning groomers means quiet, fast runs. Awesome. I love it when you you're going at a speed that makes you think, if I stack it now it's gonna really hurt.

I'm not totally sure where the boundary between Champery and Les Crosets is on the slopes, but we made our way towards Champery to get a good look at the infamous Swiss Wall. I guess 99% of the times it's a really steep, mogul field, and big moguls at that. The rest of the time, following a lot of snow, it might be an awesome powder run; well that's what I hear, I've never seen it like that...

I had no desire to join the 100 skiers or so and ride the moguls - not just to say I've done it. Instead we headed down a really long run, the Grand Paradis, towards a small base station (car park), sitting a little higher than the town of Champery. A note for snowboarders who find themselves in this area: don't get suckered in by the length of this red, or the top section for that matter, which you can see from the lift, and to be fair, is really nice.

The rest of it sucks. You're walking. Guaranteed. And probably more than once. Apart from the top section, which, surprise, surprise is quiet, the rest of the run is a long, flat, boring trail. And there's nothing to see at the bottom either.

Cue lunch. Yummy.

Ciara and I split from the group for the afternoon. We had two agendas: Ciara wanted to show me some of the stuff she learned on her freestyle lesson, and at 3.00pm, we had a meeting with the top guy from the Avoriaz Park Team, Jean Noel.

I watched Ciara in the park for an hour or so, but I don't think she was totally feeling it. Still, I know she's improving a lot at the moment, her freestyle basics are more solid than they've ever been.

This was the first day that I haven't put any sun cream on. First thing this morning it looked like it was going to be overcast, so I skipped the cream. Mistake. It turned out to be the hottest day so far and I could feel my face tickling. A slight goggle tan ensued...

We met Jean at 3.00pm, at the top of the stash. He took us for a couple of runs through the stash, different routes each time, explaining things along the way. That, plus to the two chair rides back to the top and we'd learned a load of interesting information. It was definitely a good idea to have this meeting.

Having spent some time prior to this meeting shredding through the stash, I was surprised to find that we'd never been through Main Street. You see, there are numerous paths through the stash, which as well as providing good variation, also allows them to grade the different runs. I'd gravitated to the area that I could see from the lift; I like the hits that I could see, and the line under the lift had some nice sections of pow.

(click to enlarge)

Main Street is awesome. Loads of natural rails and boxes, jibs, hits and hips. There are no actual kickers; there isn't really enough space or control, given that the stash is laid out as a run. And it's laid out well. It's all about providing a good lines, and it works.

The only downside is that it's placement next to regular runs can attract skiers. That's not a dig at skiers as a group. What I mean is that you get skiers passing by, thinking it looks interesting, so they ski through as they would on any other run. It's just unwanted traffic. I don't mind waiting for someone else to hit a box or a jib, but who wants to wait in a freestyle-specific area for a convoy of 6 skiers to snake their way past?

Mini rant over.

Jean Noel was excellent and I thank him for his time.

Drinks at La Kinkerne is becoming a regular deal. After taking the bus from Prodains to Morzine, we popped into Mel's Cafe, a must visit. Ciara and I spent the last of our Euros, almost to the cent. The purchase was: one cheese burger, one double cheese burger, curly fries and two large beers. It was totally worth it, the burgers here are awesome!

I guess my budget wasn't too far out given that there're only two days left. Getting a close to one euro for your pound sucks, but not enough to pass up a beer and a burger after a day on the hill.

Day 10, Les Gets Park

I set off early this morning with Emma, heading for the Les Gets park. Ciara was missing in action, 6 pints last night proved too much for cathing the first bus... and the whole morning as it turned out :)

Not knowing the bus route, we decided to use the slopes to take us from Morzine to Les Gets. Once you get up into Morzine, it's one more lift, and then a single run all the way down into Les Gets base/town. A short walk across town and then up the other side of Les Gets, towards the park.

In all, it took us around an hour to get to the top of the park, from the base of Morzine, but it could be done quicker.

I enjoyed the Les Gets park. The beginner kicker line was good: three, well shaped kickers. The landings are a little short, but I'd say the shaping of the transitions kinda makes up for it. What I liked was that the park was laid out in a line; so you could hit the three kickers and then a rail, box and jib. Six hits is pretty good for a small'ish park. There was another rail or two, a hip, and a bigger kicker, although that was closed for the majority of the day.

The park is serviced by two chairlifts, one slightly longer than the other. We used the slightly longer one, Les Planeys, is it meant we could hit the final jib in the park, which I quite liked. I think it was something like 12-13 minutes to make a lap. That's not particularly quick, but a chiar does make a nice change.

I was working the nose grab - a grab that continues to allude me - and the frontside 3. Then melon this is starting to come more easily, even if the hit is smaller.

There's a handy restaurant at the top of the park, English owned I guess, and we ate there. It wasn't a full afternoon, but we did take a few more laps before heading back to Morzine, using the slopes again, rather than the bus. All in all, a good day.

Day 9, Wsg Exploration

Ciara and Emma had booked themselves a full day lesson with Our Camp, so I decided to take the opportunity to borrow the car and go for a drive: my mission to visit the smaller towns in the Portes Du Soleil and snowboard from Chatel to La Chapelle d'Abondance. I wanted to check out the Smooth Park too.

My route was laid out for me - thanks to the us getting stranded incident on Day 6. The plan was to make the best of the conditions on hand, take a lot of photos, get a feel for the layout, try some of the quieter slopes and make it back before dark.

All in all it went pretty well. I covered a lot of ground. After taking some pictures of the smooth park (the light wasn't great), I dropped my bag with the liftie and took a few laps. I snowboarded from Chatel to Torgon and then down to La Chapelle d'Abondance, getting a good view of Lake Geneva on the way.

It's hard to know for sure based on one day only, but the slopes over that way seemed very quiet. I saw some really nice runs, and non-crowded off-piste potential too. I'm not gonna say more now because I need to write the review up in full when I get home...

On the way back I drove through Morzine and on towards Prodains, to meet up with Ciara, Emma and my dad - he'd done the camp day too. I met Gilly Seagrave from Our Camp, their coach for day. She seemed really nice, and by all accounts, the coaching was excellent. Awesome!

Right now I'm taking my first, real opportunity to connect to the Internet. Wow, 9 days in, I really miss having a connection in our accommodation. We're staying out for something to eat. Gilly reckons that the park in Les Gets is pretty good and I think the others have been there today too - so that's the plan for tomorrow...

Day 9, Quick Update

Finding an Internet connection has not been easy. There are a couple of places in Morzine where you pay to connect, but they close around 7pm, so it's not easy to get there before closing.

Right now, I'm on a free wi-fi connection, in a bar/restaurant. Unfortunately it's in Prodains, which is a drive from our chalet, so I need the car, and the motivation, to come out on an evening...

So I've been writing up some daily posts, off-line, in the chalet, to post later. I might not get another chance to post the rest of them - if not, I'll post them when I get home. I'll also check up on comments, as right now I don't have much time online.

Day 8, Not What We'd Hoped...

We woke up to a bluebird this morning, but unfortunately there was no where near as much snow as was forecast.

Yesterday was supposed to see 50cm fall during the course of day and night, followed by clear skies today. The clear sky materialised, but the snow didn't. It seems that the bulk of the snow fell on Friday evening and Saturday morning, so it was all used up yesterday. Without much falling last night, there was pretty much zero fresh today...

Still, the pistes had been topped up nicely and the grooming was tight. You gotta love fresh groomers.

We spent the morning lapping blues and reds; chilling, jibbing, having fun and filming a few things. Mike and Kay have come out to join us for the second week, so this was their first day.

We met up with them just before lunch for a run. When we got to the bottom Mike realised he'd lost his pass! No way. His pocket had split allowing the white, plastic pass to slip out. 6 of us went back to the top and re-traced our run, but I think we all knew it was a hopeless effort.

I think he took it pretty well :) They just went down and got another one. We discussed options for trying to claim a replacement, but with no receipt and a cash payment it just didn't seem likely. I hope they can claim on their insurance.

The afternoon was chilled too. This is the first time that Julie's snowboarded so I didn't see her too much in the first week. Having the full group together was pretty cool - it's good to see a beginner nailing their turns, picking up some speed and progressing.

We made our way down to Prodains, again, for some apres beers. One turned into two, and then four or five. We got the late bus back, had some late beers, and now I'm pretty merry...

Day 7, Fresh Lines

Snow was falling yesterday, both during the day and the evning, so we woke this morning to find some nice, fresh snow. It was actually still snowing in Morzine by the chalet, with a small covering on the road.

Eagre to make first lift, we were lucky, as we only just caught the bus. However, we soon found that the Super Morzine lift, a few minutes down the road from our chalet, was closed. That meant we needed to take the cable car at Prodains - so we took a second bus from Morzine to Prodains. No problems. Still fairly early on the hill.

The visibility was ok; not bad, but not good, so we stuck to the trees under the Prolays lift. There's a run that cuts through the trees, which had some nice pockets of fresh available at the sides. Then, there's the stash and all the non-groomed areas in the trees themselves. Good stuff. We took 4 or 5 laps.

We then took the Chaux Fleurie up from Lindarets base. As you look across to the right as the chair goes up, there's a big, open area of off-piste, gentle to start but then getting pretty steep.

An afternoon photo of this area; it was less tracked when we took it.

We weren't the first by a long way. But when we got to the top, we ducked under the rope, still hoping for some good lines. We weren't dissapointed. First off, the sun came out just as we started. Clear skies and fresh snow. We then found that the top 2/3 of the run had plenty of fresh areas to make your own tracks. It was awesome.

Ciara really opened up here, going much faster than normal. It was great to see her really nail some powder turns. She was stoked, so we hit it up for a second lap.

The next descent wasn't quite as good. More tracks, and the snow seemed to get a little heavier, quickly, under the full sun. Still, nice turns when we found good spots.

At this point there was only 3 in our group, Ciara, Ross and myself. The others were a little hungover, plus they'd attempted to use the car to get to Prodains and got into all kinds of trouble. As we sat down for lunch they were only just arriving. Missing the fresh, not smart!

The afternoon was less noteworthy. Fresh snow became tracked and the slopes became choppy. I spent some time this evening looking for somewhere to connect to the Internet in Morzine, but the two places I found both closed at 7. Sucky.

Ciara and I stayed in the town and ate out. We're past half way now. Another good day of shredding on the hill.

Day 6, Wsg Meeting

We'd arranged to meet the representative from the Portes Du Soleil today, for lunch. The plan was to head over to Chatel using the slopes, have something to eat while discussing the wsg review, and then head back afterwards to meet up with the group.

When we woke we found it was raining down in Morzine. Never a good sign - but rain in the valley can mean snow up on the top - so I wasn't too bothered...

And that turned out to be the case. Once we got to the top of Avoriaz, it was snowing, and there was a healthy dose of some fresh piling up in places. We only had time to make one run down towards Lindarets before going further - but it was a good one. Ciara and I had left the chalet alone and I was starting to think that the others were missing out; the visibility wasn't great, but there are plenty of trees in that area that help to keep things clear, and that's where the stash is!

You can take a bus from Pre La Joux to Chatel. It goes through Linga before reaching Chatel, and in total takes between 10 and 15 minutes. That option makes reaching Chatel from Avoriaz a small deal. However, we'd decided to use the lifts to get as far a Linga, and take the bus from there. Probably not the best choice given the weather.

Once away from the trees is was a complete white-out. We took a long red from the top of Tete du Linga down to the base, which was probably really nice, but to be honest, it was hard to see anything. Once we were around half way down, the snow gave way to rain, heavy rain, and we were subsequently drenched!

It's worth pointing out that on the lift up to the top, des combes, I thought I'd spotted a good deal of cliffs and rocks that looked good for dropping...

We arrived in Chatel, wet, and later than we'd planned. With the weather and one or two stops, the journey over there probably took twice as long. We had lunch with Cosima, from the Portes Du Soleil press office, and chatted about the reivew. All went well.

As the weather was bad we decided to head straight back. Unfortunately we were caught out. After taking the bus back to Pre La Joux, we used the first of two lifts to take us back towards Avoriaz, only to find the second lift was closed due to high winds. This was around 3 o-clock, and it was closed for the day. Not good. Stuck at the bottom of Pre La Joux, we were faced with the prospect of a long taxi ride home. Ouch.

Lesson: don't stray too far on bad weather days.

Luckily for us, we had a car in the group, and they were willing to come collect us. The journey, 45 - 50 minutes, takes you along a fairly high pass running between Montriond and Abondance (roughly) - which I decided might come in hand later for parts of the reivew.

Ciara and I did our bit for the whole skier-snowboarder divide, and offered two skiers a ride back in the car, to save them getting a taxi. It meant one of us had to sit in the boot, so there was a small sacrifice involved. I'd like to say it was me that downgraded seats, but after a quick discussion, I gave in to Ciara's logic that she's the smallest, so it was easier for her to fit...

It turned out that the rest of the group were put off by the rain and took the whole day off. I still think they missed out. Avoriaz that morning had good snow. Oh well. The played Kings instead; by time we got back, they were all pretty wasted!

Day 5, Exploration

Ciara and I decided to make our way over to Les Crosets today, with a plan to either go on towards Champery or Champoussin.

I continue to be impressed with Avoriaz and Les Crosets, which is very close by, proved to offer good snowboarding too: fast steep runs, good lifts, accessible off-piste and a well shaped park. A second blue-bird day, we were able to take some decent photos - I had the D60 with me - some of the views were incredible. On a side note, the backpack is working out well; I can fit my camcorder (plus handle) and slr in there, and there's still plenty of room for extras...

After looking around some, we decided to make our way to Champoussin: we'd check out what was on offer, have lunch and then head back.

Lunch was good...

Getting to Champoussin: not impressed.

Accessing Champoussin from Les Crosets is horrible. If you're on a snowboard, you're walking, guaranteed. And there's a good deal. Annoying. At at the end of all the walking, we ended up at a steep t-bar. They're just not comfortable for snowboarders.

I reckon you're walking along here... and around the corner too.

I won't say too much about Champoussin here - I'll be writing that up later - but the brief story is that it's quiet, there are loads of poorly connected drag lifts, and the route back to Les Crosets is almost as bad as the way there. We won't be going back.

Quiet slopes... there's still fresh around.

Before returning to Avoriaz we decided to descend on one of the off-piste runs we'd spotted earlier in the day. By mid afternoon the snow was a little heavy, but it was still fun. We were fairly tired from all of the trecking around and ready to get back.

We had some nice long runs to take us all the way back to Prodains, where we met up with the others in the bar for some well deserved beers. I've really enjoyed taking the camera up on the hill, especially as I'll be using the photos for the review. When I get back to an Internet connection (I'm writing these posts off-line, storing them up) I'll upload some of the pictures I've taken.

I'm still nursing a sore ankle. The plan for tomorrow is to head for Chatel. I'm meeting a representative from the Portes Du Soleil for lunch, and then there's the Super Chatel slopes to check up, including the Smooth Park...

Champoussin village.

Day 4, Almost A Powder Day

I was hoping for a powder day today - but it wasn't quite there. There was a small amount of fresh, but the tracks from the day before were still all there. That said, we had some awesome runs...

We started the day heading up to Avoriaz and then down into Pre La Joux. Ciara and I took a good look around the base station and the valley, making notes for the wsg review.

We headed up one side of the valley, and as we rose higher on the chairlift we discovered some accessible off-piste, still fairly fresh. A small traverse and we were ready to drop in.

Yeah there were some tracks there, but it was deep, soft and steep, with a few trees to make things interesting. We took 3 laps of this area before lunch; some of the turns were golden. To top it off, it was clear skies all the way and the sun was out. Awesome.

The lap was split into two parts. The first section dropped back onto a run, and then from there, we dropped off the run, off-piste, down towards the lift. The bottom wasn't as good as the top, but still worth shredding, with smooth turns and pockets of nice, deep snow.

We explored the area further after lunch, with one of the aims being to check out the happy park... We found that it was yet to be built, so after riding around for a while, we headed back to Avoriaz to check out the park there.

I thought the kickers looked quite whippy, although on reflection, they're not that whippy. It wasn't a good first session. My first hit, a bs 180, came up short, landing on the knuckle, crunching my ankle some, knee too, and bouncing down the landing. I followed that attempt up with much more speed, got the take off wrong and things went belly up, literally. More on that later.

Not a great ending to the day. I'd messed my goggles up nicely and my right leg was pretty tender. Still, the morning had been great, and I'm sure I can do something useful on those kickers...

Day 3, Frustration And Jubilation

We're pretty low, down in the town of Morzine. We woke to 4 or 5" of fresh snow on the ground. That meant there was going to be a good deal more up on the hill. Not completely clear, but far from a whiteout. Very excited.

We made the decision to go to Morzine rather than Avoriaz, which was a little risky given that we don't know the area at all. I don't like not knowing where to go on powder day, it's too easy to miss out on the good stuff.

However, I've been wanting to explore Morzine and Les Gets and we'd read about some areas that are good after a snow fall.

It kinda sucked. Actually it sucked. I was really frustrated.

Being new to the area, I was relying on the map, and it didn't line up too well with reality. The base station was reporting that the area we were interested in, Chamossiere, was open. After taking the first gondola up we had to wait 20 minutes for the next lift to open. Then the first run we needed to take at the top of that, was closed. We took a run down to a different chair and waited.

It opened and we headed down into the next valley - a valley with 3 possbile chairs to take you out. The lift we wanted, taking us up further towards Chamossiere, was closed. We took a different chair up and cut the almost-first lines down under the chair: short, but steep and deep. It was a little disjointed as the decent was broken up by a regular run snaking down under the chair, but good non the less.

When we got to the bottom, we found the area crowded, and with only one of the three chairs running, there was a big queue. The only fresh that we knew of was now tracked out. We didn't know where to go and the chairs we needed were closed. A good snowfall, fresh snow, and we were stuck. We took an early lunch and waited for things to open - I was frustrated and spent the time hoping we'd find something good and not end up missing out completely.

We didn't really find anything good the rest of the day. Following the piste map, we went from lift to lift, run to run, trying to get to places we thought would be good. We started with Chamossiere and that was closed. Next, we tried Nyon, and that was closed too. Incidently, this information wasn't available at the base station. By the time we got over to the Les Gets area, everything was tracked, and the visibility had gone bad.

We'd done a lot of runs, but nothing great. The collective opinion of the Morzine slopes wasn't high. Maybe that's a premature assesment, but right now I consider Avoriaz and beyond to be better. It's more interesting, there's more to do, more hits. Exploring was fun - but it was just that - exploring.

But then came the jublilation. Just as we were stopping, it started snowing. And it was snowing down in the town; pretty heavy. We stayed out for some beers and then found a restaurant. It was still snowing when we headed home. Suddenly, the 20 minute walk home, a fresh evening with soft snow falling, wasn't too bad. Very different to the first night, when we were cold and it was raining.

Spirits were high, it looks like we're getting a second bite of the cherry, another powder day. I hope it snows through the night. Maybe we were too hard on Morzine, but tomorrow we'll be heading to Avoriaz...

Day 2, Powder, Snow, Rain, Snow...

Our first day ended with snow falling on the hill. We were all pretty excited by the prospect of what was to come...

Emma, Ciara and I got the first lift up to Avoriaz and headed down towards the Prolays lift. The first run was great. The mountain was still quiet, we were ducking on and off the piste, hitting nice stretches of fresh. Playing in the soft stuff, kicking up snow. Good lines. Good times.

We met up with reinforcements after the first run, and started with a few laps around the Stash. The Stash in Avoriaz is pretty, damn impressive. As well as the natural park objects, the Stash is set amongst the trees, under the chairlift, and there are good pockets of powder on hand - after a snow fall.

As well as taking as much of the fresh as possible, and there were some good lines, if not a little short, we tried hitting a few of the obstacles. There's a good pic-nic bench setup with a steep, drop-away landing. I went pretty big off of that, from 50-50. There's good stuff there... some of it is pretty gnarly.

Following a few laps of the Stash, we tried one of the Snow Cross runs in Avoriaz. The Portes Du Soleil has a number of non-groomed, freeride runs; one such starts close to the top of the Prolays lift, and we spotted it while lapping through the Stash. My first run down was awesome. Fresh, fast, long and good turns. There was a good deal of faith involved, as the visibility wasn't great and there were a few dips, bumps and creeks that needed avoiding.

The second half of the run was more tracked, but we traversed to uncover a good strech that was steep and untouched. More great turns, all accessed by lift and on an official run. That's pretty good.

After our first run through, I spotted an area that was entirely fresh. I was picking out the route to get there as we went up on the lift, and the access was sketchy. I repeated the first half of the run and then left the trail and headed toward a bank of small cliffs/rocks. It was a short but steep face that I traversed on the heel edge, picking my way between branches and rocks, and pushing away small slides of snow as I went - nothing really. At the bottom of the bank the snow stretched out on a clear, fairly narrow, steep slope between small shrubs and trees.

Once I was half way down there was no grip left on the branches/rocks - so I just accepted it, pointed down and hit the slope with speed, then layed down some fast turns in the fresh, hoping not to hit a depression in the flat light. It was a great run - I'm glad I decided to pick my way down through the rocks...

Just before lunch, the light snow turned to soft rain. At the very top it was actually still snow, but a little bit further down, it was rain. The snow was heavy, wet and sticky, which wasn't great.

We spent the afternoon exploring a little. It was a mixed bag of horrible wind, wet snow, choppy snow, some good runs and evil chairlift rides. We ended the day completely soaked through. It's the wettest I've ever been when snowboarding. By time we got down into town, the light rain up top was regular rain. We weren't encouraged. Getting back to the chalet for a hot shower was a priority - after a few beers, of course.

...And then later on that evening, the rain turned to snow...

Day 1, PS:

I love my new boad. The T.Rice is sick!

Day 1, A Good Start

We didn't get into resort until around 11pm last night. A few beers, something to eat and time to unpack.

Sleeping wasn't easy. It was like Christmas eve when you're ten years old. I woke at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep. If I'd had an Internet connection, I could have logged on to play at my favorite online casino until my buddies woke up.

We were up for first lift this morning :) On the way up you could see that it hasn't snowed for a while... But the forecast is telling us snow is on the way.

Still, the first runs were good, and the base is good too. By mid morning our group was fully assembled... Much fun spending the first day shredding together; warming up and trying a few tricks.

It started snowing before lunch. Fairly heavy plus a strong wind. Chairlifts were brutal. As the afternoon went on, we were encouraged by the snow that was falling, but the wind was getting even stronger and it became a full on blizzard/whiteout.

We ended up coming down an hour early. That's hard for me to take, especially on the first day. But to be honest it was the right move. We couldn't see up there and the snow was biting on the face. Plus, the home run was awesome!

We're in the pub now. I'm posting from James' iPhone; hopefully I'll find out how to post some pictures from this.

When's it going to stop snowing? Will we get a bluebird? Great first day! I need to get off this phone and join the group, with the beers. Peace.

All Set: Morzine And The Portes Du Soleil

I'm all set to leave for Morzine today. I'm writing this at around 11am; we don't fly until 17.45 this afternoon. Half of the group are already there. They set off by road yesterday evening, drove through the night and arrived in resort about half and hour ago. They should be on the hill by lunch time. I want to be there!

It's been a busy week. I made the camcorder handle last weekend and shopped around for a new digital slr. I've had my birthday, a last minute trip to the physio, snowboarding dvds to watch and it finished with a full body massage last night after work - thanks Ciara!

I've been preparing for the wsg review too. I think I mentioned that I recevied some copies of the guide to hand out while I'm there, and a couple of t-shirts too. I'm loving the t-shirts!

I managed to secure a new battery for the camcorder, following the death of my old one. I did still have the original battery, but that only provides somewhere between an hour and an hour-and-a-half. That's not always enough. The new one, around 30% bigger, arrived on Thursday. Nice one.

It wasn't until last night when I packed all of my gear that I realised just how big my new Dakine bag is. For a long time on this blog I've been waxing lyrical about the benefits of having a board bag + some kind of roller, rather than a single, almighty board bag. The reason being that it distributes the weight, allowing you to check more stuff in at the airport. It's more flexible too.

Be careful what you wish for.

I've struggled to fill my new luggage setup (a photo should follow). I started off, as always, aiming to travel light. I ended up thinking of stuff to add in, to fill the bag out some more... It's all good now though.

So that's it. I've caught up on the posts I wanted to make this week, I'm packed, and there's some good snow forecast to fall this weekend and into next week. We don't have Internet access in our chalet (lame), so the posts, if any, will be light over the next couple of weeks. I'd like to put up a picture or two using Ciara's iPhone while I'm out there, but no promises.

Roll on this afternoon. Get me on the plane. Get me shredding!

That's It, That's All

My sister bought me That's It, That's All for my birthday; I've watched it twice this week. She also bought me this season's Absinthe movie, Ready, for Christmas (wow, I'm easy to buy for).

Of the two, I much prefer Travis' movie, it's pretty sick. Despite being a big Absinthe fan (futureproof, more, optimistic...), I wasn't blown away by their production this time.

I'd like to review both of these when I get back, if I can find the time. In the mean time however, if you're thinking about buying a snowboarding DVD soon, I'd recommend That's It, That's All. It is a bit different to the regular snowboarding film, but definitely worth it. The camera work is great and the riding is awesome.

I've got this season's T.Rice Lib Tech board, in the 153. I'm even more stoked to ride it now, I can't wait. I was checking out the stance options last night and pleased to find a good range. The widest is 25", then 23.5" and then 22", I won't bother with anything narrower than that. 25" is to ghetto for me, so I'll probably start out at 23.5 and see how it rides. Sick!

As an aside, That's It, That's All features MGMT's song, Kids. I was contemplating using that as the music for my Fernie footage, I'm glad I didn't now. Great song, but it's a bit of an unwritten rule not to use something someone else has already picked out.

Nikon D60: New Camera Kit

My new camera, the Nikon D60, arrived earlier this week on Tuesday. I was hoping to spend some time getting familiar with a few of the manual controls - but that didn't really happen. I've played with it some, but that's about it. I guess I'll be on full auto mode to begin with :)

I bought a pretty neat little case for it. It's got decent padding and no pockets on the front/back, which keeps it narrow for placing in my backpack. The aim being more comfortable on the hill... I picked up a filter too, to protect the lens from nasty people who think it's funny to spray someone holding a camera with snow, plus any other potential damage. Not sure it the fact that I bought I cheap one will make any difference; I'll find out soon with a couple of comparison shots, with and without the filter.

On that note, I took a photo of my new camcorder handle with both the new camera and my old compact. Take a look at the difference:

Compact.

SLR.

Probably not a great test for a number of reasons, but it's still a test. The D60 shot was taken using jpg, on normal quality (basic, normal, fine), at the medium size. The compact was on it's finest quality, at medium image size. Obvisouly I wasn't thinking too hard about doing a test here - actually, I was taking a picture of the handle and thought "I wonder what the same photo would look like on the compact"...

That said, I'd still say the Nikon kicks the compact's ass.

Of the few people-photos I've taken I'm pleased with the quality. I should have some good photos from this trip to Morzine, so right now, I'm not gonna spam my blog with photos of my mum and dad :)

One thing I have noticed whilst using the camera on auto mode is that the depth of field is really narrow... just a side thought. I'm gonna have to learn to use this camera properly, but in the mean time, the point and shoot results are great!