A bit small but when has size mattered

24/04/06
The indoor slope was good for my technique building. The SnoZone in Milton Keynes allowed me access. So who was my instructor? Daniel Lloyd an investment banker from the city. I didn’t tell him though I didn’t like bankers as I personally feel they can at times exploit the financially illiterate

He was no ordinary banker though, he was a BASI qualified snowboarding instructor!

Daniel stayed calm during my falls and struggles. I thought I was quite good up to the point we began to hit little sections of ice as straight after that my performance went down a crevice and I began committing all the mistakes which were taking place in Chamonix.

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Description of me going over ice:
Riding reasonably comfortable with my legs bent before the ice section. However as soon as I hit the ice…I hit the ice! Its like something out of a cartoon when the person slips on a banana skin… my whole body straightens and I instantly fall back.

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There were 2 Main Slopes - 170 M Long with real Snow Surface and a Poma Lift for Each Slope and 1 Nursery Slope.

Not only possessing a funky house and car, Daniel was cool and collective throughout the evening including my close encounter with a pillar and the usual falls which take place. However I would like to see his calm disposition in a number of months time when he is to be a father!

I will be going with Daniel in the next 2 weeks again.

Big thank you to the Xcape for letting us ride for free.

Charity Update 20th April 2006

!!! IMPORTANT CHANGE!!! New online donation website:http://www.justgiving.com/nextgeneration/Dear All,So far the donations which have been made on the old site:www.justgiving.com/adilhave helped the people in Asia for the emergency situation so you have helped save many lives.

The new site www.justgiving.com/nextgeneration
is the next stage in the project to develop the important institutions which were destroyed. There were many children who died in the earthquake and many schools lost. Your donations will help build a school in the effected region so we can provide hope and education to the next generation.

The cost of the school will be £25,000, I am partnering up with one of the members of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to carry forward this project. I have chosen one of their member’s which has the most insight in that region, a charity called Islamic Relief. I have been given an up-to-date account from people on the ground in the area and building the school will be one of the best ways in which we can help.

How you can help?Please Please do make a small donation on http://www.justgiving.com/nextgeneration/ even a donation of £1 will help towards building the School. And please continue sending me your comments and kind words:mailto:twistedkilt@hotmail.com

Day 4 on the slope- Chamonix Training session 2 (April 8th to 11th)

11/04/2006
Couldn’t move my neck for the first 5 minutes of being awake.  Could here everybody busying around to make it for breakfast.  Another morning without breakfast I thought.  However it was going to actually be a day without any riding as my legs were in just as much pain as my neck.  Yes I thought time to come home!  Today was supposed to be the final day of riding however I was welcoming the break.

As always without everybody's generosity I wouldn’t have made it to Chamonix:
Easyjet who show boundless enthusiasm for the project and even had it in this month’s in-flight mag (was slightly embarrassed on the plain when the 2 ladies sitting next to me asked me to sign the article!)

ACT for providing my transfer from Geneva airport to Chamonix

My instructor Keith McIntosh for still not losing hope in me (I think)

The Belvedere for providing an excellent stay and friendly environment
And all the people who crossed my path

Training over the next couple of months will take place at the indoor places in the UK

          

Day 3 on the slope- Chamonix Training session 2 (April 8th to 11th)

10/04/2006
Legs were in pain before starting which may have been the cause for my worst day on the slope ever.  Missed breakfast again, and my foot was wobbling around in the boot for the first run.  After having a small bit to eat before starting the second run I felt slightly better.  Nevertheless the day didn’t improve much and consisted of some of the hardest falls I’ve had to date.  Description of one of them:
I was on my toe edge of the board going at a reasonable speed on the brink of executing a toe to heal turn.  I had began the turn however hadn’t notice that my board had began to slide down the fall line as apposed to carving across the slope (even though I think I heard Keith shouting to inform me!).  This lead to my heal side of the board catching while I was steering the turn resulting in me going airborne backwards down the slope on the first bounce landing on my arms with my back crashing down, the second bounce was better as I remembered Keith’s advice to cross my arms over my chest so not to break arms and wrists and stuff..However had nowhere to put my head so it crashed down hard.

All I can say is I really can appreciate the valuable training my body received from my years of being really crap at Judo as my body hardened up to being thrown around!

Day 2 on the slope- Chamonix Training session 2 (April 8th to 11th)

09/04/2006
Feel really crap and sore.  Most of the time I was tumbling down the slope head first.  The snow conditions were very slushy and the off piste stuff was like powder but mixed with water and of a similar consistency of lumpy ice-cream.  Regardless, most of the problems today were from my really bad habit of leaning into the turns.  Towards the last couple hours of the day Keith devised and idea, he would pelt snowballs at me everytime I fell due to leaning.  I could see he was really enjoying this new rule as I think at some subconscious level he actually wanted me to lean so he could have an opportunity to fire snowballs at me.  Truly being fed up of falling and then being bombed by snowballs I decided to get my own back.
I gathered lots of snow and picked up speed as I got close to Keith I called his name so I could hear exactly where he was.  After he spoke I secured target and fired and got him well and good.  However my success was short lived as he seen me happily riding towards a big mound of soft snow and stayed silent as I went crashing into it.

Being stoned the same as being blind?:
Had an interesting chat with someone today who was such a nice guy.  He was trying to relate his experience of being stoned and skiing in a whiteout to my snowboarding blind!

Day 1 on the slope- Chamonix Training session 2 (April 8th to 11th)

08/04/2006
First morning in Chamonix. Arrived last night after 1am in the bunk house. I was all prepared for the late arrival. Philip one of the owners had provided me with the security code for the door, I was also instructed to look for a note which would have on it a room number. I had the bus driver Martin help me enter the code, we entered it and turned the leaver to the left, for a moment of panic the door didn't open, when Martin turned it the other way...wallla we were in. However there was nobody in sight apart from a nice skier gentleman. We all diligently began looking for the note with no avail. Then arrived Ben one of the guys working at the place. He to didn't no of the note but found me a bed in a room of 4.

Having lived quite a sheltered life I never knew of the norms of a bunkhouse.
1. Should really bring a sleeping bag no bed sheets if you arrive after hours
2. Inevitably being condemned to a top bunk which you need to find in the dark without waking up the other occupants in the room

Apart from me being ill-equipped the place was lovely and clean. The owners were a fantastic bunch of people who took the time out to chat. Hot showers and full kitchen facilities with the option for signing up for breakfast and evening meal made it a wonderful place to stay. However I did slightly miss the wireless internet and the hot tub which was present during my stay at the McNab Chalet the last time I came. The chalet was booked out this time round.

I don't think I have ever made it for breakfast anywhere, so I was very grateful to be offered a yogurt from one of the skiers who was in the same room as me. The day got better as my instructor Keith had a bit too much Champaign the night before while celebrating his wedding anniversary so he sent me a text at about 10 saying he had just got up and would be at mines for noon. I took the opportunity to take it easy and ask as many people as I could where breakfast is with the hope that someone would volunteer to take me to the closest place as I didn't feel adventurous to head out myself and really couldn't be bothered getting lost and wander around more than likely outside the place I would be looking for. As it happened, a friendly Irish girl offered to walked to the cash machine with me and then to deposit me at a lovely café. I had some breakfast and sent a couple of text messages to Keith to see how he was doing. The weather was lovely with the sun shining down, no sign of snow, a nice cold orange juice and lots of relaxation. I suggested that we should might as well have lunch in the cafe, he agreed and we eventually hit the slope at 2pm!



The first run was quite pathetic kept on falling. The remainder runs we took the poma lift up
I felt I was improving on each run. The last 2 runs I fired the board straight down the slope from the top as this was the only way we could pick up enough speed as the snow conditions were slushy and sticky.

Had a near miss with a skier who must have liked my aftershave or something as he got really close and cut in front of me. My lightening reflexes and Keith shouting at the top of his lungs avoided a clash.

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Formal apology to easyjet, due to the possibility of being arrested by the snowboarding fashion police, I wasn't able to wear the bright orange easyjet hat today, however I will attempt to build up some confidence over the next couple of days
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What a coincidence:
1. Sat next to the same guy Alex on the plain I had sat next to when I had gone to Geneva the last time
2. Got the same bus driver Martin for the transfer from Geneva to Chamonix, as I had got last time, it was odds of 1 to 30 as there are 30 different drivers.

Taking the High Road in Glenshee

19/03/06

They say if you can ski/ snowboard in Scotland you can do it anywhere in the world!
This is due to our notorious lack of snow and abundance of wind.  However if conditions are right Scotland is outstanding.  A nice article on Scottish skiing/ snowboarding can be found on the  Snow Sphere website

Had a cool hip instructor called Ali from Oz at the Glenshee ski resort who had only been in Scotland for a couple months.  He was as bad as Keith with regards to his risk tolerance.  Had an obsession with making me attempt some tricks.  Ended up practicing some manuals and ollies with the fruits of my effort manifesting in the knee trembling teeth jittering....very very small jump

---from my limited understanding, a manual consists of a rider bending low and leaning towards the back of the board so the front of the board (the nose) razes off the ground a little.
ollie is taking a manual to the next step buy springing off the back of the board resulting with the whole of the board raising off the ground a little.---

the costs were all covered by the charity Connections for Development they got some footage for their small documentary which was documenting how individuals from the UK are making a difference in the developing world and I got some nice riding done.