sketchy Saturday

Duthie's Diaries: Back to the well

thumbs-up moments from Andrew Duthie on Vimeo.

While the snowfall records at Scottish resorts continue to tumble, out in Brides it's been nothing but thaw and rain. Even in the heights of Val Thorens, it's resembling late April at the 'gorms. High time, then, for a change of scenery....

Ever since I spent a season there in 2004, Tignes has always been, for me, the resort to beat. The memories of the thankless dogsbody job fade away when reminded of the great people, great times and still the best all-round terrain I've come across. As soon as I heard that the Three Valley season pass gives you two complimentary days in Tignes (as well as another two in the Paradiski area), I knew it wouldn't be long before I made the pilgrimage. When a particularly bad run of weather at my end coincided with fellow season survivor Paddy Dunleavy's visit, I dropped everything and headed Killy-wards.

A train and two buses later, I met up with former Garthdee stalwart Ben Kinnear (regular Unbezzers will need no introdution) at his base in les Boisses, just below Tignes and right on the piste. It was snowing heavily as I arrived, in a way that the Three Valleys hadn't seen in weeks. After dinner and some unidentifiable booze (cooking brandy, we later discovered. Definite thumbs down) we headed out to Alpaka and the Loop to take in the sights of a knitting circle and a sponsored chest wax, respectively.

Calvados: non!

The next day on the hill passed by all too quickly, but we definitely made the most of the good conditions. Among the many highlights were the tree runs down to les Brevieres, discovering 'Coz's Corner' in Val Claret, lapping the Val Park rails, a pit-stop at the notorious Folie Douce and a hilarious, hair-raising adventure down the Lost Valley. With regards to the latter, thanks are due to the man in the flourescent pink ski jacket, whose many pratfalls on the perilous descent just about had the tears streaming from our eyes.

Corrine, Ben and Lucy negotiating the Lost Valley

Paddy arrived the next morning to blue skies and even more fresh powder. Sadly, it didn't last, and by the time we met Ben in the afternoon the visibility had become pretty poor. Lucklily, in Tignes there are always trees to explore, so we headed back down to les Boisses and les Brevieres. Before long we were finding lines that even the locals hadn't ventured down yet, complete with all the drops, pillows and jibs that anyone could ever want. It seemed we were finding new features on every run, and once again it was all over too soon. To anyone looking for the complete resort, offering the best in everything from park, powder, sidehits, glaciers and trees, Tignes is the number one choice. Hopefully I'll be back soon.

Corrine on home turf, les Boisses

Cheers to Ben and Corrine for putting me up, and to Paddy and the rest for a great couple of days' riding. A special thanks to 'Rachel' for the supreme effort after I missed my train. I owe you one....

Duthie

Wills Westbeach Wednesday

The Westbeach European Airtimes Episode 2 from will nangle.

Nicols catch of the month

Traditionally On the first of February is the opening day on many a Scottish Salmon river, some like the Tay choose to open on January 15th, some wont even open untill March with Beats further upstream sometimes not even kicking in untill May. Currently we are experiencing one of our coldest winters for as long as the younger generation can remember.

This can slow the prized spring Salmon down on its migration upstream, some will even stay out at sea until there is sufficient water flows and the temperatures are not to cold!!.

Present in every Salmon river at this time of year are Kelts, this is a Salmon that has already spawned and is slowly making its way back to sea, the majority of the cocks (males) die and most of the hens (females) survive. Kelts can give a short lived excitement as you feel the take and then you soon realise its not the real deal as they quickly come to the surface as they tend to be almost weightless as they havent eaten for literaly months, as salmon dont eat in fresh water.

Having spent a great fun day on the opening day on the river Ness with good friend and fisher Andrew Goodenough, I accounted for three kelts, Andrew had 1.

The Ness is not historically a famous spring salmon river it tends to have its most prolific runs in what we call the back end, from around the end of july untill mid October.

The famous Aberdeenshire Dee on the other hand is regarded by some as the best spring Salmon river in Europe.

After getting a phone call from my previous work (Orvis) I had been invited down to fish Banchory Lodge by Ghillie Walter raitt. It turned out x footballer Hendrik Larsson had paid for the beat for a week, however as soon as his wife got wind of this she booked a week in the seyshells as she did not want to hang around the icy banks of the river Dee all week. This was fine by us as we gladly fished Hendriks rods for him, myself and a couple of other guys fished all day but only caught a few kelts. A little disappointing but I knew i had a day on Crathes coming up where i was in with a good chance of a spring salmon.

Monday arrived the river had a days rest after no fishing on a Sunday, we met our very knowledegable Ghille Cleave then began Fishing, it was biterly cold in the morning even with thermals under the waders, this didnt stop us from casting and hoping for a fish!! just before lunchtime in the Boat pull I had a fish on, it put up an ok fight, however Cleave landed it and declared it a kelt, the rain came on so I joined the Ghillie and Andrew who was also fishing for a quick warm up cup of coffee, I had a feeling inside me this was going to be my day, so i quickly finished my coffee and began to fish again, with in minutes I had a strong take, the fish shot of straight away and went deep, the signs were looking good, I shouted on Andrew and Cleave within minutes they were both next to me as the fish continued to take line from my reel, Cleave was getting excited as Andrew kept on saying how big do you reckon it is, I was so nervous I was going to loose this fish as it is every Salmon fishers dream to get a spring salmon, especially a Febrauary Dee springer, 20 minutes later we landed the fish, an absolute stonker a sure springer, I was shaking, we weighed the fish which turned out to be 15lbs, took some scale samples for the scientests and returned him safely to the river. Just before lunch i landed another three kelts and had one at the end of the day, Andrew had one kelt. What a day to remember. something tells me its going to be a while before my rod is in action again as the ice floats down the river.

Nicol Paton.

AG in AB

AG in BC actually. For the last couple of days I've been at Kicking Horse mountain resort. I'll get to that in a bit. Firstly I have to mention what went down when the first member of the Aberdeen Snowsports Centre massif set to grace Banff this season came in the form of Louise Moig. Plenty of riding was done, followed by plenty of drinking. A sick day was had at Lake Louise just before Lou headed home. Plenty miles under the board, plus Louise had decided to snowboard that day because deep down she knows it's better.

Me and Lou atop Lake Louise

We had a dramatic incident involving a horse-drawn sleigh at the Fairmont Chateau up at the lake. Anyone who has spoken to Lou since she returned will probably have heard. After checking out the sculptures from the world ice-sculpting championships we were heading back to the bus when the sounds of hooves and sleigh-bells came from behind us. We turned to see the horses rampaging towards us with the driver screaming at them to stop. Thankfully we managed to dive out the way as the horses tore past, slung the sleigh into a snowdrift (nearly flipping it and throwing the drivers dog over a fence into a bush)and continued manically down the road and into the woods.

Horses: bloody mentalists

From one type of raging horse to another, across in BC. Kicking Horse mountain resort is quite simply the best hill I have ever been to. I have never seen a resort with as high a quality of snow and terrain coupled with hardly any crowds. It hasn't snowed there for ages but it was still epic. The minute I hear of a dump there I'll be heading straight back.

I was there for a couple days with a group of lads. Six in total, all sick riders and hungry for big mountain lines. One of the boys parents have an apartment at the resort complete with BBQ and Jacuzzi on the balcony so the stage was set for much manly activity. Two sweet days riding and a massive piss-up were had before I had to head back to Banff for work. The rest of them are staying out there for the week. I am jealous to say the least. Plenty of footage was taken however I can't get most of it till the guys get back to Banff. I'll get an edit up here once I get my hands on it. For now check out a couple of vids I dug up on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNh7z8B5GX0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB8cv6uUqp4

It's amazing how much terrain is available within the ski area boundary. Almost everything you can see is accessible by traversing a ridge. Kicking Horse lies above the town of Golden, BC, a hick-town whose residents have little to no interest in riding. Consequently the resort is dead and there are fresh lines to be had for a long time after a snowfall. If you ever get the chance then get yourself there, you will not regret it!

Things in Banff have been good recently. One of the upsides to the unusually warm February that we're having is that the resorts are already riding like it's spring. With such a good platform for park progression I can hopefully bag some new tricks over the next couple weeks while Banff awaits a massive snowfall (wishful thinking).

spring came early

I'll sign off for now. Only six days until Craig Donald arrives in Banff. It should spell carnage. Will keep you posted

Stay tuned for some Kicking Horse video action.

AG

Song for Sunday

Check out The Dutchess and the Duke, from the west coast of the Amerika!

Sketchy Saturday

Its a Classic

Duthie's Diaries: GET.... OUT.... OF MY..... VILLAGE!!!!

Another post, another venture into shambolic rant territory. Apologies...

Astrology. High School Musical. Anyone who orders a steak "very well done". These are the things that, even if I mellow with age, I will doubtlessly hate forever. Expect my Room 101 to be filled with adolescent douchebags singing about the alignment of heavenly bodies, stopping only to hack at a blackened, shrivelled hunk of cow.

You'd also come across sights such as this:

down the stairs, past the nightclub, almost back to the river. Not a good sign...

It's been a bad week. 35 minutes of queueing (added to the half-hour spent on the gondola), just to get to a Meribel that resembles the Normandy landings, is guaranteed to bring out my inner misanthrope. Unless you're prepared to wait til midday for your runs, this is what Brides Les Bains has to offer during school holidays. The last seven days passed by in a blur of long lines, scraped pistes and a mobbed park. Far, far too slowly....

There was, however, one place to find relief: when snow cover allows, there's a route all the way down to Les Allues, a tiny hamlet between Brides and Meribel, which serves as a mid-station for the gondola. It's a run that is almost always closed, but never unrideable, and always enjoyable. The narrow path takes you through trees, over rivers and past ruined farmhouses, and offers some of the valley's best scenery. Occasionally a decades-old piste-marker will appear, providing the only reassurance that this is indeed a legitimate run and not just a one-way trip into the middle of nowhere. It's a rare thing to see another soul on the way (even when the run is open), making it the perfect antidote to the congestion further up the hill, as well as a great way to skip two-thirds of the gondola down.

sweet relief off the beaten path

The influx of holidaymakers, infuriating as it was, did offer one potential consolation. With great crowds come even greater piles of dishes that aren't going to wash themselves, and I was due for some shifts. However, the hotel management chose that week to halt all cash-in-hand work, and so the hours have dried up. This may have been for the best, though, given what happened next. After the manager hadn't been seen in a while, the rest of the staff had to search for him. His door was kicked in to reveal that he had up and left in the night, taking a cool five grand from the safe with him. Interpol are now on the case, but as no-one has a copy of his passport (or even assurance that the name he gave is his real name), it looks like he might have got away scot free. Sadly, none of this affected hotel policy, and so it's time to find some more gainful employment.

Other than that, not much else to report. The Olympic half-pipe was worth staying up for, both as a great event, and as reassurance that we're not the only resort having unseasonably warm weather. It's pissing down in Brides as I write. Given the temperature, it's likely to be doing the same in Meribel. Happy days....

Duthie

Song for Sunday

A new song from Norwegian duo "The Kings of Convenience", check oot their new album "Declaration of Dependence"... Winner!

Sketchy Saturday

Will Nangles Edits

Jamie Nicholls Baby Park from will nangle on Vimeo.

my letter to steve

ez dude, it was rad seein u up the hil, thanks for headin up, right, wat we did was no way in anyform a comp, but purly an exersize in settin up bangin rails and proseeding to shralp! even so, we hav some product to distribute, and im gonna do a facebook vote, but i dont think any1 will argue wen i say that u diserve the bottle of 16 year tomintoul wisky for 'most knaar stack' wen u 'toe edge caught' on the flat bar to 'full on bolluck dunk'!!!, big upz!!!!

Duthie's Diaries: hard lines for Bayne, fresh lines for us

As promised, it's the first real riding update. But first, an appeal....

Wherever you are, spare a thought for Ali "short straw" Bayne. Arriving for his three-week stint in Brides a day late due to a cancelled flight, his trip out had more than its fair share of lowlights, including a smashed camera screen, a lost liftpass, and a botched backside 180 that resulted in a hellishly bruised arse. His streak continued right to the day he left, where even the frustration of his five-hour delay at Chambery Airport was surely nothing compared to having to leave town during the biggest dump of the season so far. Nae luck Bayne....

Hamish, Jono and Tom drop in

Yes, the powder was back, but the visibility was horrendous. Hamish and I called up Tom Myers, a friend and former Meribel seasonnaire, who was out for a week and could lead us to the good spots. Being such a huge area, Meribel has plenty of quality off-piste, and a lot of it is accessable right from the lift without the need to hike. With the pylons as our guide, we lapped a couple of chairlifts which had seemingly endless fresh lines, even into the early afternoon. At lunch we met Jono Hunter, another Aberdeen rider, and headed for the tree runs on the steep face under the Loze chairlift. Just as we got set to drop in (right about when Bayne was finally boarding his flight), the sun came out, and pretty much stayed out all afternoon. After a couple of hours in which we hadn't even come close to sussing out all the natural hits and drops, we finally called time on one of the best powder days any of us had seen in a while.

Jono underneath the Loze

The rest of the week saw some weather fluctuations straight out of Al Gore's nightmares, as the temperature rose from the minus twenties to a toasty 8 degrees in the space of a day. It was time for a long overdue park session. Over the last few weeks the Moonpark had been gradually taking shape, but with so much terrain to explore we had never dedicated any serious time to it. Hamish, myself and a handful of staff from the hotel did laps of the perfectly groomed park in the sun until the knees couldn't take any more.

Knuckle-bound....

Joining us in the park were huge clusters of army, navy and air force troops, decked out in matching garb and preparing for the Combined Services Snowsports Championships. We watched as the squaddies, male and female alike, all stepped up from basic freestyle to the bigger booters in a matter of days. They had no doubt been encouraging each other with threats of a Full Metal Jacket-style soap-in-socks beating for whoever didn't man up, and the results were impressive. As one trooper put it: "it beats being in Fallujah, anyway".

Yesterday the powder returned, so the park sessions are once more on hold until after the freshies are gone. Til then....

Duthie

P.S. Adios Hamish Duncan. Don't think Brides Les Bains was HD ready. Thanks to you and Bayne for the good times....

Song for Sunday

Another banger from Royksopp, this is a good tune to get you stoked for shralping the hills

Sketchy Saturday

Friday Forecast

Cairngorms

Sheiling platter and Car Park tows now open. Others on hold untill the wind calms down. VERY ICY AROUND CAR PARKS AND BUILDINGS Pretty Stormy at the top of the hill at the moment and blustery at Car Park level. All traffic via the down road as the link road is getting widened. Day Lodge Poma is off with an electrical fault and engineers are still working on it. We have a shuttle bus booked everyday so there will be the option of skiing back to the Ciste Car Park.

The Lecht

The Lecht competition will be going ahead this weekend!! if you fancy hitting up the rail jam make sure you are around the nursery slopes for a 5 o'clock kick off, if the kicker jam takes your fancy that will be kicking off on Sunday morning around 10am . All runs complete with hard packed snow with all nursery runs open, we are expecting white cloud and temperatures of -3 on Saturday, on Sunday the sun will be popping through to say hi every now and then, and temperatures are set to be a little warmer, so that should set the scene for the kicker, there should be a good crew of people there so hope to see you all their!!

Glenshee

All the runs have full cover of soft snow on a hard base. Outside the runs there are acres of snow especially Glas Maol and Carn Aosda giving great off piste for the more adventurous skier/boarder. There is ample nursery area.

Saturday should start dry and bright but cloud will increase by late afternoon. The wind will be light North-Easterly.

Glen Coe

All Runs have an excellent cover of soft snow. If you are going to head across to Glencoe be sure to bring cash as their card machines havent arrived yet.

Forecast for Sat 6th Feb - 15-20mph South easterly wind. Possibly one or two snow flurries. Visibility may vary during showers.

Nevis

After a stormy spell at times on Friday the weather looks better for the weekend.
Most runs are complete and the upper mountain has a wide cover with plenty of snow between the runs providing off piste areas.
Snow conditions were soft today and may firm up with a bit of fresh snow.
Good skiing for lower abilities around the top station and on Linnhe and Alpha runs.
Back Corrie may open this weekend, but will be assessed daily.

Terrain Park has various features including rookie rails, a rainbow rail, a double c rail, tyre, kicker and rollers.

Recommendation:

The lecht is the place to be for all things freestyle, however if you fancy a change of scene and a good old freeride then Glencoe seems to be fairing out to have the best conditions, wharever you go have a great time, and make the most of this fantastic season we are currently experiencing. woooohoooooo.

Rad so we're having a wee jam this weekend at the Lecht, just a wee fun sesh to start the season properly. Its all weather dependant thoagh so for up to date info check out the Lechts facebook page.

Oh yea there'll also be a prize for best retro ski suit :) so see if you can find yer grunnys ald nevica in the attic!!

Nice een I hope to see everybody up the hill this weekend for a good wee slide!!

Neil