Amazing start to 2012!

Wow, what a start to the New year!

So I've just completed my first course of 2012, a tech clinic, normally one of my tamer level courses, concentrating on perfecting Snowboard technique and usually Piste based for the most part. Conditions kind of provoked a different approach however so after a run through the essential elements of Snowboard technique; Control of line, understanding Board technology and design, pressure control and Bio mechanics on the first morning...we we're kind of 'forced' to quickly head for the shred!

After tons of snow all day on Monday, Tuesday dawned clear! Grand Montets (not usually my first choice on a powder day due to the crowds) called me in and so we headed up for a big day of Powder riding. A bit of a jump into the deep end for the guys after we'd only just covered the basics of perfecting Snowboard technique the day before, but they handled it well and man did we score some good lines with top to bottom Lavancher and a run down the Glacier off top tickets!

Check out my 'quick hit' video to see how the day panned out!



Wednesday we headed over to Courmayeur. I thought we should do a bit more technique so kept it quite strict in the morning and really drummed the essentials into their riding. After a couple of hours we started to see some great changes taking place so basically it was then time to dive off into the trees for the afternoon, mess up their newly found technique again but score some more great powder lines!

With massive amounts of snow falling all day on Thursday we headed up at les Houches. Again we worked some technique in the morning and now things were really starting to come together and the guys were riding well. I started to link in longer and longer runs and by the afternoon everyone was ripping and the snow was getting super deep.

Thursday evening I headed to the Velodrome for some cycling action, it was a kind of test to see if I'm going to be able to keep both sports going (snowboarding and cycling) through out the winter. My legs were pretty tired, the cycling adage of 'if you can sit don't stand, if you can lie down don't sit' doesn't anywhere say, if you can ride your Snowboard all day at full power you don't need to sit or lie down...just get on your bike...

yeah I was pretty much exhausted by the end of the session so will have to have a re think about how I'm going to keep this side of things progressing...maybe one less super squatts session mid week?

Anyway I pulled my legs together for Friday...Last Day,and what a f**king day!! After 1 meter 70cm of fresh snowfall recorded at the top of the Aiguille du Midi, the Grand Montets was again the obvious choice. An avalanche risk of 5/5 meant that everything was closed in the morning so we headed up to Argentiere to await the 10am news of what would open. I was surprised to find the car park at the Grand Montets pretty empty and there must have only been about 100 people waiting around to see what was going to happen. All good things come to those with a bit of luck and we didn't have to wait long and suddenly we were up top and deep in a meter of super light fresh!

The guys were ripping by this time and everyone was scoring fresh lines at super speed. Only the Herse was running so we hit up the Canadian bowl for first tracks a couple of times before spreading out and scouring the mountain for the steepest and deepest lines.

Check out my 'Powder hit' video to see how the day kind of looked!



A great week with a great group of guys who I now look forward to riding again with in the future!

Looks like I might need to get next years dates sorted out already?

All in all, it's not been a bad start to the New year!

This week I have a Private group of friends (all been out before) for an Off Piste week!

Couldn't be a better week for it for sure with the conditions we have and the forecast for some clear skies!!!

Maybe I'll be able to get the go pro out in some conditions where I can actually see something for the first time!

Anyway, things are good so far... Ruth has had a couple of cancellations on courses so will update the courses availability page today.

Keep checking in on availability as people do have to drop out for various reasons over the winter and you may still find what you want.

Right enough of my waffle...get out there and get on with it!

Neil.

The New Ice Age is here!

I'll start by wishing you all a very happy New year and I hope that 2012 will be a great year for us all.

2011 wasn't so bad, so maybe, like with most things, the more we practice the better we get.

So winter came in quickly this year, 3 months of clear skies changed, within a week, to giving us more snow in a couple of weeks than we had all last season.

Having already completed 4 weeks of work before Christmas, my season feels already well underway and on Monday (2nd of Jan 2012) I start the long haul with courses running everyweek right through until our final Mont Blanc ascent the first week of May! Long Haul makes work sound like a bit of a trial, but of course my job is Snowboarding so I'm looking forward to every day of it.

The last few days it has snowed about a meter here in the valley. This is perfect as we already have a great base layer and this will cover up and fill in all the rocks and holes that were still poking through. The Avalanche risk is obviously very high at the moment, Chamonix is on lock down with not much open this weekend but when it settles and bonds it'll make things perfect for the rest of the seasons Off Piste and BC courses.

I'm very excited about riding this season as I have a new Jones 160 Hovercraft, which is absolutely amazing to ride! I can't wait to get into the trees in Courmayeur on this board it'll be so much fun. I also have my new Solution Split 168XL which is a little stiffer than last years and almost rides like the Flagship.

I scored a couple of amazing descents on this board already this season with a super deep and fresh line through the dream forrest on the Grand Montets followed by a split and skin out. I then followed this up with a hike up to the top of the Herse chair, which hadn't openned yet for the season, the piste wasn't even pisted yet, and scored an amazing descent down the Italien bowl and the Hotel face with no one else around and not one track anywhere. This run was one of those OMG! runs which I wished I'd got on Video which in turn promted me to go out and buy a 'GO Pro". This in turn promted me to go out and buy a helmet to stick it on (so now I'm riding in a helmet, for all the wrong reasons). As such I have produced my first short movie clip showing a short days Splitboarding. Unfortunately the light was a bit flat but you get the idea and can watch it here on the McNab Snowboarding Face book page or here if this works?



I'm looking forward to seeing what footage I can get this season, its about time that I caught on camera some of the amazing lines and stunning places that i get to ride in so watch this space for more videos this season (if I find the time for the editing!)

The Jones Flagship has been stiffened up in the nose this season, this stops the slight chatter at speed that was evident a little last season, I've not ridden this much yet as i've been either splitboarding or running Tech clinics on the piste in which case I've been riding my Hovercraft 160 or most recently my new 164 All mountain Twin, which I'm actually loving at the moment for playing and jibbing about on. This board is so easy to ride, almost to easy, sometimes I almost forget if I'm goofy or regular on it...

I'm still trying to keep fitness up for my cycling. I started Track cycling at the Velodrome in Geneva in the Autumn and became immediately addicted to it. It kind of suit me as there's no hills and its quite sprinty. I won my first race, the flying lap TT, came 2nd in a couple of others and normaly place top 3 in the masters cat which isn't so bad for a first timer with absolutley shit race tactics, I'm normally at the back of the bunch when everyone sprints for the line!

I'm going to try to keep the track riding going through out the winter with some evening and weekend sessions, but we'll see how my legs hold up as with all this snow the Snowboarding is going to be pretty full on.

Anyway, that's about it for now. 2011 was a fantastic year and if all goes to plan 2012 will be way better!

Lets all do our best to make it so!

All is good in Chamonix!!

Neil.

Deeper and deeper! The winter is on!!!

So after 3 months of blue skies the winter has stormed into play and it has now been snowing pretty much everyday for the past 2 weeks!

I'm just back to Chamopniox after my first Tech clinic course of the winter. The first couple of days went well with bad vis but great snow and some good work being done by the team with big technique changes and vast improvements from the word go.

It was good to get this work done early on because the weather then fully came in and it started dumping like I've not seen for years.

We then spent the rest of the week making the most of the massive quantity of deep powder on offer as the storm increased in volume and intensity.

Day 4 was the best day, zero vis but perfect powder everywhere and we lapped top to bottom scoring freshies all day.

With so much snow now falling the Avalanche risk was getting serious and slowly Tignes was starting to shut down with only a few lifts left running by Friday and the Storm still increasing in intensity.

By now there was over a meter of new snow in resort and things were getting serious. The road out of Tignes was closed sporadically due to Avalanches and for a while it looked like I'd not be able to leave!

With Ruth's Christmas Party scheduled for Friday night I was under orders to tunnel out of there myself if the road remained closed which was starting to look like a distinct possibility.

Tignes ground into a gridlock on Friday afternoon, the avalanche risk now on a scale 5 out of 5.

In the end with UK Freerider Will Hughes in the van with me we escaped in a convoy heading down from Tignes to Bourg St Maurice which normally might take 20 minutes but in this instance took a solid 2 and a half hours! Traffic chaos and serious Avalanche risk, we kept out transceivers on for that part of the drive!

We arrived in Chamonix with the Christmas party in full swing and proceeded to get stuck in for some catching up. havin just driven for 5 hours and not eaten since midday this didn't take long at all. A great party for sure!

It's been dumping in Chamonix since I got back here and it's starting to get pretty deep in valley now after it having rained quite high most of last week. Up high there is now a serious amont of snow and unfortunately most of the Chamonix Ski areas are now shut due to high Avalanche risk.

Fortunately Les Houches and some of Courmayeur is open for business and tomorrow I start work with 2 private clients who are training up for a Splitboard exped to Afganistan!

Its forecast to snow on and off most of this week with some more big snowfalls due towards the end of the week.

Les Houches tomorrow though and then we'll see what happens. Conditions are a bit serious for BC touring at the moment so we'll probably be confined to just riding the deep fresh powder off the lifts!

I've not been cycling at the track now for 2 weeks so am feeling a bit of withdrawal syndrome. I missed a big race meet today but needed a day of recovery after a hard week of powder riding in Tignes and a big party night last night.

I kept up training in Tignes hitting the gym in the evening for some serious squatt and speed training so it'll be interesting to see if I can go any faster once I get back on the bike.

In Tignes, I rode the new 160 Hovercraft for the first time. It is amazing!

everynow and then you come across the perfect tool for the job in hand. When that job is Freeriding and ripping the mountain apart then the Hoevrcraft just happens to be the perfect tool.

What an amazing bit of kit, the 156 was epic, the 160 blows the doors open and a new world awaits!

Total inspiration, what a bit of kit that is!!

Right, got to go get things ready for tomorrow, the Hovercraft, ABS pack, snorkle and flippers.

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

First ride of the season!

I'm just back in Chamonix after 3 days riding in Tignes, my first slide of the winter.

I'm over there with a couple of private clients, (one on skis Rhiannon, partner of a regular Snowboard client of mine, Lee) who are training up for a Lyngen Alps trip later in the winter.

We have spent the first 3 days working on technique, which has gone really well. I've worked on building their understanding of how skis and snowboards actually work, building their understanding of what they actually need to do physically to bend the ski or Snowboard in the right place at the right time to make it follow a line that works with the terrain that they ride.

Line and how you look and read the mountains terrain is the key here, you can't change technique if you don't follow a line that works with the terrain. You can't for example work the end of the turn, which is the most important part of the turn in terms of speed control into the next turn, to create a flowing working line, if you focus on looking down the slope at the end of your turn.

You line will basically follow where you look, most riders look at to steep a line down the slope which means they carry too much speed and have to skid and rotate.

Anyway, without getting into it to much, you cant change technique without changing someones concept of where they look and how they ride the mountain. likewise, with out an understanding of how your equipment actually works, in terms of sidecut and flex, you can't really understand the movements needed to actually work your Snowboard or skis.

Simply put...Understanding your equipment means that you know where to apply pressure to it in order to flex it appropriately to the line you want to ride.

Understanding the line that works with the terrain and the speed you want to carry is fundamental, and seems obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many people suffer in their technique and riding simply because of where they look and how they read the terrain.

Once you understand these first 2 elements you then need to learn the simple and natural body movements that are used in order to apply pressure to the board/ski in the right place in order to flex it into the line you want to ride.

When you get it right you riding will flow with the terrain and you can play around with variations of the working line putting your own inspiration to the mountains canvas!

Get it?

Ok, anyway, Tignes has been fun, the Glacier is in quite good condition and the home run is ok but purely man made snow. It hasn't really snowed yet this winter (2 days a few of weeks a go) and so there's basically nothing off piste or below the permanent snow line.

In Tignes this means that we're restricted to the Glacier with nothing else open. Elsewhere, only areas with lift access on Glaciated terrain are open for business so far.

Tignes has been good this last few days and I head back over there tomorrow for another 3 days.

I have a week off and then I'm back to Tignes for a week and then its full speed ahead for the winter through until May!

I had a great day riding yesterday, I'd forgotten how much fun the Jones flagship is to ride. It totally inspired me for the season ahead.

All we need is the snow!

I did another Haute Savoie FFC (French Federation Cyclisme) meet last Saturday at the velodrome in Geneva.

My second time racing and I finished 2nd in the Scratch race and 1st in the flying lap Time Trial (in the masters Cat/over 30's) so I was pretty stoked on that!

I'm going to try to keep this going over the winter but I'll have to see how my legs fair with riding all day and intense sprinting in the evenings?

What else is new?

I just got a load of Salomon high backs in to put on my Splitboard fleets 'Spark R&D' Bindings. This should make them super responsive as last years 'Spark' highbacks where way to soft. This year they have stiffened them up and you can get new highback from 'Spark' to upgrade your old kit. The Salomon ones fit and work super well though so I worked my connections and they 'look and are' the business.

2 places are now available on a Splitboard intro course 23rd Jan, due to a cancellation. These are the last places available this winter, except for 1 place on my Lyngen/Norway trip (unless more cancellations come up, so keep checking back!) Ruth has waiting lists for quite a few courses now so contact her if you want to get on a list for something.

Right, that's enough of my waffle for now, I've plenty to get ready before I head back to Tignes (via a training session on the track in geneva) tomorrow.

All is good out here! But would be better if it snowed some!!

Snow is forecast for the weekend so we wait and see!

Neil.

Final check list before the first ride!

Well, this is it, I start my winter this coming winter with a Private course in Tignes!

So far the skies are blue and we're still enjoying amazing Autumn like conditions out here in the Alps. Great for cycling, but not so good for the Snowboarding!

For the past few years, I've not started my season before the Christmas week though to although there's no snow at the moment there is till another month before I'd normally expect to start riding so I'm no overly concerned as yet.

There's always snow up on the Glacier in Tignes so I'm quite looking forward to getting back on board and having a slide.

I'll be taking my Splitboard along as I'm riding with a couple that will heading out to Norway to tour in the Lyngen Alps (although not on my trip). Lee came out to Lyngen with me on my previous trip but will this year go armed with a Splitboard for the first time and so wants to practice some skills and Rhiannon will be touring on skis so I'll be skiing a little this next week to, which will be fun. There's obviously not going to be a lot of Off piste or touring possible but I'm sure there'll be places to go and it's always nice to just get out the back away from the pistes and have some time in the mountains on your own. I'm looking forward to it!

I've been sessioning the Velodrome quite a bit recently, 2 or 3 times a week! I did a French Federation de Cyclismetrack meet at the weekend were I came 3rd in one race and 2nd in the other. My tactics are shit, I'm all over the place and in the last race in which I came 2nd I had to power my way around the bunch from the back such was my excellent positioning coming into the last 2 laps!

It's great fun, nice to be learning something new and my ability to Sprint quite fast seems to be pretty good. Hopefully I'll keep progressing and my tactics will improve as my confidence builds. At the moment, I kind of hide at the back so I don't knock everyone down, maybe if I'd been near the front I could have won!

This is work in progress, great fun!

So what else is new?

We now have a 25% discount offer for 'Science in Sport' nutritional products for 'McNab Snowboarding' clients. I pretty much love on this stuff and highly recommend it to anyone building their training up for the winter and for when riding and hiking all day up in the hills. Check out the 'SiS' web site and get the 'discount code' from Ruth if you want to take advantage of this offer.

I've been getting quite a few tech questions coming in and so have been updating my Q&A blog.

Check it out and keep the questions coming, I'll do my best to answer them!

http://mcnabsnowboardingqa.blogspot.com/

The McNab Facebook page is getting more and more followers. I'm hoping this page will become almost like a forum for you to use and somewhere were we can share photos from the winter courses. I'll use it to post shots this winter so bookmark it in your browser. http://www.facebook.com/mcnabsnowboarding

Right, I've got my Splitboard set up and ready to go, my Mtn Twin is set and I'll take the 163XL Flagship but I'm still running through those mental check lists of what you need to remember for a Snowboarding trip throwing in a little 'On Piste', 'Off Piste', 'Glacier riding' and 'BC touring' plus some skiing!

I guess I just need everything!!

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

Full speed a head for winter 2011/12

Well its been a while since I last posted a news piece, partly because we've been having some behind the scenes web site updates taking place, but mainly because its been an epic Autumn here in chamonix and I've been out playing most days!

Things are moving ahead at full speed towards the winter now though so I thought I'd better knuckle down and get things in order!

First up was the delivery of my new Jones boards, very exciting as always! Not much has changed really in the range, new graphics throughout, a bit stiffer here and there and everything now available in splitboard form!

I loved riding these boards last year, their first production year and am super stoked to get out on them again this winter. It's no understatement when I say that these boards totally changed my snowboarding and gave everything a new lease of life!

For around the resorts I'll be riding the Mtn Twin 164XL which rocks the whole Mtn as you'd expect. Super easy to ride, spin and jib around on, a freestyle board that floats like a dream in the powder too... very nice!

Out of bounds and big mountain riding I'll be out on the Flagship 168XL. This is my do everything dream board. I love this board, it's so stable at speed and super smooth to ride all over the mountain, it can take everything you can throw at it and more, it carves, slashes and launches down the mountain from top to bottom and makes you ride with a smile upon your face. For a 168 it is super nippy and fun to ride.

This is the board I'll ride 90% of the time, this season the nose has been stiffened up a little to stop vibrations at speed. It ripped last year and looks even better this year so I can't wait to get out on it again. Bring it on...

Of course for touring and BC outings I'll be out on the 168XL Solution, which is basically the Flagship split in two for hiking. I've got about 14 weeks of BC courses coming up and so the Solution will be definitely seeing some major action this season. I loved this board and the whole split concept for BC access last year and again can't wait to get out and explore the amazing new possibilities that Splitboarding has opened up over the past couple of years.

However, my most exciting board this year is the new 160 Hovercraft! Yeah 160... Last year I had some of my best tree riding and Off Piste powder days on the Hovercraft 156 but found it a little small when I rode BC with a heavy Backpack full of BC and High Mountain/Glacier riding equipment. The 160 should be able to handle the extra load and so at the first sign of powder this board will be out in force! The Hovercraft carves like a hard core race board too so it'll be getting some play even when its hardpack too.

Soon after the boards arrived a couple of big boxes of kit arrived from Billabong.

Billabong were my first professional sponsor back in the 90's so its been great to travel full circle and come back to them, this time working with them on a new Advanced range that is suited to the type of Big mountain Freeriding that I love.

So far I've received some of the regular 2012 range which is more suited to Park and Piste, but any day now I should be getting the 2013 Advanced sample range which we have been working on through out last season.

Again, very exciting times, Billabong have such a good development ethic, all ride, surf and play, its all about getting out there and catching the big waves, the big lines and pushing your limits with the biggest smile upon your face! Love it!!

Last season I played around with a few different brands for boots but this season I've decided to go with 32's who I did some test work with last winter. I loved last years (this seasons) Prime and Team Two's so will be riding these again this season and should also be getting the 2013 boots at the beginning of December so all good, can't wait to see the new products. Again like Billabong 32's are another great company to ride for. Rider run, super chilled and very progressive. I look forward to working on the new line with them over the coming season.

So the scene is almost set, all we really need now is for the snow to start falling and it seems that the forcast is saying it might this weekend.

Until it does though I'll be out on the bike getting in some big rides before the winter changes the rules. I've also just started track cycling at the geneva Velodrome which is great fun and completely addictive, although that might just be my OCD nature coming through.

I'm all about training for the track racing at the moment, lots of squats and sprinting all of which will hopefully give me super strong legs for the Snowboarding season too.

We have about 2 places left on courses this season and waiting lists on quite a few. We took our first provisional 2013 winter season booking this week! I've not even thought that far ahead but it seems some of you are already which is great!

All in all things seem to be pretty good and right on track so its full speed ahead for the coming winter and I start in Tignes in just over 2 weeks time!

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

Winter is on its way?

Just finished 2 tour du Mont Blanc cycling trips with GPM10, the first was in terrible weather with snow to 1300m (a group consisting of mainly Scott's so they didn't really notice the hypo thermic conditions), the 2nd in perfect Autumn weather with quiet roads and fantastic riding.

In between the 2 trips I managed to take my first crash of the year as a wasp flew into my sunglasses and stung me right between the eyes! In wild panic I hit the cerb and slid across the pavement into some railings.

Adrenalin is a magical thing and I got up and road home wondering if the road rash was going to hurt more than the wasp sting! In the end it did!!

After the 2nd trip I hit a couple of group rides out with friends during the week. The group consists of mainly fanatical Mtn Guides, all secretly training, but making out that they've not been out on the bike for months.

Obviously not a super highly competitive group of really unusually fit people! Yeah right!!

A couple of big rides with the guys and then it was off to Annecy for one of the last big bike races of the summer Calendar!

A perfect day and a fantastic course over 98km and with 3 cols and 2000m of climbs. I paced myself well and came strong towards the end catching one of the leading groups after 92Km with only 8K to go. Over enthusiastic as ever I over cooked a corner on the last descent and skidded out at 60kmh grinding across the road on my hip shin and elbow. Lycra doesn't offer much protection at 60kmh and so I have a fairly large amount of road rash on my hip and elbow and a 2nd degree asphalt burn down my shin.

Again adrenalin worked its wonders and I managed do to get straight back on and finish but lost about 20 places finishing 61st.

All that effort waisted! Maybe I should have crashed 6k into the race instead!!

Anyway, I also had a lucky escape in a 60kmh sprint when my chain came off, released my foot and I managed to stay upright catching myself on the top tube. I'm going to include this as one of my 3 so hopefully I'm all done with it now!

Sore leg but back on the bike today and it still felt just as difficult as ever!

The winter is fast approaching and today the weather turned and we have snow forecast down to 1300m and maybe lower.

The weather came in so fast, it was pretty impressive with not a cloud in the sky all day until tell tale high altitude lenticular clouds appeared over the summit of Mont Blanc and the Aiguille Vert, classic signs of changing weather.

An hour later it was raining and full on storm mode.

Glad I wasn't up the hill climbing!!

It'll do the mountains a lot of good though and start setting up a base on the glaciers for the pre season riding so all good!

It looks like I'm in for a pretty busy season again. I start riding towards the end of November in Tignes with some bespoke work and then have my pre season tech clinic, again in Tignes, before some more bespoke work here in Chamonix and ten my winter courses kick in and keep me going through until the last course which is the Mont Blanc ascent/descent, first week of May.

I have about 14 weeks of BC/splitboard riding and 1 splitboard trip to Norway (which I'm very excited about) a few Tech clinics on the Jones Mountain Twin which is always great and a couple of Off Piste clinics on the Hovercraft!

All in all it looks like a good winter ahead and we've only 9 places left (infact I think we had 3 more spaces taken today and some more for reserve/waiting lists) so busy, busy, busy! Maybe only 6 places left now!!

I received a couple of boxes of Billabong kit last week, kit from the regular 11/12 range and then I should receive the 12/13 'Advanced range' sample kit (that I have been working on) in November when it is ready and I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks.

I've switched all my transceivers to the Ortovox 3+ this year. I was very impressed with the performance and simplicity of this model last season. It's small, compact and robust and super easy to use so if you're looking at getting yourself one this winter maybe check them out.

All in all things are pretty good so far, there's a lot to get ready before things fully kick off but I'm getting very excited about the ride ahead.

Anyway, a cold snowy weekend forecast but then back to some clear Autumn weather and some time back out on the bike.

Got to get those legs strong for the winter!

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.