pure Sweetness!!!

Sweet, sweet sweet!

And so its happened! Just when I thought it was time to cut my losses and actually go and buy some 'Sweet protection outerwear' things came up trumps and they sent me a load of kit!!

Not only is this great for me but it's also great for you as:

1. you get to ride with me in my new sweet kit! (possibly not as exciting for you as for me!)

2. You now get 20% off the best outerwear products on the market through Zero G here in Chamonix and through their on-line store!!

I've been drooling over the 'Sweet protection' kit for the last few years, trying to get my clothing sponsors to mimic it and produce kit as similar to it as possible but to no avail and so just when I was seriously thinking about buying some, this new deal came through!!

As most of you know, I'm pretty demanding on equipment and kit and so if something works I don't hesitate in giving it my full support, likewise, if something doesn't work I'll make no qualms about giving it a bit of a slagging!

There's not much kit gets the 'full McNab seal of approval' and not since I started riding for 'Jones' have I been personally so excited about a Snowboarding product.

The outerwear is perfectly suited to Backcountry riding, super lightweight, packable Gore-tex shell jots. Pants with room for movement and plenty of vents, all very well made and made to last. We're talking a high end product here built for the type of riding we love with a high sense of fashion built in.

20% off gives you a 'better than Pro deal' through Zero G too so check out the products and get some kit you'll be stoked to ride in!!

My personal fav's are the 'Crusader jkt', the 'Supernaut jkt' and the 'Nutshell insulated jkt'. For Snow Pants, check out the 'Supernaut' and 'Renegade'.

Well nice!

If you're interested in taking up this offer check out the products and give Ruth a shout with what you want and we'll pass you onto those in the know!

Ok, so you can see I'm pretty excited about that development, it's been a while coming…very happy!

Well, apart from this I've also been busy running another Splitboard Freeride course and another week has flown on by!

A great start to the week at Le Tour with a hike up and ride down the couloir left of the point du Van finishing in Trient. Nice lines and some great snow down there last week.

The team en route for the Beaugean

Tuesday we got stuck straight into a big day with my first Col du Beaugean of the winter, infact the first for a few years I think.

Paul nears the top of the Beaugean

This is a great day out, as interesting on the way up as the way down with a big day touring, a short rock scramble and an abseil off the top before some seriously good deep untracked powder to finish…Nice!

Wednesday the weather was a bit mixed with cloud and a little snow, we started with a run off the mid station of the Aiguille du Midi, the snow was a bit blown out and the riding very tech! Once back in the valley we jumped back in the van and headed over to Courmayeur where we hiked over to Mont Fortain in the sunshine and scored a great ride down into the Val Veni.

Hiking to Mt Fortain.

Thursday was supposed to be a bit of an easier tour as we headed down off Brevent towards the Lac du brevet for a tour up and over the Aiguiette des Houches for a run down the Vogealle couloir.


Thursday started out with this!

On the first descent we hit some great powder but rode too low and had to hike back up and out above a rock buttress. Unfortunately, one of the guys, Euan, slid down a couloir and over the rock buttress carried by the fresh snow and dropped/slid over some rocks about 20m to the snow below. Not one to complain much he said his leg hurt but he would be ok to carry on, after about half an hour of skinning, it wasn't getting an better and so we got him evacuated by Heli. It turned out he'd broken his ankle pretty badly! I had asked him how much it hurt on a scale of 1 to 10 to which he answered about a 7. Makes you wonder what Euan would have to do for a 10? 'Made of girders' as the saying goes!!

Euan moments before detonation!

Once Euan was safely out of there we carried on with the tour, the cloud had now come down and time was ticking…We skipped the Vogealle couloir and dropped directly down to coupe, dropping under the cloud layer and scoring some very nice turns in good untracked fresh.

Not the easy touring day I'd planned on, more of a problem solving day with a mostly satisfying conclusion…Euan has now had an op on his ankle and we wish him a speedy recovery!

So onto Friday, cloudy in the valley but clear up top with no wind so we headed up the Aiguille du Midi and rode down the Petite Envers, taking a variant by the Petite Rognon and scoring some pretty nice fresh lines.

We then started to skin up the Periades but the snowpack was icy and the Glacier pretty open so half way up we turned around and rode back down the way we had come, quitting while we were ahead, scoring a great day out and scoring a fitting end to another 'almost' perfect week!

I've now been Splitboard touring constantly for 5 weeks and haven't touched my bike in about a month! Today however, with an airport pick up in Geneva to do, I made a slight diversion back to the Velodrome in order to check out how my legs are doing.

After about an hour of riding around in circles I am pleased to report that they were 'not so bad'! I had a great session, very tempting to try to get back into it and get some weekly sessions in again but I still have about 8 weeks of Splitboarding to go so need to pace myself and not get burned out. Very tempting though… I must control my compulsive addictive tendencies!!

I have an Advanced BC week this week, got some good interesting plans so we'll see what the conditions bring. Col du Beaugean is calling again, might try to get a lap in on the ENSA couloir, maybe the Rectalin and if its in good condition Glacier Brenva which I have never done!!

Hmmm…sounds good, lets see what the condition bring!

All is good,

Neil