MOUNTAIN MONDAYS #9
WE’RE NEARLY THERE. MID AUGUST, SO WINTER CAN’T BE THAT FAR OFF.. CAN IT?!
The TTR has already hit NZ, fun and frolics on the lake in Tignes, and we’re still offering our early bird summer deals… so make sure you don’t miss out!
SLOPESTYLE SHEELAZ HITS UP TIGNES THIS WED (30TH)…
The Surf Affinity crew are heading over to Tignes this week to hang out with the Sheelaz ladies, Alliance Snowboarding, UpFlatDown, Tignes.co.uk, Tignes Spirit and Tignes Cuisine. It’s gonna be epic!
We’ll be helping out with a girls-only day of Freestyle coaching and a Slopestyle competition, along with recent British Snowboarding hotshot Katie Blundell.
Check out the Sheelaz website for more info and we hope to see you all there!
SHEILAS SLOPESTYLE - THE OFFICIAL UPFLATDOWN WRITE UP!!!!
Hear from what Abi from UpFlatDown has to say about Weds SlopeStyle Sheilas!!!
‘Us girlies are tough biscuits and a dump of spring snow and park closure isn’t going to stop our park day plans. The Sheila Slopestyle event, being organised by upflatdown and Renelle from Alliance, suffered a slight blow when we found out the evening before that the park was going to be shut for 3 days. Hmm bugger! After an initial panic, we put on some thick socks and stomped into the snow to scope out the backyard. The Alliance crew had recently had a solid, little rail custom made (with self lubricating plastic and everything), so we just needed to find a good spot to set up. We found a great kicker ridge and whilst joking that we needed a piste basher, one appeared as if commanded by the snow angels. Renelle somehow managed to stop it and convince the nicest piste basher-er in the world to help us out. This was a sign, Sheilas Slopestyle was gonna be OK!
Bribed with just a few beers and an egg butty my favourite Canadian, Nabes, and the Jam’s Paddy and Tristan were up and ready to help us out at 7.30am. The boy muscle joined us and Ben from Alliance in some serious shovelling to get our park shaped in time for the sheilas arriving at 11am. It couldn’t have worked out better. With 3 powder kickers of varying sizes to cater for all levels and the rail just below, we’d only gone and got our slopestyle format all set up. Renelle met everyone in Le Lac and brought the trail of 44 girls in, intriguing the onlookers on the lift above. Some of the girls had never even ventured into a park before, having found them too intimidating. However, by the end of the morning, with help from the Alliance instructors and encouragement from their fellow girlies, everyone was hitting the box and the little kicker. The more experienced girls were getting into spinning and even flipping, powered by the soft powder landing. The bigger kickers looked a bit scary with a wee road gap but once the first lass hit it, they were lining up to get their turn.
At lunch, Rog and his crew at the Melezes Hotel over the road (who had been keeping us motivated all morning by cranking up the tunes), let us shelter in their bar while we munched on our picnic. Andy Parant (Tignes Official X Games photographer) joined us and shared his top tips to get a good shot for the competition in the afternoon. The photography would have to wait though, as all the girls were excited by their morning session and were too eager to get back to flying and sliding to take pics. In the evening, we all headed to the Jam bar to celebrate our brilliance with a few bottles of the pink stuff. The footage from the day was played to relive the glory and slams and we had a whole load of prizes courtesy of Nikita, Alliance, Tignes Spirit and us at Surf Affinity to reward the best chicks from the day. Harriet was lucky to win the spot on the Surf Affinity Camps this summer and wow she was chuffed about it!
Everyone did really well and we can’t wait to see you next year for more Sheila Shred events. A ta very much goes to everyone that helped out and Renelle says sorry for being so stern with the boys that wanted to gate crash our park. Gotta work on the moobs boys.
Edited footage of the event, Andy Parants photies and the full scores from the day will be available soon at www.upflatdown.com/Tignes and on the Sheila Slopestyle facebook page! Oh and if you want a sheila slopestyle T.Shirt email tignes@upflatdown.com.’
Check out more photos from the day at http://www.surfaffinity.com/Gallery.aspx
