Stubai....

Last Friday was my first time shredding Stubai glacier and it was a sick sunny day lapping the park with my friend Bianca. Rad cause we make each other try things on our boards inspired what the other is doing!! Was a fun set up, we each filmed a couple of runs and I managed to get these screen shots of us doing a stalefish grab off one of the rails!! Looking to do lot's more filming this season so I can make an edit!!

Me

Bianca

TuxPow....

First day back shredding in Austria and I got a sick pow day, big overhead sprays of snow, super stoked and I got this sick screen shot from my go pro :D

It's looking super windy up Tux for the next week so doesn't look like I'll get up riding :( but Penken should be opening in a week and going by the snow I woke up to this morning, if it keeps dumping like this all week then it'll be be an awesome opening day!! :D

Scottish Freestyle Dryslope Champs....

Mid Backside 360 - Thanks to Wully Donald for the photo!! :)

Yesterday it was the Scottish Freestyle Dryslope Champs held at Aberdeen Snowsports Centre. I'd entered it due to people saying I should since I was home anyway and I'm glad I did!! I had gone down to the slope on Wednesday night for some practice as had not ridden dry slope for a year and I made some entrance my first run down and all I hear is Gnarly Natalie is back, hahaha!!!!

Each run got progressively better though and soon enough I was spinning off the kicker which I have not done in 3 years!! The spinning was effortless just on landing I would skid out cause you can't use edges on dryslope, hahaha but I started to get used to it, then when the wind picked up I moved to practicing on the rail and box. It was a real fun session and love riding with the guys there many of them I have coached and always stoked to see how much they've progressed since the last time I saw them/ rode with them :)

I have to admit I woke up yesterday morning nervous for the day ahead. I have ridden in many comps over the years but I hadn't for a while and with not having ridden dryslope for a year too although I was coming into it from a good session on Wednesday so I knew I could do it I just had to stomp those landings and stomp them I did!! It's weird over the years on entering the comps it has always made me step my game up and I just go for it and land so it's good to know I can perform under pressure like that!! There were 2 other girl snowboarders riding and they were awesome, was rad riding with everyone!!

It was a fun comp a fun day and I'm stoked on the tricks I did and actually landing them. I had one of the fellow snowboarders surprised at how good I was riding after not having ridden on plastic for a year as he said after one day riding on snow at the Cairngorms it takes him a while to get used to it again!! I also surprised myself big time in how well I rode and I guess just highlighted to me how good and strong a rider I have become to be able to adapt to different conditions like that and normally that is not something I would admit to myself or say out loud but for where I'm wanting to take my riding I need to start believing in myself more, stop comparing myself to other riders cause I am at the level now where anything is possible on my board the only thing preventing me from doing it is having that self doubt so I guess this season is all about believing in myself more and the skills I have on my board and developing them even further!! 

BASI Common Theory Course....

Working towards being a BASI Level 3 snowboard instructor means doing many courses one of which being the Common Theory course which is always held at Glenmore Lodge in Aviemore, Scotland. So I headed home from Austria to do this course, which was good meaning I could spend a week at home in Aberdeen too and catch up with family and friends :)

I'd heard many things from different people about this course, mainly that it was pretty boring etc. But I came away from it feeling inspired having learnt so much on it. Sure it is mainly ski related and when the trainers speak being more from a ski background themselves they relate it all to skiing throwing in the odd reference to snowboarding for the handful of snowboarders that are on the course. Although we did have some snowboarders taking us for sessions which was really good and was stoked to see my friend Ben up there taking us for intervals training and circuits!! I'd say I got a lot out of the weights/ gym/ intervals and circuits sessions as I have done a lot of that in the past for when I trained for running but I was unsure how to adapt it for snowboarding and what workouts would be relevant to working the right muscles for snowboarding but now I know so I can now make a training schedule that I can do over the winter and look forward to training more and seeing how it helps improve my riding by making me stronger and more flexible, etc!!

Also everyone seemed to think I was Canadian cause of my unique accent, haha!! The course coordinator specifically thought Quebec because I am quiet but confident, I'm not in your face and when I speak he can tell I know what I'm talk about, haha!! I guess it's pretty cool when no one can guess where your from, I'm so used to it now, it's mainly people think I'm American, Canadian or Scandinavian but no I am Scottish!! :)

First Snow In The Hoff....

So the people of Mayrhofen today woke up to a wonderful surprise of heaps of snow. When I went to bed there was no snow but it has been dumping down over night and still dumping!! :D Here's a photo taken from my bedroom window!! It's meant to be getting warmer again so doesn't seem like the snow will last for long but still super stoked to see it and it means pow shredding up the glacier :D

Back Snowboarding.... winters here Stoked :D

The Tirol Card went on sale last week which means the season has officially started here in Austria with 7.5 months of snowboarding ahead, not bad for 520 euro (locals price!!) :) Hintertux the glacier is open all year and right now they have a sick park built, the Hotzone official park opening being last weekend!!

So far it's been a mix of weather, bluebird, rain, whiteout and snow due to arrive end of this week but accompanied by high wind!! The past couple of days it's been like spring up the glacier with an icy park in the morning soon turning into a real slushy one!! The glacier is really bare right now and desperately needs snow with icy pistes, so weird to see it like that as I'm used to seeing it with a lot more snow!!

Riding around I have been feeling strong on my board and couldn't be happier being back snowboarding it's not till I was back on my board I truly realised how much I'd missed it. I love riding the whole mountain but I have always loved the park and trying to push myself to go bigger, be better and work on my style. This comes from years of learning tricks on dry slope. I'd say I'm getting my feet back in the park but what's annoying me is jumping, it was always the thing I loved the most and it still is nothing feels better than flying through the air and spinning. Although I just hate the smaller jumps at Tux I find them so hard to get the right speed, I had a break through with that last week but now it's back to sucking again and I'm just not used to this and it makes me feel like a rubbish snowboarder and I know I'm not when I look back on what I've done on my board and achieved!! I think people start to then think that I've been lying to them about all I can do on my board which is pretty disheartening!! I know it's lame to blame the jump and sounds like an excuse I don't know I think I have to give myself a stern talking to followed by a massive kick up the ass followed by manning the fuck up!! I really want to hit the medium jumps too as they look so good and I see people hitting them where I know if they can hit it I can as I've hit bigger before but again there's this doubt in my head for some reason and I don't know why this is happening!!

Last winter I didn't push my park riding which I guess is maybe why I'm feeling like this now, although now I really want to do everything I've dreamed about doing in the park and it took a summer off snowboarding to get that fire inside back burning brighter than ever!! I've been riding with people which has been awesome as I've not had that for so long, you feed off of what their doing and it's good to see/ hear other peoples perspectives on things!! I guess I just gotta keep doing what I'm doing stay relaxed on my board, push my riding and everything will fall into place, when it's time I'll feel it and I'll just know and hopefully things start going the way I want them to on my board real soon and my confidence will keep growing!!

Illustrator Vid....

People ask me how I do my illustrator drawings or theres the ones who think it's just traced or I use some effect but the truth is they take hours of drawing using just the pencil tool in illustrator!! I see the image as a mix of colours that I draw which then comes together to form the main image, each drawing poses a new challenge. Some may not see this as real art but that is where your wrong, art is about experimenting with different styles/ materials etc, I never used to be a fan of illustrator always doing art more the traditional way but I have found the eye for detail I have developed while doing these illustrator drawings has improved my pencil to paper sketching too. It's good to be different and form unique pieces of art, you just have to explain yourself that bit more as people can't believe you have the patience to do something like that!! So here's a short vid of how I go about drawing on illustrator, what you see took me 1 hour and 20 mins condensed down to 2 minutes and the rest of the drawing will take me much longer!!

annnnd the finished drawing....

Hardcore early morning training....

A group of people started doing early morning training at 7am 3 days a week Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the lead up to the beginning of the season here with the Tirol pass going on sale on the 1st October!! The idea of the training is to get strong and fit for snowboarding/ skiing again, doing circuits etc, working on our core/ legs/ strength basically working the whole body in different sessions!! Joe has been an awesome motivator and we've done some really good sessions and I've been writing down everything we've done each session for future reference!! Lucky I happened to see them one morning when I was heading for an early skate at the bowl and got invited to join them :) We've definitely worked super hard and am feeling the benefits feeling stronger/ fitter and faster than I've ever felt going into a season. Taking 4 months off snowboarding and having a summer has definitely been the best thing I could have done doing various other sports/ activities, learning some new skills that are gonna be beneficial for snowboarding :) Below is a photo of the first real snowfall on the mountains around Mayrhofen a couple weeks ago, I had such a huge smile on my face, it definitely woke me up that morning while walking to training and seeing that!!

Penken Hike

As celebration of ankles finally feeling pretty good I decided to put them to the test of hiking up a mountain, haha!! Although I chose the wrong day to do it with the temperature being over 30 degrees it made for a very hot and sweaty hike but I made it after getting a lil lost but I see it as detouring on a lil adventure, haha!! I hiked from Mayrhofen up to the Penken and back which was 6 hours altogether, hiking alone is tough but the stunning scenery makes up for it and it builds on your mental toughness which I seem to have in abundance!! It's not quite as rad as hiking to a mountain peak but still pretty cool and there's still time hopefully I'll get to hike to a mountain peek and preferably not myself this time!! A highlight was finding this peice of tree that looked like a wonky moustache, hahaha :) Nah the real highlight was the epic views and so weird seeing the Penken without snow I've never really been up a ski field during summer before so was pretty cool to see!! I can't wait until the snow arrives though I miss it so much....

Summer Injuries....

Soooo after being able to walk again after my sprained ankle my other ankle decided it felt left out and the achilles tendon started to hurt, I never thought much of it I thought I could shake it off not having had that sort of injury before. Buuuut as always learning the hard way when for a skate at the bowl I was running up the wall to get out and ping I feel my calf muscle pull, which leads to it being really hard to walk, I rest it up, look on line for stretches and massaging techniques and they help. I then go swimming everyday as I always find this works best to cure any injury and team this with doing yoga each day too and although it hurt when I felt the stretch etc on my injured ankles each day it would get easier without so much pain, I would feel them getting stronger and could balance for longer on them too.

Yoga is something I've heard a lot about, athletes from all sports now incorporating it into their training regime and rightly so. I have dabbled in it in the past but not committed to a daily routine of it until the beginning of this summer. I guess I haven't really had the time in my hectic schedule of traveling and snowboarding everyday and work, etc but that's just excuses really. Now it has become a daily routine and I am feeling the benefits of it already, it's amazing how quick you feel your balance improve and strength in holding various positions and now I've got into it I am going to continue with the daily routine, it's helped with the injuries and will hopefully help prevent further injuries making me stronger and more flexible, teamed with all the other training I do like swimming, skateboarding, running, hiking, although I don't see these things as training as they are all things I enjoy and have fun when doing them which is how it should be!! I'm looking forward to October when I'll be back shredding on snow and seeing how all this summer training has helped. :)

Adventure Day....

Last week I went on what we called an adventure day with Courtney who had the day off work. Climbing the easy route of the Klettersteig which I hadn't done yet, he kindly let me borrow a harness!! Was awesome, my hands got some nice blisters :) Then we went on a bike ride I used his bike and he rode his girlfriends bike, we rode uphill to a lake took over an hour, I consider myself to be a strong determined person who can do anything but I found this tough, once you get into the rhythm of it then it's ok but at the steeper parts it definitely took a lot of will power and talking to myself to keep going, haha, I did have to walk with my bike a lil when I had to stop on a hill and couldn't get back on bike and started again!! It was worth it though cycling through the stunning Austrian mountains. :) The lake was pretty rad and huge too with a waterfall!!

 

New Artwork....

Friends of mine Camilla and Donnie got married a couple of weeks ago so I drew them this as a gift for them!!

Moustache cat, hahaha!!

Loved this photo of a girl skating in a bowl and had to draw it!!

I've been looking for a photo like this of a skater so when I saw this one of my friend Mike I had to draw it, even better being someone I know!! :)

I drew this for my brothers birthday, he was awesome at trials before he stopped and this is from a sick shot of him killing it!! :)

Summer....

I've not had a summer for around 3 years but I guess I have done 5 back to back winters, I was hoping for a 6th this summer but it wasn't meant to be and in a way a feel it was a way of being told I needed a summer to try new things, refresh my head and figure out a bunch of stuff!! 

I have to say it's weird having a summer but I am also loving it at the same time!! When I've been away on winters I have dreamt about summers too as have always been a fan of the sun and the water. But I guess I just love snowboarding more which is why I have been following my dream of snowboarding giving me the life I had only dreamt of before. At the end of the season I had lost my stoke on snowboarding and I think this had been building up over the season, I loved instructing but riding for myself just wasn't so fun, I think this was due a lot to riding myself a lot as when I had the privilege of getting to ride with others even if only for a few runs it lit that fire inside me and I loved it. I need that push and feeding off others energy to inspire me to do things I know I can to but will talk myself out of it if alone!! I hate myself for letting it get to that stage but I am a loner by circumstance not by choice and events from my school years have carried on and I have this self doubt that riders and good riders would want to ride with me. No this is not some sob story to make you feel sorry for me but more of me just getting it out so I can move on and keep persevering with the never ending task of feeling confident with myself!! But as the summer has gone on I am already feeling that stoke coming back for snowboarding and hope that this next season in Mayrhofen I will push my riding further than before and also hopefully have some people to ride with who can help inspire and push me to get out of my comfort zone and become the rider I have envisioned all these years!!

It has been suuuuupppppeeerrr HOT here in Mayrhofen the past week, in the 30's everyday but now it has got cooler and rainy!! From swimming everyday last week as good for ankle rehab to being bored and chilling inside, I've never not worked for this long and although the break from working was nice at first as I have done a lot of work over the years I get bored real easy. I bumped into a couple of friends at the pool last week and one was heading to a beach spot by the river with some friends and asked if I wanted to head along, so I did and it was fun, a cool spot for sure and on a really hot day like it was was nice to jump/ swim in the ice cold water, even if only for a few seconds, haha!! It made up for not doing anything for my birthday the day before, although my flatmates Jasper and Anne I think more Anne made me an awesome apple birthday pie which was a super nice surprise as didn't think they knew it was gonna be my birthday!!

So basically I've been learning to skate, go running, swimming and hiking, have gone climbing and biking, so an active summer so far just the way I like it!! :)

The Skate Life....

Skateboarding is always something I have been amazed by and love watching skaters skate. I've only been on a skateboard a couple of times in the past but have always wanted to learn to skate properly. So I decided this summer I would learn to skate the MTown bowl. One of my housemates found a skateboard so I acquired it since they wouldn't be using it and have been going down everyday that it's not been wet/ raining!! I go down early morning when no one else is down there to not get in anyones way meaning I have the whole bowl to myself to practice, I am stoked with my progress and getting the feel for being on a skateboard I already feel it has helped my balance so much!! I love skateboarding and look forward to seeing what I can learn on it this summer.

The other day I was down skating in the morning and manage to make it round the bowl for the first time, it felt so good, finally making it round this one corner that was becoming my nemesis, haha!! Then I went for a skate again in the afternoon meeting up with some friends. Will got me trying to drop in on a sloped part at the side of the bowl to get the feel of it before going for the drop in to the bowl. I was getting it when I didn't hesitate. Then on one I put too much pressure on the front of board I fell forward and it felt like my ankle folded in half almost underneath, I walked it off sat it out for a bit but then still skated a lil then played volleyball and ran around playing football, crazy how I managed as when I got home my ankle stiffened right up and got pretty swollen so had sprained it. Might have been better trying to drop into the bowl but then again who knows same thing could of happened and the bowl is pretty scary. But hopefully it doesn't take too long to heal and I can get back to skating and learning to drop in :)

Artwork for sale....

I have set up an Etsy shop to sell prints of my illustrator work, please check it out and buy something if you like it :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NatAttackArt?ref=top_trail

Portfolio Website....

http://natalieriley.weebly.com/index.html

So I've had a lot of free time recently which has meant I have finally made a portfolio website to display my artwork. I have always experimented with different forms of artwork over the years and given the work to friends as gifts whether it was for their birthday or some other special occasion or for just being them, it's nice to give people a surprise gift, I know it's usually just a piece of paper with something on it or a digital image but it's the thought that counts, huh.... I went for years not signing my work as never really believed it was that good or something (yes I have self confidence issues, haha) but then when people were stoked on the artwork I gave them I guess I started to believe just a lil that maybe it was something good I was doing!! My parents especially my mum encouraged me to start signing my work and would get annoyed when I never, hahaha!!!! Along my travels over the past few years or so I have been sketching in my trusty sketch book and also got into illustrator art where I hand draw images using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. I have my sketchbook and my laptop wherever I go so these have been the easiest forms of art to produce although I am not limited to these I love all aspects of art, the more hands on the better. I also love taking photo's, it helps remind you of all these beautifully epic places you have lived while inspiring you to keep traveling and seeing all there is to see and all there is to experience out there. Please check out my website and if you like what you see then get in touch if you would like a piece of artwork, it could be anything I love a challenge and just cause you don't see the style of work you'd like done on my website doesn't mean I can't do it :)

BASI Level 3 Tech....

So it's been 2 years since I did my level 2, I have done 4 seasons since then as well. I'd thought long and hard about whether I was ready to give the level 3 tech a go as know how hard it is to pass and the level of riding expected. The thing is you only really know what to expect once you've done the course, nothing else can really prepare you for it. I came to the conclusion that my riding has constantly been getting stronger and stronger and if anything this would give me the push I need to bring it to the next level as I'm ready for it!!

I had the training week first with Ben and then assessment week the following week and I was in Neil's group for that. Was cool getting 2 different but same perspectives on my riding and input into how to improve it to get it to the level their looking for. Neil is very technically minded therefore likes to talk a lot more which I think is good as fully makes you understand things but I think if you went into the course not really knowing this stuff it might go over your head, luckily Ben had gone over this stuff the first week in a simpler method of teaching and more showing and doing and then having Neil's input the following week really helped me get my head around it all and I'd say Ben and Neil complement each other for such a course!!

Seeing the other riders on the course I knew I would have a lot to work on but at no point did I feel like I was out of my depth. One of the other guys Paulo I did my level 2 with so I knew him and the others I got to know quickly and got along with them all and then the other group that joined us the second week who I was with were also cool and real good riders so was fun riding with them too. We had Aymeric Tonin a pro rider doing it too, he should become a professional bumps rider the way he flys through them regular and switch, haha!! Cool dude though.

I had things to change with my posture and got that fixed just need to keep working on that to make it stronger, also various other tweaks which I felt the benefits of straight away. After week one I was feeling strong, did some riding over the weekend with the others and went into the second week/ assessment week just looking to keep riding hard and do my best. Neil picked up on the things Ben had and I continued to work on these things. Mid week we got told where we stood and although I was not expecting to pass it still came as a blow hearing that your not at the level, I don't know why but I guess you get caught up in the whole thing and you really want to pass and do well even though you know your not or something. So yeah I was pretty upset Wed night and Thurs morning, then I started to ride good, things clicked into place and Neil was noticing this and saying so so I had this new positive lease of life and just went with the mentality of enjoying the last 2 days and my riding relaxed, I felt a lot better and as I saw people getting stressed I was not feeling like that at all!!

What meant the most to me over the 2 weeks was all the trainers noticing how different a rider I was, Si didn't recognise me when riding and was impressed then realised it was me, haha!! Ben was real impressed as I don't think he expected me to be riding like I was and Neil even noticed too, at the end when he said I hadn't passed he did say I was the most improved rider and he does not normally give out compliments unless they are really deserved or something so when he does then he really means it and the last 2 days he'd been giving me a lot of them so it shows I'm heading in the right direction, I know what I need to work on and I just got to keep on riding and engraining all these new techniques into my riding!! But I am proud of where I have taken my riding in such a short space of time without any formal training since my level 2 and the main drive being me wanting to change the type of rider I am for the better and get away from being called a dry slope rider, yes that's my roots and where I learnt but I want to be a snowboarder who can rip it up all over the mountains anywhere in the world on any terrain or feature!!

It was a tough 2 weeks very tiring early start leaving from the Hoff with my friend Bri who was doing her level 2 and passed :) Left just after 7 and sometimes not getting back till around 7 at night so just enough time to eat then go to sleep ready for the next day.

I knew how the others were feeling when they were told they didn't pass on the Friday as that is how I'd felt on the wednesday and I'm glad I went through that mid week than the last day. Everyone rode well but they are looking for you to be riding constantly to a high level as this is the highest level for snowboarders in the BASI system so they got to be brutal about it and that's what helps strive us to be the best we can be. I met and rode with rad riders learning from them, I love watching how others ride and you could tell who were the strongest, it was a pleasure riding with them all and who knows maybe one day we'll shred again!! :)

Season in the Hoff....

So I'd never been to Mayrhofen before but had heard good things about this place. I had been to Hintertux a couple of years ago where I stayed for a month doing a couple of BASI Instructor courses and liked Austria when I was there so it seemed like the best place for me to be. I'm a great believer in things happening for a reason and things that happen being signs that you are making the right decision!! Soo getting the instructors job in Mayrhofen and Mayrhofen having been the place I wanted to go made it just seem right. Still a scary thought though going to a new country to live for a season when you don't know anyone are going out there yourself and don't fully know the language. You soon settle in to your new life and the people you live with become family all caring for each other/ looking out for them, etc  but for someone like me it's hard at first!! I find it takes me a while to open up to people, at the beginning of the season I'll be back in my shell and then I slowly start to emerge from it as I get to know people and I guess see that they see me as a friend or like me!! I think what people also realise about me is I am real quiet just happy sitting there with everyone listening and taking in everything that is going on but then when I do open my mouth I come out with some classics, I remember when this first happened this season the room went quiet and all eyes were on me then they burst out laughing, I think it was the initial shock of did she actually just say that!! I also had a bad habit of taking the piss out of the dutch quite a lot, I couldn't help it they just laid it out for me and I can be pretty sarcastic when I get in to the roll of it, even better they didn't usually have a comeback, mwuhahahahahaha!!

With going to new places all the time it has meant I have ridden by myself a lot and not really had people there to help push my riding. This season more so than any!! I have inspired people with my riding over the years but I'm someone who needs a kick up the ass every so often and that encouragement and belief from someone that I can do it, as I know I can do bigger and better tricks and features than what I'm currently doing I've just got to the stage where I find it hard to motivate myself to do it. I see people riding around that I would love to ride with and learn from but I don't know them/ they don't know me so I get it into my head why would they want to. It comes down to not having that self confidence and belief in myself that I can do stuff or people may want to get to know you/ ride with you, how do you know if you don't put yourself out there. Hopefully by being here the summer and then again next winter I will find the right people I can ride with and give me the push or kick up the ass I so very need!!!!

The terrain/ mountains here are awesome, they never had so much snow as last season but still plenty to ride. There are mountains around the area that you can also access with your season pass and even more if you have the Tirol pass which I'm gonna get next season, it starts in October and last till May as well, so well worth it. I never had the chance to check out the other mountains but next season I want to head to others on days off!! The park was smaller than I was expecting but they have a lot of features that they change up throughout the season, a progression of jumps so overall a fun park to ride, they even have a mini pipe that they don't really shape but was fun to ride in the spring when it got real slushy!! :)

A few weeks ago I got an unexpected skate lesson in the bowl from Will Smith who was still recovering from his fractured neck. Made me even more stoked to skate this summer :) I went with some of my housemates to the bowl early on in the season when there was snow in it and rode some stuff on it with our snowboards/ skis, one dude parked his van right along side the edge of the bowl, super sketchy then climbed on top of it strapped in and bombed dropped off it into the bowl, he did it and landed it!!

I finally got a transceiver, shovel and probe this season, I got out and used it once riding the best pow I rode all season so hopefully I'll get shown more cool spots to ride next season and get to ride more lines and pow like that but even better, here's hoping!!

There will be no season edit from me as I never got any filming done this season but I never really learnt anything new either so next years will have to be amazing to make up for it!!

Was also rad seeing Craig who was out here on holiday, Grant Donald who was out here for a month or so, Fin Bremner  and Becky Menday who was out for a week and Matt and Kat who were out here for a week and finally got a shred with them on their last riding day in the morning, was good fun :)

Last week of the season the British Freestyle Snowboard Team were out here training in the Vans Penken Park, was inspiring to see them train like that, Jamie Nicholls going for the triple cork, Katie Omerod landing the double backflip as well as some of the others in the team landing their first doubles too, a real progressive week by the sounds of it. I also got to see my friend Ben who was out as he's head coach of the Junior freestyle team was real good to see him, last time I'd seen him was around a year and a half ago in New Zealand although I speak to him online a lot, probably too much as I'm sure he get's fed up with my messages so I will have to stop haha but he's one of those people that no matter how long it's been that you've seen him it could seem like yesterday you last saw him, just someone I feel I can go to and he will help if he can whether giving you words of encouragement/ support and he knows what it's like traveling around and doing seasons etc so I have just always seen him as a good friend to turn to no matter where in the world either of us may be and we all need someone like that in our lives as I would do they same for him and help him out if I could!! A mentor in snowboarding and an inspiration in all the work he does for uk snowboarding!! He won't read this but I will thank him now for being there and to keep up the awesome work that he does much respect dude!!

SMT Snowboardschule....

So this season I finally got the opportunity to work as an instructor in the mountains. It felt so good to be instructing again as I love snowboarding and love getting people as stoked on it as I am!! It took a lot of perseverance but Bernhard my boss seemingly get's over 500 applications a year and I was the only new hire this season so the rookie!! I just wanted the opportunity to prove myself and that I did, from the beginning to the end and Bernhard complemented me on my riding and instructing and was impressed with the work I did, which really meant a lot hearing that. Although as he said himself I just need to believe in myself more as I'm always thinking people are better than me but really I should not be thinking that way. End of season he also gave me a wrist band for snow bombing for my hard work and motivation continuing through from beginning to end of season, I was surprised to get it being the newbie but also stoked that I had made a good impression like that on my first season here :)

I loved working for the snowboard school with a rad crew of people who I got along well with and would have liked to ride with them more but hopefully next winter I will shred with them more. The local riders from around here are all real talented riders growing up in the perfect environment to nurture such a way of life and talent. Skateboarding in the summer at the mtown bowl and snowboarding in the winter, with Hintertux the glacier just a 30 min drive away which is open all year round!! There were 5 Austrians (locals), 8 dutch, 1 kiwi, 1 Scottish and 1 english (but lives in Mayrhofen now) who worked for the snowboard school. I never knew there were so much dutch that came to Austria for the winter season but I lived with a lot of them so heard dutch spoken more than german which didn't help too much with me getting better at my german!!

We had instructor training every Tuesday morning but that consisted of going for 1 run and then going for a coffee, although the days that we did actually ride more was a fun way to start the day shame we didn't do it more!!

This season I taught mainly private lessons but nearer the end of the season I got more group lessons was good getting the variety, also I had a good variety in who I was teaching from beginners to intermediates to more advanced riders who could already ride good but wanted to push their riding further, also I got a lot of freestyle lessons too which was awesome and not just first timers but ones who were already shredding the park so got to help them get new tricks in the lil park and the main park :)

We had a night where we stayed up in a hut up the mountain, was good fun!! A quarter pipe was built next to the hut and we sessioned that for a while, I was getting some methods out of it, I love that trick they feel so good when you get them right!! Jasper had taking his camera so him and Anne got some sick shots that will hopefully get off them sometime soon!! :)

Bernhard has invited me to come back and work next winter and I will, I have also decided to stay in Mayrhofen for the summer. I tried applying for work in the Southern hemisphere, NZ, Australia and Argentina but no luck. So it was either go home or stay here and I think staying here will be way better for my training for my snowboarding. I have acquired a skateboard so will learn to skate the bowl, swim, run, hopefully do some climbing, go to the trampolines in Aschau and practice some aerial manoeuvres haha!! And I can still snowboard in Tux so perfect place to be!! I have a place to stay I just need to try find work, which will be hard since I don't speak good german but that is a reason for staying here too so I can improve on it.

This is artwork I did of all the instructors, all hand drawn in illustrator :)

Innsbruck Air & Style....

It has always been a dream of mine to go to an event like this as have watched the live streams for these events every year amazed by the tricks the riders throw down. So when Rik asked if I wanted to go because he had a spare pass at first I couldn't believe my ears, not something I was expecting I had thought on going but here was the opportunity right there and then to go so of course I said yes and within 10 minutes we were out the door driving to Innsbruck. Was a real surreal whirlwind experience but stoked to have had the opportunity to go see it and see the riders for real and seeing the triple cork in real life too, haha!! Being there for the 10th anniversary of it makes it even more of a special occasion and just some atmosphere being there the snow falling just so cool, Henry Jackson as the MC, the best one there is keeping the crowd entertained and amped up on what's going on!! Then when it was all finished on our way out we saw Seppe Smits, Rik went up to him and asked if I could get my photo taken with him, haha and I did pretty cool huh!! Thank you Rik you made a dream come true of mine and stoked you took me to see it :D

CAB....

A friend of mine Katie Guthrie is starting up a brand called 'CAB' and has asked me to be on the team and of course I said yes, stoked to represent her brand and look forward to receiving the stuff through the post. Katie is a talented artist/ graphic designer and I'm sure good things will come of this :)

Another Season Another Adventure....

So with the idea of wanting to do a season in Mayrhofen, Austria as had heard such good things about the place and having loved Austria when I was in Hintertux for a month a couple of years ago I set forth with the tough task of hopefully finding instructing work for the season!!

This started last summer while in New Zealand I sent off e-mails to all the ski schools I could find online sometime in June, with only one positive reply coming from SMT Ski School saying to e-mail them again around the beginning of October with a copy of my certificates showing my qualifications. Not being patient I ended up sending them the e-mail in September wanting to make sure I'd hopefully have a chance in getting work with this school as after having read up on it it looked to be the best snowboard/ ski school in Mayrhofen so the best one to work for. I got a short reply from Bernhard who is in charge of the snowboard school saying that my CV looked great and they'd be interested just needed to know if I could speak some German!! I remember I was in the internet place in Wanaka when I got this e-mail and was stoked at this reply, my friend Drew who had been helping me with my German and was my go to person for advice on this was there too so I showed him the e-mail and got his idea on how to reply!! With e-mailing back and forth for a month or so I was eventually offered the job so as you can imagine I was super happy and had my flight booked within a couple of days of having got the job!!

I headed out to Mayrhofen on the 12th December. It was a scary thought as it always is going to a new place not knowing anyone and this time have the different language, I know some German but it is not that good, it has improved over the season I just need to be more confident and speak it more and not worry if I get it wrong as people will correct me and that's how you learn!!

On arriving and being dropped off outside the house I would be living in for the season I phoned Bernhard and he said to wait there and he would be there soon to let me in. Then one of the guys Henry who's from New Zealand came along and let me in, he's one of the other instructors who has done a lot of seasons here!! The accommodation was so much better than I was expecting, I had a room to my self in this big typical Austrian house in the centre of town sweet!! The others who live in the house too are cool as well. I came out here wanting to improve my german too but I'd say I've heard dutch being spoken more from living with a lot of dutch and so many dutch that come here to ride!!

First impressions though were that I liked this place and had a good feeling about the season here :)

Looking Back & Looking Forward....

There are certain events in our lives that making a lasting lifelong change through the good times and the bad. Learning to snowboard at the age of 19 was this monumental moment....

Signing up for lessons as soon as the dry slope opened stoked to learn a sport I had wanted to try for so long from watching it on tv. I had 3 different instructors over 3 blocks of 6 week lessons. I wouldn't say I was a natural at picking it up at all took a lot of hard work and determination through many falls bust knees and legs aching in places I never thought possible, haha.... but when I made that first turn on the big dendix slope which then turned into an accidental flat 360 spin the joy you feel is worth it all. I remember whenever I walked past the slope every time after that I would stare at the spot I did this first linked turn still with the disbelief that I actually did it!!

The early days of learning to ride you are on this upward spiral of continual learning, achieving something new every time you step foot on the board and gaining more confidence. Once the lessons were over I would go down every single week without fail usually on a Thursday or Friday, I would be the only one down there practicing my turns trying to get them linked together nice and smooth, then trying getting some air off the tabletop jump, watching snowboard vids before I went down for inspiration and starting off with trying to grab. It's scary at first but it all starts to get easier with time!!

I was the only girl I ever saw down every week riding, I occasional saw this rad chick down there who was just as stoked to see another girl riding!! Although I was always super happy when a group of the local guys were down there shredding, they had fun were amazing riders and were my inspiration, I would see them do all these tricks on their boards with such style and ease I wanted to be able to do all that one day. The guys included Nicol, Kev, Cassie and many others. Kev got me going off the kicker for the very first time on my 21st birthday. He showed me the line to take in so I was like well I can't let him down by not hitting it so went for it landed on the flat arms up in the air was terrible hahahaha but I kept at it just needing that lil push from someone who believed I could do it!! From then on they would often give me lil tips just to help and I appreciated it so much.

I can be a very quiet shy person, especially back then so although I rode down there every week I did not really speak to anyone they didn't know me they just saw me as this girl who loved snowboarding and would ride until she was too tired to ride anymore or was booted off the slope, haha!! It wasn't until one night I was down riding and an instructor Chris Mahony was out supervising and asked if I'd ever thought on instructing as there was going to be a level 1 instructor course held at the slope that things started to change with my snowboarding and where it would take me. I had dreamt of instructing just like it was my dream to become a professional snowboarder, haha!! Not thinking I was good enough it meant a lot knowing that Chris obviously thought I was or he wouldn't have mentioned it. I signed up for it that night, almost getting scared off by Mal C head of the instructors as he said you know it's not all about flying down the slope flinging yourself off jumps, shows how little he thought of me back then but this just made me want to prove to him and everyone else I could do it as well as to myself.

Mark Bishop was the BASI trainer who I had for the level 1 with Nicol one of the instructors shadowing him. Mal C funnily enough was on the course too even though he was a skier and I had never seen him on a board!! The 5 day course was held over 2 weekends with 2 weeks between. I had a lot to work on but over the 2 weeks I was down pretty much every night between my training for running practicing my turns on the dendix slope staying away from the jumps and freestyle. It was noticed the effort I was putting into it and it all payed off. Everyone respecting me as a rider and impressed with my commitment even shocking them at showing them I do have a voice when it counts on doing my lesson on the final day the last one to do it with everyone watching. I was super stoked on passing it was a huge achievement to me and I started to get to know the people at the slope a bit more and they started to get to know me.

The 35 hours of shadowing then began before I was allowed to work at the slope and get my BASI license as well as doing a first aid course and child protection. When it came to instructing myself of course I was nervous I just had to be confident in what I knew and had learnt. The more lessons I did the more I learnt as to how to adapt to different people and abilities and how to make the lessons as fun as possible while still learning lots as that's when people will learn the best.

With now working at the slope as a casual instructor I got to know everyone who worked there and make new friends, I finally had people I could speak to about snowboarding, ride with, learn from, having not had many friends over the years this made me so happy like I finally belonged somewhere in the lil community of snowboarders and skiers, it felt like family.

I was asked to join a team for a video edit competition so it was me and 5 other guys, for them to want a girl and that girl being me meant the world to me. It felt good to be part of a team of amazing riders, we called ourselves Team Radstorm. I'd still say our edit is the best dry slope edit there's ever been showcasing awesome riding with creative set ups. Following this we started a blog and made lil edits now and again, one taking inspiration from Halldor Helgason teaching Eiki and Torstein Horgmo how to be G on their boards. I posted it on Halldors Facebook page he was so stoked on it he posted it on their blog the following day, the others couldn't believe it we felt like superstars for that week while it got thousands of views, amazing!!!!

Nicol one of the full time instructors/ coaches at slope seen as the best. Well he is sponsored by Boarderline a local board shop in Aberdeen. He must have seen something in me and my riding that he had spoken to Boarderline about putting me on their team. They were holding a DC board demo at the slope one night and I went along to shred and test out some boards. They were giving away some DC goodies and I was stoked when I got pants, jacket, beanie, hoodie, boarderline t-shirt etc, was overwhelmed to get all that just for riding that night and Katie from Boarderline came up to me and said the rep from DC who was up was impressed with my riding too, it's nice too hear things like that, just makes you know that you are doing something right. The next day I got a message from Katie on Facebook inviting me to be on the Boarderline snow team. I was in shock and couldn't believe my eyes to be on a team with some of the best riders in Aberdeen guys I'd looked up to and who had helped me and were my inspiration it just amazed me that this was actually happening and a shop like Boarderline had faith in me and wanted to support me in my snowboarding, so of course I said YES :D My parents were so happy for me too. Of course on seeing Nicol next I thanked him as knew he must have had something to do with it, although funnily enough there was a rumour going round that I was now sponsored by DC, just for the record, not true hahahaha!!!!

When they were looking for a new full time instructor Nicol said I should go for this, I was lifeguarding at the time and having no luck at finding design work but in a way I don't think I was really keen on an office job anyway. Dave Jacobs the manager even ran after me after Nicol had mentioned it to me as seemed like they really wanted me and thought I was the right person for the job. So I applied and went to an interview with Dave and Dionne and got the job. To me this represented that I had proved myself as a good instructor, hard worker and they liked having me around. I also got trained up in the workshop to services skis and boards, feeling privileged that I was the only girl who had been allowed to step foot in the workshop and do this I loved it. After going through some training my test was to wax scrape off wax and buff the bases of 3 or 4 (Can't remember!!) sets of skis in 20 minutes with Malcolm Judd counting it down, I got finished in time and on inspection of them he was happy with what I had done so I was allowed to remain in the workshop I loved working in there :)

Through winning every round of the dry slope series the Lowlander I got a phone call saying I had been picked to receive the overall prize of a trip to Davos Switzerland to go on the very first Synergy Park Tour all I had to pay for was my flight over and food etc once there. I couldn't believe this and was so stoked as had never been away on snow before other than riding the odd day on snow in Scotland. Funnily enough I already had a trip planned to Tignes staying with Ben Kinnear and getting some pre course level 2 training from Simon at Alliance snowboard school which was the week after the park tour was so what was a one week trip planned now turned into 2 weeks :D 

I learnt so much over the 2 weeks and was a real eye opener to what's out there in the world of snowboarding. I went away not really being able to ride on snow well at all to having improved but with still a lot to work on, I remember saying to Neil McNair on my last day before heading home that I'd love to do a season and little did I know that same year I'd be heading to Japan for my first season and then follow that on with back to back seasons and no intention of stopping anytime soon!!

To be continued....