Boarding - PiersTownley.com

60 where
[Snowboarding]
Wo r d s by M at t h e w R ay
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Boarding
61
Photo: © PHOTOLIBARY
The snow is falling,
so check out top UK
boarder Dan Wakeham’s
tips for the best resorts
and how to pull the
tricks that turn heads
62 where
[Snowboarding]
Dan Wakeham
age: 27 profession: SNOWBOARDER
It’s the thrill
of strapping a
plank of wood
to your feet and
sliding down
the slopes that
gets Olympian
snowboarder
Dan Wakeham
out of bed in
the morning.
“Snowboarding
feels a bit like
riding a wave all
the way down the
mountain, except
all you have to
do to catch the
wave is get on a
chairlift,” he says.
Here are his tips
for getting started
and picking the
best parks and
après-ski spots
Prepare for fun
Like any sport it pays to be ready
beforehand. “General fitness and
flexibility are important. If you’re going
to be taking some knocks and bumps
then being flexible can help you to avoid
injury,” Dan says. “It’s good to have strong
legs and healthy core stability, so do some
bodyweight exercises.
“Loosen your muscles by doing a
warm-up before you go riding. If you
jump onto a snowboard with a cold body,
you’re likely to hurt yourself.”
Carving down the pistes is exhilarating
enough, but once you’re comfortable
there, snowboarding branches out into
off-piste freeriding and park and pipebased freestyle riding. You don’t have
to trek into the wilderness to get a taste
Achievements:
•
2008, Pipe 2nd, Tignes Airwaves
•
2008, Pipe 28th, World Cup
•
2006, Pipe 26th, Turino Olympics
of off-piste, however. “When it snows
heavily you can find off-piste conditions
at the edge of the run that give you an
idea of what riding in deep powder is
like. In the powder your weight is on the
back of your board to keep your nose up.”
Learning freestyle tricks on kickers
and pipes is a lot of fun, but hard-packed
snow makes for an unforgiving crash
mat. “Start small and don’t ride above
your ability,” he warns. “A lot of people
throw themselves into big park jumps
when it’s safer to learn tricks off the side
of cat tracks alongside the piste.”
Once you’ve built up your confidence
you can progress onto jumping kickers
and experiencing the “pop” (the
momentum to push off and land the
trick) as lived by the kings and queens of
the pipe and park.
64 where
[Snowboarding]
The best
resorts for
boarding
RESORT TO THIS
Cooler temperatures at the highaltitude Swiss resort of Laax keep its
halfpipe and funpark solid. “It also hosts
the European Open in January—it’s
a prestigious event, so they build
an impressive park and pipe that’s
maintained throughout the season and
guarantees good riding,” says Dan.
Morzine has a good selection of
terrain parks this season, and Avoriaz
has an ungroomed slope featuring
wooden and other natural obstacles
called The Stash. “Avoriaz maintains a
good park,” enthuses Dan. “And the pipe
is ok so long as the weather stays cool.”
The terrain around the Portes Du
Soleil ski area also contains freeride
zones. “There are places where you can
go off through the trees and know that
you’re going to come out on another
piste—but carry transceivers and look
at the piste maps so that you don’t get
lost.” Portes du Soleil also has 650km
of French and Swiss pistes, so there’s
something for you whatever your ability
and interests.
This season is seeing more resorts
offering night riding on pistes with
snowmaking facilities. “Davos is unusual
because it has a half-pipe up on the
slopes and also one in the town. They
floodlight it once a week so you can
ride it at night, which is pretty cool,”
‹‹ Avoriaz has an
ungroomed slope
featuring wooden and
other natural obstacles
called The Stash ››
says Dan. This Swiss resort also has a
boardercross circuit for aspiring racers.
The Austrian resort of Mayrhofen in the
Zillertal valley also has the world-class
Vans Penken funpark and is becoming
a hotspot for snowboarding.
POST-RIDE
PLEASURE
Of course, partying after a day’s riding is
high on the winter holiday agenda and
the snowboarding scene has some top
nightspots. “Morzine has a lot of bars
and clubs,” says Dan. “And it’s a hotspot
hang-out for pro riders and freeskiers—
we usually head to The Cavern. In Laax
you’ve got the Crap Bar for après-ski and
then there’s the Rider’s Palace, which
has a modern bar and a pretty serious
nightclub underneath the hotel.”
Visit www.nikeacg.com for more about
Dan Wakeham or read his internet blog
at www.londonfreeze.com/lg
Resort: Morzine/Avoriaz
Snowboard area:
Portes du Soleil. 141
beginner pistes, 100
intermediate, 25 advanced.
Highest lift: 2,277m
•Fly to Geneva (70km)
Resort: Mayrhofen
Snowboard area:
Zillertal Valley. 45
beginner pistes, 94
intermediate, 22 advanced.
Highest lift: 2,500m
• Fly to Innsbruck (75km)
Resort: Davos
Snowboard area:
Davos Klosters. 24
beginner pistes, 39
intermediate, 11 advanced.
Highest lift: 2,844m
• Fly to Zurich (150km)
Resort: Laax
Snowboard area: Laax.
63km beginner pistes,
71km intermediate, 46km
expert, 40km freeride.
Highest lift: 3,018m
• Fly to Zurich (150km)
66 where
[Snowboarding]
Dan Wakeham explains
How to…
…do a backside 360 Å
This trick is all in the rotation
…do an ollie ÅÇ
…ride the half-pipe Ç
Popping ollies on the flat will
help with later tricks and jumps
The ultimate board buzz
1. Get low by bending at your knees
rather than at your back. Start by lifting
your front foot first, and then your
back foot will follow.
2. Get ready for your board to spring off
the tail.
3.As you come up into the air suck your
knees towards your chest, keeping
your torso upright.
4.As you start to come down, keep
looking at where you’re going and
straighten your legs out to land.
1. It’s a difficult discipline, so start at slow
speeds. You can add more speed later
on to get more height out of the pipe.
2.Remember to relax. If you stiffen up
you’ll really throw your rhythm out
because you need to keep flowing
through the transitions. If your legs are
stiff it will slow you down.
3. Concentrate on where you want to go.
Don’t look down—look at the copping
(the lip of the pipe) or the landing—or
you’ll find that you over-rotate.
4.Once you’re in the air, turn your head
and your shoulders—your whole body
and board will follow.
Photo: © GETTY IMAGES
1.As you come into the jump, start on the
right hand side of the kicker (if you’re
riding regular) and take an S-shaped
line into the kicker.
2.At the top of the jump you should be
on your toe edge and almost starting
your rotation.
3.As you jump, spin your arms out,
making sure to throw them flat—if you
throw them at an angle you’ll end up
going upside down—and look over
your shoulder.
4.Bring your knees up to your chest and
grab your board. Indy (front toe edge)
is the easiest one to do.
5.Relax and follow through with the
rotation. This part of the rotation is
blind. As soon as you come around
past 180 you can spot your landing and
should focus on that.
6.Either pull your arms in or stretch them
out to speed up or slow down the
rotation respectively, so that you land
correctly. Try to land on a flat base.