Last week I was out in France for the annual french trade snowboard test again with the new 14/15 Never Summer snowboard samples. We got out there to bullet proof pistes and not a lot else. Not the most inspiring conditions. You could say I have been spoiled over the last couple of years, but as a rule I tend to get lucky when I go out to the alps. I focused on work for the first few days. There was plenty of that to do and people to catch up with.
Tuesday we got lucky! A good few centimeters overnight really made things much better. The riding was real fun then – though you had to be cautious as a lot of rocks had only the lightest of coverings. I had one board casualty to the day and I think I got off lucky! It was sweet to test new boards in decent conditions before having to sell them too. The new Ripsaw is a power house.
As the snowboard test wrapped up we moved on to Chatel to visit our friends at The Rider Social who took us splitboarding last winter. No need for splitboarding this time though – it dumped and we had all the fresh we wanted just off the piste. With a little help finding some good spots to lap we had an epic days riding on Wednesday.
Thursday we took as a rest day – aching after the day before (we are not athletes) and needing to catch up on sleep – time off was well deserved. Time to check out the town, balance out the Savoie diet of stodge, cheese and sausage with some vegetables etc.
We ended the trip on a high – Friday morning we woke up to loads of snow. We dug the van out, carbed up and headed out early. Laid down a load of fresh tracks, then lapped our favourite bits till early afternoon when we had nothing left. The perfect day to end a trip on! Now we just had to drive all night to get home.
Cant wait to get out to the snow again!
