Stole this from SCUK on Facebook not sure who took it but it's not a bad pic!

On Friday I drove from Truro to Hemel for the Nike Chosen Series first stop at Hemel. They had built a 13 metre kicker which is quite big for indoor! We were allowed on the slope at half six but couldn’t hit the jump so I had a few runs on the rails to warm up because I hadn’t ridden for nearly two months. I finally hit the jump when it opened and it was quite wippy. As the comp went on some good tricks were being put down Andy Nudds was rippng some front sevens off the toes and the heels, Sam Cullum was doing some crazy inverted back 7 nose grabs. I did some back 3 tail grabs and a back 7 tail grab and a couple of front threes. I managed to get into the final top ten with Jordan Gee, Andy Nudds, Angus Leith, Jesse Smith, Scott Penman, Marc McClement, Sam Cullum and others. In the final I did some back 3′s tried some back 7′s but couldn’t land them so I did a method instead and a couple of front 3 melons and some front 5′s which was good. Nuddsy did a massive front 10 and Jesse and Marc both did doubles! Jamie Nicholls didn’t turn up in the end as he was to busy doing snowboard stunts in Stuttgart! In the end Nuddsy won the overall and is now invited to the overall final. Going back to Mayrhofen soon but my dad managed to get an infection to a wound in his arm which sucks and has delayed us from going back

On Friday me, my dad, Chris Chatt, Rich Hookes and Beckna all flew to Scotland for Vans Dawn of the Shred it was my first time back in the UK so it felt a bit weird. Every morning I would have sausage and beans which were really nice then I went up the mountain. On Saturday it was the comp we got up there and they were still shaping everything so we could only do some normal runs. It also started to get really windy up there and a bit cold so the fog kept coming and going. They finally opened the rails and we could ride them. Practice went on and then it came to the comp we did 2 kicker runs and then 1 rail run, my best kicker run was front 3 melon to back 3 tail the kickers were small so you couldn’t do much. Then on the rails I did back lip, tail-slide 270 out, 50-50 front lip and then 50-50 back 3 on the up rail and landed flat and fell. In the end  I came 2nd in my category so I was stoked!!! Well done to Sam Turnbull for winning the open category!

FOUR!!!!

The next day I went up to meet Matt McCormick and Angus Trinder. Over night so many rocks had  come through they had to move the blue gas pipe so it was a flat pipe which sucked, because once you landed that you had to ollie a load of rocks and as soon as you landed you would be on the kicker for the next rail. I had such a fun last day just jibbing and messing around because everything was so sketchy then in the last half hour of the day me, Matt and Angus tried some stuff on the tyre I tried some back rodeos but kept washing out on them and Matt and Angus did some backflips I was stoked that I finally tried rodeos on a jump, it was such a fun day. In the evening we went round to Gregor Samuels house for some Haggis it was really good! Also it was really good to see Gregor walking around and chatting away, he was a guest judge aswell so he was walking around on the hill climbing up the landing of the jump doing all sorts which was really good to see! So a BIG thanks to the Samuels for an amazing tea!

I am back in the Hoff now and I checked the webcam and there is barely any snow left so the park is shut so it’s time to go up to Tux!

IRN BRU traditionally served with Haggis!!!

On Friday it was the Protest Slopestyle which was a great day ! The course was a down bar, stall rail, down bar then a flat down box into 3 big kickers. On my first run I got all my rail tricks but then I bailed on the first big jump which I was a bit gutted about, but then I landed my 2nd run which was front board, frontside 50-50, back lip, gap noseslide, back 3, method and then a back 7 so I was stoked to land my run!

After that it was the mens qualifiers which was great to watch. They announced the 12 finalists and I qualified in 10th! We were only allowed 1 practice run which was rubbish because it had got cold and the jumps were slushy ice, it sucked. I didn’t want to do it because I knuckled the first jump and hurt my knee on the practice run but I did my first run anyway and landed it bolts so I was really really happy! We went to the bottom (in the lift cause my knee hurt so much) and got packed and then went to prize giving and I came 1st in my category and then I found out I came 5th overall I was so stoked!

We set off back to Mayrhofen with James Thorne and Chris Kightley and on the way the car broke so we had to go back to Laax which was rubbish, but we eventually got back to the Hoff. We went out to the Wald Cafe for a celebratory Schnitzel and its feeling good to be back home for some rest and to see my dog ! Great times in Laax, so stoked to see all my mates and meet a couple of my sponsors :)

On Thursday it was the HotZone.TV Groms Open which was a fun comp to do. It wasn’t the best of light on the day but it started to get better the format changed from a two run qualifier to a jam session. I think my best run was front tail 270 out on the side on box, gap frontboard on the flat down box, front 3 melon, back 7 mute which I was so stoked to land that run. After that I tried cab 5 back 7 but I didn’t land the 7 very well but I was stoked to land the cab 5 because it was the first time I tried them of that kicker. Then in the end I came 2nd overall and first in the rookies so I am really stoked about that!!!

Here is the video of the comp  and the link to the write up (in German) and Pics ….

Click here to view the embedded video.

I am back in Mayrhofen now and it is amazing I have been riding the park and some piste it has been good fun. The park is sick they have loads of fun rails and two medium kickers and then three big           kickers I have done some threes, fives and sevens which is good off the mediums. Also today I hit the first big kicker and did some back 3′s off it. Also today I went to the top with Archie, Dad and Jordan Gee and rode all the way down and then Jordan had to carry Archie to the Penken lift so we could get down The weather has been good for the past few days but it has also been cold I am having a good time out here the park is awsome and there are loads of good riders here I think its going to be a good season!

Yesterday was pretty sick the clouds were high up but the park was higher so it was good. I’m now only hitting the big kickers, I spun on my 3rd run which was a back 3 and then I did a few more of them off both kickers which I am pleased about and also the best part of the day was that I land two backside 7′s off the 2nd kicker which I am so stoked about!

Sunday was rubbish weather but we made the most of it by sessioning the triple shotgun down bar which was quite long. I did some nose presses on it back lips, front boards, back blunts and more it was a fun session everybody joined in which made it a fun. So now everybody apart from me, my dad, Nate Kern and Claire Frost are the only people left but tomorrow Dom Harington comes out so it will be fun to ride with him for a few days

And lastly …. pretty stoked to get a mention in Jenny Jones’s blog, she’s been out here shredding with us for the past two weeks, its been amazing (and yes Jenny, biggest I ever hit by a long way)!!!

Last week was another good week I went to Fax on the Tuesday and got two new tricks which are back 7 tail grab and cork back 7 mute which I was so stoked about. Faye and her dad were there as well taking few picks which was sick he got some pretty sick shots. Thursday was fun at Cas because the setup was good and also we sessioned the yellow gas pipe on the mini slope also we did a shredit which is pretty sick. Then on Friday it was FBBB at Cas which was a sick park two down bars and a sick kicker I got back 7′s of it and cab 5′s and more I rode with Jordan Gee all night. It was a sick night and they made a sick video, check out my cab 5 in the video below, 42 seconds in !

This week was pretty sick it started of at Halifax I rode with Jordan Gee and I got backside 720′s dialed which I was so stoked about then after fax I went to Jordan’s house to stay. The night after Fax we went to Chill Factor for a session which ended up to be pretty sick even though there were only 3 rails out I got cab 1 on back 3 out on the down bar and I also got back 1 on cab 3 out on the high box.

After Chill we went to Cas which was a fun night as well and Keith Povah was back riding which was good to see. We did a Shredit that night to I rode with Jordan, Keith, Big Charlie and many more. Then Jordan came and stayed at our house for 2 nights. The next night at Cas was just as good also Danny McCormick, Matt McCormick and Pete Meadows were all there as well so it was fun to ride with them because I don’t get to see them alot.

Then on Saturday it was the Westbeach Snowflex Series at Halifax it was a really warm day so the slope wasn’t running to fast but they put loads of water on the kicker which helped alot. I got to the final of the 16 and unders category which I was stoked about I got my 7′s on the day which I was stoked about. also I got corked back 7′s on the day which was sick! In the final it was me, Matt McCormick and Pete Meadows I didn’t land my first run which I was a bit disappointed about but on my second run I landed my corked back 7 which was so pleased about. In the end I came 3rd Pete came 2nd and Matt came 1st so well done to Matt and Pete also Danny McCormick came 2nd in his category so well done to him as well. In the over 16′s it was Col Mytton in 3rd Danny in 2nd and Andy Nudds in 1st.

I had a sick week this week and well done to everyone at Halifax!

Check out this weeks shredit at http://shredit.tv/2010/08/8-one-liners-nineteeneightten/ and also the Whitelines write up of the Westbeach comp at http://whitelines.mpora.com/news/westbeach-snowflex-series-2010-halifax-report.html

On Thursday I got the train from York with Hamish McKnight to Dover, we then met Dan Wakeham and got the ferry to Calais and drove over to Les Deux Alpes for the One Snowboarding summer camp. Then on the Saturday I went up to the mountain with Nelson Pratt and Jack Shackleton. We had a look at the park and rode around then went back down. On the first proper day up the mountain we rode some pipe and the slopestyle kickers, also we met Danny Kass which was amazing!!!

Tuesday we did the same thing but rode the superpipe instead of the baby pipe which was really steep but it was good fun as well. Then I hit the kickers and got back 3 to front 3 on the slopestyle kickers – check out this video:

On the Wednesday we met Tyler Chorlton which was sick and we did the same stuff again but I got bigger air out of the pipe which I was pleased about. On the Thursday I did 3 out of the 4 fives and also learnt cab 540 switch indy which I’m stoked about! Then on Friday I got the the biggest I have  ever gone out of the pipe. Also I got cab 5′s of a bigger kicker and the we sessioned a c-box which was good fun. On the afternoons we do different activities like volleyball and football and loads more also there is a swimming pool with a ledge which is good fun to do flips and spins off.

Check out this video of my cab 5

So last Sunday me, Faye Young, Jordan Gee and my dad flew from Liverpool airport to go to Geneva. When we got to Geneva airport half of it was shut because of a bomb scare which meant we had to walk all the way around the airport to get to the taxi which was rubbish ! I fell asleep in the taxi and when i woke up the first thing I said was ‘ SNOW ‘. When we got to the chalet we met Danny McCormick, Gregor Samuels, Calum Paton, Jen, Mark Raper and Ollie Jackson. We went and unpacked in are room and had some tea (which were amazing all through the week).

Day 1 we woke up at 7:30 got ready had breakfast and met Dan Wakeham after breakfast we finished getting ready put our boots on and packed our boards into the minibus but me and my dad and some others got into the other car, I had to sit in the boot because I was the smallest ! When we got to the lift it was packed with people which made it a bit cramped. We got off the lift strapped our boards on and road down to the park chair lift. When we got ot the top of that chair we rode to the park and I was the first person to hit the boxes which felt really nice then I hit the kickers which were the best kickers I have ever hit. When I got used to the kickers I started spinning of them and got my back 5′s dialed. We rode down to a local supermarket to have lunch then in the afternoon we just rode around the mountain and did some off piste which was amazing fun. At the end of the day we got picked up went home chilled and got into the hot tub.

Day 2 was a nice bluebird day with good visibility for the park and the kickers were just as good. I rode the kickers most of the day and I got back 5′s to cab 3′s and I also got a couple of back 7′s which I am really stoked about. After we had tea that evening Dan and Hamish Mcknight (who was one of the other coaches) came and talked about bio-mechanics with us it was about the technical side of snowboarding which was very interesting and makes you think a lot more about why and how stuff happens.

Day 3 Will Nangle did a video of me we which is amazing and has been put on Whitelines !! (and is embedded at the bottom of this post), also on the same day I learnt hand-plants which were quite hard to do but fun at the same time. after doing hand plants we moved on to do a trick tip video for Mpora on how to do a front-side board-slide which was fun we used a follow cam and and some pictures which are sick.

Day 4 started well with clear skies, we went up on a chair lift and did some more off piste with Dan which was really fun . After that we went to the park which was fun again but then it started to go dull and it wasn’t  good visibility for while but it got better so I worked more on my 7′s and 5′s. After lunch we hit the rails (mostly the flat down rail) which was smooth and really nice to hit.

Day 5 we took the chair lift up again but we couldn’t go to the same off piste spot as yesterday because it was a white out which wasn’t good and meant we couldn’t spend much time in the park either. After a few runs  we went to get some lunch from a cafe called Changabang which did nice food (but was well expensive!). After that most people went down to the chalet apart from me, my dad, Gregor’s dad Mark and Gregor. We found an off piste run through knee deep powder and through trees which was really fun, also on the same run we found a log that could be used as a rail which was fun to hit. Then when we got back Mark had built a kicker up to a balcony to stall on, but I found a bomb drop of the balcony which was fun my dad got some sick pics of it and he rang Nick Atkins who came came round to take some pics of it and he got some amazing pics. Then we did another drop which was about 20ft which looked fine until you got up there to do it but when you looked at the drop it was quite scary, again Nick got some wicked pics of this that I can’t wait to share Also Dan and Hamish came round again to tell us about what judges look for and after that we made a list of what to do and Dan and Hamish would judge the runs.

Day 6 was the last day of riding which sucked because the week went so quick but it was a good day we went to the park to practise our judging runs and then we did them but the first kicker in the park had been made 6ft bigger which was annoying because we had made our runs around the kickers throughout the whole week. but we carried on with it anyway I did some 7′s of it and some 5′s. Then after we did our kicker competition runs we went back to the Changabang for lunch and then back to the park for our competition rail runs which were fun and after that the weather was getting really bad so we went back down to the chalet. That evening we built a kicker and a pole jam and we sessioned them for a while then we went back in and watched Neverland and some Family Guy.

Day 7 we went to Stew’s house (Stew did all the camp official videos) to see his video suite and some of the videos he had done of the One Snowboarding camp and the we went to town but there was nothing to buy there so we went back to the chalet and then we got picked up to be taken to Geneva airport when we were there we looked around the airport shops and we had something to eat. Then when we got onto the plane and then I remembered that we forgot to bring the gifts on with us and it was snowing so much they closed the runway for 3 hours and then they had to deice the plane which took about 45 minutes which was really annoying. When we got to Liverpool Barry took us back to his house to get our car and then went home.

Overall it was an amazing camp with amazing accommodation and it really was fun + I learnt some new tricks which is always a bonus !! The review of the camp on the One Boarding site can be found here and here on the More Mountain site.

Anyways it’s Xmas eve and I’m lucky enough to be going back out to Morzine on the 27th, so I best go chill with the family.

Happy Xmas eveyone