Breche du Berard and a Glacier Petudes, awesome!

Just had a great 2 days riding with a Breche du Berard yesterday with perfect conditions both up and down followed by a heli drop up on the Trient Plateau today and an amazing descent of the Petudes Glacier variant again with perfect conditions for all.

I see my book has had its first mixed review on amazon but only in the case that it has goofy riders in it and not regular riders?

The idea is that you understand the concept of the pressure movements, how the board works, how the turn shape works and how the body works.
Combine the three and you have the Science behind Snowboard technique whether goofy or regular!! Its the feeling, the understanding and the concept that's important not which foot lead with.

I can take critisism if it holds value but lets face it, I revolutionize the way Snowboarding can be taught and someone complains because they ride the other way around and just for that gives it a 2 out of 5?

Get real!

Anyway, two more great days in the bag, I'll let the photos do the talking.

Hiking up to the Breche du Berard, Josh, Kev, Joel and Alessandro.

Josh powers a deep on on the way down from the Breche

Hiking up to the Aiguille du Tour above the Trient Plateau today.

Grom gets a nice line on the Petudes variant today.

Terje (or Jason) getting another first descent! Glacier petudes.

Kev gest a nice line on this ridge opposite me, Glacier petudes.

Allessandro at full speed making a rare turn!

Jason heads for the valley with so much fresh its confusing where to turn next!

Another big day planned for tomorrow!!

Bring it on!

Neil.

New week, new fresh lines to ride!

It's all work, work, work around here again with a new week beginning and more new snow just to top up what we had last week.

I started the week up at Le Tour with a few classics in the back bowls, great snow but hindered by bad visibility as the heavens opened and it started to dump down with feathery light powder. Great timing prevailed though as we hiked up to the summit of the Aiguille du Possettes for a perfect descent of the right hand variant of Possettes couloir with amazing fresh untracked snow for all.

Monday I had big plans to hit the Col du Belevedere again after having so much fun there last Friday. With the new snow I new it would be all filled in and waiting for some new fresh lines to be laid in there. We set off in fine weather, blue skies and sunshine only to have the cloud roll in and visibility drop to a couple of meters. I persevered with the Map and compass out but after falling into a couple of invisible snow holes we had to bin it and follow our tracks back out of there.

An hour or so later the sun came back and we spent the afternoon dropping fresh lines within the Flegere ski area boundaries, strangley untracked, steep and deep and ripe for the picking and the day was saved big time, an amazing result!

Today we finally got to head for the Col du Belevedere.

Heading up to Col du Belevedere above Lac Blanc.

This time all went to plan and we got around there in quick time. The lower was in great condition and the Glacier below pretty much untracked.

Grom on the 60m abseil/lower from the Col du Belevedere.

We dropped in cut below the foot of the Glacier and powered some deep turns into silk like powder. Having been there a few days before I knew the snow would be great and so hit it full speed digging deep as I could with the tail to power some powder plumes high into the air before cutting back through the white room in powder heaven glory. With my new strong legs from my squatts and leg work that I'm doing (in training for my biking) I was pushing hard through the tail of the board, man it felt good! I'm riding the salomon Burner 166 at the moment and it feels great!

Jason (sometimes known as Terje) below the foot of the Glacier.

Mark gets the goods.

Grom digs deep in the silk like fresh snow, amazing!

Another great descent in the bag and the exit down the Berard valley in easy condition, a great day all round!

Tomorrow I'm swapping groups with Dave so I'll be with the BC Intro group and heading for a Col du Passon. The forecast is good and I'm already phsyched for some more fresh lines.

Bring it on.

Laters,
Neil.

Another amazing Heli day, deep fresh all the way!

Woke up to blue skies and perfect conditions and a heli booked for a morning drop on the Plateau du Trient, what more could you want?

A smooth flight found us all alone on the Trient plateau. Once again no tracks lead the way up to our lunch spot below the Aig du Tour and so a bit of trail breaking was needed. Today Ralf was up there joining us with his BC Freeride Group and so I shared the trail breaking with him and one of his group Adam who is out here doing the season.

Ralf's team take a turn at the front with Adam in the lead.

My BC Intro team, Jo, Simon, Gavin and David.

We made light work of it as a team, had a look into a few monster crecasses on route and had lunch looking out over the beautiful peaks on the horizon such as the Matterhorn, the Weisshorn and the Dent Blanche.

After our stop we readied ourselves for some steep and deep untracked powder riding. With some 2000m of untouched vertical descent awaiting us we headed off, my group towards Glacier Midi Des Grandes whilst Ralf took his guys over to the steep Couloir Nord du Pissoir. Having checked out all the options on the flight up we knew that everywhere was going to be good and with no tracks anywhere on the mountain we were once again spoilt for choice.

Gav starts the big descent heading down Glacier Midi Des Grandes.

Once again Jo is a contender for shot of the day as she heads onto the steeps in full flight.

Simon makes his bid for shot of the day with this beautiful deep backside turn in full flow.

We got some great video footage too so that will join my other footage from pervious weeks which I'm trying to find time to edit into a best off the season so far vid. So much footage to sort through though this season as every day has been amazing.

What a season, it just seems to get better and better and more snow is due next week!!!

Going to do a big tour tomorrow in the Aiguille Rouge, a col du Belevedere I think, a nice hike up to a beautiful col above the frozen Lac Blanc. A 60 meter abseill down the other side and a great powder decsent awaits.

Work, work and more work that's all I seem to do!

Neil.

Another fine day in the office!

After a night of continuous snowfall the day dawned bright and clear drawing us out and upwards for a big descent of the Valley Blanche.

Whilst much of the lower Chamonix valley was shrouded in mist for most of the day the peaks at altitude were clear and the snow conditions light, deep and untracked.

With an early start we made an amazing descent down the massive slopes below the Gross Rognon before heading on down to practice some Crevasse rescue skills lower down on the Mer du Glace.

Jojo gets the line and shot of the day!

Whilst Jo's dad Dave doesn't do to bad himself!

The powder goes on and on as Gavin digs deep.

Simon kicks up a storm, check out how light that powder is!

Another great day in the bag and a heli drop booked for the morning.

Work, work, work... That's all i seem to do these days!!!

Neil.

Only Mad dogs and Brits get the goods on a storm day!

The weather has been threatening to change the last few days with snow forecast that never materialised allowing us to hit some great riding at Le Tour on Sunday and a Pas du Chevre yesterday.

Today the Snow finally rolled in and its dumping right now with 20 to 30cm due over night on top of 25cm that has fallen this afternoon.


Not one to be put of by a little Scottish weather, today we hiked up the Grandes Autannes through the storm to bag another untracked fresh descent of perfect powder! There were a few moments on the way up were I could see that the team were begining to wonder what the hell we were up to as the weather slowly came in and we still climbed ontowards the summit.


With the smell of fresh untracked powder in my nostrils though I carried on braking the trail until we finally rounded the summit ridge to cast our eyes on the goods.


Whilst not perfect visibility it really wasn't that bad and anyway the descent from the Grandes Autannes is just a massive rolling powder field so there's not that much to see anyway!


With the wind blowing hard over the ridge above I checked the snow pack for slab before heading out for some glory turns. The snow was once again perfect and the descent amazing!

No people, no tracks!! A great result for the busiest week of the season and a bad weather day to boot!

With the new snow falling thick and heavy it looks like tomorrow's going to be another day of riding the steep and deep. Might be a Helbronner (Glacier Toule) or a Midi (Valley Blanche) day or even a hike in the Aiguille Rouge.

So much to do its hard fitting it all in!

Get your fill,

Neil.

Blue skies and perfect powder!

Final day of the week for my custom BC freeride group who have just had one of the best weeks so far of the season.

This week has been all about riding fresh lines, untracked powder fields, drops and jumps, big mountains and steep couloirs, we've had it all and most of it right off the lift with out ever having to hike for it!

Its been a mad week with lots of snow and all though it is the first week of the holidays it has been surprisingly quiet.

Today we hit La Tour from the Vallorcine side. I had thought we might go to the Grands Montets and ride Pas Du Chevre off top tickets but the wind was loading that face, it looked busy and with -18 degrees at the top and a wind chill on top of that it looked non too pleasant up there. In the end it turned out to be a good decision as the top remained closed until mid afternoon and Le Tour was an untracked wilderness awaiting.

Bad vis over the past couple of days had obviously kept people out of the big Off Piste and Backcountry areas which normally get hit quite quickly so once again our timing was perfect and we scored fresh lines all day without too much effort.

A final descent down Possettes Couloir proved ot be the perfect end to a perfect week, more snow is forecast and a new week begins.

I'm loving my snowboarding more than ever at the moment, every week seems to bring something new and just keeps on getting better and better.

So a new week begins and I can hardly wait!

Neil.

Every day should be like this!

Another amazing day of perfect powder, just when you think it can't get any better it just does!

An amazing day on the Grands Montets with moxed visibility to keep the crowds away and amazing powder in the Lavancher bowl and off Top tickets!

I love these days were the bad weather keeps the crowds away or keeps everyone on the pistes and only those that know the area in white out conditions can get away and find the goods.

We scored some amazing runs in Lavencher where the visibility wasn't too bad and the powder was amazing plus a couple of perfect descents off top tickets on the Lognans glacier just left of the Rognon both with which we hit clear spots and perfect visibility.

The last run we rode from the top of the mountain all the way to the bottom via the Rognons glacier, the hotel face and finally out onto the bottom of the Argentiere Glaciet to finish up at the Cremerie (a run that I haven't done for ages due to it rarely being in condition) and scored fresh tracks all the way.

Its so rare to get the Grands Montets so quiet when its in this good condition, I still don't understand how it happened but it was pretty amazing, fresh tracks all day right off the lifts, I haven't had a day this good up there for years!

Just when you thought the season couldn't get any better it does!

How will we ever be happy with less than perfect conditions, perfect powder and no crowds and no tracks anything else will just not do, life will never be the same again?

Neil.

Amazing Snow conditions! New 2010 32's kit is here!!

Brian, head honcho from 32's (Snowboard Boots and now outer wear) is over for a quick visit from California traveling with a heap of new products for me to take a look at and test to destruction.

There's some really nice stuff coming through and in 2010 32's are producing outer wear which also looks pretty nice so keep a look out for it coming through this Autumn!

Brian and his wife Heather joined us for a day's shredding in the ever snowy Courmayeur today. An amazing day considering the weather that completely closed down the Chamonix valley due to high winds.

Most of Courmayeur was also shut but we had some great lines through the trees and launched off some nice drops into ever deepening powder.

It's dumping here in Chamonix tonight and we are due a meter of snow by the weekend!!

Crazy amounts of snow and crazy riding conditions prevail.

What a season so far, amazing!

Mel posted some news on course availability on the web news the other day so if you're looking to get out and about drop her a line!

Laters,

Neil.

Another BC week begins with deep and heavy snowfall!

It's been dumping with snow all Friday night and all of Saturday and it looks like its settled in for the next couple of days!

This is great as we really needed a top up here in the valley. Courmayeur has been constantly good over the past week with constant new snow fall but with the Foehn wind in effect from the South West here in the Chamonix valley we've been having a bit of a dry spring like effect going on.

Firmly back to winter again today though and the snow limit is dropping to around 600m!

I've got a Backcountry Custom group this week and so with this new snow I'm already pretty excited about getting out and about and hitting up some deep turns.

Here's a quick shot of Dave who I was riding with last week on a Private Custom course. This shot is from our Touring trip in the Aiguille Rouge, approaching the Col du Crochue above Flegere.


The ride down was great but a little too tracked for my liking as so far this season I've been pretty spoilt and now expect the mountain untracked, the snow to be perfect and no one else to be there.

The holiday season is about to start so it'll get a bit busier over the next couple of weeks!

Time to head for the high hills!!

Great week last week, Seb had a custom BC week with a mixture of Skiers and Snowboarders which went very well, a great bunch, great performers and a great laugh.

Keith who has a custom tech/off piste group this week had a Tech clinic last week which also proved to be a good laugh and produced great results. Comments like 'I should have done this years ago' are all too common on the Tech clinic courses.

Got some web site changes coming up soon and I'm working on a best of Vid from our courses so far!

All is good,

Neil.

Snow in Chamonix and well done the Jones!

Most of you probably already heard that our very own Jenny Jones only went and won the X factor!


Well done the Jones!

For those of you that have heard Jenny sing at the summer Kommunity Snowboard camps (were Jenny coaches every year) this will come as no surprise and I'm sure she already got your vote!

In fact, Jenny, who has over the past few years been steadily working her way to the top of the Women's Snowboarding World rankings on the TTR circuit has just affirmed her World class status with a Gold medal at the one and only 'X Games' in Slopestyle, a podium placement that she now shares with Snowboarding's master of the universe Shaun White!

Jenny, dropping in for her 2nd run as the last competitor currently in 2nd place sinched the gold with a flawless run that climaxed with a massive frontside 720 off the final kicker, a trick and run that firmly puts her at the top of Womens World class slopestyle performers.


I first met Jenny many years ago through our McNab Snowboarding Freestyle performance program and began coaching her on a regular basis running her through the basics and foundations of snowboard technique that so many would be freestylers skip over. We worked through progressions for learning new tricks and when ever she would get stuck on something I'd take a look and see if I could help her out.

For the most part though, Jenny is a self made star that has got to were she is by pure dedication to her cause. Jenny's secret is practice, practice and practice some more!



Jenny's not had an easy ride, she's worked hard to get to were she is. She's had to work through good and the bad, suffered many set backs through injury along the way and so it is an amazing accomplishment to see her finaly lift the one Gold Medal that, in the eyes of every dedicated snowboarder on the planet, can never be disputed, the X Games Slopestyle Gold!

Well done the Jones!

The Kommunity Camps from this day forth will pay tribute to this fine achievement with the Jenny Jones Slopestyle competition to be held along side the TT Start Gladiators derby challenge and the Big/Bad air comp.

Great!!

Oh and by the way it is snowing in Chamonix again so that's good too!

laters,
Neil.

Not so bad!

Another week drawing to a close!

We could do with some new snow here in Chamonix but lucky for us Courmayeur is getting the goods so some tree riding over there tomorrow might just be on the cards.

I did a tour in the Aiguille Rouge yesterday, a Crochue/Berard from Flegere to Buet. A beautiful day out, my first in the Aiguille Rouge of the season but unfurtunately the riding was a little tracked and not quite as good as I'd hoped. Its a strange one, 9 times out of 10 the snow will be good and the descent untracked but this was the 1 out of ten. It was still fresh and deep but I've become a little spoilt over these past few weeks and expect no tracks and steep and deep.

The foehn wind has been wreeking havoc in the valley this past week and reducing the snow pack considerably. Up high the wind has torn away most of the freshies and down low everything is getting pretty tracked out and temperature affected.

The pistes here in Chamonix are still in great condition, I've been up at Le Tour today running through some technique stuff and hitting up the back bowls which were pretty tracked out unfortunately.

Thank f*** for Courmayeur where steep, deep and untracked snow awaits. Its been snowing over there most of the day and really going for it this evening so it gets my vote for tomorrow!

until the next time,

Neil.

A little time at last!

Well it's been a busy January, this is the first time off I've had and I'm back on it again tomorrow, no rest for the wicked, I must have been bad in a past life! Or maybe good as I do get to pretty much search out and ride perfect powder everyday!!

January has been amazing, I've already had some of my best days. A first heli drop of the season up on the Trient Plateau led to a lot of breaking trail and an awesome descent down Glacier Midi des Grandes with noone else on the whole mountain. Last week I scored another untracked score with a first ascent after the new snow of the Grandes Autannes. the Snow was like silk from top to bottom and there being only 3 of us we just couldn't track it all out (try as we might).

The courses have been great, lots of technique courses, lots of Backcountry and Off piste courses, great groups and great riding!

I see that these blog things need to be updated frequently and so you need to have plenty of free time.

I'm working on developing myself some blog time but its pretty hard to fit everything in so bare with me!

Here's a run through of the typical McNab day.

I wake up at around 6:30am or I'm woken up by one of my daughters at around this time. Last season I trained on my bouldering wall from 6 until 7am but the girls (Loren 1-1/2 and Manon 4-1/2) are early risers and so I've had to cut that out this winter.

Mornings consist of eating, checking conditions and planning kit and options.

By 8:30am I'm out the door dropping Manon off at school and on my way to meet the groups at the Chrys-tal hotel here in Les Houches.

By 9am we're off and the day begins.

We ride all day, either technique in one of Chamonix's resorts or head off into the Backcountry depending which courses we have running. We're basically out there to ride the best spots and conditions we can find, that is our number 1 goal whatever it takes.

At about 4:30 we're normally off the hill and heading for a drink somewhere, shopping for kit with clients or on the way to the hotel for video analysis or an avalanche lecture or something after already planning the next days activities.

I normally get home at 6pm after a full non stop day on the hill and walk straight into my role of Dad playing with my 2 daughters, dancing, marble maze, buidling dens etc. until they head to bed at around 7:30pm.

3 nights a week I eat out with the groups, Thursday we eat out in Chamonix, Friday is final night of the course so I eat with the clients at the hotle and go out for a quick drink with them. Saturday I meet the new groups and eat in the hotel again and it all starts again!!

This leaves me with 4 evenings at home when I get to relax a little and also get stuck into some personal training.

I'm a bit of a train-aholic and am at the moment stengthening my legs up for next summers road cycling season as well as getting back on my bouldering wall after a 3 month layoff due to tendonitis.

I'm doing loads of squats, leg extensions and upper body stuff 3 nights a week with some turbo training sessions on the bike in between.

This leaves me a few minutes spare to relax with my wife Ruth and update the news page on the McNab snowsports web site, hence not so much time so far for the blog!

I get Saturdays off until meeting the clients in the evening and go Skiing with my eldest daughter Manon on Satruday afternoon.

She skis great and I love this time spent on the hill with her.

We also have a family outing with our crazy dog Jake at some point on Saturday and again I try to get into my gym/garage for a quick training session. (I come from the no pain no gain era of training so I'm not totaled after a session i feel like i did nothing and feel cheated).

Its going to be a long old season but so far its been great and I've had some amazing days!

I have courses running every week now until mid May when I'll be in Norway for our Voyager expedition to the Lyngen Alps after of course our annual Heli boarding trip to kamchatka in April.

Anyway, I'm trying to fit some blog time in so keep checking back from time to time and don't give up on me just yet!

I'm looking forwards to getting stuck into some of snowboardings real issues like why is it the only sport (that I can think of anyway) were the majority of participants stand in such a Bio-mechanicaly incorrect stance and for some reason think they are doing it right???????? Just NO, stop it!!!!

Kit aswell, we need to chat about this too at some point, such as what's with all the new gadget board designs to help you not catch your edge and carve with out trying.

No, No, No, you can't catch your edge cos the design makes it impossible for you to use them, your bread knife edge is great as long as you can carve properly in which case you probably get free kit from someone and probably don't really need it (try skidding a bread knife sideways across a piece of bread to see how ineffective it isif you skid your turns) and as for a pre bent board to help you carve with the middle of the board!!

Learn to ride properly for f***s sake, board camber is there for a reason or it was last time I looked, is it not so that there is some resistance to the board bending to much and also to make the side cut work??

I ride on the bit of the board infront of my front foot and the bit behind my back foot, and pass through the bit in the middle as quickly as possible anyway!

I'm either starting a turn or finishing one, don't know what you're doing but that's how it is to me!

Backpacks!!! Now why do folk that obviously don't ride Backcountry design backcountry snowboard packs????? Why, why why!!!!

Enough of a rant for now but I'll be back.

laters,

Neil.