Team Progress Board.
First post of the year!
Sadly i’m at home (england) and it’s not gonna be snowing here any time soon. Still to keep me and others like me sane (or insane-ly jealous) it’d be good to see some vids and pictures of this years progress….
First post of the year!
Sadly i’m at home (england) and it’s not gonna be snowing here any time soon. Still to keep me and others like me sane (or insane-ly jealous) it’d be good to see some vids and pictures of this years progress….
Why don’t ya come Down Under, Aidy????
after progressing my park riding at snowpark last year im looking to make big gains in that this coming season. In saying that though i still prefer back country/side country/un groomed/tree runs over park.
Guess i will see how we go and post up any progress…
Look forward to hearing it deanobruce!
I’ve talked in the post I just started in this section about how freeriding can be used to improve park. It’s worth considering however that the very best landings you get are off natural features on pow days. You might have seen the photos our dear leader put up of the waterfall cliff in whistler for example (sorry i don’t have the link). So it could be argued that the park is really a tool for getting better at ‘sending her’ (TM) in the terrain you mention in your post, especially on pow days! I know that’s the pros approach, yeah torstein!!!
I think it’s finally time for me to post in here. It’s frustrating when you don’t progress, and I have probably been stuck there for two solid years due to lack of riding and niggling injuries. Over the last two weeks my riding has progressed noticeably. I’ve been feeling strong and super comfortable on my snowboard. We’ve had crazy amount of snow too, which has kept me riding hard all day, every day. In regards to progression, I feel as though my steering, edging, and pressure control have all improved, resulting in noticeable performance increases in carving and freeriding. I have also hit a lot of lines and cliffs I’ve wanted to do for some time. I’ve done more big drops in the last week than I ever have before. I’m having a great time on my board and enjoying snowboarding more than ever before, and that’s big call. Good times…
Who else has progressed this season? Let’s hear it!
It’s been over a month since I was in Canada, so I’m writing this a bit later than I probably should but hey. I didn’t even see Jeremy’s and Mike’s etc posts above, which are several months old 
My season in Canada was my first, previously I had only done the occasional wknd or week trip to Oz/Nz. By the time the season started in late Nov 10 I actually hadn’t ridden in about a 1.5 years. So I kinda felt like a duck out of water hahaha. On top of that I started the season with a back injury. After one month of intense riding, I was getting the hang of it again, feeling some improvement, and having good fun. This all came to a halt when I had a knee injury which hung around for nearly 2 months and stopped me from riding how I wanted to. Often I couldn’t even ride at all. It was a testing time. I often questioned what I was doing there, with minimal riding, no job. This had been a dream of mine for literally about 5 years and it wasn’t playing out how I expected.
This down time did however at least give me the chance to concentrate on my technique, mainly through visualising ways I could improve, which I think was helpful in the long run. It also gave me plenty of time for rehab. I would stretch, self massage, and do physio exercises for roughly 3-4 hrs a day. To add to the frustration I missed a week where we had I think 2 metres of snow.
So anyway, by late Feb/early march my knee was starting to feel stronger and stronger and I was able to push more. From here on my injury became a distant memory and I started having lots more fun. We had ridiculous amounts of powder in March and I made the most of it, riding epic long days one after the other. I felt I was making considerable progress week by week in all areas of snowboarding, including my fitness. I spent most of my time freeriding and I became absolutely obsessed with trees. All new parts of the mountain started to become accessible, and it made snowboarding so much more exciting.
Over this period I also spent a fair bit of time riding with Jeremy, which was great for many reasons: I learnt all new areas on the mountain, was pushed by having to keep up, and my technique improved from his advice but also from watching him ride and mimicking it as best I could. Above all, it was just really good fun. It was also great because he also had lots of time to ride, unlike most of the other guys who were stuck at work (Mike, thinking of you buddy).
By the end my freestyle riding improved somewhat, and i was looking for side hits wherever I could. I never spent any considerable time in the park, partly because of fear of hurting my knee, and partly because there was too much fun to be had elsewhere on the mountain. I know there is heaps of room for improvement with my freestyle/park riding.
To top off the season I passed the CASI 1 Instructor course, with ‘above standard’ for my riding. Thanks to Jeremy and Andy for their tips! Unfortunately I also picked up one more injury, a fractured wrist/thumb, on an otherwise awesome day out at Booterville with a good crew.
Looking back, I’m so glad I decided to do my season at Whistler/Blackcomb, with so much snow and vast and varied terrain, it really was a winter wonderland and an excellent place to progress my riding.
Whoops pretty long post haha 
Great write up Dan!!!!! I would have loved to do what you have done!!!! Even with the injury setbacks it still sounds like ya lived ya dream!!!!! 
Cheers dan, even though it’s a long post it’s so easy to read, it gives a great feel for your season! I’m impressed with how positive you were regarding your injuries! They do my head in! Do you think you’ll be shredding this SH season? And what about a return to BC? It’d be great to hear more regular updates if you get to do some shredding!
Thanks for the positive comments guys!
Aidy, injuries are the worst! I was really close to pulling the plug on my season at one stage, but so glad I didn’t. The good times easily outweighed the bad. I will be going to the BW shred in Sep, but aside from that I probably won’t get much time riding this SH winter. Next NH I want to spend a couple weeks holiday in Whistler. It’s a long time off, but I’m hoping I can do another season in Whistler in 12/13. You’re in England, right? I guess you can’t make it to the BW shred then?
yeah sadly, bit of a trek…....
Yeah Dan, great write up indeed. Injuries can be such a testing time; it’s so easy to get into a negative frame of mind and become lazy. It took strong character to keep your chin up and come back strong the way you did. I’m so stoked it all came together for you and you really got to experience what Whistler is all about. For me, it was so good watching you progress so quickly. I remember the first and last time we went riding together this season; it’s like it was two completely different people. Your progression was nothing short of amazing. While you say you didn’t progress much in the park, I did see your freestyle skills progress considerably. All in all, it was an awesome season and I’m stoked you had such a great time. It’s always nice to reflect on your achievements. Thank you for the kind words too.
Each season that passes, I’m finding that I’m unable to put a finger on what I’ve learned.
I think the things we would want to have on a list of “what I learned” would include oh, I finally got a BS3 off a medium size table top, over 15 ft…
Or I finally got a 5., Or, I stepped up to the C-rail and now can BS it and 180 off.
Those are specific and tangible things.
But we dont give ourselves enough credit for things like:
My switch turns are more comfortable.
I tuned in the feel of those bindings, and I gained confidence at higher speeds and steeper terrain.
I survived that long bump run, even if I only did it once.
I was at my favorite resort on a beautiful powder day, and had the nicest snow I’ve ridden in years.
These things improve our riding, but it’s not as simple as saying I nailed a half-cab fs boardslide to 180 out.
The season ended for me, being in the us.
I rode more than I have in the past 3 years, I believe as I had moved away and it was difficult to get to the mountain.
Just that alone… More days on the snow… is progress that cant be measured.
I have a blast with some close friends.
My son was only 1 yr old, and he got on the snow for the first time. he’ll never remember it, but we got pics to prove it, and He’ll love them as he grows older.
I did ski for the first time in probably 8 or more years.
Not that I skied any before had, but I had tried it a couple times, for a couple runs or less.
I was making a few parallel turns on my skis, so I stepped up to a box. one ski kept falling off the side, but I hiked up 2X to try it again… same problem - I let it go and skied away… fun times.
First priority: Safety….. Mission accomplished.
Second priority: Fun…... Mission accomplished.
Third priority: Learn…... Mission accomplished.
Al in all, a great year.
sure I diddnt nail a 5. but then again I diddnt even try one - and that doesnt bother me one bit!
Glad you had a good season snowslider, it’s sick that you have a one year old kid and still shred so much!! I hope i can boast the same one day. Anyways I agree with your point about some things being more tangible then others but no more worthwhile for that.
I think these achievements,
My switch turns are more comfortable.
I tuned in the feel of those bindings, and I gained confidence at higher speeds and steeper terrain.
I survived that long bump run, even if I only did it once.
Will in time and if you ever want it lead to this one,
Or I finally got a 5., and believe me I don’t think it’s abig deal whether you want to or not but if you do all the intangible things you mentioned you might well get a 5 and then magically chuck in a cab 5 same day…..honestly wouldn’t be that shocking!
Come on somebody progress! Has nobody landed anything new already? I don’t know how the seasons work down there in aus but i’m pretty sure the first squirrels should be appearing soon?
Only riden the one day so far. So no. Will let you know in two weeks how I have progressed as will be riding heaps! Will try to get a squirrel! 
Thought I’d do a little update in here, for myself, and to get everyone else doing a bit of posting cos I know people have been out riding!
Had my first good park day on Saturday at Falls Creek and I was back riding with my old crew (with some new additions) that I used to ride lots of park with.
I had stopped riding park a lot over that past year, mainly because I wasnt riding with the crew. I find it hard to motivate myself in the park when Im riding solo. The other reason is i was getting a whole new stoke on riding the whole mountain again.
But the park was good and my crew was ready to smash it. Here are a few things I was stoked on.
My main focus was to be throwing Front and Back 3s off the bigger jumps (three jumps of approx 15-20ft) in Drovers. Was getting awesome rotation on my front 3s. Nice and slow and floaty with indy grabs. Were feeling sweet, but I kept washing out on the landing or just didnt stomp it properly. I know what my problem was. I was not spotting my landing properly and then looking back up the hill when landing. The other thing that wasnt helping, is I was slightly corking the spin. I was throwing myself off axis. If I was spinning a 5, it would have been fine, but because I was only spinning 3, when I landed I was really tail heavy on the landing.
This was causes by me throwing my arms and shoulders on an upward angle instead of straight. The off axis spin felt and looked rad, but wasnt helping me stomp it.
I went to throw a back 1, and before I knew it I had spun a 3 so easily. So back 1s were in the bag no problems. I want to work on my back 1s and try to stall the spin a bit with a little shifty.
What got me really stoked is an awesome cab 180 I threw off the bottom jump infront of the whole crew. I dropped in switch to the last hit and carved up nicely and floated a nice big steezy cab 1 Indy. Felt like I was in slo mo. While i was mid jump I could see all my mates down the hill pumping their arms in the air as they didnt expect me to throw this. They said was really smooth, nice long grab and the spin wasnt hucked.
So Stoked that all the switch riding I have been doing the past year has helped me in the park.
With all my jumps and spins I was happy because they were all feeling really smooth and relaxed. I could focus on my style and there was no arm waving and jerky body movements.
Cant wait to get back onto the jumps!