"IT WAS BRILLIANT" - TOURPARTY EASTER SKI & SNOWBOARD CAMPS A HUGE SUCCESS!

[5% special discount on Tourparty bookings when you mention the "LINE 5% Skis Offer", valid for 14 days only, see the bottom of this article for info!]

We're back! We've just returned (in one piece!) from two amazing weeks in the French Alps with the Tourparty Ski and Snowboard Freestyle and Freeride Camps and it was brilliant!

Last year's first ever Tourparty Camp, organised by Tourparty and sponsored by LINE Skis, was a huge success so this year Tourparty decided to run two weeks of Camp over Easter in Les Deux Alpes, France.

Burton, Red and Anon came on-board this year as sponsors and the Tourparty team expanded with Burton Pro and Snowboard Coach Posy Dixon, Ski Coach Andy Evans and Tourparty staffer Craig Hume joining Ski Coaches Pat "Sharpie" Sharples, Gavin Carruthers and Rick Hutchings who returned from 2006.

Pro skiers participating this year included Murray Buchan, James Webb, Josh Fawcett and Will Burrows and LINE Mountain Command riders Josh Birch, Tom Coe, Harry Hancock and James Machon.

Skiers and snowboarders on Tourparty Easter 2007 came from all over the UK and beyond, with one rider coming from as far as the Lebanon!

There was a big age range too with young people and adults, aged from 8 years to 51 years, keen to learn everything they could from the Coaches and Pro riders on the Camp. We also had a lot more girls and women on the Camps this year.

While some participants arrived by air and rail others took advantage of the Tourparty transport service from the UK. This proved popular with travelers starting on the buses from as far as Edinburgh and a large group traveling from Bracknell Ski Slope where there is a thriving freestyle and freeride scene.

For the second year running the snow conditions were ideal throughout the Camps, with fresh snow over the first few days and bluebird skis with sunshine the rest of the time. (For all those frustrated by poor snow earlier in the season, booking with Tourparty is a smart move! Les Deux Alpes has excellent snow late in the season and Tourparty is always lucky with snow and sun!) It meant that everyone was able to ski some powder and enjoy fantastic skiing over the whole of the mountain.

The Slide ski areas and the Axe Snow Park at Les Deux Alpes have been created over 10 years. Thanks to a collaboration with Nicolas Marduel and the experience of the drivers, plus 3 "Park bullies", one pipe magician, one turbine, daily ramp maintenance, new "fat" handrails etc, freestyle skiing at Les Deux Alpes has earned a worldwide reputation. As always Tourparty’s timing was excellent, at the time of the Camps the Axe park was being hailed the "Best Park in Europe" on many websites.

Over the Camps we stayed in two hotels, La Belle Etoile and Le Chamois. La Belle Etoile is Tourparty's "second home" and manageress Enrica is like a caring mum, wild aunty and cool sister rolled into one! As always the hospitality was excellent with a warm welcome from all the staff who were pleased to see us back and took time to ensure everyone felt at home. The bars in both hotels soon proved popular meeting places after a long day of skiing and snowboarding with plenty of great chat about all the achievements and progress made during the day. The sauna and jacuzzi in La Belle Etoile also proved a very popular destination for rest and relaxation!

Other popular meeting spots included Smokey Joes, Smithy’s and nearby Charley Burger where the crepes, burgers and frites proved a popular top-up, plus various pizza joints! There were also rumours about Coaches being spotted “after hours” staggering out of the Rummerie (a Pirate themed bar selling nothing but.. rum!) shouting “Oh Ah, Oh Ah!” (no names Gavin and Andy), and various people clubbing the night away in the Avalanche nightclub run by the mysterious Boris! (But he will remain nameless as he knows who he is, don’t you Paul.)

No question the atmosphere between everyone on the Camps was brilliant, as always. Tourparty is a fantastic way to meet other skiers and snowboarders from around the UK, Europe and worldwide who share a passion for the mountains and especially for freestyle and freeride skiing.

Whether arriving at Tourparty on your own or with friends or family you soon get to know everyone and make loads of new friends. In no time after arriving in Les Deux Alpes and sorting out rooms everyone was hanging out together like they'd known each other for years! The mutual support, encouragement and sense of fun on the Tourparty Camps is excellent and one of the things that really sets this kind of holiday apart from other Camps and ordinary package holidays.

Of course one of the other things that helps make Tourparty Camps so special is the quality of Coaching and the awesome attitude and boundless enthusiasm of the Coaching staff. This year the Tourparty Coaching team included some of the UK's best Coaches, led by the "grandfather of freestyle" Sharpie, and they were all on top form.

Each day, having dragged ourselves out of bed, had breakfast, grabbed our skiing and snowboarding gear and collected a packed lunch (included in the price of the Camp) we got ourselves into groups with a particular Coach and headed for the Diable bubble early to beat the queues. The morning "wake-up ride" around the mountain with the whole Camp proved to be a real laugh and a great way to get the legs working again before heading for the Axe Park or Slide areas.

The day would normally be spit into four parts after the morning ride, with a morning coaching session, then lunch (normally in the Axe Park R&R area with music and deckchairs courtesy of the resort), then the afternoon coaching session followed by a ride around the mountain and then the final charge down to the hotel, always a great way to end the day!

There was a big range in ability this year, from complete beginners at freestyle to Sponsored Pro riders, but as always the Tourparty Coaches took this in their stride. Some skiers and snowboarders had never skied anything other than normal pisted red runs before and were unable to ride a rail or hit a jump before they arrived, while others were pulling 1080s in the halfpipe and needed advanced elite level coaching!

We should probably make it clear at this point that Tourparty is open to everyone who has skiing and snowboarding experience, so provided you can cope with red runs you will have no problem participating in a Tourparty holiday. You do not have to be some kind of expert freestyle or freeride skier before you arrive! The whole point of Tourparty is to give people of all ages, both sexes, and all abilities the opportunity to progress their skiing and snowboarding to the next level, while making friends with Coaches and other participants during an unforgettable week on snow.

So whether you lack confidence skiing or boarding in powder, are clueless about what "freeride" means, have never ventured near a half-pipe (nevermind skied through one!), have no clue how to ride a rail and would rather swim with crocodiles than ski off a "kicker jump".... or you are an experienced freestyle and freeride skier used to competing regionally, nationally or internationally... participating in 7 days of Tourparty is guaranteed to have a bigger impact on your skiing and snowboarding than weeks and weeks of ordinary ski and snowboard holidays.

Many of the participants in Tourparty this year went from having never skied a half-pipe or skied off a small jump before, to begging to do more circuits through the pipe and doing 360's off the park's kickers, as well as hunting out small jumps and other features when skiing around the mountain!

Burton Pro rider and snowboard coach Posy Dixon worked hard throughout the week with her group of snowboarders who were always up first thing and keen to get going. They would normally ride around the mountain in the morning hitting natural features and working on basic riding and freestyle and freeride techniques before hitting the half-pipe, rails and kickers in the park.

The snowboarders on Tourparty this year ranged in age from 14 years to 30-something and were all good intermediate riders keen to master basic freestyle tricks in the park. Although two of the boarders had never ridden in a half-pipe before Posy soon had them riding through with confidence (well done Mary and Ali!) and by the end of the week the snowboarders were impressing everyone with what they had achieved in just 6 days, both in the pipe and slopestyle. Infact if anything we were all worried about whether we could stop some of the snowboarders from throwing themselves off everything! (Ali, Lan and Jeff you know who you are!)

Pat and the rest of the ski coaching team had great fun meeting and riding with the skiers this year and were hugely complementary about the enthusiasm and excitement with which the skiers of all ages greeted the chance to ride the mountain each day. From 8 year old Francis to the "more mature" Paul, and all the guys and girls in between, there was no stopping anyone from trying everything! There was no better moment than seeing Lan's father Ludo’s face when he had successfully mastered a 360 and ridden a rail!

One of the most striking things this year was how much progress some of the riders, especially the guys from Edinburgh (Calum, Cameron, Jack and Lee), made during the week and the big contrast with their riding last time we saw them. Clearly everyone grew hugely in confidence as a result of the expert Coaching and great conditions but also they were skiing with much more style and awareness too. One of the riders who most impressed the coaches was Cameron "Cammie" Nicol and as a result of his riding during the Camp and at his home slope Hillend in Edinburgh he has been invited to join the LINE UK Mountain Command as a sponsored rider receiving product and training support. Well done Cammie!

One of the male skiers who was relatively new to freestyle this year was Andy from Sheffield Ski Village who impressed everyone with his fast progression and his excellent, positive attitude throughout the week. Matthew from Bracknell also did very well as one of the youngest riders on the Camp, always smiling and with a wicked sense of humour. His brother Chris blew everyone away with his riding off the big kicker in the park and Bracknell's own Pro rider James Webb was a great example to the rest of us, demonstrating how important it is to keep working hard and pushing ourselves to do the best we can.

Alex also proved another enthusiastic rider, working hard on his freestyle on the mountain and working hard on his Pool hustling off it, and Chrissy was great company and fun every day of the week too, along with Robert who was keen to show what he could do alongside his brother James. LINE Pro rider Murray Buchan had everyone cheering as he blasted through the pipe, slid rails and hit kickers throughout the Camps, showing how he did so well at the Brits 2007 but also taking time from his own practice runs to give advice and encouragement to everyone else.

No question about Mountain Command Rider Tom Coe’s commitment to his riding, he worked hard every day of the Camps to expand his trick bag and kept going despite giving himself a black eye and fat lip with his ski pole! His team mate Harry Hancock was his usual self mastering the rails and having fun in the park and Josh Birch seemed to put early season injuries squarely behind him as he went huge through the pipe and charged through the park non-stop (the guy never sleeps, we thought about handcuffing him to a ski locker every night to prevent him heading up the mountain before anyone else was even out of bed but figured he just drag the ski locker up with him!) Another Pro rider who impressed everyone and also had boundless energy was Josh Fawcett, when he wasn't blasting through the snow park he could normally be found blasting bangers somewhere around the resort!

The girls proved especially impressive too. Most of them had fairly limited freestyle and freeride experience but were really keen to learn and pushed themselves to try new things throughout the Camp when some of the guys were happy to "leave it until tomorrow"! They were also great fun with brilliant sense of humour and camaraderie. Big congratulations to Jessica, Rowan, Charlotte, Chelsea and Ellie for showing the guys how it was done!

Once we were down from the mountain each day there was time to rest and relax, go to the sauna or jacuzzi, go shopping, take a nap, test the explosive power of bangers etc etc! Just before dinner we would meet to review the day and watch the video showing what everyone had been up to, sharing tips and techniques and planning the next day's skiing and snowboarding. After dinner there was time for hanging out, chatting, visiting the many shops, bars, restaurants and cafes in the resort and doing activities like ice skating (which proved to be hilarious!).

At the end of the Camps the Tourparty coaching team were so impressed with the progress made by everyone that they gave all those participating a prize so no one went home empty handed after what was generally agreed to be the best week's skiing ever!

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the Tourparty Easter Camps this year, we really enjoyed everyone's company and had a fantastic time. It was a brilliant holiday and the feedback has been excellent, we are very much looking forward to the Tourparty Summer Camp for skiers and snowboarders taking place in Les Deux Alpes this July (alongside the DirtTribe Mountain Biking Camp) - see you there!

Many thanks also to all the Coaches who worked so hard and did a brilliant job over both weeks. Also to the drivers Paul, Rick, Gavin and Matthew for getting everyone out to France and back again in one piece!

5% BOOKING DISCOUNT VALID FOR NEXT 14 DAYS ONLY

Don't miss out next time, there are residential and non-residential places available on all Camps over the next 12 months with a range of Camps happening in Les Deux Alpes (France) and Laax (Switzerland) in the Summer 2007, New Year 2008, February Half-term 2008 and Easter 2008.

As a special offer through LINE Skis, Tourparty are offering a 5% discount for anyone booking a place(s) on the Camp in the next 14 days. To get the discount just mention "LINE Skis 5% Offer" when you book. You don't have to pay the full amount now, for most Camps Tourparty is only taking a deposit for each booking at this stage.

Tourparty are also introducing a special "Adults Only" Camp for New Year 2008 for adults wanting to learn freestyle and freeride away from the "little rubber people"! And there will be a special "Girls Only" coaching option on all future Camps too so girls have the choice of female coaching with other girls, or mixed coaching groups.

For all the information, booking forms etc see the web pages at: http://www.tourparty.com.

Book now and grab your 5% discount!

[Many thanks to Rick Hutchings for the photographs, check out his website at: www.rickhutchings.com.]