Misconceptions – New Movie is Out
This is the film we worked on throughout last season – hope you enjoy it! Thanks to K2 and Planks for supporting the film!
https://vimeo.com/143355906
K2
Freeski Demolition
Sweet edit from Sequence Freeski – had a great time riding with these boys a few weeks back when I was invited along as a special guest and coach for the night while demoing the latest K2 skis.
Check out my segment at 50 seconds in…
Val Thorens SFR Tour Stop
Last week I headed out to Val Thorens, France to compete in my first international competition. We had three fantastic skiing days with bluebird conditions and a perfect park. In the last couple of days there was loads of snow so I got a few days skiing powder on my awesome K2 Pettitors – the best powder ski I have ever ridden.
The competition was split into three heats and I managed to get 14th out of 28 in my heat. This placed me 44th overall out of 100. I didn’t quite manage to lay down the run I wanted but I am still happy with this result because it was my first competition in the overall mens category against some major competitors!
SnowTrax Jam – 1st Place
We went to the SnoTrax slope in Christchurch for Air Attack! – their first ever competition on a new type of matting called pro-slope.
The Proslope is definitely a lot different to any other dryslope matting I have ever skied on. It’s a lot softer underfoot than perma snow and snoflex and the upside is that it doesn’t seem to burn out your bases. When you crash it doesn’t hurt which is definitely a bonus when your trying new tricks! It is also very good for getting up speed and just for general all round skiing as well as freestyle! The only downside is that there aren’t enough slopes in the country with this matting!!
The competition got off to a good start with a warm up session and then straight into the jam itself. It was a fun, relaxed competition and was a great start to the summer (in the rain!!!)
At the end of the day we had the presentation in the clubhouse and I was stoked to get 1st place and land some hard cash too!!
Thanks to Darren and the rest of the team for laying down a great competition! You can read the full write up here!
Medals at the Brits 2012!
Just got back from two pretty successful weeks in Laxx!
(click on a photo to see it in full!)
Week 1 – GB Youth Freeski Training
I headed out to Laxx a week before all the competitions started on a GB youth training camp to get some practice in on the features! Unfortunately on the first day I badly injured my back! but with alot of neurofen and some massaging from the TENS machine I was able to recover quickly and still got in a very good week of training! Our coaches were the brilliant Neil McGrain, Dave Young and Jamie Cameron! I learnt a few new tricks in the pipe and hit some of the biggest jumps I have ever done in my life with the help from these guys!
Week 2 – The British Championships
Day 1 – Halfpipe
We got up to the top of the hill and saw that on the day of the competition the pipe was wrecked! The walls had chunks taken out of them and they were covered in fresh snow. We spent a while side-slipping and shaping the walls to make as easy a ride as possible. Despite the pipe, everyone threw down in the qualifiers. I made the finals, finishing 10th overall and placing 3rd in youth mens!
Day 2 – Skiercross
This year the skiercross course was a lot more dangerous than last year. There were a lot of high speed jumps and sharp corners! The competition started the same way as usual…2 timed runs which then put us into heats but because there was only 6 in my category we went straight into the finals. I qualified for the final in 3rd along with two extremely fast racers and Ethan Prince. The racer who was favourite to win overshot the first jump, losing his skis and crashing out!
The second racer, Ethan and I had to dodge him and his equipment which was scattered everywhere to carry on! At the finish it was extremely close with the racer catching up with me but I just managed to cross the line in 1st place!
Day 3 – Slopestyle
Out of all of the disciplines, I was looking forward to slopestyle the most! I had been hitting the biggest jumps on the course all week but when it came to the practice runs in the competition I could only just get enough speed to clear the mediums! In Qualifiers I was extremly dissapointed with my performance and went off the watch the boarders compete in big air and ride the pipe for a bit. I was more than shocked when my dad came over to tell me I had got into the finals. I got back to the course just in time to get one warm up run before my final runs! I was worried to hear that during one of his runs Harris Booth had knuckled and injured himself.
During the finals I put down solid runs and later went to prize giving hoping for a place – I was stunned to hear that I actually got the Gold!! Later that night I found out that I got the highest rail score in the mens overall final and placed 4th overall narrowly missing out on an overall podium!
Day 4 – Big air
To be honest, I didnt really hit the big air kicker that much until the day of the competition because I didnt really like it but on the day, the more I hit it the more I loved it! My two qualifying runs went really well! I stomped a 3 tail grab and a cork 7 nose! I was stoked to make it into the finals but narrowly missed out on a podium in my category coming 4th!
Overall
A huge thanks to Neil Mcgrain, Dave young and Jamie Cameron for coaching and looking after me, a massive thanks to Becky Hammond for cooking all our meals during the first week!
Thanks to all of my sponsors for supplying me with my gear and helping me to be out there! A special thanks to the Gaskin family for coming to the rescue with new poles at such short notice after I snapped both of my old ones!
Finally, thanks to Stuart and Spencer for putting on such a fantastic week, and congratulations to all of the other medalists!!!
Krippenstein – Awesome Week
In February I spent a fantastic week in Austria learning how to ski back-country.
Heading out to Krippenstein was an adventure. It was the first time travelling on my own and only the second time I can remember travelling on a plane in my life.
The second we got to the small resort it was already snowing and there was plenty of snow everywhere. We were staying in a lodge at the very top of the mountain complete with 10 huskies and loads of ski-dos.
We had a piste basher build us a kicker and spent the week riding the jump and cruising the powder on some absolutely awesome K2 Powder skis!
Our guide Andi, knew every route in detail and he took us to areas where no one else had skied and we were creating the first tracks in the snow. We hit plenty of pillows, cliffs and steep faces.
Andi looked after us brilliantly all week – can’t thank him enough.
All in all it was a fantastic week and I can’t wait for my next adventure!
My Week at the Brits 2011!!
Last week me, my Mum, my Dad and my sister got up at 4 o’clock in the morning to make a twelve hour journey to Laax in Switzerland for the Brits! On the way there we got lost a couple of times but one of the worst was when we got lost in the roadworks around Zurich. The Sat Nav just kept us going round in circles! Eventually we got there and we were ready to go!
(Click on the photos to get the full picture)
Day 1 – Halfpipe
The first event of the week was the half pipe. We got up the mountain for half past nine. I got loads of practice runs. In my first competitive run I threw down some big air out of the pipe with solid, tweaked grabs. I tried to keep the style into it with a big 540 at the end! Unfortunately, I did not land my second run cleanly as I tried back to back 540’s and crashed on the last one…The pipe was running well and there was some stiff competition but I was pleased with my runs and I landed a silver medal!
Day 2 – Protest Slopestyle
On the second day, it was time for the slopestyle. The top part of the course was a awesome setup of boxes, rails and gas pipes. The bottom half were three booters! On my first run I landed the top part of the course with loads of technical moves on the boxes like K-feds, Blind switch ups and stalls! I came down to the booters and got a styley 360 with a nose grab but then on the second jump I overcooked it and nearly wiped out! On my second run I landed everything I wanted to! I walked away from the comp with a bronze medal!:)
Day 3 – Trespass Skiercross
Day 3 brought the skiercross. A day earlier, on the lift I had a chat with a boarder who was in the GB team for boarder cross. He said that the course was bad at the moment and bits of rock on grass were showing! On the day of the comp they still weren’t covered up which meant a really long wait for the comp to start! Finally it got underway, we only got one run and somehow I managed to miss a gate? Apparently loads of people missed it.
Day 4 – Giro Big Air
It was time for the final Brits event of the week – the Big Air! I had been hitting the big jump, getting styley threes off of it! So I did a huge, styley three with a nose grab off the big kicker for my first run. On my second and final run I did a 720 off of the middle kicker! I didn’t think I was going to win a medal as Tom Saunders really pulled it out of the bag with his run! In the end I think it all came down to the cleanness of the landings…it was a close one but I just managed to get the bronze medal!
Overall
I had a brilliant time competing in the Brits this year – as the youngest in my age category I really wasn’t expecting to land any medals, so to come away with three medals out of the four competitions was absolutely amazing!! I even won a light sabre for showing off my moves on the rails in the Stair Wars event!
I had tons of fun messing about and having fun at the freestyle academy.
I also want to say thank you to all of my sponsors for your support and gear (Adidas eyewear, Ski Bartlett, K2 Skis, Kent Reliance Building Society and Waterbird ) and a big up to Pat Sharples for giving me a few pointers throughout the week to help me achieve my goals!
Les Deux Alpes
I was in Les 2 Alpes for the new year. It was fantastic to be back on real snow – the park set up was awesome as usual and the pipe was absolutely amazing. It took me a few runs to get used to the proper stuff again but I was soon hitting the big kickers and the rails, laying down some sick tricks.
I met up with Jack Peppiette and the Smithy’s Tavern crew and we sessioned the kickers together. Jack pushed me to do my first 7 over the biggest kicker in the park – I stomped it, thanks Jack!!
My new K2 Silencers were riding amazingly, they are well good on snow.
The first day was a bit of a white out but my new Adidas ID2 goggles really helped me to see where I was going unlike my granddad who had to be rescued by Skidoo when he got motion sickness and started throwing up everywhere!
I had an awesome week and we got some great footage in the park – so watch this space for an edit coming soon!
My New K2 Skis
I used to ride on kids K2 Juvy’s but at my last session in the Chill Factore I managed to destroy both skis! We got in touch with Chris from Ski Bartlett and he said he would talk to Si at K2. A couple of days later, a pair of 149 K2 Silencers (my first adult ski!) arrived in the post – they looked amazing.
On Sunday night the skiers of the southern freestyle squad were invited to do a display for the public at Bracknell which was followed by an amazing firework display!
My brand new skis felt a little heavy compared to my old skis but they rode sooooo smoothly – I absolutely fell in love with them and I am sure you will be seeing pleny of photos of me riding them on my blog in the near future!
Meeting my Sponsors at London Ski Show
Meeting with my Sponsors
I had a great day yesterday up at the Metro Ski Show. I met up with Chris from Ski Bartlett and Si from K2!
I passed Through the Ski Bartlett stand to say hi to Chris and I ended up getting two luminous ski straps and a giant Ski Bartlett tall-tee, I’m not sure if they wanted me to work for the day as the t-shirts were staff uniforms so I scooted off asap!
Later in the day I got to have a chat with Si, updating him on how my skiing had been going and discussing gear for the coming season! My K2 Juvys have done a good job for me so far this year so I’m super stoked to be part of the K2 team. Si gave me a sick bag of K2 goodies – thanks dude!
It was also great to catch up with Vince and Ally from Waterbird – thanks for your continuing support and believing in me.
Thanks Si and Chris:) for everything.
Ski Bartlett bags me K2
I want to give a Mega big-up to Chris McGuire, my ski bud from Ski Bartlett. I’ve skiied with Chris on a couple of ski camps and he’s helped me with useful tips and coaching whenever I’ve seen him since. When I met up with him recently at the Chatham and Warmwell Ski comps we got talking and as a result I’m proud to announce that I am now supported by Ski Bartlett and K2 and will be riding their gear this season!!!
I am totally stoked – This will help to make people take me seriously when they see me at comps in the future.
Waterbird were the first to sponsor me and now that I have the support of K2 and Ski Bartlett too, the sky’s the limit – whooooohooooo!!!