FREESTYLE & FREERIDE CAMPS PROFILE FOR CAMERON (CAMMY)

LOCAL SLOPE: Midlothian Ski Centre, Hillend, Edinburgh

STARTED SKIING: When I was about 7 because my brother started.

I LOVE SKIING MORE THAN… …sleeping… eating… everything!

SKIIED IN? Scotland, France.

TRICK BAG: Switch 9’s and Switch 5 truck drivers.

AIMING TO LEARN HOW TO: Switch 9 High/nose mute, 720 high nose or some good grab, maybe a Switch 10.

FAVOURITE PRO RIDERS: TJ Schiller, because he’s a steeze monkey! Muzza B… he’s a legend!

ANY FINAL WORDS? Check out: www.toxic-ski/piczo.com and www.freeze-scotland.com.

LINE SKIS HOLIDAY & CAMP, APRIL 2006

DIARY BY CAMERON

Day 1/2 - Friday 31st March to Saturday 1st April

At about 7 o’clock on Friday morning we started a long 30-hour journey to France. We were kept motivated by the thought of fresh snow and big kickers!

On the way to Dover we picked up Chloe, Charlie, Harry and Glen. At about 9 o’clock we arrived at Dover to wait to get the ferry to Calais. We arrived in Calais early in the morning and the bus went silent as everyone tried to get some sleep. When most of us woke up it was light and only about 5 hours to Les Deux Alpes!

As we climbed the winding roads to the town it started to snow and the minibus filled with excitement. We arrived at our hotel and had time to explore the town before we could check into our rooms. Daniel and I found an urban handrail that would be greased later in the week. Later we checked into our rooms, unpacked our clothes and put our skis in the ski lockers downstairs, we had a short meeting where we all introduced ourselves. It was a good introduction session. After it finished Matt let us look about the town and do what we wanted ‘til our curfew. We all came back on time (which surprised most of the Coaches!) and went to our beds so we were ready for our first day skiing.

Day 3 - Sunday 2nd April

We woke up excited to ski; we got onto the slopes at about 9.15. We had a warm-up ski until lunch before heading to the Park.

To get to the chairlift Gav took us down our first bit of powder. It was probably one of the funniest bits of the trip as most people fell at least once trying to ski down this bit of powder. Covered in snow we all headed to the highest place in Europe you can access using chairlifts and tows.

When we all got to the top we took our skis off and walked to the edge of a cliff for a group photo. We only had to walk about 10 metres but because we were so high up and had to walkthrough knee - deep powder in places, it felt like a mile but it was worth it for the view and photos Rick took. We staggered back on to the pisted slope gasping for breath and the Coaches decided it was mandatory for everyone to ski the run switch! It was one of the really enjoyable parts of that day, seeing everyone skiing switch at Mach 10 down the run.

We then descended to the bottom of the park where we ate lunch. The clouds started to roll in over the mountaintops and it became really dull. We went to the park and sessioned some rails to begin with. Everyone was ripping on them, I was amazed watching Charlie and James literally tearing them apart with 270s on, switch 270s on and 270s off. All the coaches stood at the top of the park giving some good advice to everyone.

After about an hour we got a choice to either stay in the park hitting rails and jumps etc. or go to the halfpipe. The people that stayed in the park started to hit the kickers but it was flat light and it became incredibly sketchy hitting kickers, as you could not see the landings until you did actually land!

At about 4 o’clock we all met up at the hut at the bottom of the halfpipe and skied all the way down to the town. We did this everyday and it was really fun. It was such a good time just flying down the hill, cruising past other skiers. Close to the bottom of the mountain we found a natural step-up feature. Everyone enjoyed hitting it and Glen did the nicest 360 rewind up it. We all skied down the rest of the mountain to the town and walked to our hotel.

That night was the BUSC opening ceremony with a Big Air Demo and a Dual slalom race. The big air had such a good atmosphere with 2 double backflip attempts and several rapid fires. After it had all finished, we returned to the hotel and most of us headed to our rooms.

Day 4 - Monday 3rd April

The day started off amazingly with fresh snow and blue skies. We got onto the hill a bit earlier at around 9am. When we got to the top of the park we had a run down through it to the hut at the bottom of the Pipe. We had a quick talk about what people wanted to do. Everyone agreed that they would do some training in the halfpipe because Rick wanted to get some photos. We did loops of the Pipe for a while and I could see everyone improving more. I was especially amazed at how well Paul was doing, he was incredibly determined to keep going bigger and bigger.

After our Pipe sesh we split into groups; one group did rails and the other hit the kickers beside the poma. Half way through the afternoon some of us met up and found a fence jump at the top of the chairlift, the landing was perfect; steep and about a foot of untouched fresh powder.

Chris came up with us to get some footage for the DVD. We had one hit of it each then headed down towards the step up. We got a couple of good shots on that as well. After that everyone kinda did their own thing in the Park. Again at around 4 we skied all the way down to the town. That night there was a meeting about next years Line Skis, Rick ran us through next season’s range. It was really good letting us see and hear about next year’s skis.

Day 5 - Tuesday 4th April

Tuesday started off a lot like Monday with fresh snow and blue skies. In the morning we all had a rail jam. It was really inspiring watching everyone. Everyone was improving so much, Chris, who had never hit a rail in his life was sliding it right to the end, Danny who had only hit rails about once before was greasing it and James was demolishing it with 270 on to 270 off, but I think the highlight of the jam was Guate Haaker (Norwegian Steven) spinning 270 on to switch up to 450 off! After being blown away by Steven we skied down to the hut for lunch.

As we were eating our lunch we spotted a figure hiking up the mountain above the park. His destination was a massive cliff. This figure was Noddy Gowans. As he reached the top, Sketch, the commentator for BUSC, stopped everything and pointed everyone in the cliff’s direction. He didn’t wait for anyone and just hucked himself off the cliff. As soon as his skis left the top of the cliff a huge roar of whistling and clapping exploded from the slopes below him. He landed in the powder with such ease.

Not long after his first jump Nods was back hiking to the same cliff. He traversed to the cliff again but above a bigger drop. All the filmers were ready this time to capture it. He spun a 3 off the cliff this time and as he landed snow flew up and he disappeared for a few seconds. He reappeared though, still on his feet! The crowd cheered even louder this time. It was probably one of the most memorable parts of the trip.

After we had finished our lunch Gav took Craig, Lee, Callum, Tom, Murray and I to a smaller cliff beside the one Noddy hit. We had to hike up a slope in knee-deep snow. We got to where we wanted and waited for everyone to clip their skis on. Gav gave us some pointers on what line to take and then hit the cliff first. He landed and front flipped back onto his feet and skied away.

Murray was the next to jump the cliff; he landed safely and skied away. Murray was followed by Craig who didn’t land as well. I went next after Craig and I landed without any problems, after me Callum, Lee and Tom went. Lee had the funniest fall out of the 3. As Lee landed he leant too far forward and front flipped, I expected to see the base of his skis as he flipped but saw his boots instead as he double ejected. He ended up sliding down in the snow on his back with a smile on his face. Jumping the cliff was such a good experience, and I think everyone really enjoyed it.

Day 6 - Wednesday 5th April

When we woke up that morning the winds were high, it was raining and it was incredibly misty. Most people decided to stay in the town and have a day off, but about 4 or 5 brave (or stupid!) people ventured up the mountain. I didn’t. (Some of the other Coaches took this as a chance to get an early trip to the bar in, with a LINE DJ in action at Smokey Joe’s all day!)

At night we went bowling as a group. It was a really good time just having everyone in the same place and everyone having a good time.

Day 7 - Thursday 6th April

The day started off with blue skies and some fresh snow again. We got to the mountain and had a few runs before skiing the Park. We got into the Park and had a quick run down the Pipe and met up at our usual location beside the hut. Some of us went back up to the Pipe and some hit the kickers.

I stayed in the Pipe and tried to improve. I kept landing on the coping so when I got to the end of the pipe Gav gave me some good tips on how to land properly. I got the chair back up to the Pipe and tried to do what Gav told me, I was impressed how well it worked and how it helped me. After working in the Pipe for a while Charlie, James and I went to the Slopestyle course for a while to hit some bigger kickers. James stepped us up with big 3 tail grabs over them.

After the kickers was a flat - down - flat. James and Charlie hit it first. I had never done rails until this week but riding with people better on rails than me definitely pushed me a lot and made me try harder rails. I hopped onto it and managed to slide it all to switch off first time. This was a small personal triumph for me. Next run James did an incredibly clean 270 off.

After our lunch we split into groups again and the Scottish lads worked on hitting and spinning over the bigger kicker by the poma tow. We all just started off straight airing it and quickly moved onto spinning. I was really impressed with Danny and Lee. Lee started off spinning sketchy 3s and ended up with nice slow 540 Safetys over the table, and Danny was doing massive 360 Ninjas. I was struggling to get speed to clear the knuckle somehow, but later on Danny told me it might just be I wasn’t popping enough. After Danny’s good advice I finally felt back on form. The day ended up well with everyone finding their snow legs.

Day 8 - Friday 7th April

It was another sunny, warm winters day in Les Deux Alpes. Everyday when I woke up and saw the weather and snow, I loved this place more and more. We got to the Park and everyone hit rails in the morning. We started off hitting the double bar. James, Charlie, Rick, Pat and I went to the down rail. You had to get onto it from the side like a lipslide and I had never done this before, but riding with more experienced skiers again pushed me more to try it. I hit it last and slid most of it, I was happy with this result. We hiked it for a while and Rick got some good photos.

We moved onto the S-rail. It proved a challenge for everyone, even Glen. After a lot of tries and a couple of hilarious falls, James and Charlie finally got it. After some more completed attempts we went and had our lunch. (At lunch me and Danny learned that French snowboarders are always angry and take things too far!) After lunch Danny and I went off on a wee trip off piste. We met back up with everyone at the hut. Gav took me, Danny, Myles, Jamie, Callum for some more off-piste skiing. Matt decided to join us as well.

We headed away form the hustle and noise of the park to the other side of the mountain. It was a really good idea as we found some good snow, even though some of it was really tracked-out. We skied to the bottom of a cliff where there was a lot of mostly untouched snow in shadow. This was probably the best line we skied as it had deep powder and it was a nice and steep slope. This was one of parts of the trips I enjoyed the most. We had a couple more runs and then skied all the way down to the town again.

It was our last night in Les Deux Alpes and the hotel staff made a special dinner. Later on that night Craig gave us a small introduction to safety, it was good just giving us an small idea off what to do if your friend was caught in an avalanche, but obviously to go out into the backcountry and big mountain you should go to proper avalanche courses.

Day 9/10 - Saturday 8th April to Sunday 9th April

Not everyone decided to ski today. I decided to head up to get a last day skiing in. I started to hit the big kicker with most people. I was feeling really confident about it because I had seen everyone else hitting it with ease. After a few hits I decided to hit it switch. It went well and I did a stalled out switch 1 over it. I continued doing 3s and switch 1s over the kicker and was really impressed with little Tom who spun a 3 over it. There was a couple of bad falls like Rob doing a 180 to knuckle, but overall everyone did really well.

At lunch I decided to head down to the hotel with a few other people. It was an incredible week skiing with everyone and it would’ve been even better if it had lasted a bit longer.

We got back to the hotel and packed all our stuff into the minivans. The rest who had stayed up the mountain arrived not long after. We had a small meeting in the gym before we left and a group photoshoot outside. We all got into our buses and prepared for the long journey home.

Cameron