My Ears are My Eyes on the Slope

Adil Latif | Snowboarding-Mont Blanc glacier Descent | ON 11th April 2007 | 0 comments

Imagine you are driving, and you are picking up some speed and you know there is a corner coming up…then suddenly, someone places a French newspaper in front of your eyes and you are forced to read its contents while your car is dangerously heading towards the corner! A similar thing happens to me on the slope. The car is my snowboard, the corner is a cliff and the French newspaper is a French girl’s voice. She has gotten onto the same walkie-talkie channel and has interrupted my guide’s instructions.

As my ears are my eyes on the slope, it is vital that I can constantly listen to my guide. So far, I’ve been using some basic Motorala walky-talkies which have a wire with a mic and earpiece attached. The problem with this set up is that thewalky-talkies don’t have enough channels, so it is easy for the French girl to get on the same channel. Also the mic is not really wind proof, so when we are going fast, it is really difficult to hear my guide. After some investigation and some advice from Kev Alderton (fastest blind skier in the world) I have a better setup now. The equipment has been provided by Starcom1 http://www.starcom1.com and consists of a powerful Kenwood walkie-talkie which my guide and I keep tucked away in our pockets. The new Kenwood walkie-talkies, Kenwood UBZ-LJ8, are clearer and have more channels, which results in less of the French girl! Connected to this walkie-talkie are two cables. One of them leads to an earpiece with a wind-proof microphone.

The other cable leads to an activation switch which can be attached to our thumbs so we can press the button with our gloves over the top. This is better than before, where my guide would have to hold the walkie-talkie (in the cold) and try to press the button with a gloved-hand. This wasn’t the easiest task, as it would require the dexterity levels of a bird’s claw!