Discovering slacklining

I was watching "Real Rock Film Tour 2011" and came across "Sketchy" Andy Lewis. He inspired me by what he could do on a slackline. For those of you who don't know what a slackline is, it's a piece of tape fixed between two fixed objects, e.g. Trees, lamp posts, rocks, pretty much anything goes, as long as it's stationary!

You then try and balance and cross the line. Now "Sketchy" does not only walk lines between trees he freestyle, flips, handstands the lot. This dude is incredible. He also free solos 100m sections, with thousand meter drops beneath him.

This guy shows pure focus, belief and control and I want to experience this. Not over massive drops, but maybe 2/3ft of the floor ;)

After some research, I found Andy endorses Gibbon slackline and after a little reading I decided to purchase the 'jib line'.

This isn't only great fun, it also offers great benefits to other sports and training, e.g. balance, coordination, focus, strength, flexibility, core stability injury prevention and proprioception, so it will definitely help with my climbing, bouldering and surfing. Now all I need to do is find 2 trees 10 meters or so apart and start slacklining.

I'm looking forward to messing around and getting the wife Natalie involved too.

Exciting times ahead. Keep an eye on the blog for updates, GoPro footage and pictures in the near future.

The inspiration came from this DVD

Slacklining

Slacklining between rocks overlooking a city... Amazing!!

Andy Lewis "Sketchy" Doing his work

Exposure or what!!

This is what i have in the post.

Fun skiing in the tree line runs

Morzine produced another 2 days of epic snow conditions. A perfect opportunity to continue working on my ski technique.I started to feel more and more confident and Natalie tells me my technique was improving. Great stuff!!! With the confidence comes the need to be more daring and push the limits, so off piste we go. I follow Natalie into tree lines and start weaving in between the alpine trees. We go deeper and deeper into the tree line and find it difficult to get back onto the piste. We are committed!! I wipe out 3….4….5 times, but just laugh it off, this is so much fun. Eventually we made our way back onto the piste and we were both ready for lunch. We had been split up from the others so it was a table for 2.
After lunch Natalie and I played around on a few more runs and met up with the others for an après ski session.

Natalie and I headed out for dinner in the evening and I ordered mussles followed by a rack of lamb ribs. The muscles came out and it was twice as big as any portion I have ever had as a main dish, and this is for starters. I tuck in and get through them one by one and mop up the juice with some fresh French stick… I'm stuffed. Next the lamb comes out, it's huge. I could barely more after. It was lovely to have an evening with my wife and it was great spending 4 days with her in the mountains. She's a great skier and a great instructor, she gave me a few tips and drills to help my technique and all the advice really helped.

We woke up on Wednesday with the sun blasting over the mountain peaks with clear sky's and a fresh dump of snow underfoot. We headed up on one of the first lifts and made the most of a morning session before our flight home. 2ft of fresh powder dropped over night and it was time to have some serious fun. I felt invincible carving through this fluffy white powder that if you wiped out it was like jumping into cotton wall or big pillow. It was amazing, I tried to spend as much time off the piste as possible and made the most of flying into the tree line and dodging trees. I was having the time of my life. I was just gutted when the clock struck 1pm and it was time to get our transfer to Geneva.

This was a great trip to the mountains, with great company, great hospitality and great conditions. I can’t wait to get another date in the diary for another mountain get away.

A chair lift into an amazing playground

Me preparing for the slopes

Skiing 'Bolt' style

Amazing Artwork

Check out Mont Blanc in the distance

Me and the Wife

On the chair lift

Natalie, strutting her stuff on the slopes

The result of a off piste jump!!!

A well earned hot chocolate in the sunshine

Me before going crazy!

Minky deep in snow in Morzine

Father in law's 50th birthday and where better to celebrate this occastion than his favourite ski resort, Morzine. Conditions are perfect for 4 days of skiing and making the most of apres ski sessions. Last night was a heavy one... I can't actually remember coming back to the chalet for dinner!!!! At one point I do remember asking for a 'toffee vodka' to toast the old git and we ended up with vodka with a espresso shot! Down it went and we carried on. A yaga bomb and a few more beers later and after a afternoon on the slopes it was game over. We managed to stich up Paul and get him in an 'all in one' retro purple and pink number and a tinsel wig.... I thought I'd stitched him up, but he actually enjoyed wearing it, mincing his way down the slopes.

We are staying in a chalet called 'Jack & Jills' and this place is amazing. The service is first class and the staff are amazing.

It was a early start today and we managed to get on the slopes just after the first lift and enjoyed a great day of perfect piste coditions. It's amazing to see my wife Natalie carving up the slopes... she's shit hot and very compitent, mostly taking the straight line down anything gaining maximum speed!! Although at one point she went off piste for some fun and ended up minky high in snow ;0

A big lunch was needed after a long morning session, spagetti bolognaise and a bowl of chips washed down with a larger.... bliss. Then straight out to make the most of the slopes before the lifts close.

Apres ski session tonight was a little more gentle, hence being able to write this blog. Dinner and an early night and another day to look forward to tomorrow. I'm loving being on the slopes and enjoying pushing my limits in a different way.
 

Myself, Natalie, Lyn, Paul AKA Prada, Pam

Natalie and I

View from Chalet, Morzine

Prada mincing in his retro onezie

Apres Ski, Gangnam Style

Wiped Out

Coffee Vodka, dont knock it till you tried it

Prada in his glamorous



Paul on the piste
 

Dull, damp and damn right desperate

The first climb outdoors of 2013 and I'm heading down the M3 thinking, is this going to be on. It was dull, damp and damn right desperate. Fog hovered over the tarmac creating a thick cloud, that resulted in not knowing what speed to have the window wipers on, I hate that. Intermittent spells of heavier rain and the cars sensor kept going off saying its below 4 degrees!!!
I made the routine stop at Fleet services for a flat white and 'Rise & Shine' muffin and the day started to look a little brighter.

On route to the crag we picked up Tommy's daughter Alisha, always a pleasure to have her out with us, although keep an eye on your lunch box as she grazes all day... I don't know where she puts it.

We arrive at Portland and everything appears wet, we take a walk down to the boulders and everything is soaking and there was not a whistle of wind to dry the rock. Our thought was to return to Armageddon, a problem we tried before Christmas, but it was way to wet to climb. We thought if we headed nearer to the coastline, that perhaps an onshore wind may have been present, resulting in drier rock.... No breeze, so no joy here.

We sat down and talked over our options and other areas that could be drier. I pulled out my new Jetboil, a cooking stove Santa brought me for Christmas and made a coffee, not instant, I am talking Italian style.
We decided to head over to an area I haven't visited before called the Hidden Cave.

The swell was interesting in this area, the tide was high and you were always looking over your shoulder to see whether a wave would push its luck and soak your feet. We got stuck in to the climbing and got on with some problems. I managed to on-sight the first 4 routes, a V0, V2, V1, V2 and then we tried a V5, "a local problem for local people", with a tricky start and a really awkward side pull, this problem became a challenge. Attempting time and time again, I got tired and the chance of getting the tick faded. I will be back to tick this problem off.

We managed to find energy for a mess about and hung of some ledges and let the ocean crash underfoot, a bit of dare devil stuff and a bit of fun.

Overall a nice start to 2013 and I look forward to some indoor training next week and heading to Morzine for a few days skiing on Sunday. Fingers crossed for a nice dump of fresh snow over the next few days in the Portes de Soleil area. 

Tommy playing dare devil with the waves.

Me on 'Marshmallow'

Me rocking over on 'Marshmallow'

The new Jetboil working a treat.... 

Tommy and Alisha

Me in action

Another Exspresso

Tommy on 'a local problem for local people' V5

and the waves come crashing in

Alisha wrapped up in 3 down jackets and still cold

Me struggling on 'a local problem for local people' V5

Game Face

Playing up for the camera and having fun

Tommy trying to warm his toes!!