Today’s been the first full one spent on the hill for Zinnia, James, Kris and myself. Harry joined us late morning and of course Paul, Jillian, Griffin and Luella have been living it up since Saturday.
For Kris and myself it was a pretty easy start, the blackberry has its merits, so we left Zinnia and James dutifully going through their mails in the Taverne first thing. Kris’ mood was transformed from yesterday thanks to a waxed snowboard – a happy suit.
Paul, Jillian, Kris and I spent the morning getting some mileage in. The link to Val Thorens and Mont Velais are both shut but the upside of it being so early in the season is there are barely any others competing for piste or patches of fresh (yeah there still is plenty to play with) wherever we head. Kris has decided he’s on follow cam duty so he’s been keeping hot on our heels but seems to spend more time filming himself riding. I gave it a go but retired pretty much instantly after some less than favorable reviews from the gang. I’ll keep to stills later in the week…
Knipey’s turned into even more of a powder hunting machine since I last rode with him – he’s after every bit of pow he can track down. There are more than enough rocks once you venture further afield but it keeps it interesting. Kris did a good job of spotting a line for us earlier so I owe him one now…
We linked up with Zinnia, James and Harry for lunch on the fly – Harry’s been with On The Piste helping run the University groups they had in Val T last week… and it shows. The poor guy looked a shadow of his former self when we caught up with him, sporting face paint and a haunted stare that said much about the antics he’d seen (and probably participated in) over the last week or so. All healthy stuff, I’m sure.
So, with the full complement of the senior party complete we chowed down on door-stop wedges of bread complete with ‘steak’ (forgive the editor’s cynicism but we are in France and monsiour le cow can ‘oft be found with a mane and a bigger nose over here) and enough cheese for a raclette. Fires duely stoked we set off again minus the suit who spent the better part of the afternoon wheeling and dealing on behalf of his clients – what a pro, always on call.
We hit a few of the same runs as this morning but the novelty of being able to play on our own terms, without a comp to get to or a film to shoot is yet to wear off: we’re cruising on our own schedule and it rocks. Kris and James are definitely the most tech freestylers/jibbers, although Kris comes up with stories of floated 3s continually that we’re yet to see. Funny that they’re normally told with a snowy hat perched precariously on his head – concussion can do the funniest things.
In all seriousness though, this is our chance to improve our freestyle safe from the stares of pros so we’re all getting involved without fear of ridicule beyond the wider group. Zinnia’s learned some flat land tricks and had a coaching session on how to pop from James this morning. She’s also taking on the universally labelled ‘punter kickers’ switch before stomping her 180s – next stop the TTR me thinks. James is showing off his butter skills and has been nose and trail pressing ‘til his heart’s content; he’s also been the most adventurous in picking a line through the off-piste. Harry’s been going at mach-3 all day and put us all to shame in putting in the styliest ally-oops in a naturally shaped pipe we found late afternoon. Jillian’s efforts in said pipe were hampered by her attempted front-flip stalling mid-way in the proceeding off-piste: the superman flip may need a bit more work but I dare say none of us here are qualified to give her the tuition she needs. Jillian will just have to stick to the 540 mutes until she’s found the right take-off I guess.
They’ve started shaping their park here much to our collective joy and so there will be more visits there this week, but we managed to play on the small kickers (if you can even call them that) and there was the odd boardslide on a box or two. However, the coolest feature we’ve found is a quarter-pipe with a curved box sitting on the top. The run in is super steep but the coping’s probably 12ft up so it’s more than enough to keep us entertained. First in (what a champ, we didn’t even have to ask) was James who over-cooked it and a few moments later was seen digging himself out of the powder behind the box. 10 out of 10 for commitment Bobby. Harry was next up: shortening his run-in by approximately 2 metres his eyes must have been as wide as saucers as he was spat out of the QP at a jaunty angle and fortunate that he went just wide of the box. I totally ruined my effort by claiming it at the end, but having never been able to put anything of worth down in the park I was happy just to rotate 180 and stall on the coping. I think the acrobatics of James and Harry tempered the other’s need for speed but there were some sweet air to fakies on display.
The suit joined us late in the day. He’d been riding by himself for an hour or so and had endured a close encounter with a skier that ended up pretty unpleasant for all concerned. Kris was well and truly had by some Frenchie who fortunately ended up worse off. Kris is sporting a cut lip but the guy who collected him apparently covered the front of his jacket in claret and properly opened up his nose. He (monsieur bansai) also has to endure an angry mob who were none to pleased with what they had seen – the less fun side of being on the hill.
Anyways, we’re all back in the chalet enjoying some sofa time and sampling Knipey’s playlist. There’s a rumour of profiteroles for pudding tonight, sweet. Here’s to more great days on the hill.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
And so begins the KAOS experiment…
It’s 6:30 am in Gatwick departure lounge:
Kris [aka Suit] is savouring every last sip of his giant sized starbucks coffee – who knows when he will next have a ‘proper’ coffee?
James, having blagged his way through check-in after a late arrival to the airport [no surprise there], had not been so lucky in blagging his entire wash bag contents through Secuirty, and thus currently sits complaining about ‘The System’.
After two wrong attempts at entering my pin number into the Gatwick ATM, I am putting in some acute early morning brain work before my third and alas final attempt at the pin entry.
Jimmy sits bleary eyed whilst seriously questioning his decision to pull an all nighter
The plane journey itself is thankfully non-eventful, except for the sheer disgust from Suit at the quality of the complimentary coffee courtesy of British Airways. ‘You can see the bottom of the cup through the coffee – I think it might even be tea’. Subsequently the said beverage was returned and the in-flight questionnaire received a notch in the ‘unsatisfactory’ box.
With all of us experienced flyers on the London – Geneva route, we were in shock as the view from the plane showed miles and miles of snow-covered landscape. It had not been a myth – the reports of snow dumps across the Alpes were true.
It was going to be a good week in the new KAOS office…
An easy transfer with the Cool Bus, fully equipped with its makeshift dvd system. So in standard KAOS routine, we settled into some snowboard films (film of choice: DC Mountain Lab] questionably enhanced by the running commentary from James and Suit.
Chalet Epena – base camp for the week, and Paul had not been lying when he’d said it was ‘pimp’. Still no time to dwell – the mountain was calling.
Donning our Nike ACG attire [the boys in matching outfits - clear evidence of a lack of pre-trip outfit consultation] we headed to the central lift station in search of our ski legs – and of course the boss.
Ski pass and steeze in check, Team KAOS were in business. Well not quite…Suit was dragging his feet [and board] behind. It was fast becoming apparent that it was not Suit’s day. Where to start….the coffee [or rather lack of], the unbelievable pain in his feet [‘trying wearing ski boots’ – the unsympathetic response from the skier], the board [unwaxed and generally sh*t] and the hunger [the unsatisfactory British Airways coffee had also been accompanied by a somewhat substandard ham and cheese roll]
However an intricate extraction of the inner sole of Suit’s boots, an overpriced lunch (the sterling:euro conversion has not been kind to us humble tourists) and 3 hours of playing on the empty snow covered pistes later, and we were all strongly in favour of this office relocation malarky.
Team KAOS returned uninjured to basecamp where we were reunited with Family Knipe and a tempting lemon drizzle cake. Jimmy [making an example of the rest of us] dutifully took himself and laptop in search of internet access. It just so happened that the only place offering this service free of charge was La Taverne – a good English Apres Ski Bar…
The rest of us settled down with Griffin and Luella to watch ‘Surf’s Up’ – justifying to ourselves that watching a film centred around penguins surfing and featuring cameos from Kelly Slater and Rob Machado was essentially ‘industry’ related.
Wined and dined, it was an early night for the KAOS team in preparation for tomorrow’s exploration of the Meribel terrain. Here’s hoping the stiffness doesn’t set in over night. An altogether successful Monday at the KAOS office
Zinnia
Oh and in case you were wondering…after a week of repping a few hundred university students in Val Thorens, Mr Quartermain (aka Harry) is missing in action.
Kris [aka Suit] is savouring every last sip of his giant sized starbucks coffee – who knows when he will next have a ‘proper’ coffee?
James, having blagged his way through check-in after a late arrival to the airport [no surprise there], had not been so lucky in blagging his entire wash bag contents through Secuirty, and thus currently sits complaining about ‘The System’.
After two wrong attempts at entering my pin number into the Gatwick ATM, I am putting in some acute early morning brain work before my third and alas final attempt at the pin entry.
Jimmy sits bleary eyed whilst seriously questioning his decision to pull an all nighter
The plane journey itself is thankfully non-eventful, except for the sheer disgust from Suit at the quality of the complimentary coffee courtesy of British Airways. ‘You can see the bottom of the cup through the coffee – I think it might even be tea’. Subsequently the said beverage was returned and the in-flight questionnaire received a notch in the ‘unsatisfactory’ box.
With all of us experienced flyers on the London – Geneva route, we were in shock as the view from the plane showed miles and miles of snow-covered landscape. It had not been a myth – the reports of snow dumps across the Alpes were true.
It was going to be a good week in the new KAOS office…
An easy transfer with the Cool Bus, fully equipped with its makeshift dvd system. So in standard KAOS routine, we settled into some snowboard films (film of choice: DC Mountain Lab] questionably enhanced by the running commentary from James and Suit.
Chalet Epena – base camp for the week, and Paul had not been lying when he’d said it was ‘pimp’. Still no time to dwell – the mountain was calling.
Donning our Nike ACG attire [the boys in matching outfits - clear evidence of a lack of pre-trip outfit consultation] we headed to the central lift station in search of our ski legs – and of course the boss.
Ski pass and steeze in check, Team KAOS were in business. Well not quite…Suit was dragging his feet [and board] behind. It was fast becoming apparent that it was not Suit’s day. Where to start….the coffee [or rather lack of], the unbelievable pain in his feet [‘trying wearing ski boots’ – the unsympathetic response from the skier], the board [unwaxed and generally sh*t] and the hunger [the unsatisfactory British Airways coffee had also been accompanied by a somewhat substandard ham and cheese roll]
However an intricate extraction of the inner sole of Suit’s boots, an overpriced lunch (the sterling:euro conversion has not been kind to us humble tourists) and 3 hours of playing on the empty snow covered pistes later, and we were all strongly in favour of this office relocation malarky.
Team KAOS returned uninjured to basecamp where we were reunited with Family Knipe and a tempting lemon drizzle cake. Jimmy [making an example of the rest of us] dutifully took himself and laptop in search of internet access. It just so happened that the only place offering this service free of charge was La Taverne – a good English Apres Ski Bar…
The rest of us settled down with Griffin and Luella to watch ‘Surf’s Up’ – justifying to ourselves that watching a film centred around penguins surfing and featuring cameos from Kelly Slater and Rob Machado was essentially ‘industry’ related.
Wined and dined, it was an early night for the KAOS team in preparation for tomorrow’s exploration of the Meribel terrain. Here’s hoping the stiffness doesn’t set in over night. An altogether successful Monday at the KAOS office
Zinnia
Oh and in case you were wondering…after a week of repping a few hundred university students in Val Thorens, Mr Quartermain (aka Harry) is missing in action.
Monday, December 15, 2008
KAOS Relocates to Meribel (….well, for one week anyway)
It's been snowing like the bejezzuz and the KAOS team has scored a good deal on a 10 person chalet in Meribel. So Knipey’s unlocked the chains binding us all to the KAOS London office and we're outta here for this week.
WE'RE calling it an office relocation to Meribel. Now, before YOU say 'that sounds like a jolly and an outrageously indulgent office Christmas party', then please note…our relocation will be something of a social experiment.
KAOS theory is that any office team can work from the mountains for a week and not skip a beat. And that’s with your team actually enjoying themselves and not being holed up in the chalet all day banging away on the laptop.
So we're gonna test that theory and tell you all about the result right here, this week. We'll be blogging daily our experience and also writing a feature article on our antics. Hopefully our experience will inspire more bosses to take their teams away meaning not only more enthused staff but also more punters getting out there helping the ski and snowboard economy to keep ticking.
The KAOS Crew:
1. Paul and Jillian Knipe – The two directors of KAOS have been the advance party. Heading out on Saturday 13th before everyone else arrives Monday. In tow, the two KAOS groms (in photo), Griffin and Luella. (Jillian and Paul’s kids!!). To make the trip, the groms have had to wag the last two days of school for the year (renamed ‘sick days’ as far as OFSTED is concerned).
Paul will be equipped with a Lib Tech Banana, Laptop, LG mobile for calls and Blackberry for emails.
2. Jimmy Goodrich – Equipped with ski’s, Dan Wakeham Head pro model snowboard, laptop and Blackberry.
Since joining KAOS about four years ago, Jimmy has been on more ski press and filming shoots than you can shake a stick at. As a skier, he’s outnumbered in the KAOS office and has taken some stick that he can’t board. In addition to continuing to run all the sports marketing and PR missions for KAOS, this week Jimmy will be bringing his snowboard. How much time he spends standing sideways will be interesting.
3. Zinnia Higson – Equipped with new Head snowboard (courtesy of Xavier), Laptop and LG mobile phone.
Zinnia has been trying to convince us she’s crap at snowboarding since joining KAOS three years ago. However, she’s managed to ride across some of the gnarliest back-country in Europe earlier this year on the Nike ACG Document press trip so she must be pretty handy. Expect to see male testosterone at work egging Zinnia on to hit kickers and get some major air-time in memory of all the LG Air Bag hits she took when managing that project. Work wise this week, Zinnia will have to keep up with all the developments on LG and manage some team back and forth for Nike ACG. Note: Dan Wakeham had some great results in Breckenridge this weekend so things looking good for his Olympic lead-up.
4. James Dalziel – Equipped with Volkel board, Laptop and mobile.
For a Brit with a job, James has spent far too much time on the snow. His youth and boarding skills combined should leave the rest of us behind particularly in the park. I’ve found James to be a great park teacher as he carries the motto of his major PR brand, Nike. ‘see that rail….just do it’. This week, James will probably be launching a couple more Nike ACG Sweetspots to the European media and updating us all on the research he’s been doing for a new client.
5. Kristoffer Hansson – Equipped with one or more of his quiver of boards, laptop and Blackberry.
Kris is the MD of Dot. Inc, one of KAOS’ partner companies. Now Kris is the ‘coulda been champion’ of the group. He genuinely can snowboard like a pro as he tries to keep up with all his clients like Hampus Mosesson, Markus Kellar and the new kids like Eiki and Halidor Helgasson. The downside to Kris’ snowboarding is that he still thinks he can do all the moves he could when he was ten years younger and a few pounds lighter. Also, being the ultimate deal maker, he never has the blackberry far from his ear or his fingertips. He has been known to restrict his time on snow chasing deals for his clients. So it will be interesting to see how Kris fits work with pleasure this week.
6. Harry Quartermain: Equipped with at this stage unknown brand of skis, LG mobile and laptop.
Harry is the newest recruit to the KAOS team and was instrumental in producing the LG Air Bag tour all over the country and at the LG Freeze. He has been working last week on a project in Val Thoren so his journey to the KAOS chalet involves him bunging on a pair of skis. Harry could be busy working on organizing an LG sales incentive trip to Bardoneccia this week so we’ll see how much slope time he fits in. Harry has been very quiet about his skiing skills in the office but rumor has it he can handle things pretty well on snow.
Pre-week stats
- Skiers total 4
- Boarders total 5
- Proficiency Expert: 3 (Jimmy, James, Kris)
- Proficiency Intermediate: (Paul, Jillian, Zinnia, Griffin)
- Proficiency Beginner: 1 (Luella)
- Proficiency unknown: 1 (Harry)
The snow report;
It has been snowing a lot here over the past weeks so there is plenty of cover. Hardly anyone is in resort but there are limited lifts running so the piste seems reasonably busy regardless.
Chalet Epena;
We have amazing chalet hosts – Zara and Coops who will no doubt look after us a treat. Ski Basics have looked after us so far and they seem like a great company with some very nice chalets. Check them out at www.skibasics.co.uk . The cool bus is doing the transfers from Geneva and have done the business so far so google those guys as well.
The 'ability to do any work' outlook;
There is no internet in the chalet and no free hook-ups in the vicinity so that’s an interesting start. A couple a bars nearby have internet so expect us to be logging on whilst downing a pint or two in the evening. Blackberrys could come in handy.
That's about it so away we go…….
WE'RE calling it an office relocation to Meribel. Now, before YOU say 'that sounds like a jolly and an outrageously indulgent office Christmas party', then please note…our relocation will be something of a social experiment.
KAOS theory is that any office team can work from the mountains for a week and not skip a beat. And that’s with your team actually enjoying themselves and not being holed up in the chalet all day banging away on the laptop.
So we're gonna test that theory and tell you all about the result right here, this week. We'll be blogging daily our experience and also writing a feature article on our antics. Hopefully our experience will inspire more bosses to take their teams away meaning not only more enthused staff but also more punters getting out there helping the ski and snowboard economy to keep ticking.
The KAOS Crew:
1. Paul and Jillian Knipe – The two directors of KAOS have been the advance party. Heading out on Saturday 13th before everyone else arrives Monday. In tow, the two KAOS groms (in photo), Griffin and Luella. (Jillian and Paul’s kids!!). To make the trip, the groms have had to wag the last two days of school for the year (renamed ‘sick days’ as far as OFSTED is concerned).
Paul will be equipped with a Lib Tech Banana, Laptop, LG mobile for calls and Blackberry for emails.
2. Jimmy Goodrich – Equipped with ski’s, Dan Wakeham Head pro model snowboard, laptop and Blackberry.
Since joining KAOS about four years ago, Jimmy has been on more ski press and filming shoots than you can shake a stick at. As a skier, he’s outnumbered in the KAOS office and has taken some stick that he can’t board. In addition to continuing to run all the sports marketing and PR missions for KAOS, this week Jimmy will be bringing his snowboard. How much time he spends standing sideways will be interesting.
3. Zinnia Higson – Equipped with new Head snowboard (courtesy of Xavier), Laptop and LG mobile phone.
Zinnia has been trying to convince us she’s crap at snowboarding since joining KAOS three years ago. However, she’s managed to ride across some of the gnarliest back-country in Europe earlier this year on the Nike ACG Document press trip so she must be pretty handy. Expect to see male testosterone at work egging Zinnia on to hit kickers and get some major air-time in memory of all the LG Air Bag hits she took when managing that project. Work wise this week, Zinnia will have to keep up with all the developments on LG and manage some team back and forth for Nike ACG. Note: Dan Wakeham had some great results in Breckenridge this weekend so things looking good for his Olympic lead-up.
4. James Dalziel – Equipped with Volkel board, Laptop and mobile.
For a Brit with a job, James has spent far too much time on the snow. His youth and boarding skills combined should leave the rest of us behind particularly in the park. I’ve found James to be a great park teacher as he carries the motto of his major PR brand, Nike. ‘see that rail….just do it’. This week, James will probably be launching a couple more Nike ACG Sweetspots to the European media and updating us all on the research he’s been doing for a new client.
5. Kristoffer Hansson – Equipped with one or more of his quiver of boards, laptop and Blackberry.
Kris is the MD of Dot. Inc, one of KAOS’ partner companies. Now Kris is the ‘coulda been champion’ of the group. He genuinely can snowboard like a pro as he tries to keep up with all his clients like Hampus Mosesson, Markus Kellar and the new kids like Eiki and Halidor Helgasson. The downside to Kris’ snowboarding is that he still thinks he can do all the moves he could when he was ten years younger and a few pounds lighter. Also, being the ultimate deal maker, he never has the blackberry far from his ear or his fingertips. He has been known to restrict his time on snow chasing deals for his clients. So it will be interesting to see how Kris fits work with pleasure this week.
6. Harry Quartermain: Equipped with at this stage unknown brand of skis, LG mobile and laptop.
Harry is the newest recruit to the KAOS team and was instrumental in producing the LG Air Bag tour all over the country and at the LG Freeze. He has been working last week on a project in Val Thoren so his journey to the KAOS chalet involves him bunging on a pair of skis. Harry could be busy working on organizing an LG sales incentive trip to Bardoneccia this week so we’ll see how much slope time he fits in. Harry has been very quiet about his skiing skills in the office but rumor has it he can handle things pretty well on snow.
Pre-week stats
- Skiers total 4
- Boarders total 5
- Proficiency Expert: 3 (Jimmy, James, Kris)
- Proficiency Intermediate: (Paul, Jillian, Zinnia, Griffin)
- Proficiency Beginner: 1 (Luella)
- Proficiency unknown: 1 (Harry)
The snow report;
It has been snowing a lot here over the past weeks so there is plenty of cover. Hardly anyone is in resort but there are limited lifts running so the piste seems reasonably busy regardless.
Chalet Epena;
We have amazing chalet hosts – Zara and Coops who will no doubt look after us a treat. Ski Basics have looked after us so far and they seem like a great company with some very nice chalets. Check them out at www.skibasics.co.uk . The cool bus is doing the transfers from Geneva and have done the business so far so google those guys as well.
The 'ability to do any work' outlook;
There is no internet in the chalet and no free hook-ups in the vicinity so that’s an interesting start. A couple a bars nearby have internet so expect us to be logging on whilst downing a pint or two in the evening. Blackberrys could come in handy.
That's about it so away we go…….
Monday, December 01, 2008
Danny has a bit of a spill
It seems the inventer of the Mega Ramp Danny Way has had a few problems with his landing and busted a couple of bones in his back. Hoping he gets back to it soon.
Copy this link and there's a film that makes your eyes water!!
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html&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&sl=pt&tl=en
Copy this link and there's a film that makes your eyes water!!
"http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgloboesporte.globo.com
%2FEsportes%2FNoticias%2F0%2C%2CMUL869630-16606%2C00-QUEDA%2BVAI%2BDEIXAR%2B
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html&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&sl=pt&tl=en
Friday, October 17, 2008
FROM THE STEEPS OF AK TO FIRST DESCENTS ON ANNAPURNA; SWEETSPOTS RETURNS FOR A SECOND WINTER SEASON
17th October sees another epic reel of Sweetspots films go live on NikeACG.com as the Nike ACG team takes you on a journey all over the globe searching for the freshest of lines in the most unique locations.
French compatriots Mati Imbert & Laurent Niol head deep into the Nepalese Himalayas to register first descents on the exposed faces of Annapurna and explore the Buddhist temples of
No series of Sweetspots would be complete without some of the crew venturing to the freeride mecca of
The second season of Sweetspots launches with;
SS #23 : Laurent Niol & Mati Imbert; on location with Audience 33 on Annapurna (
SS #24 : Laurent Niol; on location with Audience 33 in Ste Foy (France)
There will be a new Sweetspots film released every two weeks throughout the season featuring stunning locations and superb riding.
The product section of NikeACG.com has been completely redesigned and is now fully loaded with all the freshest products for the coming season.
Come and check it all out on www.NikeACG.com
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