FREESTYLE & FREERIDE CAMPS PROFILE FOR JOE

LOCAL SLOPE: Squaw Valley CA, USA

STARTED SKIING: Went once for a laugh as a 14yr old and got hooked, just luck I guess!

I LOVE SKIING MORE THAN… …pretty much everything else, apart from the Missus (and even that’s a close one!)

SKIIED IN? Scotland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, USA.

TRICK BAG: Toxic, cliff drops but prefer skiing powder fast.

AIMING TO LEARN HOW TO: 360, but wouldn’t mind a back flip.

FAVOURITE PRO RIDERS: Doug Stoup, he introduced me to Squaw Valley. Shane McConkey, Squaw Head of the highest order.

FAV CARTOON HERO: Charlie Brown… the man takes hit after hit and just carries on regardless, gotta admire the perseverance!

WHY SKI WHEN YOU CAN SNOWBOARD?!: Always have, and enjoy it… skiers have more style in the air!

ANY WISE WORDS?! Did I mention Squaw Valley RULES?!

LINE SKIS HOLIDAY & CAMP, APRIL 2006

REPORT BY JOE

When I saw the article claiming that LINE Skis were sponsoring what they described as the “Ultimate Freeskiing Holiday” I must admit I was skeptical! My decision to go along and find out whether they could deliver as advertised was taken as a gamble rather than with confidence.

Pre-trip emails detailing arrangements for what looked like a very under-18 focused trip did little to allay my fears, and it was certainly not without worry that I waited in South Mimms Services for the minibus that would take me to Les Deux Alpes.

As a British skier with a dislike of dry-slope skiing I must admit I was pretty out of touch with the freestyle scene in the UK. I knew that overseas there was a real sense of community, of pushing boundaries without competitiveness, but had this made it to England? Would I be surrounded by spoilt posh kids being packed off to the Alps for a week because their boarding schools were shut, or even worse race brats whose greatest delight was bashing gates at their local dry-slope?!

Traveling down to Dover it became very clear that all my worries had been ill-founded. The varied selection of punks, former racers who’d wanted more, Pro-skiers and keen amateurs all had one thing in common - a love of skiing hard and a passion for turning mountains into playgrounds. It was gonna be a good week!

Arriving in Les Deux Alpes to a finely blended combination of sleet and rain, and an unprepared Hotel, did little to dampen the spirits of what by now was a very optimistic Ford Transit population. A swiftly consumed 2.5 litre tower of ale aided the cheer, and as people got to know each other the tower was refilled and conversation switched to aims for the trip. By the end of the evening everyone was positively itching for the next morning and the chance to go play.

The first couple of runs as a group were really cool. There’s something pretty awesome about tearing down something as mundane as a blue run when there’s 25 people all around you riding twin-tipped skis and looking for things to jump off!

There was blazing sunshine and fresh snow too, with the previous day’s sleet and slush combination in town having fallen as beautiful light powder further up the mountain. This proved a problem for those unused to snow, and the mass bundles of park riders falling down the first off-piste pitch were certainly a sight to see for the more experienced big-mountain crowd!

The morning progressed with the group cruising around the resort en masse, and with no shortage of speed, as everyone got their ski legs going. Shortly before lunch the first Skier-cross of the trip was attempted, with the jibbers taking advantage of a steep first roller to start showing off their spins.

After lunch, and with the cloud closing in a bit, the coaches took the group up to the Terrain Park, much hyped during the build-up as one of the best in Europe, and let us loose on some small kickers to start off. From then on it was learn, learn, learn all the way, with the coaches permanently on hand to offer tips and advice and also the more experienced freestylers helping out those who were less at home in the Park.

I soon found myself pushing my own limits, going bigger and bigger and yet feeling more comfortable at the same time. I even managed to get a couple of feet of air out of the Half-pipe, although this was probably due to some rather flat light meaning I couldn’t see the lip and didn’t speed-check as I otherwise would

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find moments of sunlight through the broken cloud in which to hit some small kickers. With the help of the coaches I managed to land my previously sketchy 180 with a bit more air and style than before, and also got my safety grab dialled in again, before the daylight and energy started to run out and we headed back to Les Deux Alpes.

The run down off the mountain was a massive game of ‘Beginner Frogger’, 24-player style, and the natural quarterpipe back down near the base area was a fine end to the day with everyone attacking it in the usual style.

Monday was awesome, one of the finest days of skiing I’ve ever had and probably the best day I’ve ever skied in Europe. It started with the entire group taking a trip up onto the top of the glacier, with the half-mile or so skate across flat-land at altitude burning the lungs and not pleasing the smokers!

A compulsory ‘switch run’ was called for, after which everyone gathered for a ‘team photo’ before dropping in switch one at a time for the first filmed segment of the trip. After a couple more runs it was back to the park and a resumption of the previous day’s jibbing antics.

Midway through the afternoon Chris B discovered a natural jump over a fence which looked pretty spectacular, and grabbed a few of us to come and hit it. This would rapidly become my favourite jump of all time, with a powder-covered landing steep enough and long enough to go as big as you could want to go! I spent the afternoon sessioning it, as well as the step-up jump at the top of the Snowpark where I gradually built my confidence until I could hit it without a speedcheck. Noddy Gowans put on a show for the student crowd, chucking three enormous cliff-drops including a 360 on the final one.

Unfortunately the run down at the end of the day would prove to be my last meaningful skiing of the trip. The natural quarterpipe that we had hit the previous day was still skiable, although a little bumpy on the way in, and full of confidence I attacked it at full speed. Unfortunately I caught an edge just before the lip, and after that I am not suite sure what happened but I ended up on the floor in quite a bit of pain. My left leg felt like it had snapped across the top of my boot, and it hurt too much to move for a couple of minutes. When the pain eased I checked and there was no break, but the bruising was pretty severe. I made it down to the resort on one foot and went back to the Hotel hoping it wouldn’t be too bad.

The rest of the trip was spent observing. Whether from on the hill on the Thursday where I attempted to ski and managed to cruise around in semi-comfort for the afternoon, in the Hotel during the evenings and the Video analysis sessions, or from behind a large pitcher of beer and some shot glasses in the town, I was unfortunately reduced to watching. But it didn’t seem to matter to me that much, everyone was still really cool and even watching others throwing new tricks and mastering others I still felt like a part of the Camp.

It was great to see everyone advance their skiing so much, and obvious from an ‘outside’ perspective just how much improvement occurred over the course of the week. I also had the chance to chill with some great people in the evenings, and also to watch a night time rail jam where the guys involved really showed their class. Even the youngest person on the trip got inspired, went and got his skis and got involved, and despite taking a rather painful spill on his first effort got up again and managed to stomp it second time around.

But that was what this trip was all about; everyone got involved and everyone gave it 110% including the truly excellent coaches. They taught by explaining and by demonstrating when necessary, and made it really easy to learn. The LINE Team guys were great too, following Muzza and Noddy over the fence jump was a highlight for me and really fired me up to go bigger and ski harder.

It was educational, but mostly it was a lot of fun. Count me in for next year no doubts. Might fly out though…!

Shouts to the legends that are Slavemonkey, Glen, Gav, Rick, Gaute Haaker (“Norwegian Steve”), Chris Maguire, Paul and James Webb, Chris Benner, Tom and Rob from Norfolk, Craig Hume, Tom Last and Matt for being safe as… and making my trip as cool as it still was despite the lack of skiing.

Laters.

Joe