Cairngorm Christmas
December 28, 2007 on 7:25 pm | In Snowboarding, Uncategorized | No Comments
There is nothing I like better than to see Loch Morlich covered in ice and some snow, even a little bit, on the tops of the Cairngorms. That is just the view that greeted me when I arrived home in Aviemore for Christmas. It had been cold for a while and the ground was white with frost and the lochs were all frozen hard enough to go skating on. Unfortunately there was not quite enough snow to have a good slide around on but there was enough to get going. It is always good to get up the hill at this time of year and it is not to be forgotten that any skiing and snowboarding in December is always a bonus.
The Ptarmigan tow was running and there was enough snow to get up a good bit of speed!!!
We spent a lovely family Christmas at Rothiemurchus and even managed to get in a bit of skating on the little lochan at the back of Rothiemurchus tennis club. It felt like a proper old fashioned Christmas card scene with the whole of the McKenna and Baxter caln sliding around on the ice. We had big plans for a boxing day hockey match until we woke up the next day to find the weather had gone mild and the ice was now a little on the thin side. We decided to go for a mountain bike ride instead and ended up at the head of Abernethy.
We cycled around by Loch an Eilan, then up to Loch Morlich and then on to the Green Loch and up to Bynach stables. It was a lovely clycle and certainly worked up the appetite for a second Christmas dinner!!
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.
December 21, 2007 on 8:05 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments
Here are the girls from the Roxy Team enjoying their Christmas Party after the Roxy Chicken Jam Slopestyle contest in Kaprun last weekend. The Roxy Chicken Jam is a 6 star TTR snowboard event for girls only. The TTR stands for the Ticket to Ride Tour and is a world wide tour of top level contests including slopestyle, big air, quarter pipe and half pipe contests. unlike World Cup events, which are only held in the freestyle disciplines of half pipe and big air. The TTR tour contests are generally very progressive and media based with a lot of fun side events happening alongside of the snowboard contest. In kaprun, there was a large after party with 5 different DJs playing banging tunes into the small hours of the morning.
The Roxy park at the top of the glacier.
The riding during the contest was very competitive and of a high standard. In the end it was Cheryl Maas, the Dutch TTR Tour winner from two years ago who took first place, with TTR tour runner up from last year, Jamie Anderson from the USA taking second place and local ripper, Austrian Claudia Fliri taking the third spot. The contest was supposed to be held in the Roxy park at the top of the Kaprun glacier but had to be moved down to the half way slope where the DC sponsored park will be in the winter due to very high winds. This meant the girls did not get all the practice they would have wanted but it did not slow them down much. They soon got straight into it with Torah Bright, current TTR champion, blasting off the kicker first with a perfect frontside 360 to set the standard. Torah ride well all day but just could not clean up the landing on her cab 540 spin. Also riding well were the UKs Jenny Jones and Norways Kjersti Buaas who in the end tied for 4th place. Jenny got the 4th on a points breakdown but it was a close call, showing how much all the girls are pushing each other.
Before the contest started I spent the week with my fellow Roxy team mates in Kaprun doing the Roxy catalogue shoot for the 08/09 season. We were lucky enough to get some really amazing snow and lots of fresh powder turns. THis is always a very good thing at the start of the season and especially good after the bad snow season in Europe last year. It was bitterly cold though as you can see from the way our photogrpaher Josie Clyde is well wrapped up!! We wil be shooting all over the world in the next 3 months to try and get action shots for marketing. Hopefully if the snow is good in Scotland we will even get to shoot here!!
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.
That Roxy time of year
December 4, 2007 on 5:39 pm | In Snowboarding | No Comments
The Roxy Girls
it is creeping towards the darkest time of year, when it is totally dark at 4.40 and not light before 8.30. it is cold and wet outside and people in the towns are bustling around, busy with their Christmas shopping. The darkness was certainly brightened up this week by the welcome sight of snow on the hills in Scotland. There was enough on Cairngorm for the Ptarmigan tow to open and what that was there was very nice indeed. Hopefully we will continue to get snowed upon in the next few weeks so at Christmas I can get to ride at home. Before that, however, it is time for the Roxy Chicken Jam. Every year, just before Christmas, Roxy hosts an all girl slopestyle contest which turns out to be one of the most fun contests of the year.
This year the contest will be held in Kaprun in Austria where they have been having a lot of snow in the last few weeks. Girls from all over the world will head out to Kaprun in the next week to get ready for the competition, which is one of the largest all girl contests around. There is a large prize purse and a lot for the girls to ride for. I will be there along with Jenny Jones from Bristol and new comer Aimee Fuller from northern Ireland.
To keep the Roxy theme going, I am planning to host a Roxy film premiere in the Woodshed bar in Aviemore on Christmas Eve, after I have been shredding on Cairngorm, of course. The premiere will start around 7pm and all are welcome.
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.
