LINE UK MOUNTAIN COMMAND - SUMMER '07
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Wondering what the Mountain Command skiers are up to this Summer? Here’s the round-up from our riders with news and plans:

ANDY BENNETT:

The last season got off to a slow start with the lack of snow. It seemed like it kept falling out the sky only to melt the very next day. It was a very warm winter come to think of it. In fact I only wore my thermals once and that was in April in Canada!

I was working on my freeriding last year more than anything, having been in Verbier, and I think I improved a lot. I don't think my freestyle suffered as a consequence despite my results dropping a little at the Brits etc. I just think everyone else got better! Hopefully being based in Laax next season will sort it out because their park is really good and the pipe is open super early. With it being cheaper to live than Verbier I should have more money to travel more too which will be cool.

I was living in a pretty cool house with my girlfriend Becky. Also in the same house was a fellow movie maker, a photographer and a ski mag editor which was great. I crashed more this year than last and I put that down to trying harder. I should have some pretty cool stacks on film for the new Ellis Brigham trailer "Sticks and Stones".

I only did a couple of comps this year. The Verbier and Davos/Klosters rides and the Brits. All were wicked fun! Especially the Brits. I enjoy it mostly because everyone else who I know really well turns up and something entertaining always happens to Slavemonkey.

I had some pretty sick powder days this year even though Europe was deemed by most to be pants (infact America had poor snow too but did a better job hyping what they had!). Probably my best ever! At the end of the season I went to Lake Louise in Canada for the Ellis Brigham shoot, it was good fun although very cold and quite hard work.

Recently I have been back in the UK working and coaching with my mate Pat Sharples on the Groms Camps. They went really well and I'm really enjoying watching all the kids improve so much. Perhaps I won't feel that way when the new version of the AIM Series, the British Freeski Tour, comes along and they all beat me!

Read more about Andy in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Andy Bennett Profile.

JOSH BIRCH:

This summer I am out in Saas Fee for 3 weeks training. I think this will help me tremendously with learning new tricks, improving on others and making my stuff look stylie.

I will then be doing the various competitions like the British Freeski Tour, Westbeach Freestyle Series, KSM comps, Natural Born Riders and many others. I will be training regularly at Milton Keynes and occasionally Bracknell.

In the comps this Summer I would like to be make it to most finals and get on the podium each time. Things have started well with the 'Jumps, Bumps and 2 Smoking Turntables’ at Bracknell Ski Slope when I came 1st in the U16s in both Slopestyle and Big Air. My main aim is to have a great summer, enjoying myself, skiing and not breaking any of my bones!!

Read more about Josh in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Josh Birch Profile.

MURRAY BUCHAN:

I will be in Saas Fee for two weeks and may go out to Les Deux Alps too with Nike ACG, one of my sponsors. I am also planning on doing some street rails around the city of Edinburgh with Cammie and film them with Chris Asquith (Regime Change Productions). Mostly you can find me training at the Bearsden artificial slope ('cause the big air there is by far the best in the UK) and at Xscape Braehead, both in Glasgow.

Read more about Murray in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Murray Buchan Profile.

TOM COE:

The British Championships in Laax, Switzerland, were great. I competed in all the comps during the week, coming 2nd in the Slopestyle, 4th in the Pipe and 5th in the Big Air in my age group. I thought that the park in Laax was amazing. I really liked the Slopestyle in particular. 270 on, 270 out on the long picnic benches, 360's and 540's over the big kickers with different grabs were among my favourite tricks of the week. In the pipe I was pleased with my corked 540's and 720's in both my runs, even though I didn't place. In the big air I fell on the 2nd run trying a 720 so I didn't do so well.

More recently I competed at 'Jumps, Bumps and 2 Smoking Turntables’ at Bracknell Ski Slope coming 2nd in the U16s in both Slopestyle and Big Air. Over the rest of the Summer I am going to compete in most of the British Snowboard and Freeski Tour (the successor to the “Orange Aim Series” last year). I am really pleased that they are coming to my home slope at Norwich this year, 23rd and 24th September. I will also be competing in competitions like Natural Born Riders and K.S.M vs Refrigerator at the indoor Sno!Zones, plus the Farmers' Jam here in Norfolk on 8th and 9th September 2007.

Read more about Tom in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Tom Coe Profile.

GAUTE HAKER:

My season started early in December 06 when I traveled down to Laax, Switzerland where I was sharing an house with Paddy Graham and Chris Asquith (Regime Change Productions) for the season. The snow conditions was quite bad when I got there, but a week after I arrived they opened the Superpipe and it was in perfect shape! The Superpipe was amazing, but almost the only thing open in the park until Christmas. The snow conditions was poor most of the winter, but we got some powder days during Christmas, and we did a cool cliffdrop. In January the park was getting better, and we had really good training conditions.

I did a comp in St. Moritz in January, ended up in 5th place. At the start of February we went to Mayrhofen for the Austrian Open comp. Due to bad snow conditions the Halfpipe comp was canceled, but the Slopestyle was still on. It was a great slopestyle course, but I was unlucky and bailed in both my runs so I didn't qualify. But had a great time!

In mid-February I went to Canada with the Norwegian halfpipe team for the World Cup in a small place called Apex. The pipe wasn't very good, but it was a cool experience! But I managed to bail in my very last hit, and ended up one place away from the finals...

After a week in Canada, I went back home to Oppdal, Norway. There was more snow there than we had in Laax, but the park was really bad. I went to a Big Air comp in a nearby resort while I was home, and grabbed second place!

After a week in Oppdal, I went to Sweden to chill with my girlfriend for a week, before going back to Laax to train for the Orage European Open some weeks later.

When I got back to Laax there were good conditions at last! It was really warm and sunny, and the new Slopestyle park was great! The weather stayed great until the first day of the European Open then it stayed bad until the day they finished it! I'm sure it snowed more during that week than it did all winter! The Euro Open started with the Slopestyle comp and I qualified for the semi-finals. The course was really slow during the semi-finals, and everybody was having problems. In my first run I lost my ski on the first jump even though I landed really good... I fixed my bindings before the second run, and the skis stayed on. I totally lost control on the last jump but somehow managed to land on my skis. But it wasn't good enough for the finals. I then qualified for the semi-finals in the Halfpipe as well, and I was really stoked! I landed both my runs, and ended up 0.3 points from a spot in the finals, so it was really close.

The weekend after the Euro Open I went to the Candide invitational. It was the most crazy thing I've ever skied, the park was like a playstation game, and even some of the smallest jumps were some of the biggest jumps I've ever tried! The first day was really good, with bluebird skies and great skiing in the park. After a long day on the mountain it was time for a night session in the town. It was a sick set up, including the longest rail I've ever seen. There were probably more then thousand spectators as well. Of all the skiers I was the only one doing the whole rail! I was super stoked doing it, with all the spectators going crazy. The last day the weather was bad, so we couldn't do too much... but still, It was the most fun thing I've been to all year, and it ended great with a crazy Quicksilver party the last night!

After Candides I went back to Laax, before going back home on the 8th April. I had some good days and a sick goodbye party with the gang!

Back home in Oppdal, Norway it was snowing, so we actually did some cool powder stuff the first days! A week later was the Mega Park event in Oppdal. They made some really cool obstacles all over the mountains, but the weather was so warm... so it became a bit too slushy, but it was still really cool!

The next two weeks I just chilled, before I went to Hemsedal, Norway for another comp. It was a really good competition, with all the Norway's top riders. The jump was perfect and I landed a couple of Switch 10s, but I didn't make to the finals.

After that comp all resorts in Norway was closed, and the winter season over. So now I'm just looking to ski over the Summer at the Summer resorts around Norway, should be fun!

Read more about Gaute in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Gaute Haker Profile.

HARRY HANCOCK:

I have big plans to learn new tricks over the Summer… flips, spins on rails and corks. At the Sheffield Freeze I tried a front flip but it didn’t work out too well. So because of that I am spending as much time on the air bag as I can practice flips - I want to get a back flip by the end of the summer.

I have been teaching at Stoke Ski Slope at the freestyle camps and getting into local newspapers with Josh Fawcett and Charlie Smith for freestyle!

Over the summer I will also be skiing at Xscape most weeks. Training real hard. I am also going to enter all the comps this year, the Snowsports Tour, Natural Born Riders, British Freeski Tour… everything. So far I have been to thirteen comps at Milton Keynes!

Read more about Harry in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Harry Hancock Profile.

JAMES MACHON:

I will be going to the Saas Fee Ride in Switzerland for some coaching and for the competition. Some of the goals for me this summer are to ski consistently at a high level throughout the Saas Fee Ride and to achieve a good result. I would also like to learn some new tricks out there, mainly in the pipe as this is my favoured discipline. Otherwise I will continue to train at the Sheffield Ski Village and at Castleford.

English Freestyle Snow Sports have recently done the selection for the new Half-pipe teams and they have selected me for the England A Squad, which was a great surprise. I have recently been interviewed by some magazines about my season up to the Brits. Drop magazine put me into their 'Young Guns' section which was brill. (Drop magazine is a new online British Freeskiing magazine that features skiers from all over the world - it has just been published on Newschoolers, check it out at: http://www.newschoolers.com/)

I have also been doing interviews with UK free mag Dark Summer too, and I hope to be in the next publication, which will be cool.

Read more about James in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: James Machon Profile.

CAMMIE NICOL:

This Summer I originally planned to head out to Saas Fee for 2 weeks to gain snowtime and experience, but I didn't realise I was going to be in Hawaii with my family when the Camps are on! So I plan on training mostly at the slopes at Bearsden and Braehead in Glasgow with Murray, for the British Freeski Tour.

Closer to home Jack and I are building a 6ft drop-in ramp for 2 boxes we have and maybe we will weld some rails! Also Murray and I are hoping to hit up some urban rails in Edinburgh later in the summer.

Before the start of the winter my goals are to learn 9 mutes, tidy up my 7's and add little more cork to them and get more grab variations into them. Maybe to learn Rightside 5's and 7's as well. I can only switch 270 onto boxes not 270 so I would like to learn that, try spinning onto rails and overall make my performance more consistent.

Read more about Cammie in the Mountain Command area by clicking on the link: Cammie Nicol Profile.