Frontside 360 and stuck the landing!!!!!!

I threw my first clean frontside 360 off a kicker today. I haven't been working on my tricks too much since I had visitors in town. It was nice to finally nail this trick after so many attempts. Now I need to consistently land the trick and work on the backside 3.

My legs are trashed

I've been snowboarding for eleven straight days!  Ramsey, Ollie and Rowe leave on Saturday.  Dudley, Jake, and Niall leave on Tuesday.  I don't actually see a break in the snowboarding until the very end.  All of those guys will want to max out their time on the mountain before they leave.

We checked out the park in Italy this week.  Dudley and I did a few kickers to check out the size of the air.  The kickers in this park are much nicer than the ones on the Swiss side.  We are going to get Hamish to come along if the weather is nicer.  We are expected to get tons of snow this weekend, so it may turn out to be a freeride weekend.

I'm back at Esplanade for a couple days, then I move to a new apartment for the final week.

Free Time

Now that the pressure of passing the BASI level 2 exam is over, I can relax and snowboard at my own leisure. I have said goodbye to a few folks this weekend. I've moved out of Haus Espanade for now. We had a lot of snow this weekend and the place is looking like a real Swiss ski resort. The crew is back in Zermatt for Easter holiday. I helped Dudley teach a couple of Tiffany's friends on Saturday. Apparently, I did such a great job that one of them decided to go back to skis. I probably would have as well if I only had three days in a ski resort.

This morning I took Guillermo (my new roommate) to a few places to catch some powder remaining after the storm on Friday. There was still some good stuff at the top of Rothorn. Then we moved over to Stockhorn to catch the steeps and some powder. I didn't want to over do it since he had not been skiing for a while. It was a very good morning ending at a restaurant on the hill (Findln area). Maesi, Jane, Hase, Guillermo, and I headed up to Stockhorn for a little bit of powder riding this after lunch. I managed to destroy my board on the rocks. It is going to be costly, but better that it is at the end of the season.

Pictures are from today's powder runs.

I Passed BASI Level 2

Whew! what a relief. All week long, Simon was pushing me to the limit with my technical faults. The weekend finally came and I passed my BASI level 2 exam. Six out of eight passed both technical and teaching exams. I suppose you can guess who one of the fails were. We have friends in for the weekend so it looks like I'll be snowboarding all week long.


The end of the program means the beginning of the festivities. Kaspar showed me an excellent powder line for the last run of the program. The run ended at the Hennu Stall where everyone shared a last meal before packing. There was a massive snowball fight after dinner. No one was safe. Rowe and Jake organized a VIP section of the Schnee where we continued the celebration. This party wasn't as huge at the previous, but it was nice to se everyone out for the last time.


Pictures to come later.

Wonderwall

Sorry about putting in so many blog entries, but I'm on a roll here.

Many of the songs you hear in the clubs are just older songs which are jazzed up. I have heard "Ride Like the Wind", "By the Way", and "Seven Nation Army" to name some. Last night there was a "Wonderwall" remix. I know Oasis has come and gone, but everyone knows and loves this song (including me).

First week of exams are over

As luck would have it, we have Simon Cooke again as our BASI level two instructor. The level two instructor exam is two full weeks of technical riding and teaching skill evaluation. The teaching is fairly easy once you understand what he is looking for. My riding still needs some minor improvements. We should be tested on switch riding, freestyle, and bumps this week. I'm not looking forward to it since my knees are starting to show their age. I'm taking the day off today for a much needed rest.

Tiffany and Kelly came to visit this week. They were here with a bunch of Jane's friends from London and Zurich. They are on their way to St. Anton today and will be back for the Easter holiday. I have included some pictures of their last night in Zermatt.

Pablo Watch: I know it has been a while, but we had some classic moments this week.

1. Being tardy- Pablo nearly missed two days of the BASI level 2 exam. On Wednesday he grabbed a taxi from the apartment. He arrived just as we were about to get on the train. However, he nearly forgot his snowboard which he left on top of the taxi.

2. Nearly killing Simon (again!)-Classic Pablo moment here. Thursday morning, we were working on steeps and Simon was emphasizing control of speed and line. We were doing a video feedback session where he was recording our runs on a steep line. Simon asked us to show some slope style into our run (meaning throw in some slashes or slope tricks). Pablo decides to do a backside nose turn 2 meters in front of Simon. Remember that we are on steep terrain and as always, he lost control and nearly decapitated Simon when his board came around. Later in the afternoon, we looked at the video from the run. The last frame in Pablo's video was the bottom of his board (which nearly look up 50% of the screen) and you could see his head from behind the board with a stupid "I just messed up again" look on his face.

3. Crashed into another skier- Again a classic Pablo maneuver. We were on our way down to the village fron Blauheard. We all normally jib (throw tricks) on the side of the piste on the way down. Pablo managed to crash into a skier when he decided to traverse across the piste (without looking) after doing a trick. The crash occured right next to Simon.

There are many more small things which he did, but I figured I'd just highlight the best moments.

Pictures are from Friday night at the Schnee.

Green Backs Stink!!!!

USDCHF=X: Basic Chart for USD to CHF - Yahoo! Finance

This chart is so depressing. I should have withdrawn all of my money in the beginning of the trip. Since the program will be over next week as well as the dinners at the Klein Matterhorn restaurant, I'll be changing my diet to instant noodles and cheese sandwiches for the remaining two weeks.

Jane says I should move all of my money to a Lichtenstein account.

Last day with Patrick

Saturday was our last official training day with our instructor Patrick. For kicks we all decided to swap our jackets, pants, and helmets to confuse our instructor. Hamish and I swapped and you couldn't really tell who was who. The last day was a bit rough since we were out with the skiers until 3:30 AM the night before. All of us survived the day and we started the festivities with an apre ski drink at the Hennu Stall. After the drink on the slope, I had to take a nap to recharge for the evening.

Dudley organized dinner at Nelly's which was excellent as always. I had the ribs which did not compare to those I have had back in the states, but they were good anyways. Jake and Dudley had the South African which had ostritch, springbrook, zebra, and some other animal I'm forgetting. After dinner, it was time for the Schnee.

I don't think I have partied like that in years. I suppose the kids kept me going all night. after 4 AM, the party continued back at the apartment. It ended with a park session in the garden at 6 AM where Kaspar and Patrick rode Ollie's mini-board.

Pictures are from the days events. First two pics are of the day on the slopes where we swapped kits. The rest are of the evening during and after dinner. Patrick is the one with the beard making the funny faces. Dudley had whipped cream rubbed on his head. Maybe his hair will grow back.

Last week before exams

I can't believe that we are in the middle of the seventh week of the program. The days have gone by so fast. This is our last week with our red ski school instructor Patrick. As I said before, I have learned so much from Patrick. I'm really going to miss the days we all ride together and try new slope tricks. This week we are taking it easy since we'll have two weeks of exams coming up on Monday. We are working on technique during the morning and having some fun in the park in the afternoon. My kicker riding is really good now and I'm starting to throw in a few different grabs. My halfpipe riding still needs some work, but I'm starting to get some nice air on a few turns.

The nickname Blue Rocket has stuck. However, it sometimes changes to red rocket depending on the jacket I'm wearing. I have told the guys that red rocket is another name for dog penis and they seem to get a big kick out of it. Since the temperature has drop considerably over the last two days (down to -18 deg C and much colder with the wind chill), I've been wearing the red jacket.

Here are a few pics and movies from the last few days. Patrick had a nice face plant after gapping the rail. Hamish is working on his nose grab. There are pictures of the crap weather we had on Wednesday when it was freezing and the wind was just whipping.

The weather had changed a bit, so it has been cold. No new snow to talk about, but maybe we'll get a nice dump next week.