And we get some good parks.

My local slope, if it can be called local, is Castleford. It’s 100 miles down the motorway, give or take. During the time I’ve been snowboarding there, I’ve ridden some really good park features. It’s not always the same quality, and there are special events when they put more time and effort into the park design/build… Sometimes it’s just ok, other times it’s awesome.

Switch track to the slope at Hemel Hempstead. Over the last couple of months, I’ve taken note of the park photos they’ve posted on Facebook. They look good. The features look well shaped. For an indoor park, they’re impressive.

Hemel Hempstead is even further away than Castleford; I haven’t ridden there, so I can’t say what the freestyle nights are like. But I do think the parks that they build look good; the crew at Hemel are making an effort to give riders some great features.

Take a look for yourself – I’ve pulled a bunch of photos from their Facebook stream.

Seeing his ambition and determination back in 2007 – on his first few visits to the dry slope at Halifax. Lots of respect for his attitude and ultimately, his success.

Here’s some more action from him:

http://youtu.be/KhwbGWsIVGc

With spring getting started and summer following, I’m casting the spotlight on Native Skate Store, an example of a shop that’s integrated into the local scene – in this case, the skateboard scene.

Native has been standing firm in Newcastle since 2003, just recently passing the ten-year mark. Compared to snowboarding, I skate infrequently, especially at the moment. But Native has always been my ‘local skate store’. I bought my first deck from them back in 2006 and then a second, my current skateboard, around 2008/2009. Plus a bunch of the other things, good stuff, like skate sneaks, DVDs (back in the day) and the leather Volcom wallet I’ve had for 6 years – it still looks new.

Sponsoring local skaters

A key part of the relationship between shops and the local scene, whether it be snowboarding or skateboarding, is the sponsorship of riders/skaters. The shop helps the skater to do their thing and the skater raises the profile and awareness of the shop.

Native Skate Store is fulfilling this role in Newcastle. They’re currently sponsoring: Will Creswick, Jamie Cairns, James Coyle, Chris Rose, Dan Main, Kurt Mitchell and The Cougar.

Check out some footage from one of their latest additions, Will Creswick. You’re probably going to have to go to YouTube to watch it – it’s worth it. Sick skating and awesome song:

Online since 2005

Native went online back in 2005. I remember being in the store when they were just getting this part of the operation going. Taking orders, packing stuff up and shipping it out…

You can get a idea of the shop size and layout from the picture below. Skate shoes, clothes, decks behind the counter. It’s all available online too, and wrapped up in a well laid out, non-offensive and easy to navigate site. Good job.

Specifically, for the two staples of any skater, check our their selection of skateboards and skate shoes. Support your local store.

Part of the scene

Like any skate store you get a mix of visitors: really good skaters, people new to skateboarding, random shoppers looking for a t-shirt. But Native is often busy with that skater-vibe – because the shop is part of the local skate scene.

They sponsor local skaters, they’ve hooked up shop visits from the Girl, Chocolate, Flip, Cliche and Zero skate teams, in the video below skater Adam Thirtle works at Native…

All of this makes it a place that skaters go, to meet up, to see what’s going on, to hang out and to get the gear they need. It’s a solid part of the Newcastle skate community. It matters.

I’m gonna finish this off with another local skate video, Pigs in Wigs:

http://youtu.be/3BKI3A_yjAk.

Who wants to go shred?

http://vimeo.com/64182352

This edit of Shane O’Neill was close to the top on an open search for “skateboarding”. It’s a couple of years old but that doesn’t matter. The video is a long collection of sick skateboarding tricks. So good.

If you like skateboarding, take a look…

No doubt many snowboarders will be looking ahead to more skateboarding, or perhaps, summer-snowboarding. Summer camps, artificial slopes, training…

Woodward is well known for it’s skateboard camps, but they’ve branched out into other areas, including snowboarding. Artificial kickers with soft landing areas; safe ways to learn new tricks.

They’ve recently added a new Digital Media program. Photography and film is a huge part of snowboarding, from top level pros down to the holiday-shredders. It’s in the culture. Their new program is setup to help people learn skills in this area.

Here’s a snippet from their press release:

“April 1, 2013 (WOODWARD, PA)— Woodward Camps – the leading youth camp facilities for action sports, gymnastics and cheer – have expanded the curriculum for Summer 2013 to include cutting-edge programs in digital media, including video production, photography, graphic arts and music recording. Woodward has always recognized and supported the connection between visual arts and action sports. Training the next generation of filmmakers and photographers in these storytelling mediums will allow them to communicate in an increasingly digitally-focused society. Summer camp begins in June, 2013 for all locations, including Woodward, Pennsylvania, Colorado’s Copper Mountain, Boreal Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe, and Tehachapi, California.”

And more from the Woodward page.

Pretty sweet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgHo6Yx8Ps

About the video:

This video features the logmaster Zgriff riding a 158 Socozy from 728 Outdoor. Filmed March 11th after good 3 day snow storm, we attempted to keep up with Zgriff riding this 728 Outdoor board for the first time.

The Socozy is a reverse camber board that is slightly stiffer than most boards. The result is flex when you want it, stiffness when you need it. A great park board and an amazing powder board. Check out more at – facebook.com/728outdoor

Music: Nightmares on Wax – 195lbs
Video/Edit: Nathan Minatta – facebook.com/skepticproductions
Rider: Zgriff – Zach Griffin

http://vimeo.com/62080776

That’s one of the reasons that this production is so refreshing. Created by Paul and Stephen Gemignani, Paper Shredder is stop animation snowboard film. In their words, “One snowboard shredders adventure in an unusual setting”.

Read the description on Vimeo – they put a lot of effort into this! It shows. The riding is clearly good and the finished product is, as well as being unique, pretty awesome.

Props!

http://vimeo.com/59426055

Half of our group travelled by car, setting off on Friday afternoon/evening and driving through the night. Putting the ‘green’ benefits to one side, it’s can be a double edged sword. Obviously the journey takes longer, which is even less fun on the way home. But you can get there sooner.

From Newcastle to places like Morzine or Chamonix, setting off after work on a Friday, the timing brings you into resort around 9am, give or take. So they were making the final climb into Morzine as we got into the taxi for the airport. Needless to say, they were sliding on the mountain while we were still en route. Jealous.

Here now. Boards ready. Beer in hand. As per the previous post – I’m excited for the shredding tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Here’re a few photos from the day:

View from the plane… taking off from Newcastle! Not bad snow.

Descending into Geneva.

Dropped in Morzine centre – hooked up lift passes to avoid any rush/wait tomorrow morning.

Chalet has a boot room! Awesome, with a heater set right under the boot rack. Big plus.

Burton Hails… jury is still out on these for me.

Leading up to the 2011/2012 winter I had arranged two weeks in Breck, a week in Les Arcs, and I had this plan to ride as much as possible in the snow-dome before the first trip. I notched up 10 sessions in 11 weeks! It was a great opportunity to set myself up for the season’s riding.

I needed it though. The previous two winters I’d barely snowboarded at all. 2009/2010 I injured myself on the first day of a two week trip; 2010/2011 I didn’t ride at all, following a bad break to my leg the previous summer.

So last season was kinda like a comeback for me. I wanted to put in some “prep-work” before actually getting to the mountains, and I wanted to ride hard, in two good resorts. All those things worked out well.

This season has been so different from last season.

I aimed to repeat the time spent in the fridge, and I wanted to do that before Christmas. I didn’t expect to make as many trips as I did last time, but a handful seemed a reasonable target. It just didn’t happen. Other stuff, like work, got in the way.

I’ve also planned something that’s been on the cards for a number of years now – a visit to Thailand in March. As awesome as that’s going to be, it’s encroached into winter. As a consequence, I’ve got a single snowboard trip planned for this season, a week in Morzine/Avoriaz.

On top of that, I’m one of those people who’s always working on something; one of these other projects has been taking a lot of time, a lot of mental power. The end result, for snowboarding, is that it’s been off the radar.

Then it happened. It just crept up on me. We’re going snowboarding next weekend!

That was last weekend. It was like the switch went from “off” to “on”.

I waxed my boards on Sunday. Packed on Sunday night. Got the GoPro ready. Got excited; really excited.

For me, the stoke doesn’t go away. It’s been lingering, in the background. Looking back, apart from the year I couldn’t snowboard, this is the least snowboarding I’ve planned for a winter, since starting to snowboard back in 2003. But I can’t be bummed out by this. It’s snowboarding; a week in the mountains. I simply can’t wait to get there!

One of the side effects of the switch being “off” has been a lack of content and activity around here. I’m sorry for not bringing much to the table. No doubt any snowboarders reading this will have found plenty on offer in the new season to whet the snowboarding appetite.

So here’s to snowboarding this winter. I hope you’re all finding a way to get out on the snow. Bring on Avoriaz.