Adventure Blog Scotland | Snow » 2007

Dust off the boards

November 18, 2007 on 9:47 pm | In Snowboarding | No Comments

This is the Dune graveyard in the autumn sun light. In between getting all my winter clothes and equipment ready I got out for a quick breath of fresh air and a wander around Rothiemurchus Estate where the Doune is situated.

Well, the autumn is nearly turning to winter and the last leaves are just hanging on to almost bare branches. The hills are now covered in a fine dusting of snow and my surf board may have seen its last wave fow a while. Well, at least until it warms up a wee bit. The nights are definitely closing in too, which makes it all the more important to get out there in the day light and get some fresh air. It also makes it a good time to give your ski and snowboard equipment a good old overhaul and check out so it is all up and running for when the first big dump of snow hits us in the hopefully not too distant future. The first thing to do is find everything from skis and boots and poles or snowboards and bindings and boots to gloves, goggles, hats, scarfs, turtle necks, long underwear, fleeces and everything warm and waterproof.

This is always a good idea as to be sure, if you do not, the morning you wake up to the first big dump you will only be able to find your skis and poles and one glove and will for sure have no idea what on earth could have happened to the other glove or why on earth your boots are not with the rest of your equipment. It will then take you a few hours to realize that your 5 year old nephew borrowed the boots to play crazy golf with in the summer and you have not seen them since, meaning that they are probably still hiding out in the rose bush in the garden, now full of water, and the missing glove is now the cosy lining in the cat basket. There is never enough snow and light time at this time of year to risk time losses of this nature so be warned, look out the gear now.

As well as finding it, it is a good idea to check it is all in working order. It is not much fun to arrive in the car park of the ski resort with virgin snow beckoning you up, up and away only to realise that your snowboard bindings are missing a strap as you broke one on the last day of the last season and forgot to get it fixed. It is also a good idea to get your board or skis waxed and serviced and ready to go.

The snow is coming, I am sure of it. So, be warned. Get that gear all ship shape and raring to go as I am sure you all are too.

Lesley McKenna
http://www.chunkyknit.com
Professional snowboarder, film maker and ambassador for Visitscotland. All sorts of outdoor sports from skiing to mountain biking and now mixes her time on the Snowboard World Cup Tour with time in Scotland doing these sports.

World Cup Action

November 5, 2007 on 10:05 pm | In Snowboarding | 1 Comment

Lesley in the Saas Fee pipe.

Last Friday saw the opening European Half Pipe World Cup of the season kick off in Saas Fee, Switzerland. I was there competing with fellow Scots and World Cup Team mates Angus Leith and Ben Kilner. The pipe they built in Saas Fee was the best one I have ever seen there and as a consequence the riding standard was very high. Undortunatley, due to bad weather, the first day of training had to be cancelled but the weather cleared up for the second training day and by the competition day it was a beautiful sunny day. It always makes a bigh difference to the riding if the weather is nice and here was no exception. The riders wore smiles as they flew high out of the pipe and lapped up the sunshine as they watched and admired the tricks being layed down.

Here is the ladies winner Kjersti Buaas on the podium

It was obvious that there had been a lot of training going on over the summer months as the riders were showing off new trick combinations left right and centre. In the end it was Kjersti Buaas who came out on top in the girls competition with new comer Chinese girl Chen Xu in second and World Champion Manuela Pesko in third. In the mens’ contest half Russian, half Swiss Juri Poladechov took the top spot with Fin Jenne Korpi in second and the Swiss rider Christian ‘Hitch’ haller in third. In the british camp, I came out on top with a respectable 11th place, which, added to my 8th in New Zealand in September, puts me in 9th place in the standings. Dan Wakeham had the best result of the UK guys with a 24th place although luck was definitely not on our side as well all messed up at least one of our qualification runs. That is the way it goes though and it is far more important to keep pushing limitis than worry about taking a few slams!