Chamonix training session 1 - McNab chalet
25/02/06 day 1
At breakfast I got talking to a guy lying on the couch. When I asked him what was up, his reply made me choke on my toast - he went through an avalanche yesterday! It just brought home the risks of snowboarding off-piste in the back country!
-Definition- off-piste is snowboarding/ skiing in areas that haven't been groomed for public pleasure -
Thankfully his story was funny. He explained how he was thrown around and towards the end of the ordeal he managed to keep his hand sticking out of the snow, thinking it would help someone spot him. A while later, he came to realise that as his hand was poking out the top of the snow, he mustn’t be buried to deep. All he had to do was sit up!
I was staying in the McNab Chalet which is a traditional three floor wood frame chalet. I had it described to me as "a big triangle, I think it’s an isosceles, oh wait it may be an equilateral” said Keith. As you look up it, each floor gets narrower as you are reaching the peak of the triangle. Each floor has a balcony going around it. On either sides of the chalet there were connecting garages
Breakfast was served between 8 and 8:30 but the earliest I ever made it was 8:45. We would have a pack lunch to take on the slope. The best part was on returning from the slope there would be cakes and juice waiting on the table in front of the log fire! Dinner was the responsibility of our very own master chef, Martin. Every evening, he would serve us up an array of culinary delights.
However, what got me the most excited was not the anticipation of the snowboarding, not the beautiful mountainous surroundings in the valley, but the wireless internet and the hot-tub!
24/02/06
My first night I shared a room with Tony who was totally inspirational, he was 54 years young and was ready for 3 weeks of 'back country riding that is, snowboarding in mountainous terrain that the usual people don't take. He told me he had done a heliboard in the past so I kept him up most of the night asking him of the finer details.
At breakfast I got talking to a guy lying on the couch. When I asked him what was up, his reply made me choke on my toast - he went through an avalanche yesterday! It just brought home the risks of snowboarding off-piste in the back country!
-Definition- off-piste is snowboarding/ skiing in areas that haven't been groomed for public pleasure -
Thankfully his story was funny. He explained how he was thrown around and towards the end of the ordeal he managed to keep his hand sticking out of the snow, thinking it would help someone spot him. A while later, he came to realise that as his hand was poking out the top of the snow, he mustn’t be buried to deep. All he had to do was sit up!
I was staying in the McNab Chalet which is a traditional three floor wood frame chalet. I had it described to me as "a big triangle, I think it’s an isosceles, oh wait it may be an equilateral” said Keith. As you look up it, each floor gets narrower as you are reaching the peak of the triangle. Each floor has a balcony going around it. On either sides of the chalet there were connecting garages
Breakfast was served between 8 and 8:30 but the earliest I ever made it was 8:45. We would have a pack lunch to take on the slope. The best part was on returning from the slope there would be cakes and juice waiting on the table in front of the log fire! Dinner was the responsibility of our very own master chef, Martin. Every evening, he would serve us up an array of culinary delights.
However, what got me the most excited was not the anticipation of the snowboarding, not the beautiful mountainous surroundings in the valley, but the wireless internet and the hot-tub!
24/02/06
My first night I shared a room with Tony who was totally inspirational, he was 54 years young and was ready for 3 weeks of 'back country riding that is, snowboarding in mountainous terrain that the usual people don't take. He told me he had done a heliboard in the past so I kept him up most of the night asking him of the finer details.
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