Trying to load up this site, I was greeted with a PHP error that I don’t remember seeing before. Turned out I’d been hacked.

Not got time to work out if its cos of my version of Wordpress, my host or some plug in giving dick heads back door access. Fucking annoying, but bollocks to it… I’m off snowboarding. Will sort it next week. Meantime, back to the old theme.

Day one started at 3am in South London with taxi followed by bus to Stansted Airport for a 7am flight. Landed in Turin at 10am, picked up our hire car and started the 2 hour drive to Serre Chevalier.

Turned out to be a really easy drive, with some cool scenes along the way. Started getting exciting when we went through the ski resort of Montgenevre, before descending into Briancon and passing through Chantermerle en route to our destination, Villeneuve at Serre Chevalier 1400.

We couldn’t get into our apartment until 5pm, and at this time it was only lunchtime so we changed into our snowboard gear in the street, fitted our bindings and headed for the nearest telecabin.

The forecast had been for a dusting of snow the night before and that seemed to have been the case, though it was clear blue skies by this point. Much excitement on the first lift up.

We spent the next 3 or 4 hours hitting up the upper Villeneuve runs towards Monetier, before heading back to our apartment to check in.

Day two we decided to get over to the far side of the mountain and check out the Briancon runs before heading back via Chantermerle. After studying the piste map over night we worked out a route, and got cracking via a network of chair lifts. Well worth the effort. There’s a number of mainly red runs, and with the pistes fairly hard packed and fast, we had a great morning caning it down the tree lined slopes, hitting piste-side kickers and launching off any ledge and roller we could find.

We were quickly starting to realise why this place is regarded alongside Chamonix as one of the top snowboarding resorts in Europe.

More of the same in Chantermerle in the afternoon, and a solid days riding all in all. Though in all honesty, we were hoping the forecast for snow over night was going to come true, as the odd icy patch was appearing here and there.

Waking up on day three, we were indeed greeted by heavy, heavy snowfall. Estimates ranged from a foot to a metre of snowfall at resort level in a day. It snowed all day in fact, leaving visibility pretty poor (was also having trouble with my goggles steaming up that day) but some great powder, some of the best I think I’ve ever ridden.

It was a very tiring day though, fighting the visibility issues, and looking for slopes steep enough for us to keep some decent speeds up.

Day four was a pure bluebird powder day and we were up for first lift near enough, and bar an hour around lunchtime when the Porrel telecabin broke down in Briancon leaving us stranded, we were on the hill til last lift. Absolute belter.

We’d earnt ourselves a few beers after that and hit the après. Word of warning if you find yourself drinking in Villeneuve: watch out for the Eichbrau. Damn, that’s a strong pint!

Day 5 saw a slow start thanks to the beers from the night before. Feeling pretty shitty but another sunny, blue-sky day so up the hill we went. Spent a couple of hours sessioning the Grand Serre lift, hitting the powder bowl under the lift and took a couple of laps round the boarder cross.

Day 6, after some regrets about being hungover the day before we had an early start and maxed it out with a hefty 7 hours snowboarding, spending most of the day in Monetier. We found a good ledge off a black run that we sessioned most of the morning. Also ended up in the snow park high up between Chantermerle and Villeneuve. Hit a few things, and pleased not to stack on any of the rails.

An awesome day, rounded off by our only seriously large night out. Hit the Grotte and the (only) club in Villeneuve for many, many beers. Crawled home around 5:30am fully prepared to right off the morning on the hill the next day.

So, day 7 started about 12:30pm. Pretty shaky at first but blew the cobwebs away before long. Hit up a load of tree runs, headed back over to Monetier for a couple more hits on our ledge, though it was starting to lose its shape.

Ended the day getting the last lift up Casse du Beef chairlift and coming down the tree run under the chair. Some of the softest powder we found there at the back end of the week.

Day 8 was time to go home. Our flight was leaving Turin at 9pm, so we could get a days riding in and had decided to check out Montgenevre. With our 8 day lift pass, we were entitled to use a day at one of the neighbouring resorts for no extra cost.

Montgenevre had come highly recommended, so I was keen to see it for myself. Being a Saturday, it seemed to be quite busy with weekenders and day trippers.

We tried to cover as much ground as possible, found some powder in their designated free ride zone, plus a few kickers to hit. Looks like a cool place I’d like to go back to, maybe for a long weekend trip.

A great week all in all. A few things I would like to have done more of - riding fakie, more spins off kickers - and will have to force more of that next time I go, but pretty pleased with the way I was riding. Definitely improved my powder riding. Very confident on any terrain now on or off piste. Enjoyed hitting a few ledges a small cliffs, and taking on the tree runs particularly.

I took loads of footage on the helmet cam, which I’ll try to cut down into something worth posting over the coming weeks.

Looks like this will be my last major trip of the season, but will try to squeeze in an extra weekend here or there if I can.

Reminds me of a friend of mine at uni, who had some kind of electronic pad that you stuck on your midriff that was supposed to give you a six pack via a series of not too painful electric shocks. Ridiculous.

I digress…

One that caught my eye, and looked like a bit of fun at least was the iJoy Board.

If they had one in my gym I’d give it a go, but really, who would buy one of these? Get yourself a proper snowboard exercise plan.

Horses for courses?
There’s also the original iJoy Ride which seems to be hitting the shops here. Check out the classic video footage here. I challenge you not to laugh at this horse play.

Seeing as that site is run by an old mate of mine I thought I’d entertain a little post in response. Seems all good to me.

1. You will probably die.

Get busy living, or get busy dying. I know what I’d rather do.

It’s true… you can’t bake a cake without smashing a few eggs - you will most likley get hurt whilst you’re learning, but there’s no reason why after a couple of days learning how to turn and stop, that you can’t progress surely and safely to being a decent snowboarder.

2. You are going to look like a fashion victim.

Hmm, would you rather look like this

or this?

3. You will probably kill other people.

Just make sure they’re skiers. ;-)

4. You may well go to prison.

Of course, that doesn’t happen if you ski, does it?

5. You will hurt yourself.

No pain, no gain.

6. You will be traveling down the side a mountain at high velocity with both feet strapped firmly to the same piece of wood.

…making it statistically safer for your knees without all that rotational injury risk.

7. Skiing is much more versatile than snowboarding.

Steep, big mountain

Boardercross

Slopestyle

Halfpipe

Not to mention splitboard skinning, a bit of old fashioned jibbing, and a whole host of things that free skiing wouldn’t have without snowboarding, and lets face it - the world would be a worse place without!

8. Snowboarders are commonly known as ‘Gays on Trays”!

Lol, not heard that before, so not that common. Quite funny though… for a skier.

9. You don’t just become a snowboarder.

Yes you do.

S: (n) snowboarder (someone who slides down snow-covered slopes while standing on a snowboard)^[1]

Strap on a snowboard, slide down a snow-covered slope and you’re in.

10. It’s going to cost you.

Take it in your stride snowboarder. You’ve earnt it, now enjoy it. See you on the hill.

Serre Chevalier snow report and web cams
The conditions are supposed to be great at the moment (Serre Che snow report and forecast) acording to a couple of threads running on AdrenalinTrip.

Its looking all white on the webcams too.

Chantemerle, Villeneuve, Monêtier les Bains and Briançon
Serre Chevalier is made up of 3 villages - Chantemerle at 1350, Villeneuve at 1400 and Monêtier les Bains at 1500 - and the town on Briançon at 1200. We chose an apartment in Villeneuve. Whilst the closest runs aren’t the most exciting by the sounds of things, its fairly central giving easy access to the whole mountain, and also sounded like a good mix of nightlife and convenience.

We booked our flights and accommodation independently, and good a good saving compared with a travel operator package deal. Flights for £40 return and accomm for £160 each for the week - can’t argue with that!

The snowboarding
The World Snowboard Guide gives Serre Che 10/10 overall and says this:

One of the best resorts in France. Great freeriding with powder and full-on, freestyle terrain. Shame it’s pricey and packed with skiiers.

ON THE SLOPES Fantastic - best in France

OFF THE SLOPES Very, very good

MONEY WISE This is not the cheapest of resorts, but it’s worth every penny.

I’ve been studing the piste map and it looks like there’s loads to keep us busy.

La Grave off piste and other nearby resorts
A 6 day Serre Chevalier lift pass entitles you to a free day at one of a number of resorts including Alpe D’Huez, Les 2 Alps and Montgenevre. We’re also considering taking a guide out at the infamous La Grave. Check this out from the official site:

When you arrive at La Grave - La Meije, you’re in no ordinary ski resort. You’re in an unsecured site in the high mountains, where weather conditions can change rapidly and you ‘re in charge of your own safety.

There are also plenty of stories of people coming a cropper or just bricking it in La Grave. Will see how we’re getting on and make a judgement about whether or not to hit up La Grave this time, or leave it for another trip in the future. Sounds like there is loads to keep us busy either way.

3 weeks to go. Can’t wait.

Dude, we went up to Yad Moss on saturday, 2 hour drive to get there but it was worth it, the lift wasn’t running but we wont let a little thing like the spoil the fun and i had to carry my heavy bindings all the way up the hill ha ha, not many people there but all snow boarders very cool

Here are some photos from his day snowboarding Yad Moss, a ski hill in the north of England run by volunteers from the Carlisle Ski Centre.

Thanks for the pics.

Working in online marketing, I found this really interesting on a few levels.

Firstly, interesting to see how Burton have grown from a small business with a few people with a common goal (the company I work with employs only 20 or so people currently) to the leading brand in the sector. Burton are synonymous with snowboarding now.

Also interesting that Burton are caned by loads of snowboarders for being the mega corporate company now. Not sure how this would go down with those guys. On one hand, a tie-up with Hewlett Packard must stink of big-business uncoolness. on the other, I think the videos show the opposite is true - a real small business, hard working ethic, a business run by snowboarders for snowboarders.

Finally, from a professional stand point, I’m interested in seeing how successful this type of campaign is for HP. I initially found the site after clicking a banner on the social network linkedin.com. I can’t remember the last time I clicked a banner, so their agency must be doing a decent job. The microsite has been built to go viral, with links to a load of social bookmarking and voting sites such as Digg, del.icio.us and Newsvine.

I see the story has already been picked up by Drew McLellan (including a comment from Eric Kintz of HP), Kulworld, Future Snowboarding, Powderroom, Andrea at laralu and many more places.

1. Get fit for snowboarding
I really need get down the gym more. Last 2 trips I was hanging by the third day. I know I’ll get more out of my time on the hill if I’m in better shape. The mrs will stop giving me jip over the beer belly too, or at least less often. ;) So this is me putting a marker down. I should probably force myself to publish a weekly update on the level of snowboarding fitness work I’m doing, similar to last year. Noone wants to look like Out-of-shape-Arnie.

2. Get as many trips planned and booked as possible
A few snowboard holidays and trips are being talked about at the moment with different groups of friends. A possible (though unlikely) Whistler trip, a budget week somewhere in France, Italy or Austria (most likely), a fancy dress weekend at the end of the season (bring it on). Talk is cheap, lets get something booked!

There are probably some other important things I should be thinking about, but this will do me for now.

What are your resolutions?

Carina from SPG…

We have recently launched our new Snowparkguide.com Web site with tons of
interesting stuff about European’s most important and renowned terrain parks.
Besides there are many new features like the user profile function and the pic
of the week contest online.

Best of luck with the site. Looks like a good resource building there.

Cervinia shares a ski area with Zermatt, which has a glacier that’s open for skiing all year round, so you’re guaranteed some snow even early season. Fortunately early season this year is of epic proportions in terms of snow right across the Alps. Austria lead the way a month ago, but Switzerland, Italy and France have caught up.

Day one and two we spent primarily in Zermatt. I’ve done this trip a few times before, but this was the first time I made it all the way from Cervinia over to the Riffelberg area. Managed to find some untracked off-piste pow, whilst the piste was generally in great form. The visibility was great too.

Bit of a downer when one of our group dislocated his shoulder and had to be taken to a local hospital by helicopter. Never seen anyone in so much pain. The methodone and ketamine administered by mountain rescue seemed to help ease it somewhat.

By the evening of day two it started dumping… big! And that was just at resort level. Up the hill it was chucking it down. It carried on snowing throughout the night, until we left the following evening and beyond. That made for some serious powder on day three, but unfortunately very bad visibility. The high wind also meant that several lifts didn’t open, including the cross over into Zermatt.

None the less, I got in a few runs in Cervinia before retiring for the weekend safe in the knowledge that I’d be back on the slopes in 5 days with another group of friends.

When we arrived back in Cervinia on Friday night, snow was falling, and the village had clearly been coated for some time. Definitely in for a treat. On Saturday morning I bought a 2 day pass for Cervinia, determined to get to know this side of the mountain and ride runs that had never been open when we’d been here early season before.

Day four started fiercely, with strong winds and a bit more snow, though by 11ish it had cleared and clear blue skies took over. Some great runs were taken in, and I felt great on the snowboard charging around, jumping off anything going. A nice little mogul run down to resort level was the highlight for me.

Day five was forecast to be very windy, so expectations weren’t too high. It had been snowing all night however, and it was still snowing come the morning. It turned out the wind wasn’t too bad, and the pow was epic, but the visibility was bad. Spent the morning pretty much doing resort runs, before heading higher up the hill in the afternoon.

The off piste probably had the best powder I’ve ever ridden… it was that good. With a couple of the lads who had done the run earlier in the day, we ducked under the ropes at the top of the 2 seater chair and floated surf style back down to what was thought to be the piste.

“Wow, this is the deepest powder I’ve ever ridden on piste” someone said. Then the penny dropped. There were no piste markers in sight. In fact, we couldn’t see much but the white of the snow and the white of the, errr, white-out!

We thought we’d press on a bit to see if we could see anything recognizable, or any sign of civilization. No joy, so on til the next ridge. It was well gone 15:30 by this point and with the visibility no better, we questioned whether to turn around and hike back up, estimating 1.5 to 2 hours to get back to guaranteed piste. Other options were to head to an abandoned chair-lift hut and either tuck in for the night or raise the alarm by mobile phone for someone to come pick us up, or carry on forwards.

There was a track that looked like it had been layed by a skier within the last few days at some point, so we took the decision to carry on for another 10 minutes and reassess.

By this time, we’d run out of easily ridable snow and it was getting tiring strapping in, riding through waste deep pow and falling over, unstrapping, getting to your feet and repeating the process, so we’d taken to walking along the skiers faint tracks.

In the distance I saw something black moving left and right against the pitch white view. One of my mates reckoned it was a chair lift. As we drew closer we realized it was a pylon with chairs going passed. Happy days. At least we could follow the chair and know we’d get back to safety. As we drew closer still, we saw another piste with skiers on it, and recognized that part of the mountain.

Eventually we emerged back onto a run that went back down to resort level. We all immediately dropped to the floor and laid down for 10 minutes, counting our lucky stars.

Quite a few lessons learnt there from our lucky escape…

• Better to turn back as soon as you know you’ve gone wrong rather than pressing on blindly.
• When going off piste, check the route yourself before veering too far from the beaten track – don’t trust your mates blindly!

There’s an article in the latest SnowboardUK Magazine with another 6 or 7 tips – well worth reading. Stuff like bringing proper avalanche equipment (a fair risk of a slide with all that fresh snow), plan your route, start early… We flouted them all pretty much, and won’t be doing so again.

So… pretty stupid, but lessons learnt. We did 2 more runs, after hooking up with a few of the others from of our group of 17. Some of the others had found a good sized ledge for jumping off so we dragged our tired selves over that and headed for home.

Day 6 was similar in terms of the quality of powder, with marginly better visibility. We decided to take the lifts all the way up to Zermatt and ride all the way down the moutain back down to Cervinia resort level. We took two different routes. Firstly, turning right at the top of the Plateau Rosá lift, and taking the mostly red runs down to the main ticket office area in Cervinia via Laghi Cime Blanche. Quick bite to eat up at Plan Maison, then up to Zermatt again, this time riding left over to the link to Cervinia via short black before a series of blues and reds all the way down to the back of our hotel.

Having been back to Cervinia twice in the last 10 days and 3 years running at this time of year, clearly I’m a fan of the resort. Its got a great chilled out vibe in the village, with one of the most even mixes of skiers and snowboarders I’ve seen anywhere. The Zermatt link opens up so much more too.

On the down side, there aren’t many challenging runs, with blues and reds predominant. This weekend we were spoilt with great powder, but in previous years it was limited, packed piste.

I’m sure I’ll be back next year though.

It would be handy if all airlines had a standard for luggage and sports equipment/excess charges, though I can’t see that happening. In the meantime, airport parking company APH have produced a summary of the charges - or lack of them - applied by 16 major airlines flying from the UK for carriage of ski and snowboard equipment.

Key points to note:

All of the following airlines will allow you to include skis/snowboard luggage within your usual allowance (typically subject to some weight parameters):

• Air France/KLM
• Alitalia
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Continental
• Delta
• Emirates
• Iberia
• SAS Group
• United
• US Airways

All of these charge extra:

• BMI
• Easyjet
• Flybe
• Lufthansa Group
• Ryanair

Well worth checking out.

Its been known amongst my usual snowboarding group to bring out a hip flask full of Laphroaig, and dish out hits everytime someone stacks it hard or anytime someone stomped a run or kicker.

Cheers!

Only problem is the ole hip flask can cause murder on your ribs from your chest pocket if you fall awkardly. Here’s a genious solution…

From gizmodo.com

The Flask Pack is a little neoprene case that’ll hold your flask and keep it snug up against the back of your snowboard’s bindings, allowing you to have a little nip in between increasingly erratic carves. Just look out for trees, bro.

Product listing page at tactics.com:

A stainless steel flask fits snugly in the Hi-Back Pack Advanced to make a perfect combo that is the Flask Pack. Get an extra swig on to keep yourself warm on the lift or to keep you sane on “family fun day” at the mountain.

If only they shipped to the UK I’d be ordering up some Christmas snowboarding gifts right now.

I’ve been looking through some of the keywords people are using in search engines to find this site, and found a few comical ones:

“I hate Flow bindings” - what about those that love Flow bindings?
“how to get fit for snowboarding” - I should probably have a read of that. Only 3 and a bit weeks til Cervinia.
“kickers horse” - eh?
“ski socks vs snowboard socks” - one that’s bitten me in the arse before. Get proper snowboard socks!
“Transformer snowboards” - sounds cool.

Play

Following on from the last post, maybe its time to give a bit more credit to the resources here for snowboarding in the UK.

Also worth a look is the Monthly Picture section also on the Highland Instinct website.

Good to see UK snowboarders going to the effort. You can find this slope here:

Pembrey Country Park, Nr Llanelli, Dyfed, SA16 0EJ

Thanks Jimi! He’s also got the word out to Gavin at Afterbang.

More on Pembrey and Jimi’s page on Youtube for future vids.

There’s a pdf map of the course up on the Rude Chalets website.

Acording to Transworld Showboarding: “With a vertical rise of over 1,500 feet and almost a mile in length, The Stash at Avoriaz will be an all-mountain dream come true for riders looking to unleash their creativity on the ultimate freestyle terrain.”

Avoriaz is already arguably one fo the top freestyle destinations for snowboarders with several parks across the Portes du Soleil. The Stash, I’m sure, is only going to add to the appeal and firmly lodge Avoriaz as a first choice destination for snowboarding of all types.

The Orginal Stash website no Avoriaz content as yet I believe, but does have a good demo of the original Stash ride at Taho including some videos… like this one…

The Friday Fix is back, which can mean only one thing… the snowboarding season is just around the corner. Bring it on.

Like many snowboarders & skiers, I began touring for one simple reason – to hunt powder. Quite frankly, the thought of walking up steep mountains just didn’t seem that sensible when you have gondolas, cable cars, chairlifts, even bloody T bars do the job better than you. However, the insatiable desire to ride deep snow can lead to pretty desperate measures. After big snowfalls, using resort lifts allows you to access great terrain quickly taking you to your favourite spots not far from the groomers. Due to the speedy access though, it generally does not take more than a few days for even so called “secret spots” to get destroyed by other users.

It was during my time as a bum living in St Anton that this phenomenon caused my friends and I to take a leap into the unknown and plan our first tour. We knew we just needed the ability to travel further from the resort to access the good stuff and if it meant walking up mountains we wanted to ski down – then so be it.

Since these initial forays, backcountry skiing and snowboarding has undoubtedly become the highlight of my time in the mountains. Now I have come to appreciate the serene beauty of the mountains far away from resorts as well the adrenaline of powder filled descents. Since coming to Whistler, I have been fortunate enough to hit many amazing areas in the backcountry haven of the Garibaldi Park. Although riding Whistler after big snowfalls is as fun as ever, there is something about the environment, the quietness, the scale of untouched wilderness of the Canadian Coast Mountains that equals the exhilaration of the big vertical available. It is this combination that motivates me to attach my skins and spend half my time fighting gravity and heading up rather than down.

One of the favourite touring routes in the Garibaldi Park is the Garibaldi Neve traverse. Although it can be done in a very long single day, it is generally enjoyed as a two day event allowing for some great skiing along the way. Although not hugely technical, it does offer the feeling of really being away from it all, especially as some of the tour covers glaciated terrain and I have always wanted to do the route.

As most skiers and boarders will know, last year saw some unbelievable snowfalls, especially in the resorts of the Pacific North West – normally Whistler receives an impressive 33ft each year but this time it totalled a staggering 45ft! Clearly, there was no real need to tour for powder, but like I said already – over time it has become just as important to me to enjoy the beauty of the mountains as much as the riding. It was with this in mind and John (my good friend from my days in St Anton and now professional ski patroller) set off toward the Garibaldi Neve.

Navigation on this tour can be difficult and so we had had to wait to be as sure as possible for clear weather and a break in the heavy snowfalls to allow the snow to settle. Starting off at the access point for Diamond Head we skinned up the fairly mellow track for about 45 minutes up to the Red Heather Meadows Hut. Being close to Vancouver, the Diamond Head area is very popular with backcountry skiers and snowboarders based in Vancouver. Although this is not ideal if you want to totally avoid other people – it did at least mean John and I did not have to break track. The going was fairly easy and we both wondered whether the tour we were planning would have been riden since the last snowfall. There definitely seemed to have been quite a lot of activity over the last few days, presumably people had been in a similar situation as us – waiting for the right conditions.

After a brief stop outside the meadows hut, we continued up along Paul Ridge taking in the views and just revelling in the majesty of the mountains. However, it was hard to ignore the powder fields to the side of us and the temptation was there to sack off the touring and start enjoying some skiing. When we eventually reached Diamond Head Cabin, there were two other groups there chilling out. One group was planning on staying at the hut and enjoying the touring in the immediate area whilst the others were set on a more technical route up to Mamquam Mountain.

After some discussion as to whether we should continue on our planned route, or change our goals and dump some of our kit at the hut, and tour up one of the closer peaks, we decide to opt for the latter. The snow here looked great with some steeper riding on the slopes to the north.

After shedding our sleeping bags and tent, John and I headed north to ski Columnar Peak. Although the tour wasn’t too steep to begin with, the incline increased when heading to the saddle between Gargoyles and Columnar. By the time we moved above the treeline – we were both ready for a break but obviously more aware of avalanche hazards as we entered the alpine terrain.

Touring up in the open terrain always feels good. Although the going was harder, we were both itching to get riding and the pace picked up as we neared the saddle. It was clear there had been snow activity on the steepest aspects so we were going to pretty much stick to the fall line from the saddle. Although this would mean a slightly shorter descent than anticipated, we both knew it was the right thing to do. After a short break to reconfigure our gear and check out the views – it was time to reap the reward.

John dropped in first and skied a beautiful line down the first pitch to the relative security of the treeline. I knew it was going to be good before I even began – John’s rooster tail from the back of his Gotamas told me that much. I can never explain the joy of riding down a deserted slope filled with a couple of feet of powder. It has got to be the best thing on earth. You just don’t want it to end. I cruised up to John with apparently the biggest grin ever. Meeting up and sharing those moments with your best friend is almost as good as actually doing it. You just have to share those sorts of experiences.

Now in the treeline, John picked his line through some sparse trees blowing up the snow as he went, before coming to rest at the bottom of the slope. I set off again enjoying the contrast the trees offered and making fresh tracks just the right of John’s.

From where we were, we couldn’t admire all our handiwork, so we headed back towards the hut to a decent vantage point. This is the final part of any skier’s or snowboarder’s ritual. I defy anyone not to look back and appreciate their tracks – whether they’re a novice all the way up to the most accomplished rider.

Back at the hut, John and I celebrated in true rock n roll style with a cup of tea and a snickers whilst kicking back with some Vancouver guys that had been doing little laps off the ridge. Although ever so slightly deflated for not going for our initial goal, we ended up with a cracking run and stayed well within our limits. Everyone in the backcountry needs to have the ability to reassess their goals as they go. When out on the ground, factors do change and sometimes that means walking away from something you’re really keen to do.

When getting into to ski or snowboard touring, it is absolutely critical to use the services of a qualified mountain guide. In conjunction with this, you should start building up your own knowledge by attending training courses regarding avalanche safety and mountain skills. By employing a guide and improving your knowledge, you can wave goodbye to the crowded resort pistes and begin enjoying what the mountains really can offer you.

—-

This is a guest post from Paul at Alltracks Academy who provide Ski & Snowboard Instructor Courses in Whistler.

Well, that doesn’t matter if you’re hitting the Whistler backcountry…

I was contacted recently by Paul from Alltracks Academy who operate a ski & snowboard school in Whistler specialising in instructor courses and they offered to contribute a post. So very pleased to be able to publish our first guest post here:

a Whistler backcountry tour trip report.

If you’d like to contribute an article or post, please get in touch. We’d love to get posts from snowboarders - whether working in the industry or just highly obsessed (to borrow a phrase) like the rest of us.

So what’s to come over the coming weeks and months?

• I have been thinking more and more about the coming season and future posts. I still haven’t written up my Val Thorens trip from April, or sorted out any of the headcam footage from Les Arcs or Val Thorens.
• Hopefully I should be reviewing a longboard for all you snowboarders wondering what you should be putting your board riding skills to good use with over the summer months (and those like me who don’t get nearly enough time on the hill during the winter even).
• Some guest posts to appear here shortly from other people involved with snowboarding in a variety of capacities. If you’re interested in contributing something drop me a line here via the contact form.
• Snowboarding fitness plans to ready ourselves for the new season proper.
• More trip reports as and when they happen.
• “How-to” guides on p-texing and waxing your snowboard
• Gear reviews, snowboarding related stuff and links to all the best stuff I read on other snowboard blogs such as Highly Obsessed, iRide, Afterbang and Snowbroader.

If you write a blog that covers snowboarding drop a link in the comments here so I can check it out. Also, if there’s anything else you’d like to see covered here leave a comment too.

Cheers