Are two planks better than one?

This winter was always going to be tough to repeat last years snowboarding efforts but I still managed a good couple of trips. 1st up was my yearly pilgrimage to catch up with Mr C and his entourage in Lech, Austria.

After a dry period we got lucky with some fresh snow during our stay. I'm sure it was only enough to prevent me from driving up the hill yet not substantial to host some epic deep turns. Never the less we had good fun and it was nice to also see Eva who I met in Whistler last year.

So with the lads warm up trip out the way it was time to get away with Emma and fellow Amsterdammers for a week on the edge of the Les Arcs resort in a place called Peisey Vallandry. We stayed in a very spacious chalet a little down the slopes and arrived to find no snow!

One morning I was up early enough to catch the sun coming up over the mountains where I took the following photos.

In particular, the photo below is one of the best I think I have ever taken most of which is right time right place.

But as the week progress we had 15cm one night that was enough to entertain me on the snowboard until the majority was tracked out. Can't complain at the rest of the weather though as it was glorious sunshine. Which leads me to the questions as the title of this post - are two planks better than one?

Emma ski's, so I took it on myself to also give it a go. When the suns out and the pistes are fast hard packed, I'll have to say the ski's are much more fun. I've have no style or technique but it's not too difficult to get some serious speed whilst remaining on the edge of control.

I was soon leading Emma on some off piste adventures and hitting some natural gullys and the odd jump here and there.

We made it to the top of the resort at over 3000m one day and the views were stunning.

It wasn't till the end of the holiday that we went further afield and found the larger park. Shame really cos the red jumps looked perfect and really well maintained. Even the greens were sizable and I would've been comfortable trying rotations on them. I was on the ski's that day so thought I'd see how hard it could be? No daffys or helicopters from me but I nailed the green line of 4 kickers a total of 3 times with no stacks. We'll have to work on Emma's videography for future trips though ;-)

Now before my friends all rip me, I'll be the first to admit that I will never get the same feeling on ski's that I have experienced many a time on a snowboard. That freedom of expression through line choice would be I doubt I'll ever achieve on ski's. In the best snow conditions I am just not willing to put the time in on ski's - give me a board any day :-)

But it's just good fun to learn something new. Probably the same reasons why I bought that BMX a while ago that is still in someone's shed in Nottingham? So when I'm an old man and body parts don't work as well as they used to, I can see that I'll be skiing just like I can imagine I'll be golfing. Here's hoping I don't kill myself on a snowboard first!

All my photos can be viewed here or in slideshow format here

Whistler life is like a box of chocolates...

So enough about work, it's time to get back to the play. My 3 week trip to Whistler in Canada was fantastic and I could easily write a huge long article here about it. I've already let three weeks pass since my return and too much waffle would send readers to sleep (some of it I'm sure would be along the lines of "you had to be there..."). Therefore, I've decided to summarise the trip with a few photos and let readers imaginations fill in the gaps:

First up was the luxurious sleeping arrangements the boys laid on for me, AKA Jamie's wardrobe ->

But then that was a better option than Alex's room otherwise I may have been woken up by some strange noises during the night. Not like this either ->


It was great to see Jamie and Alex again although they have changed quite a bit. For instance Alex seemed to enjoy dressing up as a penis ->


And Jamie was experimenting with the "Munters Gap" ->


Still we had some good nights out where Jamie fell in love with the Karaoke guy ->


Also where everyone bowed down to my pool and darts skills ->


At times followed by some fancy dancing techniques due to still wearing snowboard boots until the wee hours ->


It wasn't all drinking though, there was some hardcore snowboarding to be had ->


I even tried attaching one plank to each foot a couple of times ->


There was no avoiding some really stupid people though ->


The best day had to be the mountain pub crawl though. An alcoholic drink in every place on the two mountains that sells booze. There's 10 to be had which is not so bad when spread out across the whole day. As usual we were running a little behind schedule and so 3 drinks had to be downed in 1 to make the penultimate bar before it closed. I doubt I will ever snowboard so fast and so drunk ever again in my life. It was fantastic and here I am enjoying that penultimate beer before the ride down to the last bar ->


The whole 3 weeks was superb, I had a great laugh with some genuine people. So much fun that I never found time to shave ->


But at least my growth was not as bad as Jamie's ->


All thats left to say is a big thanks to the residents of 3110 Tyrol Crescent for putting up with me and I hope my photos are enjoyed in the slideshow below:

Flash Slideshow