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Bill's avatar
07 May, 2008
By Bill

Pyranha Rev

With Jim offering us a go in ..

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Bill's avatar
07 May, 2008
By Bill

BUSA No Polo 2008

The weekend of 11/12/13 April saw the ..

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Kenny's avatar
07 May, 2008
By Kenny

Ignoring the bank holiday forecast

If the forecast was to be believed we ..

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Kenny's avatar
06 May, 2008
By Kenny

Slacking off

Spring has finally come to Alpkit HQ, ..

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alpjim's avatar
28 April, 2008
By alpjim

A Gentleman’s Adventure

The plan was to circumnavigate ..

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alpjim's avatar
21 April, 2008
By alpjim

Rev’in it up in the wind.

I picked up a Pyranha Rev last week to ..

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Kenny's avatar
16 April, 2008
By Kenny

Climbing Works International Festival

An under strength Alpkit team arrived ..

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Ashleigh's avatar
22 March, 2008
By Ashleigh

Ice Ice Baby?

Now, I realise that striclty speaking ..

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Ashleigh's avatar
21 March, 2008
By Ashleigh

Skymasters and more

Well, I arrived at the Outdoor Show ..

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Bill's avatar
21 March, 2008
By Bill

Outdoors Show 2008

After a long drive from Teesside we ..

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Nicola's avatar
21 March, 2008
By Nicola

Outdoor Show 2008

The 14-16th March saw the Outdoor show ..

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Beth's avatar
21 March, 2008
By Beth

SkyMasters Challenge

Hundreds of eyes stared at the looming, ..

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Jenni's avatar
11 March, 2008
By Jenni
Nicola's avatar
10 March, 2008
By Nicola

NSRRRRRRRR 2008

This weekend saw the National Student ..

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Kenny's avatar
09 March, 2008
By Kenny

Show build up

It has been a busy week at Alpkit HQ. I ..

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Beth's avatar
05 March, 2008
By Beth

Summer in February!?

Blue skies and sunshine; it seemed too ..

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Nicola's avatar
02 March, 2008
By Nicola

Biking at Dalby

1st of March saw a sunny dry afternoon ..

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Kenny's avatar
22 February, 2008
By Kenny

Learning to ski

When I first moved to Italy I ..

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alpjim's avatar
18 February, 2008
By alpjim

Gear Testing with the Smiff

Sometimes opportunities present ..

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Kenny's avatar
17 February, 2008
By Kenny

A great day out on the Vallee Blanche

4.30 AM is not unusual for an Alpine ..

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Nick's avatar
15 February, 2008
By Nick

Sneaking a quick one

Jim and I had a meeting in Llanberis ..

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Colin's avatar
12 February, 2008
By Colin

The Alpkit Bouldering League 07/08

Well the Alpkit Bouldering League has ..

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alpjim's avatar
02 February, 2008
By alpjim

Single Track Awards

Saturday 2nd February saw us travel ..

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Kenny's avatar
28 January, 2008
By Kenny

Weekend of activity

So the weather has been pretty good the ..

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alpjim's avatar
09 January, 2008
By alpjim

Back East

Well here I am again, sitting in the ..

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Kenny's avatar
31 December, 2007
By Kenny

A new year just around the corner

Been struck down with a cold the past ..

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alpjim's avatar
30 December, 2007
By alpjim

Yorkshire Fun

I am extremely lucky to have made some ..

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Kenny's avatar
27 December, 2007
By Kenny

A day salvaged

Today the fine weather returned to the ..

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Kenny's avatar
26 December, 2007
By Kenny

A short trip on my bike

Not having any boxes to deal with my ..

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Kenny's avatar
25 December, 2007
By Kenny

A Christmas Ski

So the shops had finally shut and ..

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Colin's avatar
25 December, 2007
By Colin

La Wrekin

Well following on from Kenny’s exploits ..

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alpjim's avatar
25 December, 2007
By alpjim

Extreme Filo Testing

Just over 3 years ago I gave up ..

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Kenny's avatar
24 December, 2007
By Kenny

La Fiaccolata

T’was the last Sunday before Christmas. ..

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Nick's avatar
23 November, 2007
By Nick

Customer service hero wanted

Alpkit needs your help – Customer ..

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alpjim's avatar
07 November, 2007
By alpjim

Four Borders Expedition

Back in November 2006 student kayakers ..

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Kenny's avatar
20 September, 2007
By Kenny

A toast to Col and Liz

This weekend Alpkit Col (some of you ..

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Beth's avatar
01 August, 2007
By Beth

37 degrees and 53 problems

“53 problems?! You have got to be ..

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Colin's avatar
20 October, 2006
By Colin

A Journey By Bike

Richard and Sarah are currently ..

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Ashleigh's avatar
30 May, 2006
By Ashleigh

Mello Blocco Air and Energy

Hmm, my first impressions on seeing the ..

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Kenny's avatar
28 November, 2005
By Kenny

A Monks Life

To support our small article on the ..

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Beth's avatar
10 November, 2005
By Beth

Travelling Monks - Kalymnos

This must be paradise. We had even ..

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Beth's avatar
08 September, 2005
By Beth

Beth in Beijing

If you hear a group of climbers ..

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Beth's avatar
20 August, 2005
By Beth

Travelling Monks - Arco

The rock climbing in Arco is similar in ..

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Kenny's avatar
01 August, 2005
By Kenny

Competition climbing in the UK

With Beth placing highly in ..

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Beth's avatar
23 June, 2005
By Beth

Alpine Dreaming in Imst with the British Team

Why didn’t I hold it? I felt my fingers ..

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Beth's avatar
18 May, 2005
By Beth

Stanage in Spring

And then..
we went in the car to ..

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Learning to ski

image
Trying to keep it parallel at Piani di Bobbio

When I first moved to Italy I immediately decided that I would learn to snowboard. So I bought myself the kit and got out on the slopes. One weekend after the other I visited Chiesa di Valmalenco, Madesimo, Passo Tonale, Folgarida and Madonna di Campiglio. Often sleeping in the car to save cash I succeeded in teaching myself the art of surfing down the mountain.

Most of the people I subsequently ended up going out with have been skiers. In fact my first skiing partner was a telemarker.. a real skier as he went on to explain to me. The lifts had opened up a winter wonderland, a whole new world quite unlike the walk in to the Northern Corries!

The advantages and disadvantages of each mode of transport were obvious, if I wanted to go on from where the lifts ended I was going to need a more efficient means of getting around. Don’t get me wrong, descending on a board is cool but slogging uphill is strenuous enough without a board strapped to your back only to be replaced by snowshoes in descent.

And so this year I guess curiosity got the better of me. Having now spent two mornings strapped to two planks I must admit I am thoroughly enjoying the experience. At first I had my doubts, a lot of people say once you snowboard it is difficult to learn to ski and vice versa. In fact I have found quite the opposite, the fact that I can snowboard has really helped. I am used to the speed, the sensation of using the edge to make a turn, the flex of the skis and the subtleties of changing body position and distributing weight in all the right, or wrong places.

Having skiers around has always proved to be useful on flatter terrain, invaluable on up hill slopes and I owe a debt of gratitude to those friends who have pushed and pulled me along. Who knows by next year I to may be able to slide through the winter mountains with my friends.

22 February, 2008 by Kenny

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