|
saturday 31 may 2014
Well it's been a long time, due to various factors - so there's a lot to report :)
Planned my usual trip to Chamonix at the end of January, but this time it was a game of many halfs :)
 January 20th I left Bournemouth to join Dad for a few days skiing Flegere before he left to join Jules at Leysin, Switzerland.
I had 6 days snowboarding on my own, before CJ & "Gorgeous" George Moy joined me for the last 5 days.
It was great to see Dad, we had a good time in the powder at Flegere, and it was great to be on snow with him again :)
Dad left on the 4th day to join Jules in Leysin for a boys week ski touring, and I settled in for a week riding alone.
I ran into Bojan on the first day. Going down a gulley behind a slow woman ski, a snowboarder shot past - I saw him on the chair and started up a conversation, and we wound up riding together for the rest of the holiday!
On the 3rd day riding at Grandes Montets, Bojan introduced me to Seth, a skier who had previously been a Wall St. trader, then moved to Chamonix and bought some land. The guy was so fast on skis as to be unbelieveable - left Boyan and I for dead, and we were no slouches..!
The Worldwide Freeride Tour competition was in town and we went up to Flegere to watch, but arrived late and missed it - however we raninto some of Bojan's friends and went off to find some powder of our own.
We spent a great few days riding at Flegere showing each other our favourite spots and riding powder with Bojans friends. I met Bojan's girlfriend Jelena, and we hung out for a few days before "Geogeous" George Moy arrived.
There had been some epic dumps, and I dropped George in the deep end, saying wew had to make the most of the snow - as it had just finished dumping and there wasn't more due for a week. Needless to say by the end of the first day he was shattered!
Nevertheless George skied like a pro, and I would often find myself looking back up the slope for him when he was stood right by me... we had an awesome week riding some of the best terrain the valley has to offer, in the powder away from the crowds. Perfect...
Gorgeous George did a great job in his role as photographer - on one day late in the holiday the sun came out, and I was able to get some shots I was happy with; a frontside 360 indy off a windlip, and a backside 360 rockdrop by the La Floria draglift in Flegere. Legend!
CJ turned up for the last 3 days, taking a break from work but not riding due to her being pregnant!
We had a great time overall, but we were heading home all too quickly. We had our traditional farewell dinner this time in La Caveau (a 400 year old underground sheep pen converted into a restaurant, next to old favourite Le National), said goodby to Bojan, and were on our way back...
I had my wrist operated on just after coming back, and this has knocked me out of action for the last 3 months, but I participated in the UK Streetboard Spot Battle in the dual capactity as judge and cameraman - South Coast Streetboarder Pat joined me and took some photos of the event.
Spanish streetboarder Tony Alvarez flew over to compete, and managed to place 2nd, after Max Anderson, with Simon Johns in 3rd. Check out the Official Streetboutique Spot Battle video edit.
It was great to see everyone, and some new faces - but made me ache to ride again..!
So I started to use the foam pit at Prevail again, zero-impact training allowing me to keep my technique together and learn new tricks for when I could ride again...
 "Gorgeous" George has started skating again! He last skated when he was in Whistler in 2006, so has bought a board with the intention of starting to go regularly and get back into the bowls.
Prevail is very empty at the moment, so it will be perfect for him to practise the quarterpipes.
 We had mad storms one night that caused loads of damage to the beach huts, especially down near Fishermans Walk in Southbourne.
Beach huts had been tossed around like childs toys and in a lot of cases reduced to match wood. The days after the destruction the beach was a crazy place to be :)
CJ and I went for a beach walk one day down at Boscombe, and I was struck by the amount of sculptures down here, and photographed a selection...
So back riding now - more photos in the pipeline, so I promise the next update will be much quicker!
See soon :)
|
