Sunshack

Posted by: sunshack | October 20, 2019

Wetter

This summer I faced my demons and got back on a Wakeboard. I had lost my confidence over the winter. With some careful coaching I made it back into the water, and onto my feet. My aim was to have made a full heelside turn on a System 2 Cable by the end of the summer. This I achieved. I made the first turn right in front of about 50 people, and was so stunned that I was still on my feet, failed to get all excited.

The turning point for me, was getting some Watersports goggles made in my Prescription by Rockspex. Quite simply, before this I could not see. I was making decent progress by using a Radio link headset, but lacking the necessary visual cues. I’m working on my Dock start too. At the moment I’m sitting down with my Board in the water!

This is me practicing the start of the turn using the radio headset at the New Forest Wakepark in the height of summer.

P1050333 Too warm for wearing a Wetsuit!

I was very pleased that I’d achieved my Goal for the season. I made the breakthrough at Retallack Resort in Cornwall, and the weather was cold, wet and windy. Despite having a very warm Wetsuit I shivered.

I also made two trips to Surf this summer. I consolidated what I’d learned, and now feel more confident on a Board. Again, the Watersports goggles have made a big difference to my confidence, as I can see where I’m heading for the first time.

Both trips were marred by bad weather, big waves and low temperatures. It was warmer in the sea, than on land. I also made a big error, by booking a lesson on a Bank Holiday.

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Crowds, I really don’t do crowds!

The team at George’s Surf School kept me and everyone else safe!

At the moment I feel spoiled for choice as The Wave at Bristol is about to open. It looks spectacular. I’m so tempted to blow my budget on more Surfing!

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Beach, Cornwall, Holidays, Leisure, Lifegoals, New Forest, outdoors, Sport, Summer, Surfing, Tourism, travel, Wakeboarding, Watersports

Posted by: sunshack | May 19, 2019

Influence

It seems odd looking back, that my summer sports activity could have an influence on my whole winter. However, this is how it came to be.

Just a little bit broken……

I’d gone for a Water Ski lesson at the end of August, and I broke my Foot! It wasn’t painful in an acute ouchy way, so I showed the bit of swelling to my Instructor and then drove 40 miles home, and went for a quick shop around my local supermarket, en-route. On that evening, I thought it might be a good idea to have an X-ray! As you can see, it’s not necessary to be a Doctor to make the call!

So, as the Hospital had no footwear suitable for a Fractured foot, I went back the next day, and walked out wearing an ugly shoe. Two weeks later I saw a Consultant who told me that my sunshine holiday to Tenerife a week later was a no-go. Apparently I had a Deep Vein Thrombosis risk. As he was looking at my image on his screen, and holding my foot in one hand, said “this may hurt a little” and squeezed my foot, and in doing so pushed the bones back in line.

My focus was now on getting this healed and me back into a Ski Boot. This I achieved on 3rd November. Still some swelling, so no room for a sock!

The Hospital discharged me, apparently I’d healed well, and and I could expect pain and swelling for 6 months. By now, I was seriously unfit, and was walking very badly using a walking stick some days.

I am pleased to say that, by persevering, I made it to Zermatt to ski by mid December, and though I was unfit, I had a great time!

Zermatt delivers the goods Some of those tracks are mine

I was so relieved that I could still ski! My left Boot was awfully tight, I still had an odd shaped foot, but I took a selection of different socks with me. I found I could get the Boot on without too much trouble, but removing it, oh dear!

Christmas came and went, and I headed out to Chamonix in January and March. Chamonix seemed to be having problems running it’s lift system. In January, I’d based myself up near the Brevent Gondola, which broke down for several days. Never mind, I could use the bus to get into town and change for another ski area. The morning buses regularly failed to turn up to the published timetable, so I took to walking up onto the Savoy slopes and skiing into town, then walking to a bus stop. It snowed, which was wonderful. Les Houches is lovely in deep snow!

Take the Train from St Gervais

I returned to the area in March and the Kandahar race piste was being prepared for a race, but still open to the public, so smooth, huge fun! It’s not often that the public get to go down a race course, smooth, with nets up and a chance to let my skis run, to the level of my fitness, aka exhaustion!

The Kandahar in race preparation, super fast!

As I was staying in Chamonix town, I’d figured that being at a Bus Stop by 8.15 would be enough to avoid the crowds for Grand Montets. Wrong! I watched a Bus driver get off and physically push people further on, in order to close the doors. So, my bright idea for the next morning was to head back to Les Houches, on an early Bus. Ah, #fail!

And it was raining too. I gave up!

Later in March I spent some time in Courmayeur, Aosta. The weather was cold, then warm, spring was definitely trying to put in an appearance. I took time out to visit the Skyway Monte Bianco It’s well worth visiting, though an early start is useful to avoid crowds at the weekend.

The revolving Cable Car cabins take tourists and skiers up to Punta Helbronner where it’s possible to cross into France on skis. The Punta Helbronner lift to the Aiguille du Midi is currently not running.

I was happy to have made it through the winter, very unfit. I don’t think I’m capable of “skiing myself fit”, others may be. At the time of writing, my foot is still giving me occasional bouts of pain and swelling. I hope this stops soon. Despite gently cruising and avoiding the tough slopes, I still managed to wear out my Boots, so next winter will see me on new Boots, and much fitter!

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Chamonix, Courmayeur, Holidays, Injury, Mountains, off piste, powder, Recovery, Ski, skier, skiing, snow, snowy days, Tourism, travel, winter, Zermatt

Posted by: sunshack | November 16, 2018

Cornwall Sunshine

I’m playing Blog catch up from the summer. The nights have drawn in and it feels good to look back at the photos from my summer trip to Cornwall. The weather was warm and sunny, and my Surfing improved considerably due to a wonderful Surfing teacher, who had been recommended to me.

I’d been given a tip about driving to Cornwall by a neighbour. It seemed crazy to set off at a really early hour, but it worked and I was in Charlestown to visit the Shipwreck Museum by mid morning.

The Harbour is also worth walking around, it’s very pretty. Some scenes from the TV Series Poldark are filmed there.

I took the opportunity to visit the Eden Project again. There is always something new to see, it’s such a big site. This time I saw an Art Installation called Infinity Blue, a Giant stone Seed and a Gecko!

It’s been a goal of mine to visit Tintagel, and although it does get crowded, an early start ensures that tranquility and open vistas can be enjoyed before the Coach parties arrive.

I made a couple of visits to the village of pretty village of Rock, and hiked along the pretty coastline to Polzeath, as well as visiting Padstow by Ferry. Rick Stein is everywhere in Padstow. I opted for a Pasty and took local advice on guarding my food.

I took some more Surfing lessons, and was very pleased with my progress. As I mentioned, I had been recommended a Surfing teacher, who is highly regarded. It’s all true, he can work miracles. While I was having lessons, he was listed in the Guardian newspaper as one of the top 10 Surfing teachers in the world. Take a bow George Stoy who got me to my feet in my first lesson, and onto repeatedly riding 10 second waves and he’s still smiling.

Took the opportunity to see Lands End and St Ives, while the weather was so fine. Land’s end was windy and St Ives was crowded!

I was more fortunate with my weather on this trip, no rainy days!

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Charlestown, Cornish Riviera, Cornwall, Eden Project, England, Georges Surf School, Holidays, King Arthur, Lands End, nature, Padstow, Polzeath, Shipwreck Centre, St Ives, Summer, Surfing, Tintagel, Tourism

Posted by: sunshack | June 2, 2018

Pause

Sometime last year, I hit a wall. Not literally, but I found I could no longer write this Blog. I took a break, in the hope that I would feel refreshed. My break took a little longer than expected, and I’m now playing catch up with my Blogging.

I kicked off my Winter with a trip to Zermatt. Snow seems to be pretty reliable here each year, and it was possible to ski right into the village. I travelled unpackaged, after experiencing less than ideal performance and subsequent stress, caused by a mainstream UK Tour Operator early last winter. This year, I found that I was sharing my Hotel with the Ski Club of Great Britain, who were running their “Reps” training. It seemed to be a bit like Boot Camp, though I didn’t actually see anyone doing press ups. Fortunately Zermatt is a big resort and delivered some fresh and fluffy early season Powder for me to play in.

January saw me take on my first Ski Trip to Canada. I flew Air Canada, and the seats are more cramped than Easyjet. I sat next to a guy who was unable to fit his knees down, he was simply too tall. I almost failed to make the flight, as my Visa number was wrong., even though it was the right number. Customer Services seemed to have an efficient system for fixing it. When I enquired, I was told they do the same about “100 times a day”. I had chosen my Hotel in Whistler from a Brochure, and as it was my first visit, travelled with a mainstream Tour Operator. I arrived in Whistler at the start of Whistler Pride, and my hotel was the Headquarters with lots of late night events. Whistler Resort is owned by Vail Resorts and seems to have problems with numbers of people using the lifts. I have not been used to big queues, in Whistler they seem hard to avoid. Queues for the lifts, toilets, food, restaurants in the town. I asked a Vancouver local, on a chairlift, if it was a Holiday, his response was, that the crowds were normal. There are also lots of Trees, and it’s likely that you will, at some stage, find yourself wrapped around one, as I did. Aim for the spaces, it mostly works.

Still, the snow was plentiful, but on many days the Lift operators, seemed to be slow in opening up the hill. What was I expecting for CAD 150 per day? It’s true, it does rain lots in the village, bring Goretex. Whistler has a lot of terrain to offer, though I failed to access and experience some areas, as the queues were soul sapping in length. Off the hill, the resort village is a bit scruffy in places. Never in 30 years of skiing, have I seen public toilets in a privately owned ski village so dirty.

Heading back to Vancouver city, I swear I have never seen that many tower blocks. Everywhere is high rise. The airport is well thought out and a pleasant space to wait. Probably the most calming airport I’ve ever visited.

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March saw me head off to Baqueira Beret in the Spanish Pyrenees. Another resort on my Bucket List, and I was rewarded with fresh powder, again. The resort has a huge choice of lift served off piste, though the Avalanche Risk was high, and care and planning is needed to choose a safe slope. The main village uplift is either a Gondola, or a strange “skis off” chairlift. and my skis were too wide to fit in the pots! My low point came in satellite resort Bonaigua, when someone stole my Hestra Gloves. The Lift Office lent me a pair of gloves, from a box of abandoned gloves, to get me back to Baqueira, which was great.

April, saw me head to Chamonix. I nailed a good deal in a smart 4* hotel. Great Hotel but the behaviour of the staff was a little unusual. I was sitting on my bed and a Hotel workman marched into my room using a Keycard. No knocking or requesting permission. Apparently he wanted to repair something on the Balcony. I was somewhat surprised, and I think I was too stunned to kick him out. Room service was a bit random too. On the upside, there was a Spa with an Ice Room and free Popcorn!

The snow was surprisingly good for late season, and I managed to get some decent in bounds offpiste up at Argentiere, above Lognan.

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Argentiere, Baqueira Beret, Canada, Chamonix, France, Haute Savoie, Mont Blanc, Mountains, off piste, powder, Pyrenees, Ski, skiing, snow, Spain, Switzerland, Valais, Whistler, Zermatt

Posted by: sunshack | September 2, 2017

Wet

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This summer I decided my Holiday would be activity based. I would be staying in the UK, and taking lessons in Surfing and Wakeboarding. I headed to Cornwall, and planned to split my time between lessons, Hiking and enjoying some Beach time. This was my view when I visited Newquay, and it was probably the best weather I saw during my stay.

I stayed in a lovely B&B in the village of Mawgan Porth. My Surfing lessons were with Kingsurf and I made good progress.

So, no lazing on the Beach for me between lessons, I went sightseeing. I visited Truro on a Sunday, which was busy with Tourists.

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I took a day to visit the Eden Project near St Austell. It’s a great day out, and the Biodomes are full of wonderful plants, plus some Birds work there as Pest Controllers!

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A Roul Roul at work in the Tropical Biodome

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The Eden Project was one of the few venues that I visited which offered free parking to visitors. I feel that I spent more on parking the car than I did on food during my stay in Cornwall.

My Wakeboarding session was organised by Lakeview Wakepark at Waterside Cornwall in the village of Lanivet near Bodmin. The Lake has a cable tow system for Wakeboarding. The night before my lesson, I’d seriously stubbed a toe in the shower at my Hotel. I’m pleased to say that having a toe which subsequently turned out to be broken made no difference at all to my lesson. I had hoped to be able to make it to my feet (and stay there). I was pretty pleased with my progress.

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I took a look around Padstow one day. A very pretty town and fishing port, though everywhere you turn, Chef Rick Stein has made his mark, either a shop/restaurant/Cafe. This has resulted in the nickname for the town being Padstein. The lanes leading to the town are quite narrow, I had to reverse about 100 metres to make way for a Double Decker Bus!.

Yes, really!

Pretty Harbour in Padstow

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Beach, Bodmin, Cornwall, Eden Project, health, Holiday, Mawgan Porth, Padstow, Seaside, Summer, Surfing, Tourism, Tourist, Truro, Wakeboarding, Watersports

Posted by: sunshack | July 11, 2017

Spring Slide

Gressoney La Trinite

For some strange reason I prepared this entry and failed to post it. Oh well, here is some snow to make you think of winter.

The end of my ski season. It’s always warm, snowy and a little sad as another winter on snow comes to a close. My destination was the Hamlet sized village of Gressoney La Tinite in the Monterosa ski area, in Aosta, Italy. Though I was definitely in Italy, I kept seeing German words throughout the village, and learned that the inhabitants of the villages were Walser’s who originally came from Swiss Valais. I had already spent a couple of days here a few years back, and knew I wanted to see more of the skiing. I stayed in a smart Hotel, but unfortunately my room overlooked the Kitchen dustbins, and I was treated to a nightly cacophony of empty Wine bottles being thrown into skips and the staff enjoying their Cigarette breaks directly below my room.

The skiing is varied and extensive. Access from Gressoney La Trinite is via a rather old 2 person chairlift. Once up on the hill the terrain opens up, and the views are great.

Mother Nature delivered me some powder to play in. How could I resist. This is on the Alagna side of the system.

Powder 100% legal!

Some lovely long runs above Gressoney

I went for a Coffee at this Mountain Hut. Thought I’d check my emails, while I was there. Price for that is 5 Euros. Be warned.

The home run, after a few days of warm weather. Still open, and just about skiable,

I do wish that smart Hotels, would be more smart about their Bar billing. It’s not smart to try to rip of customers. Each evening I had the same drink with Dinner. Came to pay my Bill and I seem to have had a little binge. Still, a photo of each evening’s Main Course with the Bottle soon resolved the problem.

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Alagna, Champoluc, Gressoney, Italy, Monterosa, off piste, Ski, skiing, snow, snowy days

Posted by: sunshack | March 25, 2017

Windy

Posted by: sunshack | March 20, 2017

Bounce

When booking a Ski Trip to Switzerland, I did not give any thought to how I should behave during an Earthquake. It really did not cross my mind. I was more concerned about snow! So, there I was in bed, on the top floor of the second oldest Building in the village of Engelberg, and can say, honestly, that the earth did move for me! Actually my Bed was bouncing up and down, the whole room was creaking, and the light fitting was swaying from side to side, with a side serving of big deep bangs somewhere below me. My first Swiss Earthquake. The skiing was quite good too, though visibility some days left a bit to be desired. The sun, eventually put in an appearance, and showed me all the wonderful offpiste that is within the ski area. I was very tired by the time I’d finished.

The snow was deep and wonderfully fluffy. Not everyone got to enjoy the snow.

I made time to visit the Ice Cave on the Glacier, and take a good walk around the village.

A word of caution to anyone who has allergies or food intolerances. Zurich Airport Security don’t seem to be able to cope with travellers who carry with them Coffeemate powder, in order to enjoy a Coffee. They took mine away, after extensively searching all of my hand luggage, and after they finally returned it, I threw it away. It is a dried food, and I was unsure if it had been contaminated. I found nowhere offering Soya/Oat/Almond Milk with Coffee beyond the security area.

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Posted in Blogroll | Tags: Engelberg, Mountains, off piste, powder, Ski, skiing, snow, snowy days, Sport, Switzerland, travel, Zurich

Posted by: sunshack | February 24, 2017

Contrasts

In December and January I skied 3 ski areas in 3 Countries. The conditions I experienced varied greatly. In December, I stayed in Zermatt, where conditions on the slopes had been augmented by artificial snow. Zermatt managed to open a couple of pistes back to the village. Hopping over the border into Italy at Cervinia during the same week, and I experienced the magical Powder. Of course, weather patterns play a big part of determining which resort gets the “freshies” and it was the turn of Cervinia, which shares glacier access with Zermatt.

I was happy that my favourite Black piste on the Zermatt side, was opened up. It was quiet, so I got stuck in straight away.

Furg to Furi piste

Ventured over to Cervinia several times. It can take quite a while to get there using the lift system. Going up onto the glacier, then skiing across the border into Italy. It was however, worth the trek.

Christmas came and went, and I made the trip out to Chamonix in January. I had snowfall for my drive out, which made for a longer trip. The upside of all that big weather was powder for my first few days. Bliss!

It’s a Powder Day!

I visited Le Tour Vallorcine, expecting to find a little more of the nice soft powder. I’d not checked the wind forecast the day before I went up there. Oh dear! The off piste was hard, wind scoured crust within the system.