Season So Far.... (as taken from whitedot site march '10)

remember me on this computer
Username:
Password:

Posted on: 21/03/2010 by stevowalton 0 Comments

So, after a December which had all of us here, including myself, reluctant to leave the warmth of the white dot chalet and mount our shiny new ski's, for fear of all the rocks, the last few months have turned out to be a lot nicer! I was actually super impressed with the how the sticks held up in the early season, our general billy goating around rock faces and tree stumps, or as we prefer "adventure skiing", isn't exactly easy going on the planks, and even following a good few full-on yard sales, with skis, poles, hats, you name it, all over the shop, all because of some gnarly rock hidden under the surface, still had none of them big holes with core chunks and edge missing that we all love to have on our favourite skis. Happy days!

After that the start of January was amazing, the snow gods gave us all a pat on the back and it dunped and dumped, so I had have some great days, exploring some of the steeps, glaciers, couloirs and just generally crazy lines that give Chamonix its reputation as a freeride mecca. With Kai and Niclas on their Redeemers, and Maria and myself on

our Preachers, we all agreed, more from the big grins and screaming like children, that the ski's kicked ass wherever we took them. Between the ski's and riding with these three, it certainly gave me some of the runs i'll remember for a long long time!

In Mid-January it was time for the team photoshoot, which was a great week, nice to all get together and bounce ideas around, and to get out on the hill and push eachother to get the best shots we could, which meant whiplash, black eye and a bloody nose for me. Standard behaviour when i'm snow giddy.

Sadly, not every week can be that good so come Febuary I spent most of the time juggling working (a lot!) and getting on the hill whenever i could to make use of the best snow, which turned good a few times, put up a few photos of kai and me from then. Hopefully with it getting quieter now there'll be time for a few late season comps, some more shooting, basically some more playing around on the hill! Got some BIG lines planned, think its time to go mental.

Got to say a huge thanks is due to Kai, Maria and Niclas, from Fall Line Bootfitting. Both for their support with my equipment for this season and between them keeping me safe and teaching me about mountains here, it's a different world from most of the freeriding i've done in the past. They all rip on skis and are massively enthusiastic about white dot and what we do! If you want to figure out why they are, go have a chat and grab a test pair from their shop in town.

Anyway, got to go get some rando bindings, there must be some untracked snow to find somewhere, looks like touring season is upon us!

Catch you all later.

Steve