Saas Fee

Snow has fallen. Lots and lots and lots of snow. I got into Saas Fee on Tuesday afternoon for the latest round of the FIS Worldcup. Wednesdays practice was cancelled due to fresh snow but i had an unplanned powder shred with Kory Wright of the Bahamas, and his coach Dave Reynolds who i met for the first time whilst waiting for the gondola to open. On thursday, the mountain was closed completely as more and more snow fell into the resort. Woke up today to no new snow but horrible winds. The motivation was there to see on everyones faces. Here’s a lone rider making their way back to the salvation of the revolving restaurant. 

I’m tempted to stick around for a couple more days to see if it clears because when it does Saas Fee will be on! If not, i’m going to take a few days travelling over to Schladming for the Pleasurejam in a weeks time. Come on, lets see those blue skies! 

We love scaffolding

Who would of thought that a load of scaffolding assembled together in a run-down industrial estate south of the River Thames could be so much fun. Well, this weekend Londonfreeze rocked into town and we were greeted with some wicked snowboarding and skiing action.

drop-in 

Like most snowboard events that i’ve ever been to, the day of the FIS Worldcup was overcast and the light for photos pretty poor. I must say though i had some fun whilst on “crash cam” so to speak. Here’s a couple that caught my eye. I really hope that Marco Grilc is ok though as he looked in serious pain as he was taken off the landing area by paramedics.

I’m looking forward to venturing over to Europe this week for the next round of the halfpipe worldcup. I’m hoping for some blue skies and beautiful days but in the meantime lets keep it dirty in this scaffolding dream!

Ignorance is bliss

After what seemed like forever i’ve finally made it back to the UK this weekend. i managed to fit in a three day “summer” holiday in LA on the way home and with temperatures hovering around the 40 degrees it was definitely hot enough. 

I stayed down by the beach in between Santa Monica and Venice. What a wicked place. Armed with my skateboard it was so much fun cruising up and down then main stretch. Before my flight on Thursday i made my way to Venice pier and took a few photos of the surfers. With snowboarding photos there’s so many things you have to get right to make it a good photo. I’m sure that with surfing its exactly the same but for this first attempt its fair to say that ignorance is bliss. “that looks nice…..i’ll keep it!”

I’ve got a few things coming up over the next couple weeks. I’m going to be at the Londonfreeze festival (www.londonfreeze.com) near the end of the month quickly followed by a road trip to Saas Fee for the worldcup halfpipe and then onto Schladming in Austria for the Horsefeathers Pleasurejam. In the meantime i plan to kick up my feet and relax!

All sewn up

 

Its all done and dusted, my season has finally come to an end, an awesome end. Yesterday morning hungover from a heavy night, i took Australian rider Paul McMahon up on his offer of one more day at Snowpark and it was so sweet. We messed about for the most part of the day and just before lunch decided to do a quick shoot. In 30 minutes we got down a backside 180, super corked frontside 900 and then this…….

What can you say? This crazy set-up from the snowpark boys was catching everyone out. Paul was the first of the day to ride it out but then the next ten or so chances he didn’t make it. We got the camera out ready for an afternoon of trying….but no need. Paul strapped in, psyched himself up and nailed it first time! Cheers from around the park, high fives and hugs were thrown around and the job was done. I’m off home next week and to finish the season on a high like this is awesome!