NONSTOP Competition: 11-Week Instructor Course, Fernie

You may have heard of NonStop Snowboard; a company that specialises in providing instructor courses and improvement courses in Canada. Well, right now they're running a competition "offering one lucky person the chance to win a place on our 11-week instructor training course in Fernie.".

Having shredded in Fernie myself (read/watch Fernie trip), and talked with some of the people from NonStop, I'd say this is a pretty amazing opportunity...

Here are some pictures from the NonStop crew, and details of the full competition:

NONSTOP COMPETITION:
We are offering one lucky person the chance to win a place on our 11-week instructor training course in Fernie, including return flights with Air Canada, worth over £7500!!

Win this prize and you'll be taught by some of Canada's most respected instructors so you can achieve internationally recognised Level 1 & 2 Canadian instructor qualifications.

You'll be staying in the NONSTOP Lodge, in the centre of downtown Fernie, which has fantastic facilities including ensuite twin bedrooms, swimming pool, hot tub, movie room and ski/board tuning room.

The prize includes practically all you need to spend a season in the Canadian mountains - flights with Air Canada, a season lift pass, weekly professional instruction, half-board accommodation, plus numerous extra activities like cat-skiing, snowmobiling, weekend trips to other resorts and an avalanche and first aid course.

HOW TO WIN???
For your chance to win this amazing prize you need to visit Metrosnow.co.uk and answer the simple question: "Name three resorts NONSTOP operate their courses in."

This prize is for the Fernie 11-week course in 2011 (Jan - Apr) sharing a twin room. The competition is open until 6th April 2010. All entrants must be 18 or over.

Level Camo Pro: Snowboard Gloves Review

This is a quick review of my last set of snowboard gloves, made by Level. Unfortunately I'm not totally sure what model they are. I won them in a competition (Onboard Snowboard Magazine) - so didn't get any of the packaging. The inside label reads "Camo Pro", so maybe that's it. But after checking out their site, I couldn't find them; perhaps they don't do them anymore...

The main reason for writing about these gloves is that all of my previous gloves have been poor. The majority of my first snowboarding trips were filled with cold-hand-days. Never fun on a chairlift. Seriously, I couldn't seem to find a decent set. I'd had some entry level gloves by Burton, some expensive gloves from Rome and some Grenade mitts. None of them were up to the job.

I did buy some mittens from Drop: full Gore-Tex with heavy insulation. They've always been bone-dry, and super warm. But that's the problem, they're often too warm. Then, by chance I randomly received some gloves for free, and they turned out to be awesome!

So what's so good about them? Here's the list:

• They're under-gloves, my preferred design, fitting easily under your jacket cuff.
• They've got that handy wrist-strap, combined with being easy to whip on and off, so accessing stuff with your bare hands is quick.
• They're not too bulky, so zips and other not-so-small items can be worked.
• They've been durable. Admittedly I've torn mine - but that was not on the hill...
• Most importantly, they've kept my hands warm and dry. Only on the coldest days have I opted for my mitts.

In a nutshell, they've been great. Tech-wise, the wrist strap is that membra-therm stuff (is it like neoprene?). Don't know much about it, but as under-gloves, which do make you more vulnerable to snow (up the sleeve), they've kept my wrists dry. They've also got some vent holes on the top of the hand - which may have contributed to the good performance...

Job done. I did look on the Level site to see if I could find them; I couldn't. There are loads of gloves on there though, and quite a few of them look good. Worth checking out.

I've actually just replaced mine with some Dakine gloves: the Cobra model. They're another fairly-light under-glove (I've still got the Drop mitts) and I've heard good stuff about them. Hopefully they'll be as good as my old ones...

Colorado: Quick Vail Skate

Well I'm just about done here. We've got a little bit of work to do tonight, and then I'm flying back tomorrow morning...

This morning I woke in Vail. After a breakfast burrito to keep us going, we had a few hours to look around vail. As a resort it's pretty impressive; expensive. Everything's right on hand at the base of the hill. Plenty of shops, bars, restaurants and the like...

I got talking to a couple of guys working in the Quiksilver store and they told me there was a decent skate park in the village (Lionshead). It turned out that the park is on the top of the car park structure. It seemed strange, but we checked it out on the way out of town.

And it's a good park. With a good view too; right in the mountains. Sun blazing. Beat that. So I skated for 45 mins or so. The mini ramp was awesome. Fast, and it's been a while, so it took a little time to get things going. At 8000ft+ it takes more breath too. That was fun. Here's a few pictures:

What a place for a skate park...

Colorado Here I Am: Mini Tour

After a week of work here in the USA, my friend Suzanne, who lives in Denver, took me on a quick tour through the mountains in Colorado, stopping to look at a bunch of the resorts. Sure, the lifts aren't open yet so there's been no shredding, but still, this place is beautiful, and just checking it out has been great. Here's how the day went...

We set out toward Loveland Pass, opting to go over the top rather than through the tunnel. Hills and mountains everywhere. Exciting stuff, especially as there's already some snow on some of the peaks.

Getting some of that Colorado snow in the hand...

At the summit of Loveland Pass, loving it, with the sun in my eyes. When can I come here to snowboard?

So the first real destination was Breckenridge, but my guide told me that we would pass A-Basin and Keystone on the way. These resorts are so close together; that's pretty cool.

Here's Arapahoe Basin from the road. It's not easy to see in this picture, but there's a lift there accessing some pretty steep terrain...

And Keystone in the distance.

We stopped quickly at the base of A-Basin, but everything was closed. Keystone on the otherhand had more going on, so I snagged a piste map. Nice.

And next up was Breck; we were ready to eat. Since being here in America I've been trying a bunch of different beers. There's a lot of choice, some of them being real good. Back in Rochester I'd tried a Fat Tire, an amber ale brewed in Colorado. Suzanne recommended we visit the Breckenridge Brewery - so I was set to sample some of the local produce.

The Fat Tire is good, but Breck's Avalanche Amber Ale is the best I've tasted yet (also good has been Buffalo Gold). Add some American-sized portions and we had a good lunch.

I had a good walk around the place. It's kinda strange, almost toy-like in places, very different to the resorts that I've been to, but then again, this is the first time that I've been to any American resort. The terrain's supposed to be good though, and I could definitely see myself coming back here.

Busker plus backdrop:

I think this must be a halfpipe without the snow...

After Breckenridge we were heading to Vail, which is where we're staying for the night. I'm leaving on Sunday, so I'll wake up tomorrow in the mountains before heading back to Denver.

On the way I got a glimpse of Copper Mountain from the road.

And before settl'ing in Vail, we pushed through to take a quick look at Beaver Creek. This place looked expensive! There's like a golf course right there in the resort...

And then we were in Vail. The directive being to check-in, relax, hit the hot-tub and celebrate the work that we've done this week, which has gone pretty well.

Get some beers on chill:

Finish in the tub...

I've not yet had a chance to walk around Vail - I'll do that tomorrow morning. Sipping on a beer in the hot-tub rounded the week off nicely. I'd love to come back here in the winter-time with Ciara to snowboard. Lots of resorts. Loads of back-country terrain to explore. You'd need a lot of time... This place is pretty amazing...

Thanks for a great day Suzanne!

Colorado Here I Come!

[How did that happen? This was posted by me...]

OK, don't get too excited for me. I'm not going to be shredding. I am excited though.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to the USA for a work trip; starting in Rochester, Minnesota, with the Mayo Clinic, then visiting a lab in Nebraska, and finally Denver. At the end, I'll have one or two days for myself to check out Colorado. Awesome.

Shame it wasn't two or three months later - then I could have taken my snowboard.

I will however get a chance to see the mountains, see the scenery, maybe even check out a resort. I've also scoped a skate park in Rochester, so I've packed my deck. Not sure if I'll get time, but it's in there anyway...

Finished!

Well, I've finally finished the review(s) I've been writing for the World Snowboard Guide. All in all, it's been a pretty big undertaking. The Portes du Soleil. Twelve resorts. It's taken me some time.

Actually it's probably taken longer than it should have, although I think I've finished within what was an acceptable time frame. It's been the case that there have been periods when I've been simply unable to give it any time; other things that need doing. One of the consequences has been less time to write stuff for this site; each time I've sat down I've been plugging away at the reviews...

I'm going to post up my thoughts on the whole process, because I've had quite a few over this year. For now though, it's done, I'm glad to have had the opportunity to do it, and I'm looking forward to having some more time to post to my blog. I can put all the piste maps and my notebook away now. And I should say thanks to Mal, for proof reading a good chunk of the work. Cheers mate.

On an unrelated point - I think this is my 400th post. Ooooh.

Funner Films: New Teaser

Teasers are starting to appear for a bunch of snowboard films now; I was just checking out this one from Funner Films, "How the Northwest Was One". Pretty sick. I wonder what DVDs I'll get this season?

"How the Northwest Was One is the story of a bunch of snow bandits, filmer bounty hunters, epic gun battles, and riding off into the sunset in a blaze of glory. Not to mention double backflips and corks, the sickest tree jibs, trips to Chile, and deepest powder around. Does snowboarding get any more entertaining than this? Starring: Kurt Jenson, Nick Ennen, Patrick McCarthy, Joe Bosler, Andy Stern, Andy Bergin-Sperry, Tim Carlson, Scott Witsil, Lucas Debari, Shaun McKay, Manuel Diaz, and more..."

Liberty Mountain Snowflex Slope

I was reading through Whitelines' Friday Fix and found that Liberty University has opened a new Snowflex slope - the first one in the US - The Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre. As far as artificial slopes go, it looks impressive. Whitelines also has a video, showing some UK shredders on their trip over there.

Snowflex is a popular technology, and having ridden on it a number of times myself, I can see why. It's a shame that the best kickers are popping up outside of the UK, where it was invented, and perhaps, needed the most. Let's hope we get some new slopes here, maybe in the north east :)

Ignore The Last Post...

...I was clearly wrong!

Sometimes when you lose the routine of doing something, it's hard to get it back. Snowboarding's been off the menu for so long now (relatively), and with it, blogging has fallen by the wayside too.

But as a new season approaches, "snowboarding" automatically arrives in my inbox: a new catalogue delivered to the door, the Whitelines Friday Fix, the teaser for Absinthe's new film, the list goes on. Then there's the collection of snowboarded-related emails that I haven't gotten around to dealing with; sorry if you're on that list.

I'm not complaining. I'm just not ready for it yet. I think I said that around the same time last year? What I mean is: as soon as I start seeing snowboarding again I feel like I'm missing out. Like I should be doing something. It makes me question things.

Anyhow, in the off chance that people still read this, I've got two, random and unrelated questions:

1. Does anyone have the Silversun Pickups album, Carnavas?
2. Has anyone ever stayed in the french resort of Montriond?

Coming Back On The Radar

Wow, brush away the cobwebs; it's been a while since I've been here. Two months, I think that's a record.

But these past months have been hectic. Everything has been upside down. It's all taken a backseat to finishing things off at home. Even a singular, weekly skate session fell by the wayside. I've been completely off the radar.

But I'm just about done now. Approaching a normal home. We're not ready for before and after shots, mind :) There're still little things to tidy up and finish off. But it feels good. I went jogging twice last week, and once already this week. I've been skating tonight. Rusty and out of shape (a condition which seems to arrive sooner these days), but skating. Nice.

So what now?

I just want to chill. I don't want a list of things to do. I just want to relax.

Of course that won't last long. It's in my nature to take things on. It's kinda annoying, but I can't seem to help it. That's why I'm writing this at 11.15pm instead of going to bed, tired.

I guess I don't have any immediate plans, not snowboarding related ones anyway. Well, there's one small exception to that but I don't want to mention it out loud, not at the moment.

I suppose it's been a good while since I've thought much about snowboarding. I've kinda been blocking it out. Not having any plans for next season doesn't help either; I don't have any shredding on the horizon to look forward too. Shame.

But I've got some time now though. So I'm just gonna wait and see what happens...

Ticking Over

The last month or so been pretty busy for me, although most likely a bunch of stuff that isn't of much interest to readers of this blog.

The biggest time-eater has been replacing our bathroom. First of all we had to take everything out, then sort the walls, ceiling and electrics, just getting things ready for the plasterer, plumber and tiler. Lots of new stuff to buy, lots of mess to get out the house and lots of organisation. Dealing with mistakes that workmen make. Not doing the work ourselves has still been a lot of work. Still, we're one step closer, and the end result is pretty nice.

We're getting close to a release at work (software), which has had an impact, but to be honest, I haven't felt it as much as others have. I've also been nursing a sore heel. I would have said foot, but it's been a strange kind of pain, right in the base of the heel. Add in a family event, a friend's wedding, some work in the garden... you get the picture.

Not sure if the heel is a viable excuse, but the other stuff has all contributed to the lack of posting around here. That, and a lack of material.

But despite all of this stuff, I have managed at least one skate session a week. Of this, I'm really pleased. Slow but steady progress. I said lack of material, but at least there's some material, there's a routine now. Sure I haven't posted some of the video that I wanted to, I haven't actually been taking the camera with me that often, and I haven't even been thinking about the footage from Morzine...

But I'm ticking over. It feels good. And I'm looking forward to skating tomorrow night.

Double Figures

After a short, sunny session on Saturday morning, I've hit double figures for ramp/bowl skate sessions. I'm officially hooked.

10 so far is pretty good compared with the poor performance of 2007 and 2008. I think the summer of 2006 is the only time I'd say that I skated consistently, until now. I'm skating once or twice per week at the moment. I'm expecting some of my commitments to fall away later this year, so I should be able to step it some more.

Beautiful Session

Last night's skate sesh at Redcar was pretty awesome. The three of us - Dave, Dan and myself - all skated well. For myself, I think it was the best I've ever skated.

On the mini-ramp I had the spine transfer working easy, stalls around the coping were feeling good, some nice long 50-50s, I had the frontside 50-50 fast and smooth, and the biggest frontside ollies I've done yet. I even had one or two nice backside ollies. Some sick runs.

Having the park to ourselves was nice too. It was all finished off with a Subway, a McDonalds milkshake and a hot bath (hard slam right at the end). Roll on next Wednesday...

Skateboarding Tricks

I think the only way to get better is to push yourself by trying new things. Sometimes when I skate, I don't really know what tricks to try next. I'll think of something, or see someone doing a trick, but when I try it it turns out to be way harder than I was expecting. Or I'm just doing it wrong... The result is that I don't always have the next bunch of tricks to work on to keep me progressing.

With that in mind, I'm going to list the tricks that I can do now, on a mini ramp. Some of these tricks are consistent for me, others are less so, and some, I'll probably get the names wrong:

• Drop in
• Drop in, switch
• Rock to fakie
• Rock to fakie, switch (is that a fakie rock, or something?)
• Tail stall
• Rock and roll (Backside? I can do it the easy way)
• Axel stall
• Backside 50-50
• Frontside 50-50 (but not very consistently, yet)
• 5-0 (but not very good)
• Frontside ollie (do they call that frontside 180?)
• Spine transfer from tail stall (not sure if that is a trick...)
• Fakie axel stall (probably not called that: going fakie, turn off front foot into a stall, facing into the ramp)
• Fakie axel stall, the other way (but I don't often get it)
• 180 kick turn to rock and roll, from fakie (probably not called that)
• Frontside early grab, indy
• Early grab out of tail stall (is that lame?)

And this is what I'm working on next:

• Nose stall. It follows from dropping in switch.
• Backside ollie. Because it looks better than frontside.
• Feeble stall and/or crooked stall. They seem like close variations on the axel stall.
• Frontside 5-0. Nice movement around a ramp/bowl, and doesn't seem like it will be much harder than frontside 50-50.
• Blunt rocks. Not sure why...

Blog: From Behind The World Snowboard Guide

I've been a reader of the wsg for a good few years now, and more recently, I've written a few reviews of my own, covering some UK slopes. In doing so, I've been dealing with Steve Dowle, the wsg's head guy. Apart from coordinating effort for each review, it's been good keeping in touch with someone who's created something like the World Snowboard Guide. Organising, writing and maintaining such a comprehensive guide must be a lot of work. It's impressive.

I'm interested in how things work in the snowboard industry. What's it like to set up a snowboard shop? What's it like to run a chalet? How about producing a guide book? Hopefully, I'll get a chance to chat about some of these things with Steve in the future. But in the meantime, he's just started a blog: From Behind The WorldSnowboardGuide.

To quote Steve, this is what the blog's about:

I really want to talk about what it is like to develop and run a website like the worldsnowboardguide, to independently produce and publish books, and still have to do normal work for a living.

I'll enjoy reading it...

New Skateboard Setup: Pictures

This is the new setup:

• Chocolate deck, 8"
• Venture trucks, wide
• Spitfire wheels, 57mm
• Bones Reds bearings

Last night was the weekly Redcar session, which was my first opportunity to try it out. It was all good. Definitely a little faster on the ramp, but apart from that, I didn't notice much difference, except that it's all new. It felt good to skate, and it had that solid 'pop' feel.

I seem to be doing pretty well with the number of times I'm getting out, and the improvement is following. No major advances, but I'm feeling much better around the coping. I had quite a few slams last night so the body's been a little tender today. Just gotta keep it up now and hopefully bag some new tricks...

New Skateboard

I went for a skate early on Friday morning, a couple of hours at Silksworth. It was dry here, but it must have been raining fairly recently over there because when I arrived all of the bowls and surfaces had water on them. It was sunny though, so I decided to wait it out. I wanted to take a few photos, and, suspecting that I'd be buying a new deck sometime soon I thought a photo of my current skateboard was in order...

Me in an empty park.

The dendex dryslope at Silksworth.

To start off with I was picking my way around the wet bits, but once it dried out, my main aim was to work the spine transfer to check that I could do it at a different park. There are three spines at Silksworth: a small one that leads out from the small bowl, one that joins the small bowl and large bowl together - so it's kinda got two sizes, and finally, a medium/large spine that joins the large bowl area with another area.

The small spine from the small bowl.

The large bowl, and spine leading to the small bowl.

The medium/large spine (in the background).

It didn't take long to conquer the small spine. It's concrete rather than wood, but no problems. Next up, I was dropping in from the large bowl to get speed to transfer back into the small bowl. So I was going up a large transition to the spine and then dropping down a smaller transition. That was more difficult, and a little scarier. I did get it though. Getting enough speed wasn't a problem; it was getting the right amount of speed. It was quite easy to overshoot, which meant jumping off at the last minute...

I haven't tried going the other way and I haven't tried the medium/large spine.

On Saturday I bought a new setup. My wheels are pretty tired, the bearings are kinda shot and the deck's worn and starting to delaminate. Plus I just fancied something fresh.

I decided to go for something a little wider. The current Almost is a 7.75", so I stepped up to an 8". I'm told that wider decks are more suited to bowls and ramps, which makes sense, and there are times when I feel a slightly bigger surface would be useful. I also went for bigger wheels. I'm not sure what my old ones are; probably 54mm to start with, but they're smaller than that now. The new ones are 57mm.

I've gone for this slightly bigger setup because I most like to skate bowls and ramps. A bit more stability and more speed. The whole thing looks quite a bit bigger. It's a little heavier too, but nothing that I think will cause me a problem. I'm keen to try it out. No doubt it will feel strange at first, but hopefully it'll turn out good. I'll post some pictures soon.

Out with the old...

Spine Transfer - Stoked!

Last night was another Redcar session, the second of this year. I've been feeling a bit ill all week but I decided to go anyway, I didn't want to miss out.

I'm wanting to try new things each time I skate at the moment, but a couple of the things I had in mind for last night turned out to be harder than they were in my head. So, I decided to return to a goal that I've had for a long time: getting over the spine.

The method I want to use is to go forwards into a tail stall on the coping, ready to drop in on the other side. To be honest, I've never really tried it before, save for 10 minutes or so at Silksworth a couple of weeks back. After 10 or so tries I realised that getting into the stall was pretty easy. All that was left was to get my balance more forward...

More attempts... then I got it. Sick. It feels so good.

I pretty much had it on lock down by the end of the session. If there are any skaters reading you may be thinking "that's a pretty easy move" - and you're probably right. It is an easy move. But for me, it's definitely one of those things that seems hard until you get it, and then it's very easy, like it totally clicks. There are other tricks that I can kind of do, but a lot of the time they still catch me out. This transfer feels more like learning to drop in; once you learn to do it, you don't forget it.

Then again, I should probably hold off that assessment until I try it on a bigger spine!

The Season's Over For Me...

Well to be honest, it's been over for a while. I won't be shredding anymore this season. Next real snow is likely to be next year, that's a long time off! Poo.

For the season just gone and the one before that, I've been limited to two weeks on snow. I don't want to say that sucks, because I've had a great time snowboarding, but in the past I've been used to more. Before that, I had three years of riding somewhere between 3 and 5 weeks over the course of 12 months, so the last couple of seasons have seemed something like a wind-down.

I'd like to put an end to that, yet, my plan for next season will be the same: two weeks away. I obviously want to make them a good two weeks! Good powder and good parks. Good powder mostly.

This reduction in snowboarding has changed my outlook a little. I'm sure it's slowed my progression, but more generally, I kinda fell less involved. In the past I've been looking for any opportunity to get away - I've been active throughout the season, and in the summer too. These days, it's much more like a holiday.

This blog is mostly about me and snowboarding; but when you're not snowboarding that often, it's hard to write about the stuff you like writing about. For the time being, I guess I'm just more removed than I have been. I look forward to next season - I hope to shred in Canada again - but it's going to be another holiday year...

So what now? What for the rest of 2009?

I'd like to skate more. I'm into double figures for outings already, albeit some of them are short, around the one hour mark, but still, I feel active on a board, standing sideways. I'd like to aim for at least once per week. That shouldn't be hard should it? Maybe more. I'll be keeping track of the sessions in the sidebar, so we'll see how I get on.

I'm going to set out with the aim to post a video each month. It might be short, and I/we won't film every time I skate, but it would be cool to show how I'm improving each month (if I improve). I've already done a few things new that I'm pleased with - the trick is to keep it going for a decent period of time. I'll put something together for March.

I'd also like to prevent the relapse of freestyle skills on a snowboard by hitting up the UK slopes. That'll be Cas' and the 'Fax. I've had it in my mind for a while that it would be good to do 8 sessions in one month: every Friday at Castleford and every Saturday at Halifax. I'm fairly certain that with some motivation one could improve as much over the course of 4 weekends in the UK as they could doing a week away. That said, such a program traveling from where I live would probably cost as much as a week in Europe! But hey, it's something I'd like to try.

So for now, I'll be tied up working on a couple of unrelated projects. I'm trying to get out on the skateboard, film some, and of course, I've still got the footage from Morzine this year.

Gav.

Notch Up A Couple More Skate Sessions...

Saturday morning was just a quickie :) I wanted some fresh air and decided it would be an opportunity to try filming some frontside boardslides. I don't have a tripod yet, but it's still possible to get by solo if you're willing to put up with limited angles and flexibility!

I wasn't really feeling it, but the session did the trick. 50 minutes or so, and something to show you guys.

Today I've been reminded of my frustration when dealing with the combination of my camera, Movie Maker and YouYube/Vimeo. Only it's worse this time.

I'm running on a beta of Windows 7 (after the hard drive failure) so I had to download Movie Maker. I exported the sequence twice, both widescreen and 4:3. I uploaded them both to Vimeo. I'm taller than I should be in both. I don't get it. I remember dealing with this rigmarole last time, but at least one of them ended up being right. Maybe I've got a different version of MM? When am I gonna stop messing around with a crap solution?

Anyhow, here it is. I look tall and skinny, which maybe isn't a bad thing as I'm a little out of shape :) Hopefully I'll fix the aspect soon...

Learning Frontside Boardslides from Gavin Hope on Vimeo.

7 Bails and 7 Makes... Just started to do front-boards on a skateboard. Wanted to get early makes on film. Five Bridges skatepark, Gateshead, UK.

Sunday, this morning, was an awesome session. Went to silksworth with Dave and Dan, they were keen to hit that bowl again... I knew they'd like it :)

A bit windy but no biggy. The bowl there is awesome. I didn't really learn anything new, rather I'm getting back to where I was last year, which isn't all that far. This seems to happen each year; I skate just enough to maintain where I was. Perhaps this year will be different. I'm pretty set on taking a step forward.

The park got real quiet at one point so we messed around in the large bowl trying some early grabs. That was fun.

Here are some pics. The first is just to show the bowl, the second two fall in the category of me trying things out. Nothing good mind, I just feel like I should post at least something when I've snapped with the camera...