Winter seems like it should be already half way through after 3 weeks of fresh powder riding before I even started work mid December and yet it isn't even January!

I've been over in Tignes for a Freeride Clinic mid December, which once again, as last year, turned into another week of riding deep fresh lines as over a meter of snow fell during the week. A great week with a great crew of guys, a mix of riding deep fresh in white out blizzard conditions, storm riding in the trees, fresh lines in the sunshine, a intense technique day which brought about some amazing results and an amazing last day of sunshine and steep and deep.

Home to Chamonix for Ruth's Christmas party which saw our house filled to overflow with over 70 guests and what seemed like hundreds of bottles of Champagne.

This was followed by a few days of Christmas for recovery (4 days minimum requirement after my annual drinking binge at the party). Christmas unfortunately brought about a drum set for Loren (age 5) which didn't help the after party recovery very much at all.

Some rain, another snowfall and then straight into a 3 day Splitboard Intro.

 

First day in a snow storm and then 2 days of great slack country touring around Le Tour

 

 and then Flegere/Brevent.

It got warm yesterday, almost spring like conditions, clear skies last night and pretty icy after a freeze overnight. The pistes are in good condition, but firm in places and up high there is still untracked powder in abundance for those that know where to find it.

I have a 3 day tech clinic next week, the first week of the New year, followed by an Off Piste Freeride clinic and then a Private group for a Splitboarding week, another 3 day Freeride clinic and then away for Kashmir.

There have been a few cancellations for courses so I have updated the courses availability page on the web site, so check it out for further details.

I leave you with this latest video from yesterdays final day of the Splitboard Intro course up around the Lac Noire.





Not a bad start to the winter all in all…Looking forward to 2013 so Happy New year to you all, lets make sure it a good one!

Just heading over to Tignes in a few hours for the pre season freeride clinic, looks like we're in for a lot of snow again this week so should be a great ride!

Winter came in pretty quickly in the end, after a slow build up and a great Autumn winter hit hard with about a meter of snow in the valley in the first week of December! It's pretty much been snowing ever since.

 

Courmayeur was first to open and provided some amazing riding. I headed over there with my mate Tosh and fellow Jones Team rider Luca Pandolfi and rode lines in solitude that we'd normally have to wait until late jan/feb to ride.

A few days later the Bochard on the rand Montets opened for the first time this season, again we were there for a massive locals only day, its amazing how quickly the mountain still gets tracked with only a coupe of hundred local skiers and rider up there. Everyone knows exactly where to go and ski and ride so strong. Another great day and riding with friends who I've not ridden with for years.

Next I headed over to Diableret with Luca to ride with the boss (Mr Jeremy Jones) and some of the Jones crew. We checked out next years kit, which looks amazing…

 

and rode some of the freshest lightest powder with an inspirational crew…Jeremy, Chad Perrin (global brand guru), JF Pelchat (one bindings guru) and LucaPandolfi.

 

With not many lifts open the 2nd day we hiked, again the ride down was crazy good.

Jeremy and Chad talked us through the new range, which as I've said looks amazing and also we looked at the new Jones pack which look bomb proof and include a Snowpulse compatible 30L pack which should be nice!
 

After the meeting we headed back to Cham, with long time friend Jeremy Sladen, head honcho at the TSA with us with plans for some more fresh riding in the morning. With mixed weather though and knowing there weren't many Jones boards left unsold this year, instead we quickly headed to the Jones factory for a raid and I grabbed a load of new splits for the test fleet whilst Jeremy grabbed some 164 Carbon flags for the The Snowboard Asylum shops…these are like gold dust this year so if you want one get in touch asap!

For the Split fleet this season I have a selection of Twins, a Hovercraft, a Mothership and the Solutions all in Split versions.

I'm heading over to Tignes in a couple of hours for the first of my Freeride clinics. There's about a meter of snow forecast this week so its a 'Snorkles are us' week and I'm packing some seriously deep conditions kit right now.

Right, I'd better go get my packing done, should be a great week with a great crew!

All in all not a bad start to the season…

yeah, not so bad!

Bonne fete a tous!

Neil.

 

First day riding today, over in Courmayeur, with Blue skies and fresh powder!


A massive powder avalanche on the Aiguille Noire de Peutrey today.




Its been dumping massively the past week or so putting the snow depth here in the valley from 10cm to about 150cm in just a few days and winter has definitely rushed in and settled.

My first courses kicks off in about a weeks time over in Tignes, If I'd known we'd have this much snow over here I'd maybe have run it in Cham, its always nice to go ride different spots though and Tignes has the same snow as we have here, if not a little bit more!

Should be good


.A great view of the CHamonix Aiguilles


Riding today was great, amazing powder everywhere and super quiet. A great first day and my legs felt good and strong. I was surprised though, as is the case everyyear, by the power needed to drive those deep heel turns, especially on the piste when sitting deep into a heelside carve or cutting sharp on a steep face to control some edge speed…Feels great!

Anyway, a short time ago I was asked to write a piece on fitness for Skiing and Snowboarding and I came up with the following essay.

You'll all most likely be Snowboarding as soon as you can so it's definitely time to push up the fitness and power levels if you want to get the most out of your riding this winter and if it carries on snowing like this it'll definitely be worth the effort.


Have a read and see what you think, get inspired, get strong and ride hard…This is my advice to you and here's how to do it.

Read on...

Once you get past your teens fitness starts to become a choice rather than a gift. The older you get the more you need to work at your fitness making it a lifestyle choice rather than something taken for granted. I always find it impressive and encouraging that most of my older Snowboarding clients these days are, more often than not, also my fittest.

Skiing and Snowboarding are both very dynamic, active and physically demanding sports that require a good level of overall fitness including strong legs, solid core strength and in case of mishap, good flexibility. Most alpine descents are long and the movements required to ski or ride them with speed and at a good level are continuous and relentless requiring repeated fast acting short burst power endurance muscle movements both for balance and control.

Whilst not massively aerobic, so not requiring the endurance fitness of a long distance runner or cyclist, both Skiing and Snowboarding are a lot more physically demanding than most enthusiasts appreciate and today’s often inactive lifestyles don’t always offer the best form of preparation.

Winter is fast approaching and the time to slide and ride is near, so if you’ve not already begun your preparation and you’re serious about your performance on the hill, now is the time to get busy.

Both skiing and Snowboarding require similar muscle movements of the legs with big flexion and extension movements, more often than not loaded on one leg at a time, the outer leg when turning a ski and the front then rear leg when executing a turn on a Snowboard. In both cases the upper body is used for balance, with core strength being used to counterbalance the movements of the center of mass towards the inside of the turn, with the arms, which should remain relaxed, needed for fine tuning balance adjustments requiring fast acting extension and flexion movements from the muscles of the upper arm and shoulders.

In effect then as well as an good general overall level of fitness to gain the required stamina and effective muscle recovery whilst on the move, we also need to target three excessively used muscle groups, which are the legs (thighs and glutes/buttocks), the core and arms/shoulders.

Your legs are going to do the brute amount of the work, without strong legs you have no foundations from which to control your skis or power your snowboard.

For me, the key to gaining strong legs are the big power exercises such as squats, powerlifts and the leg press. This is not to say that you should rush into the gym and get stuck into lifting big heavy weights, but the exercise that you should focus on should build up to mirroring the movements of flexion and extension that are used for both skiing and Snowboarding with or with out the use of weights. (Bare in mind however that the forces applied to your legs during a turn on the mountain are greater than the forces applied by only your body weight when completing your exercises).

Lets start with some preparation…

Cycling provides a great preparation work out for the legs using very similar flexion and extension movements to skiing and Snowboarding whilst keeping the movements flowing and smooth, it is also an aerobic endurance sport and so is great for overall fitness. Running also targets the leg muscles and whilst being more impact orientated, prepares the leg muscles for the impact movements that we might have to endure when skiing or riding on bumpy terrain.

Both cycling and running are great key exercises for gaining overall fitness and for preparing the relevant leg muscles for Skiing and Snowboarding. Either one should be included in your pre winter slide work out, either as a 30 minute warm up before a muscle specific work out or working up to an hour as your full fitness session. If an hour on the treadmill or exercise bike doesn’t fill you with enthusiasm try looking for a spin class, a running club or simply get out on your bike. If you’re pushed for time find a set of steps and run up and down them 2 steps at a time or two feet at a time (but be carefull!)

To make the best fitness gains you need to build up slowly but surely and not over do it during the first couple of weeks. Try to target 3 hour sessions per week and build from there. Don’t work to hard but hard enough to get a sweat on, to feel your heart rate and your breathing build and to feel some effort in the relevant muscle groups. Recovery is key, so reward your-self with some well earned rest in between training days.

Initially focus on overall fitness with cycling or running until you feel ready to progress to the specific muscle groups exercises, the legs, core and arms.

Always warm up with half an hour of aerobic activity such as running or cycling and then get stuck in…

The most important thing when performing your specific muscle group exercises is to hold the correct form, this means using the correct movements.

For legs I personally target the forward and sideways lunge, the squat (narrow and wide stance) and deadlift movements. All these exercises need great form so unless you’re familiar with them seek out supervision from an expert.  No weight is needed at first, look to move smoothly and dynamically.

If you are going to use weights start light and build up. It is more important to hold the correct form than it is to lift heavy weights, so start light and build up slowly. Very light-weight, hand held dumbells or even 2 bottles of water are great for starters, remember focus on the form of the exercise and look for 8 to 10 perfect repartitions.

As you increase the weight lower the number of reps. As a target, a good athlete should be able to squat their own body weight with out too much trouble.

For your core stability look at floor exercises such as straight leg raises, crunches (sit ups) and oblique twists (twisting sit ups). Work with big set repetitions until you feel the pain and the gain and recover fully between sets. Try to flatten your stomach as much as possible before performing these exercises this will help develop the smaller side stability muscles surrounding your core.

Your arms don’t need the power of your legs, as the movements used for dynamic balance are quick but light. Focus on the shoulders and the muscles of the arms with dips, press ups and the bicep curl, the straight arm lateral extension/raise and a simple shoulder press.

You can make your press ups harder or easier by adjusting your hand width or arm position or assisting with your knees, to work your core at the same time try raising one leg off the floor.

Warm down with some easy stretching, spinning or even a walk and go recover and re-hydrate.

Set yourself some goals each session, how many miles you’ll do, how long you’ll run or ride for, how many repartitions you’ll make. Remember you’re working towards that goal of a higher performance on the mountain but as you begin to feel the benefits of your efforts in your day to day life, also remember that fitness is a lifestyle choice and definitely not a gift!

Winter is coming at full speed now, the snow line is rapidly creeping down towards the valley and the temperatures are dropping and in the high resorts the season has began.

We’re into final prep here in Chamonix. The Snow tyres are on and last minute kit requirements are in order.

I have a whole new fleet of ‘Jones Solution’ Splitboards on order, a full range of sizes and this year will be upgrading to the ‘Karakoram’ binding system, which I tested out on last season Splitboard trip to the Lyngen Alps in the Northern fjords of Norway, with favorable results.

Most courses are looking fully booked, but as always, a few changes occur at last minute so it’s worth checking back from time to time to se if anything new has come up.  I’ll also be posting availability and up to date news on the McNab Snowboarding Facebook page and the McNab_SB twitter feed so sign up to both of these for last minute news.

At the moment I still have one place available on this years Splitboard trip to Kashmir. I last visited this region about 4 years ago, it is a very different experience to riding in Europe or the modern resorts of the Western world and I was very impressed with the amazing terrain potential.

With Splitboards we should be able to maximize our use of this terrain and this should be an amazing voyage of discovery that goes way beyond the experiences that we’ll have on the mountain.

We’re approaching the deadline for visa apps and flights so if anyone is interested in joining this trip they should get in touch asap.

There are also still a few spaces available on the Splitboard touring courses in April. These should be great weeks, the plan being to get out and explore new terrain and spend some time ‘out there’ up in the mountains. The idea with the Splitboard touring courses is to gain access to great riding and visit new locations, slightly different to the idea of the Splitboard Haute Route, which follows the classic high mountain journey from Chamonix to Zermatt.

I’m starting to get very excited about the coming winter season and am now looking forward to getting out there on my board. It’s snowing again today up there so as soon as the base is good enough I’ll be keen to get the Solution out and get splitting and there’s only 4 weeks or so to go until my first course in Tignes!

It’s been a great Autumn over here in Chamonix, it started a bit wet, which put down a lot of snow up high and started to put a good base down on the glaciers.Then the skies cleared and the Autumn colors came out...




 Aiguille du Mid from les Gaillands


Lac de Gaillands


 The Grepon through the trees


The ruin at lac de Gaillands


A typical Autumn view in the Aravis

The Autumn is always an amazing season for cycling so I've been out on the bike loads getting fit and ready for the winter and the Autumn track season...


The World Cup Domancy climb...a local test piece.

I managed a quick trip down to sample the warmer climes and great riding terrain around Mont Ventoux and then another cycling trip, superbly disguised as a family holiday to Feurtaventura.



FeurtaVentura


 FeurtaVentura


FeurtaVentura

I’m now fully gearing up for the track season at the Velodrome in Geneva, which should get my legs super strong for all the Snowboarding to come.

On the subject of gearing up for the winter, I’ve just contributed for an article on getting fit for Skiing and Snowboarding for ‘Ski & Board’. I’ll post the article I wrote online shortly as the magazine will probably only use a small portion of what I wrote.

Being fit for the winter is super important in order for you to get the most out of your riding so I’ve just put down some super simple exercises that will get you ready to ride. Look out for the link to it on Facebook and in the articles section on the McNab Snowboarding web site in due course and remember…being fit is a choice not a gift so get working at it…

Anyway, enough for now, the weather is starting to clear as I write this to reveal a very snowy looking Aiguille du Midi and I’m going to take advantage of the break in the downpour to get out on my bike with the dog.



You can start getting very excited about the winter riding soon to come…

I think its going to be another big one!!

All is good in Chamonix…

Neil

Woke up this morning to Snow on Les Houches…yes Les Houches! Its got to be the first time I've seen snow on Les Houches in September ever!!

I'm sure it's not a first but with snow down to 1400m this morning the CHamonix valley is looking very wintery and its kind of a bit of a wake up call to the fact that the coming season is actually just around the corner…Shit, I've tons to do before then…better dig this 60m trench for a new phone line before the ground starts freezing!

I've just done 2 weeks of cycle guiding for GPM10, a perfect Tour du Mont Blanc followed immediately by a Trans Pyrenees, again in perfect conditions. 2 amazing trips and I came back with super strong legs just in time for no one else to be around for me to smash it up with…

The Track cycling season is just starting. I went down there a couple of days ago for a quick spin, had forgotten how intense it is just riding around and around. I looked down at my heart rate monitor after a couple of short max sprint intervals and thought it must be broken. How can it get that high when there are no hills to climb? Great fun, I've a new Dolan DF3 frame running and it feels fantastic…come on legs!

The Snowboard movie premier's are doing the rounds and I'm going to be at the Tamworth 'Big Bang' event this weekend giving a 'Jones Snowboards BC safety' presentation. Just spent the last 2 days cramming and preparing for it thinking I had to leave today only to wake up this morning and see I'd got the date wrong and leave tomorrow…Great, another day on the bike before I go…I'll start that 60m trench when I get back after the weekend…or the winter…who needs phones and internet anyway!

Things are slipping into position for the coming winter. Ruth has been busy sorting out accom etc for the Tignes pre season course so those joining me on that can start to organise and get excited about it.

Those on Kashmir will need to start to think about applying for visas pretty soon. I'll start to look at all of that after this weekend…my October mission is to get everything ready for the winter…I'll dig that trench in November?

Ok, anyway, all is good…I need to get on with some internet browsing now, pick out kit for the winter and drool over bike and boards before this temporary phone line breaks…Ok, maybe I need to get on with that trench today?

I'll leave you with this shot of the group leaving the camp in Greenland 2011. I love this shot, it shows how remote the camp is, the perfect snow, how big the area is, the slopes in the background, the 'Evening light walls' are about a 2 hours access hike away!





You have a great view of our first descent lines of 'Couloir of the Gods' centre back and the 'Little Alaska face' Back right.

Everything is way bigger than it looks. The first time we headed over there we thought it would be about a half hours hike, a couple of hours later we were still looking across the Glacier at it all wondering if we'd ever get up there. Once the track was in and we worked out the best way up there we got it down to a 2 hour trip to the drop in. Of course midd trip it snowed again and we had to start all over again, putting in a new access track and re tracking all those descents of untracked deep fresh powder under perfect blue skies with no one around for thousands of miles…Obviously it was hard work but we managed it…

Until next time,

Take it easy'ish!

Neil

Ok, so most of you have already seen that the courses are now on line!

Yep, I finally coaxed Ruth back into the office and we're off and taking bookings for next seasons courses. 2 days in and we had over 50% of our places taken, once bookings are confirmed with deposit payments then I'll update the courses page as to what is still available but if you're looking to get on a course next season then don't leave it to late as spaces are disappearing almost as quickly as Alpine Glacier Ice during the summer months!

It's been hot over here in Chamonix the past few weeks, mid 30's and rising. The mountains are looking baked, the winter snows have gone, the ice is bare and the rock is dry. Great for rock climbing (which is what I've been doing today) but every summer there's less and less perma snow and more and more dry ice and rock fall. There's an artists impression of what the mountains will look like in the future without the Glaciers and it's looking more and more real every year.

Of course, the Glaciers have been receding for a long time so its maybe not anything new, these glaciers used to reach out to near Lyon some 250km's away and anyway with todays rapidly changing climate it'll probably snow tomorrow!

The summer has been amazing so far, I worked hard early on so that I could take August off and spend some family time and practice my DIY skills armed with my collection of one shit slightly bent saw, a really sharp tree saw, a hammer and a drill. So far I've built some steps and a Tree house (or a tree platform as the girls rightly pointed out made form my Bouldering wall which was dismantled to make way for a cycling and squats gym). So far the tree platform has held 3 people at the same time, a new record!

Whilst I might be annoyingly obsessive about detail and precision with my sporting performances, this gene seams to have skipped my DIY skills and whilst the tree platform still stands for the moment I'm not convinced of its longevity.

I've been cycling tons, out most days melting in the heat and I also started running up mountains with the dogs (for rest days off the bike), you know the old saying, 'a change is as good as a rest', well thats a load of rubbish because I tried it with a couple of hours running up to the Bellevue and I didn't feel rested at all.

I've also been hitting the squats quite a bit, inspired by the Olympic track cyclists performance and feeling keen for the coming track cycling season and winter Snowboard season so I'm working hard on increasing my leg power, strength and endurance.

Obviously not managed to curb my training addiction yet!

It's still mid summer but its quite interesting to start to hear about people talk of the coming winter season. The shops in Chamonix are starting to sell off their summer ranges and the warmer looking kit will soon be creeping back in. I put my order in to Mr Jones for Boards the other day, should be some exciting new additions to the range such as a Carbon Flagship, a 160 Hovercraft Splitboard, the Mtn Twin has had some major tweakage and there's now some female specific sizes and constructions. I'm personally looking forward to the Carbon Flag 163W and the Hover Split. There's talk of a bigger Hovercraft joining the range at some time in the future, I'm gunning for a 164 Hover…how good would that be!!!


I've another few weeks of cycling work coming up in September, just before the track opens in Geneva, so hopefully I'll be going strong through the Autumn track sessions. My winter season kicks off in mid December again over in Tignes before starting here in Chamonix Christmas week and then full speed ahead for the winter. I'm looking forward to it already, in particular the Kashmir trip, the new Slackcountry courses, the new Haute Route and the Splitboard courses…so that's pretty much everything then I guess! Lets hope the weather plays ball again and we get conditions like last season!!

Anyway, enough of my waffle, I've 'Destroy It Yourself' projects to get on with!

Enjoy!

This is a provisional list of the dates for next winters Courses.

Most courses remain the same format but I have included a new Slackcountry Off piste freeride clinic.

This will be in-between the Off Piste and BC Splitboard intro with a mix of the 2. Easy access Off Piste and an intro to the BC, such as runs off the Midi, short hikes and maybe a day tour but without the need for Splitboards, the focus being on riding rather than hiking, hence the 'Slackcountry' focus.

Tech clinics remains the same, a pre season clinic in Tignes and a couple of 3 day clinics over Christmas and New Year should help those with the need and desire, the chance to sort out their early season riding ready for the season ahead.

Off Piste clinics remain the same, concentrating on the progression from On Piste to Off Piste technique and beyond.

The Slack country Clinic then follows on from this with the emphasis less on technique and more on just Freeriding.  A kind of relaxed playful sort of week!

BC Splitboard intro keeps the same format, but Board hire will be through Zero G or your own responsibility.

BC Splitboard Freeride is for those that have already Splitboarded and now want more, this is a Chamonix based course focused on riding the Chamonix classics.

BC Splitboard touring is for those that have Splitboarded before and want to get out amongst the peaks and explore some new terrain, this course will take us further afield and involve nights away in refuges as needed.

The BC Advanced remains the same at a 1:3 ratio. Anything goes!

The new Splitboard Haute Route speaks for itself. We'll follow the classic Chamonix Zermatt route with alterations to suit favourable terrain for Snowboarding. A big undertaking only for the fit and efficient!

The Kashmir Splitboard trip takes us back to the low Himalaya peaks around the city of Srinagar where the basic single lift ski station of Gulmarg offers up some amazing terrain and spectacular Splitboard opportunities.

The Splitboard Mont Blanc course remains the same as we try to scale the mighty Mont Blanc and ride back down to Chamonix. Often underestimated, definitely our most demanding course on the calendar!

So here it is, you can't book yet as I haven't managed to lure Ruth into the office as yet, (best try calling on rainy days) and I haven't put the courses on line yet as I'm still playing around with a couple of dates etc. But this is the provisional calendar so you can start to have a look and work out what you fancy and when it will be.

Courses should be on line early next week and then we're off!

Dec –
pre seasaon tech clinic – 17 – 21
3 day tech – 26 – 28

Jan
3 day tech – 2 – 4
OP freeride clinic – 7 – 11
Slackcountry Freeride clinic (mix of off piste and BC split intro) - 14 – 18
3 day OP freeride – 21 – 23

Feb
Kashmir – 31 – 10
(Maybe  a 3 day BC Splitboard freeride 13 – 15)
BC Splitb intro – 18 – 22
BC splitb freeride 25 – 1st

March
BC Advanced 4 – 8
Splitb intro – 11 – 15
Slackcountry Freeride clinic  18 – 22
Splitboard Freeride 25 – 29

April
Splitb touring 1 – 5
Splitb Touring 8 – 12
SplitB Haute Route – 17 – 22 (dates not confirmed yet)
Mont Blanc 28 – 4th May

Dates for bookings will be on line soon!

Get ready for some of this!!!

Thoughts for the coming winter!!

So its been a while since I wrote a news piece…I took off a little time after the busy winter for change and to get out on my bike, get bike fit for the summer and after 5 months of solid riding put thoughts of Snowboarding on the back burner for a little while.

Now however, thoughts of Snowboarding are back on my mind and I'm already well into my planning for the next winter season…Summer is in full swing here but I'm already getting a little bit excited about getting back out on my Splitboard and exploring some new locations and revisiting my favourites of last year. The thoughts of the Split Hovercraft and the Carbon Solution next season are also quite exciting prospects from the Jones Camp, so another big winter of Spliboarding is t the fore front of my thoughts.

Last winter was one of my best ever for sure... 16 weeks of BC Splitboard Freeriding, getting fresh lines in perfect powder, a couple of weeks of deep fresh on the Off Piste Freeride clinics, some deep fresh on the Tech clinics and pre season Tech clinic in Tignes and an amazing trip to the Lyngen Alps in Norway to top it all off.



Lyngen Alps 2012


A perfect score, except for the Mont Blanc week which was plagued by some of the strongest winds that I've ever seen hit Chamonix, which caused chaos and a rapid diversion of activities to the Pin D Arolla instead.

It's been a hard fought year for Mont Blanc, even so far this summer I think the success rate overall is at a low 20% and so far I've not made the summit with any trips which is quite a rarity for me.

MB is always very weather dependent but we'll hit it again next year on the Splits and hope for the better conditions!

Anyway, a fantastic winter season definitely one of my best, I think at one point I had ridden nothing but fresh first tracks for a 4 week period, Amazing!



My winter round up!


The summer has been a mix of hot and cold, amazing sunny weather one day, searing heat and then rain and snow the next.

I spent a good amount of time training on my bike through out May and entered the Tour around Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) some 180Km in which I finished 3rd (not so bad, actually first Road cyclist as the 2 others infront of me where on Time trial bikes). It was hard work through May but I finally felt my legs coming back into cycling condition for June and July.

I worked on my bike with GPM10 for a couple of tours around Mont Blanc and for a Chamonix Nice trip and rode with the Vicious Velo crew around some of the local cols before riding the Etape du Tour course the other day just to see what it was like. I felt good on the course and put in some good times on the climbs but won't enter the event which is this weekend as I can't be bothered to mix it up with 10,000 other cyclists, sounds like a logistical nightmare to me, maybe next year! I'll try to enter some other events as the summer progress's.


I've been working up in the mountains quite a bit recently with mixed conditions, some good days like 2 days ago on the Mont Blanc du Tacul but many bad weather days in thick cloud, rain snow and wind, not the easy conditions you expect at this time of year.


I've been preparing the calendar for next year, trying to fit everything in and looking at a couple of new ideas that I'd like to try out.

So what is new and what has changed…

The Tech clinics will stay the same…a very important course in my opinion, that creates the foundations for the highest levels of riding. There will be a pre season Tech clinic in December in Tignes again, this was a great week last year and then a couple of 3 days Clinics over Christamas and New year.

The Off Piste Clinic is now to be known as the Freeride clinic…the basis of the course remains unchanged with some Piste to Off Piste Technique, but the emphasis will be on Freeriding and getting out there and challenging your riding on the mountains natural terrain.

Freeriding is all about matching your riding to the mountains natural terrain and then spicing it up a bit by adding your personal influences and style. One of the main differences between on piste and Off piste riding is known as 'control of line and speed'. This is all about fitting a working line into the terrain so that you can control your speed by the line you take and flow with the terrain rather than having to skid and fight against the mountain which doesn't work away from the groomed piste and in tricky terrain.

There is a slight change within the BC program in that all the courses will now involve the use of Splitboards rather than Snowshoes. As such the BC Intro is now the BC Splitboard Intro and the BC Freeride course is the BC Splitboard Freeride. Anyone wishing to use Snowshoes and their own traditional set up is still welcome to do so but for me the future of BC access is definitely Splitboarding and so this will be introduced through these courses.

The BC course progression remains the same with the BC Splitboard Intro - BC Splitboard Freeride - BC Splitboard Touring - BC Advanced Freeride and then the trips and expeditions.

I really enjoyed the Splitboard touring courses last winter and found some great terrain up around the Grand St Bernard area.

There was a new location I wanted to explore down the Valais in Switzerland, which we couldn't get to last season as the access lift was closed up to the refuge. next season it will be running and so I'm hoping to explore this area on the touring courses next season…Should be great!

I'm also interested in taking a Splitboard group over to the Bernese Oberland area around Wengen, its an area I don't really know very well having not been there for years, but somewhere that I think will be very interesting for future exploration.

Another new course in the mix, which will be very a exciting new addition, will be the Splitboard Haute Route, this will be a 6 day course based upon the regular Haute Route touring route but adapted to suit Splitboards and Snowboarders were possible.

I'll be running the Mont Blanc course again at the end of the season, hopefully the weather will be favourable next winter and we'll get a great ride off the summit.

Finally I'll be running another trip to Kashmir next winter.

I visited this area a few years ago, had an excellent trip and vowed I'd return. The terrain there is amazing and even though on my last trip the snow conditions where the worst they'd had there for years, we still hiked out and found some great descents and some untracked fresh.

Last time I was there we were wading around on Snowshoes, this trip will be focused on Splitboards and the terrain there suits it perfectly…I'm very excited about this trip, Amazing terrain and a real cultural experience. The location Gulmarg hosts one Gondola lift, which works sometimes, and involves some great hiking out in the foothill of the Himalaya's at over 4000m.

The final evening is spent on a house boat on beautiful 'Dal lake' on the outskirts of Srinagar, home to a whole city of people who actually live their lives on the lake.

So that is my provisional program for the moment. I'll obviously be working on the minor details through out the summer but this should give you a good idea of what's going on and what's on offer.

The course dates should be on line beginning of August and once they are online Ruth will start taking bookings.

Ok, time for me to get back out on the bike before my next Mont Blanc ascent looms and before a short repose for a family holiday!

Hope you're all enjoying the summer and lets hope the weather gets a bit better!

Not so bad though!

Neil.

Just back from my Splitboard trip to the Lyngen Alps, Norway…

This was my 2nd trip to the Lyngen Lodge, the first time I went a little later, the first week of May in 2009. The weather was amazing everyday but the snow had definitely turned towards spring riding rather than cold winter powder. We were on Snowshoes back then, I broke trail everyday in knee deep spring melt for 4 to 5 hours everyday. It was an amazing trip but I remember thinking it would be a great place to ride if the access wasn't so hard…Back then, even with all my past negative experiences of Splitboarding, I thought it would be a great place to return to with a group of Splitboarders.

Fast forward a few years and things have changed rapidly!

2 years ago I rode with a certain Mr Jeremy Jones, who convinced me to give Splitboarding another try. His new Brand 'Jones snowboards' was about to be released on the market, he was at the time riding one of the first prototype Flagships, and we spoke about board design and the direction Freeride Snowboarding was heading and how Splitboarding was to be a big part of the next step in Freeride evolution.

I'd recently come back from a hard BC Freeride session at the Col de Grand St Bernard where I'd spent the week wading around, breaking trail in knee deep snow (yet again) whilst ski tourers whistled past, barely breaking the surface, and I'd pretty much already decided that I'd have to give Splitboarding another try…

These 2 experiences were perfectly timed and I was pleased to find that Splitboard technology had advanced a making the experience a little more pleasurable and successful than I'd found it in the past.

Fast forward to the present and last weeks Lyngen trip was my 16th week of Splitboarding this season!!!

Splitboarding has now become a massive part of the Freeride evolution and with the way equipment is advancing it can only get better and better.

Last year in 2011 I ran my first 'Splitboard' expedition to the middle of nowhere in Greenland, it was the perfect trip.

This year I fancied another try at the Lyngen Alps in Norway, a location as mystical as Greenland but with easier access and luxurious accommodation at the 'Lyngen Lodge'.

We flew in to Tromso located some 350km within the Arctic circle to perfect weather and amazing looking Snow conditions, I could see groups skiing fresh powder as we flew in and could feel the excitement build as we drove the 3 hours from Tromoso to the Lyngen Fjord and installed ourselves at the lodge.

As we unloaded the kit from the van outside the lodge I was scoping out the terrain up behind the lodge. From the nearest peak there looked to be the perfect warm up hike and ride, a beautiful looking descent, perfectly NW facing so keeping good cold snow with steep open faces and features around rocky outcrops. It definitely looked like a good place to start the trip and with an early start the next morning, some 1200m of hiking from the sea to the summit and an amazing powder run down, day 1 was in the bag!



Hiking above the lodge on day 1.

A lot of the mountains here look foreshortened from the bottom, or from half way up, the tree line stops at about 300m and from there the tops always look quite near. If you look at the other side of the fjord though and see what remains above the tree line over there it becomes obvious that you still have a fair way to go with a lot of false summits along the way. Like wise though on the descent the open fields of powder are a lot longer than they at first look and the terrain is epic.





First taster tracks in Lyngen on day 1.

Most of the hikes take around 3 to 4 hours and most of the summits are around 1200m. You can really feel that you're at sea level hiking and once you get into it a 1200m ascent will be completed in around 3 hours (an hour less than back in Chamonix at a good pace!) and the riding is anything from open powder fields to steep lines through rocky outcrops…really nice riding!



 From the beach...

 
 to the summit...



 back to the beach...Alastair charges his line!

Day 2 we took the 'Spirit of Lyngen' (the lyngen lodge boat) up the fjord to one of the near by islands. From the beach we hiked through perfect powder for about 4 hours to the highest point on the Island. From here we called back the boat and descended via a huge rolling gully with windlips, banks and drops all the way back to the beach. Not so bad!

Day 3 we used a skidoo to access a deep valley a little way down the coast. From here another 4 hour hike took us to another 1200m peak with some of the best snow and terrain so far. Steep chutes into numerous steep powder fields and some proper deep crystal powder. Another great day!

Day 4 we hiked to another 1200m peak to ride a steep North facing slope visible from the lodge. A long hike ticked off in 3 and half hours and another epic descent…the days are just getting better and better!




Paul charges out of the steep North face on day 4 (just liked this shot with all the boulders covered below!)

Day 5 saw us take a trip up the fjord with the boat again, this time to access a hidden glacier way up on the Lyngen Peninsula. The day had a super remote feel to it as we were properly out there with no other sign of life.


 An isolated Glacial valley...

 
 Hiking to the col above!


Team Lyngen 2012 on the isolated Col deep in the heart of the Lyngen Alps.

An isolated valley leads up to a steep gully to the hidden Glacial valley above, the snow is good, crystal cold powder and the temperature drops rapidly as we move up and onto the shaded Glacial slopes above. Finally we reach the col above and can gaze on the vista of mountains and the fjords over the other side of the Lyngen Peninusla. The descent is wide open and fast, my only advice to the group is to leave no space untracked. Everyone takes their own line and rips it to the valley below. The steep gully is great to ride, banks on the left and right to slash and play on. We re group on the beach and await our take home, another great day in the bag!

Day 6…the last day in Lyngen! I have spied a steep North face, visible from the Lodge. the snow looks great and it has numerous rocky features, chutes and drops. Another 1200m hike, this time in record time, we're getting much quicker now, the whole group are on the top in under 3 hours and that is with a stop en route for Paul to get his photo shoot in!

As we ascend it become apparent that the slopes to the right of our climb are maybe even better than the North Face that I had intended us to ride. At the top we have a group vote on which slopes to ride, there looks to be more on offer over to the right, more room for everyone, great snow and lots of features, it's slightly less steep but looks super fun and the decision in made…the North face will have to wait till another year!

Again, the only rule is to leave no space untracked and everyone charges their own line towards the valley and the sea. It's another amazing descent, super long and fantastic riding and a great finish to a perfect week.
We're back at the lodge for about 1:30 and spend the afternoon relaxing in the hot tub, recovering in the Sauna and tucking into a BBQ on the terrace.

Late in the evening we're treated to a wildlife show as 3 sea otters play along the coastline below, I walk down to check them out as a Sea eagle flies overhead…

This really is a quite mystical place!!!
Videos available from the trip at http://www.youtube.com/user/mcnabsnowsports?feature=mhee

Spring powder sessions week 3...

Another busy Splitboard touring week passes by. Perfect weather on day one saw us take the opportunity for a quick tour over the Col des Autannes before a mixed forecast was scheduled to make planning the weeks schedule an ever changing process.

With mixed weather on Tuesday we headed up to the Col de grand St Bernard for a couple of days, hiking to the Col de Barrasson on the first day with a brief spell of good vis, before a calming night up at the monastery.

Nearing the col de Barrasson.

The next morning unfortunately the weather was taking a serious turn for the worse with zero vis and strong winds. We headed back down to the Van and made an escape to Champex where we rode some seriously heavy wet snow through steep trees for the rest of the day. Champex has some great terrain and will be fantastic on a powder day, we had great fun charging steep soggy lines through the trees whilst looking at the amazing potential for future escapades.

This was followed by heavy snowfall over night and a great bad vis powder riding day off the top lift at the Grandes Montets on Thursday, check out the video below!



With a continuing bad forecast I had planned a possible tour to the Col d'Argentiere for Friday, a col that I have only once managed to reach with one of my Advanced BC groups. The snow conditions would be great, all we would need would be some good vis to make the tour possible. It snowed heavily over night at altitude, rain in the valley, an I awoke to clearing calm skies. The sun started to clear the remaining clouds from the valley, this could mean only one thing for outlast day and so I made a quick call around the guys and booked a mid morning heli flight up to the Trient plateau. On the way up the pilot, who had just made one drop off previous to ours said he had not seen such good conditions up there since early season and this quickly became apparent as we flew up over some seriously good looking steep and deep untracked powder.

Amazing conditions on the Trient plateau.

All alone and deep in it again!

After the customary hike across to the Aiguille du Tour we began the descent with perfect conditions, blue skies, great snow and no tracks (the three skiers before us having traversed way out left missing out on the best riding for some unknown ski reasoning).



The riding was perfect for about 1500m vertical of the 2100m descent, the lower half being temperature affected with some soft crust followed by spring corn making it an epic last days riding in the Chamonix massif both for the guys and for me (for a few weeks) as I now head off Splitboarding in Norway's Lyngen Alps for this years 'Voyager trip'. Following this after a week of acclimatising to sea level I'm back to Chamonix for this years Mont Blanc trip.

First though I have a few days off to get things ready, this of course means leaving everything until the last possible minute whilst riding my bike as much as possible in order to gain some form for the coming cycling season for which I'm badly lagging in fitness.

With this said I am now going to head out for a ride…

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

Another week in paradise?

Sprint training at the Velodrome in geneva today, first track session for ages and it felt super hard. Someone told me that pain is just weakness leaving the body but I have to say I don't feel much stronger! Enjoyed it in a punishing kind of way, but then that seems to be the attraction of cycling?

Another really good splitboard touring week last week. Blue skies everyday, warm temps and stable conditions opened the doors for some great touring possibilities.

We warmed up with a quick tour from Brevent to Lac Noire and then up to the col du lac Noire and down the Lachenal bowl which surprisingly gave up some good snow and nice fresh turns. Most of the guys hadn't splitboarded before so this was a real warm up and training day which saw some interesting variations on the classic ski touring kick turn, not all of which worked to well. The riding was good but touring wise, things could only get better!

The next morning we headed off to the Col du Grand St Bernard, the easy tour up towards the monastery, where we were booked in for the night brought everything together and by the time we approached the Col the team were moving like Pro's.

High above the Monastery is the North facing peak of the ominously named Mont Mort! From its lofty peak untouched fields of cold undulating powder reach down into the valley, visible to anyone approaching the monastery but seemingly tantalisingly out of reach. After a quick stop en route to the Col we made a group decision (ok I might have swayed it somewhat) to go the distance and carry on past the col and climb Mont Mort for some fresh powder turns.

Hiking up above the monastry (seen below).

Great snow!

Andy carves a nice windlip!

A good few hours later we dropped in for an epic untracked descent and the pains of the long ascent were a distant memory. An amazing run, great terrain with rollers, windlips and spines…Nice but shame i forgot the Go Pro!

A peaceful night sharing a dorm with 15 blokes and up and ready for another days adventure. The guys were really getting into the Splitboard touring as we set off up towards the col d en haut for a trip around the Drone. On seeing the fresh powder the other side of the first Col the group decided (without my input this time) to add a little extra hiking onto the trip and get in an extra descent down the valley that leads to La Fouley.

The access couloir!

After a mellow descent in good snow we hiked back up to our original position and then continued our original route up towards the Drone. A steep couloir, climbed with crampons gave us access to the col above were we had lunch and prepared for the descent. The previous day (and the week before) I had spotted a steep untracked face descending from the top over to the left. It looked a little tricky to get into so I shot across to have a look, only to discover 2 perfect untracked powder filled couloirs leading down into a huge powder field which in turn led back in to a steepening with another couple of couloirs opening out into the big valley below. I dropped in to check it out, it was even better than it looked and the whoops from behind told me that I wasn't the only one enjoying the run.

Nice lines in great snow!

Thursday we ventured up and over the Col des Autannes for some more fresh cold snow, making good time allowed us to make a descent down onto Glacier de Bron which we then hiked to the top of for a 2nd descent in perfect cold fresh powder (I had the Go Pro with me so you can see some of the footage in the clip below).

Friday, we had the Heli booked for a Splitboard heli day. On the way up I spied a great line off the Petoudes glacier variant from the Heli, which I managed to find on the way down. A new McNab secret spot gave us an amazing descent down a beautiful steep couloir in perfect snow. Check out the video below to see the footage.



After 2 weeks of touring I had a rest day on Saturday before heading off to the track today. I've just finished setting up all the boards for tomorrow and have another week of touring set up for this coming week. Looks like the weather might be changing a little bit, it would be nice to get some more fresh snow to ride, fill in all the tracks and give us some more glory turns.

I'll get the camera ready!

Not so bad!

Neil.

Splitboard touring week and more fresh snow!!!

Great Splitboard touring course last week with fresh snowfall on Sunday night running through Monday setting things up nicely for another week of tracking out fresh lines.

Mondays video



After a riding day on the Grandes Montets on Monday we got stuck into a splitboard initiation day for those new to this art of travel. Unfortunately the word was out that the place to ride was top tickets Grandes Montets (probably partly due to the fact that I posted my Video of Mondays riding on the Chamonix Facebook page which saw it get 1200 views in the evening) and so we didn't get the early start that we needed and spent 2 hours in the queues trying to get to the top. We didn't get to start out for the Col du Tour Noire until 11:30 and so had to cut the tour short half way up the Glacier des Amethyste. The ride down, however, wasn't so bad.

Video of Tuesdays trip.



On Wednesday, with a good forecast we set out for a 2 day touring trip around the Col du Grand St Bernard. Perfect conditions saw us hike up to the col west de Barrason with a superb ride down on the first day, a night in the Hospice, followed by the fantastic tour of the Drone on day two.

Col des Barrason on day 1.

Tour du Drone day 2.

Near the top of the Drone day 2.

A great ride down follows!

Unfortunately I forgot to take the video camera but got a few nice shots with my phone!

Friday we headed out for a local tour with the Col des Autannes. Happily surprised to find deep cold fresh snow over the other side of the Col and some proper deep turns awaiting. Again, gutted I forgot the camera but wasn't expecting it to be so good!!

Hiking to the col des Autannes.

Freshies await on the other side!

The snow was very good!

everyone gets the goods!

The weather is now warm and stable, proper spring conditions and great cycling weather so on Saturday I headed out on the road bike for my 3rd ride of the year. Quite a big outing with a couple of friends who have obviously secretly been hard at it on the turbo's all winter and a proper besting for me. Managed to keep up, the top of the hill came just in time and it kind of felt good to dig into the physical torment of cycling again starngely making me want it more and more.

Another splitboard touring week coming up, a warm up day tomorrow and then off for a couple of 2 day trips so all good. The weather looks good for the week so looking forward to it…

Until the next time, take it easy!! (unless you're on my Mont Blanc trip later in the season in which case get training!!!!

More news from Chamonix winter season 2012

It's full on Spring conditions here in Chamonix this week, blue skies, sunshine, high temps and spring corn snow…It's definitely got that playtime sort of feel to it up on the hill, slushy bumps and jumps all over the place and a totally jib style of riding on the cards.

I have a 3 day tech clinic this week so have been playing around Le Tour yesterday, Brevent and Flegere today and will hit up the Grandes Montets tomorrow, should be fun!

Last week I had an Off Piste clinic running. To help things along it snowed at the weekend and on the first day, so gave us some great riding conditions as you can see in this quick clip from Tuesday on the Rognons Glacier.



I didn't film much as I we were to busy riding and making the most of the fresh snow, the day got better and better and we finished with a superb line down through the crevasses on the left side of the Face from top tickets in super deep and untracked snow. I forgot I had the Camera otherwise I'd have got some great footage for sure.

We also had a great run off the Aiguille du midi, not really my usual outing for an Off Piste clinic, but the snow up high was so good that we had to make exceptions and it was well worth the effort.

Anyway, it was a fun week which we finished off with a quick slack country hike around from Col Cornu to the Col above the lac Noire.

Hiking to the col du lac noire

As it had been warm all week and its an easy tour I'd not expected anything special and thought it would be pretty tracked out. After breaking trail on foot through some deep cold fresh snow though I started to think that maybe we'd be about to strike gold. The descent had about 20 ski tracks down it, all of the skiers had stayed out right and the whole of the left was untracked and super smooth. I initially thought that maybe it was just dust on crust on that side and that there would be a good reason that everyone had avoided it but thought I'd just give it a quick look see.

It turned out to be perfect powder so I just kept on going and could hear the guys (girls) whooping it up behind me.

A nice touch and a great finish to the week!

The week preceding this I had a BC intro course running.

Conditions were a bit trickier for this week and the fresh snow was harder to find.

The snowpack had had a big freeze thaw running through it at the weekend with lots of serious avalanche activity taking place. It had since re frozen and the air had cooled with a Northerly wind running though the valley. Not the best conditions, a spring snowpack but the air not yet spring enough to melt out the corn snow conditions. It to a little while to get to grips with it but it soon became apparent that up high the snow was still cold and in some places fresh and so we ventured up the top of the Grandes Montets and spent time up high riding the Glaciers up there.

The Aiguille du Midi also turned up the goods, the snow cold and untracked down my special variant before a 'planned' crevasse rescue session down on the Mer du Glace. We also toured up the Argentiere Glacier towards the Col du Tour Noire but had to turn around before the top as we ran out of time. I'd not been up that way at all this season so it was nice to get up there and check out the conditions, I love being up that way surrounded by the big North faces of the Droites and the Courtes, it feels like you're properly deep in the mountains, yet you're only an hours hike away from the Rognons descent off top tickets.

Anyway, all in all another its been a great couple of weeks!

I managed to get out on my road bike at the weekend for my first ride of the season. I bumped into a couple of friends and so my easy first ride turned into a little bit of an uphill besting session. My legs felt ok and I was quite surprised to find my form wasn't as bad as I thought it would be having not touched my bike for nearly 2 months (except for a track session a couple of weeks ago). I have 4 days off the snow after tomorrow (a 3 day course this week), my first rest period since November so I'll try to get out on my bike again if this weather holds out.

After this week I have 3 Splitboard touring weeks coming up, this should be great as I'm up for a bit of an explore and so will try to get out to some new areas if the conditions allow. I'll be getting the maps out this weekend and having a look at where to go and what to do.

3 weeks touring, then Lyngen and then Mont Blanc so a big hit now on the Splitboard! Infact tomorrow might be my last day of riding on my regular set up so I'm going to take the Hovercraft 160 out for its last spring ride!

I've been ridding the regular Flagship 164 the last couple of weeks, it's stiffer this year than last year and I've had a great time on it!

Also pleased to report that after 3 weeks of abuse, my impression of the 'Sweet' outerwear is still as good as it ever was, this kit simply rocks!!

Until the next time…

All is good in Chamonix!