Oops! Been Away for a While - But Still Alive

Hi y'all. I'ts just like me to start up a blog in Jan, rattle off a slew of posts, then disappear for a few months.

To be sure, it's not like I haven't been riding. Since the last post, I have been to Krynica (Poland) for 3 days and St Moritz (Switzerland) for another 3 as well as to the MK Snowdome about 4 times for about 5 hours each.

I missed the trip to Tahoe - making a rain check for next year.

The skills have definitely imporved since last time. I am comfortable at speed, can handle moguls, churn down the steeps with skid turns and throw simple ollies on those rare occasions that I actually feel like a bad arse. I even hit deep powder while off-piste with a guide in Krynica. All in all, I am happy with my progress through the season, and can't wait till next winter.

Meanwhile, I have some important off-season things to sort out:

* Sell my unique Monson '55 "Sobe" board that I originally trained on

* Sell my 2003 Custom '62 that I took to Krynica and learned to ollie with

* Recover from the achilles tendonitis I developed in my right heel (playing footy on astroturf)

* Get body fat % down through weights, staying off booze and swimming (no impact on the heel!)

* Learn to carve hard (MK is my only venue option, so twice a month I'll be there. Doc says it's okay to ride despite the heel issue. Apparently, the fixed heel position on snowboard boots restricts the ankles enough to avoid stressing the tendon. Or maybe she just sensed that I would go riding anyway!)

* Book my trips for next year (Morzine, Chamonix, Lebanon, Tahoe and Zakopane)

* Upgrade this website! Any tips are welcome...

Speak to you soon (for real this time ...)

Getting in Shape

Now that I've dedicated myself to this sport, I need to admit that my body isn't the adaptible do-anything-anytime machine it used to be when I was in my 20's (I'm now 32). This isn't an age thing, it's a result of about 3 years of transitioning from an athlete to a sedentary old fogey. I am now officially one of those guys who complains about backaches and soreness in the joints without remedying the weight problem that put me here in the first place.

Well a couple episodes of hitting hard ice butt-cheek-first, showed me that no extra insulation in that region is going to protect me from breaking my hip if I did that a couple more times. Trying to get some air at this weight (!!! 212lbs - 15st - 96kg !!!) is not that easily done - and is a bit hard on the knees and achilles tendon (and the the wrists if you panic and use your hand to steady the board after a landing).

So I set out to the SCUK website and got some feedback from a post where I asked for snowboard specific workouts. The response was more professional and comprehensive than I thought it would be. So now I have a (very) detailed plan to work with. Besides at least two visits to the slopes a month (MK is always available to help get piste reps on the quick and cheap). Here we go:

Week 1-3 Muscle conditioning, flexibility and initial weight loss
- 10 minute warm up an quick stretch for 5 minutes
- 3 Mornings per week run 25 min (then 35 and 45 minutes respectively in week 2 and 3)
Stretch 20 minutes after run
-2 evenings a week (weights as follows low weights high reps= 3x18)
squats/leg curls/calfraisers/lunges
assisted pull ups/press ups/assisted dips/latrow/abductors/adductors
abs

Week 4-10 Building Core Strength in dynamic excercises
- 10 minute warm up and quick stretch for 5 minutes
- 2 Mornings per week CV 30 minutes each (rowing machine, running off road for 45 min, swimming) Stretch and abs blitz for 10 minutes each afterwards

- 2 evenings a week core weights and exercises 3x10
bridging/swiss ball ab curls/weighted press up twists/lat dumbell row from press up poisition/back extension/hanging leg cruches/incline press

pull ups/dips/step out lunges/sumo squats/leg curls, abductors and adductors/weighted ab curls/calf raisers on wobble board/deadlift/resistance leg lifts (you lie down with someone standing behind your head, you lift legs while holding their ankles and they push legs away from them as you try to stop them from hitting ground)

- one class yoga per week (mix it up - pilates, ashtanga, hatha, siv)

Week 11 - 20 (by now I am down to sub-200lbs and have conditioned my body to handle harder workouts. The core should be strong too, and thus the chance of injury decreases. I hope too that the muscle memory for snowboarding is there and so the brain is subconsciously using the same muscle combos I would use when riding. Now its time to work that Explosive Power and Strength)

- Yoga style warm up and stretch

- Morning CV keep it mostly anaerobic to learn to feel the burn of lactic acid
One day High Impact Interval Training - Rowing, Spinning, Swimming, Indian Run (5 on 2 off for 40 minutes)
Another day sustained high impact 80% max for 20 minutes (cycle, rower, off road running, skipping rope)

- African Martial Arts. Similar to Capoeira - lots of flying punches, flips, kicks and jumps (great to develop control in the air and power). Floor work great for legs. Uses weapons such as cutlasses and spears. Handling these will no doubt help to keep arms fresh if carrying a round a board all day.

- Weights 2 nights: All heavy weighted and done in sets of 12, 10, 8 unless otherwise stated

Night One Pull ups 3 x failure Core Press Ups 3 x 10 Incline Curls super sets 8 10 12 10 8 10 Power Cleans	Dips 3 x failure Core Lat Dumbells 3 x 12 Dead lift 3 x 10 Shrugs or Arm lifts Wrists and Forearms
Group B Squats Leg Curls Butt Kicks 3 x 30 Abductors Step Out Lunges	Abs (weighted) 3 x 10 (and below too) Abs (Hanging Leg Lifts; later, twisting) Obliques (Trunk twists on cb) 3 x 10 Adductors (Swiss ball) Obliques (Swiss ball) 3 x 10

So, there you have it. All I need to do know is stick with it at least 85% of the time.

Will keep you posted!!!

Snowsurfing: hmmm ... a flash in the pan?

Just recently, I've spied a new product on the block that looks like it is trying to displace some of the snowboard's (and perhaps skis') marketshare: the Snow-surfboard. It looks like a skate board with a single ski underneath. You can also get a version with just the skateboard part, which you can attache to your own ski.

It is billed as having "a much smoother sensation than snowboarding" in the words of Ben Skinner, champion longboard surfer/wakeboarder and one of five professional snow-surfers (already?). Barefoot Boarding, the company behind the board, is probably thus named because you don't bind yourself in to the board - just step on it and slide. The deck is made of supergrip rubber. You're only tied to it by a leash, like a surfboard, to prevent it getting away from you on the slope. The snow-surfboard is reported to feel astonshingly similar to surfing and be easier to pick up than snowboarding.

The company itself was started by the duo Ian Colley (former banker who bank rolled the project with amodest £150k - according to Night and Day Live magazine) and Grant Strover (a Cornish surfer, who "liked snowboarding but ... not being bound to the board". The product was launched in the UK first, on 12 Oct at the Ski and Snow Show in London.



If reports can be believed, the Snow-surfboard, takes Jake Burton's early eighties "snurfer" idea and brings it to proper fruition. Barefoot is pushing these products hard and will have boards to hire soon (by the hour) at the MK, Castleford and Braehead Xscapes. As well as Tamworth's SnowDome.

Critics have raved about it so far, but there has not been much chatter about it on the US orUK Internet forums yet. Not that I've seen anyway.

With snowboarding sales waning, this could be a big hit that raises the profile of wintersports - or it could just be a passing fad...

Let's see.


fro

The Season is Set! (well sort of)

Okay ... so I've learned to board (Oct-Dec), then got about 10 hours in on the MK indoor slope (Dec-Jan, luckily right before the conditions there started to deteriorate) and bought a used (but good condition) Burton Custom:




While that badboy is getting tuned up, all I have to do now is start planning my riding year. Here we go:

* Feb (second week)

Work may take me to Milan! Maybe. If this is the case, I will have to build in a day sliding down the Dolomites or southern Alps. I know my colleagues there are ski fiends and I will not have to ask twice to get a lift to the mtns. Of course the Olympics are due to be going on in Sestriere and in the Turin area in general. So I may need to take the Cervinia or option instead.

Excited, as this may be my first tree run! (indoor slopes have no trees).

* Feb (last week)

May need to hit Moscow for work. Will bring the hardware and seek out a small manmade hill resort called Sorochany (? - anybody heard of or been there before?). I learned about it on this thread in the Snowboard Club UK forum. Apparently, about 1.5 hrs driving from Moscow with 500m-1200m runs. If anyone reads Russian, please take a look at their site and fill me in.


* March (before mid month)

May finangle an excuse to visit the future inlaws in Poland (we're getting married in November)- could I possibly take a 300km detour to the Tatrys? Unlikely. But it would be nice.

* March (last week)

Just got approved: three days with clients in St Moritz. This was the original impetus for me learning to board back in Oct 05. By March, I hope to have racked up another 15 hours of real slope and indoor MK slope time and be just that much better on the board.

Need to look good for the company ;-).



*April - July (MK indoor slope baby!)


* Aug (yep, that's right: Aug as in "short for August!")

Stag do. Africa. Hoping to do it in the mountains of Lesotho at a resort (would you believe that!?) called Afriski. After checking out the website, I will check it out and see what the deal is. Should make for a fun and completely unusual Stag do. Snowboarding in Southern Africa! How memorable would that be?

Here is the temperature in the highlands in Lesotho in the southern hemisphere winter months:

And here are some mid-winter photos:


Now, I have noticed that the snow in the second picture looks like snow gunned corduroy groomed over a sort of savannah-type terrain. The other "winter wonderland" shots look like they may have been taken just after a blizzard. Might not be usual to be covered completely like that. Don't know. So I may have to investigate a bit more to get the scoop on this resort before sending out the invites. If we can't make it there for the stag, there is always Newcastle!

Anyway, what a potentially full schedule for this season. Will fill you in as to how it develops. If you have been to or know about any of the resorts above, let me know. It would be nice to get some background.

fro

MK Xscape Conditions are not Ideal at the Moment

FYI - I think I'll have to stay away from my nearest indoor slope for the time being. Too much ice has built up in the two weeks that the snowguns have been broken. I hope it clears up soon. According to this article that I shamelessly cut and pasted from Snowboard Club UK Site

Milton Keynes Park
Posted Friday, January 13, 2006 by dunx

Milton Keynes are still having technical problems with their snow, but have a couple of guys who have been working overnight for the past week to rectify these issues. Therefore, the snow is not ideal at present. Anyone who is planning on riding, should check out the slope and perhaps speak to riders coming off the slope before booking as no refunds will be given.

Xscape are starting a snow clearance from Sunday night for one week. This will involve four guys working from 10pm to 8am to get rid of old, dirty snow and make way for the good stuff!

On a positive point, the snow guns are all working now and new snow was made last night. The delay on this was due to replacement parts awaiting delivery from Germany.

People who still promote the idea that "Black People Can't Ski"

Here is a forum that discusses to the old belief that people from African or South East Asian ancestry can't participate in snow sports because their ancesters evolved in warm climates.

You'll see that now only a tiny minority of people actually still believe this nonsense - and that most people in the forum take his comments apart and basically politely call him an idiot.

Fact is, there are a few things like disabilities and (perhaps) income that could stand in the way of someone getting on a slope. But race is not one of the reasons.

fro...

A skiing trip to the great indoors

SHENZHEN, CHINA - The snowboarder limbers up, swinging her arms and giving a few swift hops on the board. She flips the tail of her knit ski cap out of her eyes and then plunges down the hill. She's at the bottom in about 40 seconds.

The Swiss Alps this is not.

It's southern China, a region known more for its smog than snow. In fact, the blue sky above this modest slope is fake - it's painted onto the ceiling of this chilly chamber where the snow is man-made and music is piped in over loudspeakers.

Welcome to indoor skiing. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

"It's not the real thing, of course," said American Scott Addonizio before hitting the slopes on a recent Saturday at Shenzhen's Alps Indoor Ski Dome. "But it's something to do, and there are some pretty good boarders that come out."

As China's economy continues to skyrocket, its demand for luxury entertainment is rising. But in the case of downhill skiing, China's entrepreneurs aren't only imitating their Western counterparts, but going one step further. From Shenzhen to Beijing, indoor ski centers are pumping out snow for locals interested in learning how to ski and homesick expatriates in need of a weekend break.

Meanwhile, those in the US who dream of skiing indoors will have to wait a little longer. In 2007, New Jersey will be opening the Snow Dome, the country's first year-round indoor Alpine "ski resort," complete with snow and chairlifts. Xanadu, located in the Meadowlands, will be a sprawling sports, office, and entertainment complex that will include a 140-foot-high dome covering 250,000 square feet, according to company plans.

Indoor skiing originated in Australia in the late 1980s and quickly migrated throughout Asia and Europe. The world's largest ski dome - the size of about three football fields - opened this past December in oil-wealthy Dubai.

Here in Shenzhen, an hour train ride from downtown Hong Kong, you can hit the slopes at Window of the World's Alps Indoor Ski Dome. One hour on the 262-foot-long slope includes skis, boots, jacket, and snow pants for $10. Lessons are available from patient locals, as are scream-inducing sled runs on inner tubes.

On weekdays the "ski resort" usually isn't crowded, but on weekends groups of Hong Kongers are there practicing their turns.

"I've been coming since they opened," says one Chinese resident who asked not to be named for personal reasons. "Someday I'll do the real thing, but I don't have the money right now."

In Shanghai, the Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Site offers an all-day pass for $27. At a length of 1,246 ft. and a width of 262 ft., it's much larger than the ski run in Shenzhen. The slope also includes a practice flat for beginners to test their skills. A trip to the sauna afterward costs 75 cents.

Not to be outdone, Beijing recently opened its first indoor ski center to add to the many outdoor ski resorts around the city. Qiaobo Ski and Snow World is named after Ye Qiaobo, who won China's first silver medal in the Winter Olympics in 1992.

A day at this megasite is priced at $17, but the cost to the city could be much higher. Just after the resort opened, the China Daily, a state-run newspaper, reported that converting water to snow was draining the limited water supply for farmers on the city's outskirts. Critics suggest the story is a governmental campaign against the ski center - in effect, a shot at the bourgeois notion of donning jacket and gloves during Beijing's summer.

from the January 06, 2006 edition -

By Alex Ortolani | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Men in Tights or Ski Mountaineering Competitions

It is a big thing in Europe. Rubbing embrocation on your legs, wearing a skimpy lycra suit and climbing up your local mountain to ski back down on gear so flimsy that you wouldn’t let your kids learn on it. It is the antithesis of freeride and now even snowboarders are getting in on the scene.

The concept. You race over mountain terrain using ski touring gear – either lightweight skis or snowboards and snowshoes. Checkpoints are established at key locations and you might even get a mug of tea and a piece of cake. It is not just brute uphill speed that separates the winners from also rans. In general the uphill is not that technical but you will need to make conversion turns on the fly. Efficiency is the key, competitors can fix and remove climbing skins and ski crampons without removing their skis.

Equipment is super lightweight. Trick Dynafit bindings (weighing just 700 grammes) are heavily modified to save a few more grammes. Dynafit has launched a featherweight Titanium version of their binding this year to respond to this specialized market. Boots and skis weigh in at the 2kg mark whereas a typical touring ski is more like 2.8kg (pair) and boots 3.5kg. Over 1500 meters of climbing you might make 9000 steps, saving the equivalent of lifting 25 tonnes! The flipside is limited downhill performance. Although events are usually staged close to ski resorts for logistical reasons most of the course will be off piste and the flimsy equipment might have to cope with windpack, crust, crud and powder. A 1500 meter course will be covered in less than two hours with climbing speeds in excess of 1000 meters per hour. Something to aspire to on your next tour.

Apart from the obvious competitors will carry the usual avalanche safety gear of beacon, shovel and probe although organizers will do their utmost to ensure the course is safe. Helmets and sometimes crampons are required. Competitors may also need to present a medical certificate stating that they are fit for ski mountaineering (if your doctor doesn’t understand tell him it is like competition mountain biking at altitude) and carry insurance or belong to a ski mountaineering club.

If you fancy giving it a go here are some dates for France for 2006:

5th January: Nocturne de l’Aigle
The first edition of night event organized as a relay race in teams of two by Lans en Vercors and the Dauphiné Ski Alpinisme club. The team doing the maximum vertical in less than an hour wins. Spectators are welcome to come and discover another side to skiing.
Nocturne de l’Aigle

15th January: 3rd Signal d’Auris
Organized by the Auris-en-Oisans tourist office this event welcomes both skiers, telemarkers and snowboarders. The course is 10km with over 1450 meters of vertical and gives competitors the chance to discover the couloirs de l’Homme, the Chapelle bowl and the Grandes Buffes. Last year the winner took just 1h21 to complete the course.
Aurise en Oisans Tourist Office

5th February: 3rd Tour du Grand Veymont
The first stage of the G3M (Grenoble 3 Massifs) Cup The Tour du Grand Veymont starts in the ski resort of Gresse-en-Vercors, part of the largest nature reserve in France. Snowboards are welcome but competitors should take a close look at the equipment required. A day insurance cover is available for 6.25€. The event is over 9.6km with around 1100 meters of vertical.
Tour du Grand Veymont

19th February: 2nd Rallye des Crêtes
PisteHors.com editor David George took part in the first edition of the Rallye des Crêtes and came in 15th in a field of just over 30. Not a bad achievement for a veteran flatlander. The event is organised in conjunction with the Tourist Office of theski resort of Alpe du Grand Serre and the French Alpine Club of nearby la Mure. The course is some 14m over 1400 vertical meters. Last year’s winner took just 2 hours 16 minutes with David finishing over an hour later.
Alpe du Grande Serre Tourist Office

5th March: 4th Croix de Chamechaude
This hill is just 25 minutes from the PisteHors.com offices and a firm favourite with ski mountaineers in the Grenoble area who use it as a training run after work.
Open to both skiers and snowboarders. You can enter on the day. The course is 1200 meters of vertical on a secured route on the Chamechaude mountain, at 2082 meters the highest point of the Chartreuse range. The event forms the second leg of the Trophée G3M. Crampons are required. There is 1500€ prize for anyone completing the course in under 1 hour!
4ème Croix de Chamechaude

9th-12th March: The Pierra Menta
This is the biggie of French ski mountaineering competitions. Last year a competitor told us you should have at least 50,000 vertical meters in your legs before attempting the course. The event covers 10,000 meters vertical over four days in the Beaufortain mountains of the French Savoie. Competitors come from around the world to take part.
Pierra Menta


30th April - 1st May : La Gaspard’in
Follows a course from la Berade over the Meije mountain. There are three routes: a 20km team ski event with 2580 meters of climbing. A team or individual ski event with 1630m of climbing over 16km and a individual snowboard event with 1610m of climbing. For the snowboard event all climbing must be done on snowshoes.
La Gaspard’in

original post on Piste Hors Blog: by redac on 03 Jan, 06

Debunking the Myths about Snowboarding

I joined the world of snowboarding I noticed that there were a few false beliefs that non-riders (and some riders themselves) believed about the sport. This misconceptions were keeping people of the slopes, so here I name and shame them in no particular order:

Myth 1 - Snowboarding is too dangerous

Not true - all sports are dangerous if done in an extreme way. Perhaps all the rail jumping stunts and off piste clips associated with the extreme professional riders has led people to think that only the most coordinated dare devils could ever become involved.

To the contrary, most snowboarders just go out a leisurely surf the snow. Hardly anyone does the Evil Knieval style stunts seen in the Funniest home video shots that may have leant the sport this image.

Myth 2 - It's too cold - I prefer the warmth

Come on. Let's get real. I love warm weather too and grew up between LA and the West Indies- but there is a lot to appreciate in the wintery wonderlands of the world. On the mountain, you quickly warm up and forget that it's cold. With the high tech boarding and ski kit they've got these days you'll also find yourself comfortably warm even if you stop for a rest outside on the slope. Apres-board (or ski) you can go to small medieval style chocolate box villages (in Europe) or lumber jack style log cabins (elsewhere) and eat and drink warm things that taste great after a day out in the snow. Stop complaining about the temperature and leave that beach holiday until the summer.

Myth 3 - It's too expensive

No it isn't. The ski world is, like golf and equestrian, filled with upper middle class folk who revel in making you feel like they are doing something elite. Most of them are atrocious skiers and snowboarders who spend one week a year at Swiss 5* resorts and pay through their noses to show off. The fact is, that for £25 an hour you can get a lift pass, rent gear, and have a great time on an indoor slope near you at least once or twice a month. Then you can find cheap-o all in packages to places like Bulgaria (where the snow is good and the people are great), or Slovenia (like Austria, except everyone speaks Slovenian). Ignore the aforementioned who explain to you that it is "too common" to ski/board on a budget. These people just board or ski a few times a year and are hardly real enthusiasts. Get a good year of practice under your belt and then challenge them to a black diamond and see who comes out on top!

Myth 4 - I'm too old -snowboardings for teens

No you're not ... well, unless you are 70+ and use a walker. The fact is that people in their 50's and 60's are learning this sport. Sometimes I'm a young-un on the slope at 32! True, kids are attracted to snowboarding because it is fun and more freeform than traditional skiing. The good thing though, is that snowboarding does not shed it's supported once they get kids and a mortgage. In fact, I'm also a dad (of two baby girls) and I can't wait for them to be old enough to ski and board.

Myth 5 - I am a skier and so don't believe in snowboarding

The "snowboarders-are-from-another-planet-than-skiiers" days are over. Long over. They ended around the same time that the new shape skis emerged (mid-late 90's some time) and skiers (mostly) stopped wearing matching Yves St Laurent one piece jump suits. Nowadays, the multitude of fat shaped skis has revamped the popularity of skiing and encourages the same sort of freeriding as one would find in either big mountain of piste snowboarding or the pipe and rails tricks of the park freestylers. Check out the Orange Ski and Snowboard AIM Series.

Myth 6 - "People (who were not doctors) have told me that I can't snowboard because of blah, blah, blah meaning that I am genetically not pre-disposed"

Hey, if a professional tells you that you shouldn't ski or snowboard, then don't do it. But there are a lot of yahoos out there who will feed you horses boll'ks and call it beef. My favourite one was a two minute long explanation why I can't ride because I am of African descent and my bone and muscle density will cause me to sink beneath the powder. Or how about the one about some races of people having weaker ankles and thus can't do it. The spreaders of this stuff are too be believed no more than those 19th century guys who used to measure skulls to prove intelligence. The fact is snowboarding is made for everyone so don't believe any hype that says otherwise!

The Birth of a Fanatical Snowboarder

Over the last two months, I went from being a complete novice who had never seen a snowboard in person, to "one of the better riders" on the indoor slope at Milton Keynes Xscape. I think that was just my instructor trying to be nice, but really, there happened to be some folks out there on the main slope that were looking a bit shakey.

Now I think I've become a sort of snowboard evangelist. I have brought three other beginners down the artificial slope for lessons, bought my fiancee 7 days at the Rude Chalet's Girls Snowboarding School in Morzine, booked a holiday to St Moritz in March and bought a Burton Custom 62 off ebay. I joined SCUK and then I decided to start this snowboard blog.

You can say I'm hooked!

This blog is dedicated to those who have never snowboarded (non-riders). Non-riders, I will be trying to inspire you to join up - for those who really resist I will actively try to convert you. If you are reading this and have already started thinking up excuses as to why you won't start to ride snowboards. Read the next article ...

In the meantime, I will keep you updated on the development of my new hobby. Looking forward to sharing it all with you and to hearing your feedback.

Best.