Westhill Golfy Sesh

A wee vid in Westhill from Natalie Riley and The Aberdeen Groms shredding it up at the Golfy in Westhill.

Snow Vid

Snow Clones Featuring Casey Wrightsman from Mike Benson on Vimeo.

Friday Forecast

Cairngorms

Closed for Friday and looking unlikely to open this weekend, due to massive snow drifts but it will be rad when it opens again.

Glenshee

Most runs have full cover of groomed packed snow with the West facing slopes having the best cover in years. There is ample nursery area and lots of snow. The moderate wind will freshen towards the end of the day.

Glen Coe

Due to high winds the centre will be closed Friday, and weather is looking worse for Saturday.

The Lecht

All runs complete with new snow. Ample nursery areas.Tows will operate subject to demand.

Nevis Range

Gondola and beginner lifts opening with the best skiing to be had in the Goose gully.

Work in the park began on Boxing Day and they've pushed snow from the Aonach Mor summit down to the Spectre run. There might be for a very large kickers.

Recommendations for this weekend Glenshee and Lecht

Duthie's Diaries: Down and Out in Brides Les Bains

Don't expect any riding news in this post. Here's why.

After many, many delays, and a draft-erasing laptop malfunction, here's the latest from Brides les Bains. Mostly on my mind since the last update: work.

In countries all over the world it is possible to find people who will endure long hours, cramped accomodation, simpleton bosses/underlings [delete as appropriate] and extortionate booze prices for the opportunity to ride in the mountains. The lengths people will go to for snowboarding has always been one of the things that justifies classification as more than just a sport. Blood, sweat, tears, privacies, dignities and a healthy sleep pattern are all sacrificed every season in exchange for shred time, and most of those who've done it would say it's a fair trade. After more than three weeks of denial about our cash flow situation, Kyla and I rolled up our sleeves and got grafting. For a bit....

A few days after Christmas, we got a call from a hotel in the town. They'd been forced to make a couple of sackings, and wanted us to help out over their busy New Year period. It couldn't have come too soon: our money was running low, and the conditions had gone from bad to worse. Rather than ride in the rain up in Meribel, we were happy to rack up some hours down in Brides. While Kyla turned over rooms, I joined the surreal shambles that was the hotel kitchen. As well as myself, the kitchen staff consisted of: an acting head chef (a locally-based Kiwi who'd agreed to do a few shifts); one of the hotel assistants, roped into cooking; the kitchen porter, effectively promoted to sous chef while i took his place at the plongeur; and the one remaining commis chef, lone survivor of the Christmas dismissals.

Kyla brings the New Year cheer, 1st January 2010

What followed was a whirlwind of improvisation, estimation and perspiration. The successes (surely some of the best 'throw it all in' soup ever made) were balanced out by a few failures (customers sending back mouldy chocolate mousse), but all in all the clientele were kept happy. There was time to snatch a couple of hours up the hill in the afternoon between shifts and, with the exception of a truly pisspoor New Year's Day, the weather was improving. The new chefs arrived midway through and soon had things working well, especially as things got quieter post-New Year. The regular staff were back on top of things, and we were let go. Again, the timing was perfect. Our friends Hamish and Nicola had arrived for their two-month stint, and we were keen to spend some time with them; a fresh dump had fallen all the way down to Brides; and in only eleven days of 10-hour shifts I'd very nearly recouped the cost of my season pass.

From now on I'll be getting one or two shifts a week to help with the busy times, which should cover food expenses while I get the rest of the time to ride. All in all, I couldn't ask for a better situation. Hopefully it'll last....

For obvious reasons, the next post should have a bit more shredding stories than this one, as well as tales of Meribel excursions, DeathWish and a whole lot more. Til then....

New Forum Vid

Sick New vid from the Forum Boys, pushing the creativity in snowboarding but not too impressed with the shit load of waste!

Duthie's Diaries: an apology

Not a real post this one, just a note to say sorry for the stonking delay. All will be explained when I finally get the next post up in the next couple of days. For now, here's Hamish Duncan venturing into the pow in this week's 'Spot The Legs' puzzle. Answers on a postcard....

Stay tuned for all the info on the last couple of weeks. Hope everyone had a good new year. Stoked to hear about all the snow times back home, as well as Ally G's adventures further afield. Keep it coming!

Duthie

Song for Sunday

Check out more from Rae and christian, they have some fine tunes to be listened to

AG in AB

Happy new year Unbezzers! Hope 2010 is going well for you all. Just a quick update before I come back atcha with some full-fat flava in my next post. So far it has been a great year for me. I've been breaking in a new pair of boots, rocking a new down jacket and most importantly... making full use of my new season pass!!

stoked to be holding this

Life in Canada has gone from awesome to mondo-uber-sweet since I can now jaunt off up the hill whenever I have the time off work. I will in fact be getting up to make the 7.10 bus up the hill tomorrow so that I can get a morning's riding in before work at 1pm. It's good to be highly active again, and especially to get some quality shredding in. I've had a mixed bag of conditions since getting my pass a week ago. A few days of warm weather with poor viz and a couple of bollock freezing bluebird sessions. I have still managed to cover just about every pisted run at Sunshine Village along with a good few runs in the park and a few laps of delirium dive (Sunshine's massive backcountry bowl).

I'm working on a wee edit for you guys to see what I've generally been up to. Should hopefully have it ready in time for my next blog in a week or so. Until then, keep shredding Unbezzers and enjoy that sweet snow in Scotland if you're there!

AG

Sketchy Saturday