Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Day four and five, it's starting to hurt...
KD - Last night had a meal with a load of people in the chalet next door... most decent meal we've had so far (I didnt feel for the snails). We watched Borat, drank some beer, talked and eventually crashed out at four in the morning. Day Four started off good, I hit some high altitude slopes (happy to be off the baby ones and on to the serious stuff, 2000m+). The fluffy snow was great and I found the chair lifts were much better than button lifts.
Did my first run with Big Time (michael B) which was really fun, again we got stuck in the deep powder snow which is absolutely a nightmare to get out of. Met up with John and MJ, did another run and we made our way up to the top. Reached the top only to find my binding had snapped off, this really pissed me off. My day was cut short as I couldnt continue boarding until it was mended, so I made my way back to the town to get my board sorted out and the shop was closed in the middle of the afternoon because the french had gone for a bloody nap, so i made my way back to our apartment had a nice hot bath and headed off in to the town for some retail therapy. I bought some shoes - it made me feel better but not as good as the boarding would have made me feel.
MB - My day went good, me and K went to Les Praz to meet MJ and JB to go on the big slopes. Happy days. We went down on the green and blue slopes today it was good we got on the chair lifts for the 1st time this week. My technique has got better I'm so happy that i have got it now jeeezzzz!
MJ - Wednesday I went to Le Tour with MB and KK and started with a the red run, I didnt fall for the first 3 red runs which was an achivement for myself. I then took them on the blue run and they got stuck in the deep powder, That was funny. I laughed so hard I twisted my knee - I felt the ligaments strain, so I got down and buried my knee in the snow and sat there for 20 minutes while they dug their way out of the deep snow, It does take that long when it's deep.
Thursday I went with JB and the lads to Les Praz to hit the big boy slopes. I finally hit a black run and it was ******* awsome, the buzz was undescribable. I felt like I was on top of the world. It was the first time I had ever been above the clouds and descended through them. I 180'd a few times and also did my first grab off a little kicker, got some nice air from a few jumps ran a bunch of black and red runs, tree runs, off piste runs, stacked it a lot and busted the bindings on my board so I am very pleased
Did my first run with Big Time (michael B) which was really fun, again we got stuck in the deep powder snow which is absolutely a nightmare to get out of. Met up with John and MJ, did another run and we made our way up to the top. Reached the top only to find my binding had snapped off, this really pissed me off. My day was cut short as I couldnt continue boarding until it was mended, so I made my way back to the town to get my board sorted out and the shop was closed in the middle of the afternoon because the french had gone for a bloody nap, so i made my way back to our apartment had a nice hot bath and headed off in to the town for some retail therapy. I bought some shoes - it made me feel better but not as good as the boarding would have made me feel.
MB - My day went good, me and K went to Les Praz to meet MJ and JB to go on the big slopes. Happy days. We went down on the green and blue slopes today it was good we got on the chair lifts for the 1st time this week. My technique has got better I'm so happy that i have got it now jeeezzzz!
MJ - Wednesday I went to Le Tour with MB and KK and started with a the red run, I didnt fall for the first 3 red runs which was an achivement for myself. I then took them on the blue run and they got stuck in the deep powder, That was funny. I laughed so hard I twisted my knee - I felt the ligaments strain, so I got down and buried my knee in the snow and sat there for 20 minutes while they dug their way out of the deep snow, It does take that long when it's deep.
Thursday I went with JB and the lads to Les Praz to hit the big boy slopes. I finally hit a black run and it was ******* awsome, the buzz was undescribable. I felt like I was on top of the world. It was the first time I had ever been above the clouds and descended through them. I 180'd a few times and also did my first grab off a little kicker, got some nice air from a few jumps ran a bunch of black and red runs, tree runs, off piste runs, stacked it a lot and busted the bindings on my board so I am very pleased
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday - POWDER DAAAAAAYYYY!!!
JB - Two foot of snow on the pistes overnight and dumping hard all day, in a ski resort where a wrong turn at the top of the mountain will see you end up in a different country. It's everyone for themselves on a day like this...
Kayleigh's blog
3rd day on the slopes, woke up feeling ready to go. It had been snowing the night before so we had fresh snow, it was quite hard to walk in and about a foot deep. I jumped on the lifts and went to the top of the slope and boarded all the way down, it felt great.....like i was gliding in the air, not so great when i stopped and sunk into the foot deep snow. It was very funny trying to get out. i can now link my turns thanks to the great instructor we've had, its interesting to watch how he coaches in comparison to the way we do as sports students ourselves i cant wait to jump up a gear onto the blue slopes. My confidence is sky high,yet again cant wait until tomorrow.
MJ - 2nd day was great, really had the linking turns in the locker which made life a lot easier but meant i was going faster when i fell. I met the intermediate instructor who was way better than the first one.
The 3rd day was amazing it had snowed throughout the night and and continued to all day which meant there was fresh powder and deep snow which was loads of fun, it kind of gave me butterflies and when i crashed I just sank in to the snow with a mouthful of snow haha. John took me up les Grandes Montets, we went up to 2987m which is nearly 9000 feet and hit a good few blues and red runs, had a few deeeecent wipe outs lol hit a big drop without seeing it until I was in the air flapping it was awesome...
MB - today I had a lay in to recover from the two hard days before and it felt great. My new instructor advised me to change my board for a bigger one which I did in the morning. Made my way to the slopes with special k (Kayleigh) I named her after French cornflakes lol. Got to the slopes looking forward to my lesson with my fantastic new instructor, had lesson in fluffy snow which was cool dude. I mastered linking turns without falling from the top of the slope to bottom which felt very satisfying. It must have been the new board! As we were leaving the slopes me, MJ and special K had a big snow fight in the deep snow which was a great way to end the day with my pals.
Quote of the day (try and guess who from): “Shuddup! Waddya mean? My armpits ain't that furry!”
Quote of the Day (no2), from MB while wandering through the main square in Chamonix: “Whoever owns this ranch is making absolute paper”
JB – They're still going great guns despite the tiredness and the bruises (and a phenomenal ability to coat every possible surface or fabric with Lynx anti-perspirant). Many people take five or six trips to Europe and never get to ski on snow like this, and they're making the absolute most of it. However the spirit of international experimentation is finally wearing thin amongst the students; tonight's food vote is for a Happy Meal at the newly opened Chamonix Macdonalds... Le Big Mac, anybody?
JB - Two foot of snow on the pistes overnight and dumping hard all day, in a ski resort where a wrong turn at the top of the mountain will see you end up in a different country. It's everyone for themselves on a day like this...
Kayleigh's blog
3rd day on the slopes, woke up feeling ready to go. It had been snowing the night before so we had fresh snow, it was quite hard to walk in and about a foot deep. I jumped on the lifts and went to the top of the slope and boarded all the way down, it felt great.....like i was gliding in the air, not so great when i stopped and sunk into the foot deep snow. It was very funny trying to get out. i can now link my turns thanks to the great instructor we've had, its interesting to watch how he coaches in comparison to the way we do as sports students ourselves i cant wait to jump up a gear onto the blue slopes. My confidence is sky high,yet again cant wait until tomorrow.
MJ - 2nd day was great, really had the linking turns in the locker which made life a lot easier but meant i was going faster when i fell. I met the intermediate instructor who was way better than the first one.
The 3rd day was amazing it had snowed throughout the night and and continued to all day which meant there was fresh powder and deep snow which was loads of fun, it kind of gave me butterflies and when i crashed I just sank in to the snow with a mouthful of snow haha. John took me up les Grandes Montets, we went up to 2987m which is nearly 9000 feet and hit a good few blues and red runs, had a few deeeecent wipe outs lol hit a big drop without seeing it until I was in the air flapping it was awesome...
MB - today I had a lay in to recover from the two hard days before and it felt great. My new instructor advised me to change my board for a bigger one which I did in the morning. Made my way to the slopes with special k (Kayleigh) I named her after French cornflakes lol. Got to the slopes looking forward to my lesson with my fantastic new instructor, had lesson in fluffy snow which was cool dude. I mastered linking turns without falling from the top of the slope to bottom which felt very satisfying. It must have been the new board! As we were leaving the slopes me, MJ and special K had a big snow fight in the deep snow which was a great way to end the day with my pals.
Quote of the day (try and guess who from): “Shuddup! Waddya mean? My armpits ain't that furry!”
Quote of the Day (no2), from MB while wandering through the main square in Chamonix: “Whoever owns this ranch is making absolute paper”
JB – They're still going great guns despite the tiredness and the bruises (and a phenomenal ability to coat every possible surface or fabric with Lynx anti-perspirant). Many people take five or six trips to Europe and never get to ski on snow like this, and they're making the absolute most of it. However the spirit of international experimentation is finally wearing thin amongst the students; tonight's food vote is for a Happy Meal at the newly opened Chamonix Macdonalds... Le Big Mac, anybody?
Monday, March 23, 2009
Ski Sunday - the first day of our snowboarding trip to Chamonix, 2009
First post – Ski sunday
JB - So we've made it to Chamonix, via Geneva and an obscenely early start to the day. There were many occasions when it didn't look like it would happen, and we're all extremely grateful to Kevin and Dave for giving us the green light to do this, to all the people who've helped sponsor the students with kit or hard cash, and in particular to one very generous anonymous donor who's now on her way to NZ. Thanks to you all, it's going to be amazing for the students, and of course I'll be hating every second of it...
These are their thoughts about the first day and a bit
Mike J - i could and would like to live over here in France and become a ski instructor. I have never been to a place like this before and never really knew what to expect. I've done a lot of skateboarding in the past and it has helped a lot. I've never thought i would get the chance to snowbaord and I'm loving the adrenaline rush and the veiw is beautiful, I really enjoyed at the end of the day today as we were all leaving the slopes we watched the sun set behind the mountains. I am going to find out about how to get a job as a ski instructor one day. Also I wish I'd learned a bit more basic French because it annoys me when I can't speak to the locals properly – I feel rude – unlike when I was living in Spain and had time to learn some phrases.
I got my first air (by accident) when we went through some trees and i ddnt see a jump coming. That was a rush. Oh and I tried the red run (difficut) today but it was pushing it a bit – I'll probably stick to blues tomorrow.
I enjoyed helping the others in the class because I didn't need the beginner stuff by the afternoon and all the coaching we do back home you can easily help out. Also it's funny when you see the three year olds and they're decent! Like faster than us. And so cute when the zoom past. I've decided already that I dont like skiiers, though. And I'm sunburned and my groin hurts.
Mike B – when I first went on the snow I thought how can I board on this when i can hardly stand! Really didn't know what to expect, I was excited but scared. It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it might, so much as achey now. It didn't hurt when I was falling down, more frustrating. I actually was really pissec at one stage when I feel over twice. I can see it was funny now, but at the time I felt like a mug on the button lift.
I feel happy now. I was talking to myself all through it. I got the basic balance stuff going, now I have to link the turns. I'll start with the small lift, get it togethert, take my falls, think yeah I can ride it, the go for the big lift
Chamonix is a relaxed place, but kind of very expensive. It;s laid back because everyone is here to do the same thing so everyone seems to get along. I'm trying hard to learn some essentials like please and thakyou. Soon as they know you're not ignorant like they talk to you and help you.
Kayleigh D - before the skiing trip i was very excited about everything, I have never been before so it was something totally new to me. when we all arrived we were tired due to having no sleep the night before. The first thing i noticed when I arrived was the scenery, it was quite overpowering,the mountains were enormous as well as beautiul. We had an early night so we were prepared for the day ahead of us. In the morning we put our snowboarding geer on and headed of out to the slopes. When I arrived I couldn't wait to start. John got us all started doing basic techniques on how to balance on our boards and how to move down the very flat slopes, it was quite embarassing to see 5yr olds going at crazy speeds down steeper slopes than us. After a few hours I got the hang of it and it was really good. iI couldn't compare it to any other sport if anything it has been one of the best sports I've played. As the day went on I got a bit too confident and was coming down the slope backwards, fell and what felt like at the time broke my wrist. John took me to the medical centre and i had it x-rayed and was told eveything was ok and that it was just synovial fluid trapped in my wrist, I found this quite interesting as it related to my sport course as college and I knew what it was already.
I rested for the night and slept in whilst the other guys went out to the slopes on the second day. It was quite frustrating as I'm a person that likes to take risks and make the most of things and i was not prepared to let this sport get the better of me. My wrist was a huge setback. Anyway I met the guys in the afternoon and joined the group lesson with everyone, i had a brace on so i felt fine. i learnt quite a lot and can now effectively snowboard ok, I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and hope to learn a lot more.
JB – Some general thoughts. So far the guys have been amazing. They're learning lots, asking great questions and they're not afraid to try new things. Snowboarding can be hell for newbies for the first few days, it's physically very demanding and frustrating in equal amounts, but they've handled the knockbacks, shrugged off the bruises and kept on getting back up again. Mike (The Ego Has Landed) Jones in particular has taken to it like a duck to water, he's linking turns by lunch time on the first day, turned his first 180 trick by the end of the day and cruised a red run (classed as difficult) from top to bottom with only one fall. That, for a total beginner is phenomenally good. MB is Mister Easy Going, you couldn't ask for better company in a group of people travelling and living together in what can be a cramped and quickly smelly environemnt. Kayleigh showed how brave and immensely competitive she is diving straight back into the action after her wrist injury scare. They've all been very good about trying to pick up some basic French to help them get by, too.
Of course, you learn best through experience and by doing. So the boys have now learned that if you leave your boots and gloves to 'dry' outside in the mountains, you wake up to ice cold frozen foot and handwear. I could've told them, but hey, this way the message is so much more emphatic. They're also all gradually learning that the Number 1 Sin on a good skiing day is 'faffing about' and that no, I am not a pack-mule for all of their discarded gear. Finally, there is no location or circumstance that makes Nickleback's How We Remind You anything other than awful. Would someone please pass this message on to Mr Joness.
As soon as I can find a way to edit and post it, we'll be putting up some video of everyone in action on the slopes, in the meantime still shots will have to suffice.
JB - So we've made it to Chamonix, via Geneva and an obscenely early start to the day. There were many occasions when it didn't look like it would happen, and we're all extremely grateful to Kevin and Dave for giving us the green light to do this, to all the people who've helped sponsor the students with kit or hard cash, and in particular to one very generous anonymous donor who's now on her way to NZ. Thanks to you all, it's going to be amazing for the students, and of course I'll be hating every second of it...
These are their thoughts about the first day and a bit
Mike J - i could and would like to live over here in France and become a ski instructor. I have never been to a place like this before and never really knew what to expect. I've done a lot of skateboarding in the past and it has helped a lot. I've never thought i would get the chance to snowbaord and I'm loving the adrenaline rush and the veiw is beautiful, I really enjoyed at the end of the day today as we were all leaving the slopes we watched the sun set behind the mountains. I am going to find out about how to get a job as a ski instructor one day. Also I wish I'd learned a bit more basic French because it annoys me when I can't speak to the locals properly – I feel rude – unlike when I was living in Spain and had time to learn some phrases.
I got my first air (by accident) when we went through some trees and i ddnt see a jump coming. That was a rush. Oh and I tried the red run (difficut) today but it was pushing it a bit – I'll probably stick to blues tomorrow.
I enjoyed helping the others in the class because I didn't need the beginner stuff by the afternoon and all the coaching we do back home you can easily help out. Also it's funny when you see the three year olds and they're decent! Like faster than us. And so cute when the zoom past. I've decided already that I dont like skiiers, though. And I'm sunburned and my groin hurts.
Mike B – when I first went on the snow I thought how can I board on this when i can hardly stand! Really didn't know what to expect, I was excited but scared. It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it might, so much as achey now. It didn't hurt when I was falling down, more frustrating. I actually was really pissec at one stage when I feel over twice. I can see it was funny now, but at the time I felt like a mug on the button lift.
I feel happy now. I was talking to myself all through it. I got the basic balance stuff going, now I have to link the turns. I'll start with the small lift, get it togethert, take my falls, think yeah I can ride it, the go for the big lift
Chamonix is a relaxed place, but kind of very expensive. It;s laid back because everyone is here to do the same thing so everyone seems to get along. I'm trying hard to learn some essentials like please and thakyou. Soon as they know you're not ignorant like they talk to you and help you.
Kayleigh D - before the skiing trip i was very excited about everything, I have never been before so it was something totally new to me. when we all arrived we were tired due to having no sleep the night before. The first thing i noticed when I arrived was the scenery, it was quite overpowering,the mountains were enormous as well as beautiul. We had an early night so we were prepared for the day ahead of us. In the morning we put our snowboarding geer on and headed of out to the slopes. When I arrived I couldn't wait to start. John got us all started doing basic techniques on how to balance on our boards and how to move down the very flat slopes, it was quite embarassing to see 5yr olds going at crazy speeds down steeper slopes than us. After a few hours I got the hang of it and it was really good. iI couldn't compare it to any other sport if anything it has been one of the best sports I've played. As the day went on I got a bit too confident and was coming down the slope backwards, fell and what felt like at the time broke my wrist. John took me to the medical centre and i had it x-rayed and was told eveything was ok and that it was just synovial fluid trapped in my wrist, I found this quite interesting as it related to my sport course as college and I knew what it was already.
I rested for the night and slept in whilst the other guys went out to the slopes on the second day. It was quite frustrating as I'm a person that likes to take risks and make the most of things and i was not prepared to let this sport get the better of me. My wrist was a huge setback. Anyway I met the guys in the afternoon and joined the group lesson with everyone, i had a brace on so i felt fine. i learnt quite a lot and can now effectively snowboard ok, I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and hope to learn a lot more.
JB – Some general thoughts. So far the guys have been amazing. They're learning lots, asking great questions and they're not afraid to try new things. Snowboarding can be hell for newbies for the first few days, it's physically very demanding and frustrating in equal amounts, but they've handled the knockbacks, shrugged off the bruises and kept on getting back up again. Mike (The Ego Has Landed) Jones in particular has taken to it like a duck to water, he's linking turns by lunch time on the first day, turned his first 180 trick by the end of the day and cruised a red run (classed as difficult) from top to bottom with only one fall. That, for a total beginner is phenomenally good. MB is Mister Easy Going, you couldn't ask for better company in a group of people travelling and living together in what can be a cramped and quickly smelly environemnt. Kayleigh showed how brave and immensely competitive she is diving straight back into the action after her wrist injury scare. They've all been very good about trying to pick up some basic French to help them get by, too.
Of course, you learn best through experience and by doing. So the boys have now learned that if you leave your boots and gloves to 'dry' outside in the mountains, you wake up to ice cold frozen foot and handwear. I could've told them, but hey, this way the message is so much more emphatic. They're also all gradually learning that the Number 1 Sin on a good skiing day is 'faffing about' and that no, I am not a pack-mule for all of their discarded gear. Finally, there is no location or circumstance that makes Nickleback's How We Remind You anything other than awful. Would someone please pass this message on to Mr Joness.
As soon as I can find a way to edit and post it, we'll be putting up some video of everyone in action on the slopes, in the meantime still shots will have to suffice.
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