NEIL'S SNOWBOARDING

One day my son, all this will be yours. What a view though.

IT'S ALL IN THE TIMING:
Every winter for one week only, which I'm sure my clients still find immensely annoying. A bunch of buddies and I go snowboarding. This has become almost a religious exercise for us and preparations for the holy one week in the snow starts in early September, culminating in the first week of February when we usually go away. This, we have found is the optimum time to go away. Just long enough after Christmas for the prices to be coming down, but before the half term holidays so small lift queues and the snow is pretty good then as well.

There is a tactic to book the resort for our trips too, were the snow is, pure and simple although in later years we do seem to be wimping it and deciding weather or not we like the resort or not and then hoping the snow will be OK. Which always worries me and I find myself pawing over the BBC weather reports every day, in the hope for a bit of fresh snow in the resort we have chosen and booked and now seems to be the only place in the french alps without snow.



Little Craig demonstrating that his goggles just don't mist up.



Craig had a slow start in his Snowboarding career but boy has he caught up



Einok.

A HOLIDAY FOR THE LADS:
Traditionally this was always a lads only holiday but in resent years some of us have weakened and invited our wives and girl friends along. As yet I have suck to rules but I don't know for how long I can rest Stephanie's feminine charms which she uses at times with great method to sway my iron will to her way of thinking.



"Andy! yea sorry mate, not that way".



Andy said "I just can't sleep unless my bed is really big".



Craig had to stop for a rest, the giant snowboard stuck in his thy was beginning annoy him. Courchevel France 97 Craig and Neil going a bit off piste



In the pursuit of the giant yeti Neil was tenacious.



Slowly Neil was gaining on his pray.



As high as this seemed Craig was only about half way up the piste, that would take us all afternoon to clime and about 2 minutes to ride down. So worth it though.



Coming down isn't always a bad thing.



Someone had the bright idea of doing a backwards somersault from the second story balcony. Little Craig not to be out done did it naked, although he did wimp out at the last minute and keep his socks on. It was cold wasn't it.



Neil loved nothing more than attending the January sales. Fully tooled up of course.



When you got'a go... you got'a go.



You just have to love those early morning cramps.

YOU ARE INVITED:
Being invited to come away is not an easy thing and there are many steps which a new candidate has to pass before they are aloud to come along.

Firstly a new person would have to be invited by some one who is already on the holiday team. This person would vouch for them but this would be to come along to one of the many pre holiday curries that take place before we go away. If the person gets on with every body at the curry and more importantly is liked, they are then invited to come on the holiday. If they come away and wind everybody up they don't get asked back again simple as that.

This probably sounds harsh but if your are going away for one week and one week only it's important that everything is as cool as it can be. Having said all of the above in the past couple of years Little Craig has invited a couple of random guys from down the pup, along just to make him self more popular and because he can't say no, but as luck would have it these guys turned out to be OK so there you are.



Back in the 60s Neil found he had a lot in common with the locals.

Neil and Craig playing silly buggers in the snow.



If it's good enough for Alice, it's good enough for me. "Look out wonderland here I come".



The open air Snowboard emporium didn't have much in the way of stock.



And from birth the baby skier is ready for black runs.

COURCHEVEL 97:
One of best years that we have ever been away and those who came along will I'm sure agree,  was Courchevel in 1997. It had snow pretty heavily a few days before we had arrived so the conditions were perfect and the weather was sunny for our week so it was time to rip. This was only my 3rd year away and was still learning the ropes but that was the year when I realised that just to go a little faster would make every thing work better and more easily. So now I felt I was beginning to get to grips with it now.

This was the First year that little Craig came away and became a life long friend. This was the year that there were girls, a bunch of doctors in our hotel that thought we were cool and hung out with us for the week and so on.

Maybe later I will write a more detailed post on this, the best of snowboarding holidays but for now enjoy the pics above and leave a comment or two.