We need lithium!

12/2/2012

Oh well it didn't take me long to eat my words. I do prefer to go hiking up hills to find untouched spots but it's not for everyone. Friends and family are always going to want to go to resorts so if you get the chance to go to places you haven't been before then who am I to say no?

First time in the Alps. Wow what can I say it really is breathtaking. Even the drive there blew my mind. I love the hills of Scotland but this really was amazing. Sabine and I set off with her dad Karl at around 9.30am from Munich and arrived at Steinplatte in Austria at 11.15am, had a quick munch to eat and by 12 we're heading up in the gondala. I have to say I was pretty nervous about my first day out as I thought I was going to be holding everyone up.

Sabine was on her snowboard, Karl on skis and me on the snowskate - how more openminded can we be? After the first couple of runs the nerves wore off and I was away. The snow was quite hard packed on the piste but it was awesome to ride, I couldn't believe how wide the piste was and with trees, which im not used to, so much fun. Steinplatte is a really friendly, family resort and I had no problems with the snowskate. One liftie did stop me but when I showed him my leash everything was cool. The whole day was pretty magical for me and it was hard to take it all in. It was like I was watching it all on t.v and wasn't really there. After a few runs we went to the top of the Mountain the views were undescribable. I had my camera with me but I just wanted to soak it up and didn't take a single picture the whole day. At one point I thought my eyes had gone funny and my eyesight was knackered. I could see glitter moving very slowly in the air. Karl had warned me of the importance of wearing goggles a couple of runs earlier, which I had ignored. Luckily for me Sabine and her Dad could see it too. It was so cold the air was freezing, it was bizzare. Anyway my shades went on after that just incase. As at Cairngorms, like most resorts I've been to, the snowskate was causing loads of interest from people curious to know what it was. One guy came rushing over to ask me about it. We had language problems so I had to fetch Sabine to explain. He was a non believer, but after I blasted down the slope a bit I looked back to see him give me the big thumbs up. Steinplatte is an brilliant resort and has something for everyone and their funpark which you can see from the chairlift is not completely intimidating but still pretty big with rails, kickers and tabletops dotted around the place. After doing about 50km of riding we were all done. I cant wait to get back there to cruz about.When we got back to the car we were dusting snow off our gear and I noticed Sabine's toe strap had snapped off (it must be a sign!). Seriously thinking about a bigger ski for my board,as I went through the powder run and took a wee tumble. I'm sure there are better places to go snowskating in the world but that was by far the best yet for me.(Steve man get your Bloody PASSPORT!!!)

Two guys who forgot to take their gloves(Karl and Myself) lucky Karl had spares (-17°C)

Happy Birthday, merry old Schenker!

Very tempting to ride over the roof. Photo by Karl

Spot the odd one out!

If you're looking for a serious munch after sliding about, check out Cafe Schmid in Waidring for the biggest portions of food I've ever seen. They have slices of cake that can only be compared to the Alps themselves.

Ok thought I would have a bit of a bitch now. I was looking through the new White Lines snowboarding magazine 100^th issue,(which has Angus Malloch inside. Big up the Glenshee Massive; Whitelines: Talentspotting) remember seeing him mucking about on a snowskate when he was an even younger lad than he is now. Anyways back to the bitchin, there is an advert for Santa Cruz inside. A brand which I love ,great Skate label and they build awesome bikes but please don't write „Skate the Snow“ unless you are. I know it's refering to the Rob Roskopp graphic on the board, which was one of the first pro skateboards I ever saw, but then why not put the graphic on the bottom of a Double Decker? Because I know they have it on a flat snowskate. Then get someone to fly off the roof. Skate the snow my arse.

And in the same issue Nick Visconti doing a christ air on a snowboard , yeah that is really awesome but I'm sure he would have been been far better of trying this on a snowskate. If you don't need your bindings anymore, Dude, then get rid. (Nick's Christ Air)

Since being at the ISPO and coming home with enough toilet reading material to last us until next year's one, I've noticed that more and more snowboarders are doing tricks now with one foot out or both and making it all skateboard style like American rider Scott Stevens. In an interview in Pleasure magazine he said his snowboarding style is the opposite of what he calls „triple corks“ or as Sabine calls it „glorified gymnastics“. Scott Stevens is also an avid skateboarder and adopting a skateboard attitude towards his snowboarding helped him to be creative again and having fun with the board. He said his tricks are not the biggest or the most dangerous ones but that's not what it's about for him. It's about putting his individual stamp on snowboarding and having fun with it skateboard-style. If you ask me I would say this Dude should seriously consider asking Santa for a Bi level (double decker) snowskate for xmas.

Beanie's hairy bits:

While at the ISPO I went to the „Women in Boardsports Lunch“. It is an annual business lunch just for girls and women working in the boardsports industry. Everyone was there, the founder and owner of Nikita, Heida Birgisdottir, proskater Steffi Weiss and the whole team of Cooler magazine, I will quit the namedropping here. Anyway, there was a 20min panel discussion among girls from Bonfire, Volcom, Salomon, Nikita and Factory Media. Some of the discussion points considered the difficulties of being a mum and working at the same time, others how to make it in the world of boardsports but what is of interest here for me is the fact that, as Amy Aigner from Bonfire pointed out, more and more girls are stopping snowboarding. Due to various reasons such as snowboarding being a very expensive sport if you have to take your whole family out. Buying the equipment, lift pass and the journey to any ski resort can become pretty expensive and therefore lots of women stop snowboarding all together. If anything they would pay for their kids to enjoy the white stuff instead of themselves going up. Amy said that it has to be stressed that a snowboarding day out is a family affair and can create some of the best family memories. However, let's face it, the money is a real big issue here.

Consider the advantages of a snowskate day out: everyone involved needs a board and a pair of waterproof boots and off you go! Packed lunch in the bag, everyone can hike up the hills in the local park together and a great day out is guaranteed! And if you ever want to go to a resort it is no biggie either (just read Scott's write up on the Steinplatte) if your skills are half-way ok.

Snowskating like skateboarding is a relatively cheap activity. Once you invested in a decent deck you can also do it anywhere! It does not have to be as expensive as snowboarding is. After all, great memories are created by having a great time together.

I am fortunate enough to be able to do both. I just bought a brand new set up by Flow and I love riding my strappy beast. But recently I realized that hiking up the hills with my snowskate in hand and creating fresh lines while riding down has been probably the most fun I had on a board for a very long time. I just want people to see snowskating as a real alternative to snowboarding and more people should give it a go.

STUFF TO CHECK OUT

1.LIB TECH SNOWSKATES Lib Tech Snowskate

2.RALSTON SNOWSKATES/RALSTON CUP ralstonsnowskates; Ralston Cup on Youtube

3.CHAIRLIFT SKEPTICS YOUTUBE Awesome CS Video

4.SHUT UP AND SNOWSKATE YOUTUBE Youtube video

5.MARTY SPECTRUM SPORTS Spectrum Sports

6.BLUE TOMATO Blue Tomato

7.STEINPLATTE Steinplatte homepage

8.JOE BENDER Boosie & Joe

9.SMX SHIZOFANATIC Great SMX Video!

10.GERGIS MAXIMUS PHOTOGRAPHY Snowskate Party Mountain check out his entire youtube channel! Snowskate Video