DSC_7147, originally uploaded by plasticsnow aka Kat.

Jools & I were invited to the recent night shoot by Maverix Snow Camps to get some shots of the instructors while they did some videoing for their promo movie.

Acting as flash-monkey for Jools I didn’t get a chance to ride but I did use it as an opportunity to test out the face wraps I’d just been sent by my latest sponsor, Laurus.  Not only were Jools and I both kept toasty warm while in a giant freezing fridge but even when the snow blowers were running the fleece lined wraps managed to avoid getting soggy and freezing to our faces.

Here’s one of Jools’ test shots of me in my Uni-Sexy Swagger Long wrap.

The shots he took for James of Maverix can be found on Maverix Snow’s Facebook profile

At this point I should admit that I hate being the first person to hit a toy, in previous years I’ve been able to rely on Jamie Nicholls or one of the other kids acting as a test rider and I can bow to their judgement with regards to speed, how the kicker’s riding etc, unfortunately though they were all riding in the 2nd qualification group so if I was going to step up and hit it I’d have to do it on my own. I looked again and after a bit of banter with Shiner the Technical Delegate for the day where we argued over the size (I said as far as I was concerned it was 9m as that’s what the plan said, he said 14.5m) I decided it was definitely doable, took a deep breath and dropped in. Straight off the drop in ramp, over the first lip, straight into the kicker (good girl, no speed checks) and up into the air……..oooooops! Yes the kicker was way whippier than it looked and the moment I was in the air it started to feel a bit wrong, my weight was too far back and I was tipping in the air. Anyone that’s been in this situation will know that at this point time slows down, I was a long way up and I realised that my best chance of surviving this was to tip my weight so I was going to fall on my front not my back, bring my arms in, relax and wait for the impact. It seemed like I had a long time to wait as I took up my “frog” position and started to plummet, then the ground hit, I bounced on my front, hitting my chin and then I must have bounced onto my back because I came to rest half way down the landing with my head pointing down and my feet back up towards the kickers. I wasn’t in pain, knew I wasn’t broken but I was totally winded so when I looked up to see people rush in to check on me I signalled I was ok and let them unstrap my board so I could roll over and get off the landing. A huge thanks to the First Aider, Col Mytton and Jools Smith who were all over to me pretty much the moment I’d landed. A pretty impressive feat for Jools considering he was on the run in side of the kicker capturing these shots…..

..he then had to pelt round to check I was alive! Thankfully I was and once I got my breath back I was back up the top grabbing a drink of water before getting back to it (all be it on the 5m kicker). I was quite gutted not to have landed it but I think I impressed (and scared) everyone by giving it a go. For a while I doubted myself and wondered if it was my mistake and whether I’d misjudged my ability, it turns out I hadn’t though as over the course of the 2nd qualification when the guys were hitting it, it became apparent that it was too whippy a kicker and a lot of people came a cropper much worse than I had. Numerous guys ended up visiting the local hospital and quite a few more admitted to being scared. These weren’t poor riders but the cream of the UK and it’s a shame that a quarter of all entrants took a bad fall on the main kicker! I count myself very lucky to have escaped with a slightly scraped chin and some aches from the impact.

All in all it was a fun session, even with the aches I was feeling and I was stoked to qualify for the final in 3rd place. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to hang on to it so finished 4th overall and 1st in Masters, still I figure I can live with being beaten by a 12 year old, a 14 year old and an under 30 year old!

To wrap up the day nicely I had a really nice message that put the icing on the cake and I’m pleased to announce I now have a new sponsor, Laurus. Laurus make handmade face wraps, and I’m looking forward to wearing them over the course of the Winter, not just on the slopes but on my commute to work if it gets cold enough!

Saturday was another fun day with coaching on kickers and rails, the kicker was quite small which made it hard to really get my knees up on my spins without me feeling rushed and panicked so I took things steady and just focused on getting the take off right (which in turn meant my arms were mostly below shoulder level).  The afternoon was spent on the low box rail and I worked on making sure I managed to get some new tricks under my belt.  I’d tried frontside noseslides at Castleford a few weeks ago but wasn’t really committing to get them fully tweaked out.  Yesterday I was really pleased because not only did I manage to get a regular frontside nose with my board at 90 degrees but I managed to get the same trick nailed switch!

I was even more pleased that I was really going for the tweak and getting the board at right angles rather than the 45ish degrees I was getting at Cas.

This week’s going to be a busy one, I’m in Nottingham on Tuesday for work and then back over to Hemel on Friday for a shred with Anna who owns Sputnik Snowboard Shop (and sponsors me).  We’ll also be heading over to the shop so I can check out the shiny new toys that have been delivered so far!  I’m just waiting for some new boots to come in as I noticed at the weekend that mine are starting to come unstuck around the edges, and I’m hoping the Burton Molotovs will have arrived by then too…..I love this time of year!  Add to that the fact that my snowboards from Humanity are being pressed this week and I think it’s going to be a good month on the new kit front!

I’m typing this post while exhausted and full of Chinese food, my reward for all the snowboarding I’ve done this weekend.  We spent last night at the new Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead, it opened a couple of months ago and yesterday was the first time we’d had the time (and money) to check it out. When it first opened the Friday night freestyle session was £50 for non members, thankfully they’ve dropped their prices so last night cost £31.50 with my SCUK membership.  I’d heard good things about Hemel, every-one’s been raving about the snow quality so as I was going to be at MK SNO!zone all day today we thought we’d do the Hemel session, stay in a hotel to save mileage on the car and then drive up to MK first thing this morning.

The first thing that hit me when we arrived in reception was the view of the slope, you can see it through a glass window behind them, it was shorter than MK but on the plus side shorter means more laps per session.  They had a rail and kicker line set up on half the main slope (with half being clear for non-freestylers) and then a bunch of toys on half the nursery slope as well.

The snow was definitely different to MK, finer and less granular and it was running well speed-wise, so well in fact that despite dropping in low on the kicker I almost over shot the landing!  I spent most of the night on the kicker, none of my friends were really hitting the rails on the main slope, so I figured I’d give the gap kicker a try.  It looked pretty whippy from the lift but it was a pretty smooth take off and once I’d got the feel from where to drop in from I had a really good session.  As ever, Jools was on hand to take some photos, so I set about doing some tail fishes (it’s the first opportunity I’ve really had to do them since I set up this new site) and then some shifty mutes.  I really did want to spin over it but the gap and the rutted run in meant i didn’t quite believe in my ability and the fact that I wasn’t going to catch my edge.  the park crew were doing their best to maintain the kicker but when you have 20 or so people hitting it solidly it’s always going to be tough to keep it perfect.  I did have a play on the rails and boxes on the nursery slope as well but 3 hours on the kicker had taken it’s toll and I wasn’t really feeling it by the time I made the switch.

It was a fun night and it was good to see friends (Doc & Street) I hadn’t ridden with for ages and I can see us heading over to Hemel once a month to see people who don’t make it up to MK as regularly as I do.

So after a rough night’s sleep in the hotel (smokey smelling bedroom leading to the invocation of Premier Inn’s good night guarantee) we hopped in the car and headed up to MK SNO!zone for another Maverix One Day camp.  This was my third full day with them and I was looking forward to it, on the drive up I planned out my “want list” for the day and during the pre-session briefing listed it as “all four 180s on the kicker and spins on and off rails and side ons”.  Once again we started on the kicker and after a couple of warm up runs I started spinning.  First up was the frontside 180 and although the spin itself was really smooth I had my arms in a perfect ballerina pose over my head….never a good look!  Thankfully as I settled in to it I became a bit more relaxed and managed to get my arms down and get a FS180 indy.  Next up backside, again I was a bit flayly initially but managed to get a BS180 mute.  I finished the morning session by stepping it up and riding switch, nailing Cab1s and switch BS1s, no grabs this time and I need to work on hitting the kicker a bit faster switch but that will come with practice.

The afternoon was a rail session, we started on the box and I managed to get FS180 on and Cab180 on, this was the first time I’d tried spinning switch on to a box.  It’s was Coach Phil’s suggestion and I was stoked to land it first try.  We then moved on to the long rail (switch frontside boardslide!) before heading up to the side on gas pipe.  After a few hits to 50:50 I managed to nail a couple of backslide lipslides.  Considering I’d been riding for about 5 hours by now I was pleased my legs held up and I didn’t clip the front of the pipe and I popped my back leg over the pipe before boardsliding away….after my second of these I called it a day, no point in riding too hard when your legs are getting shaky, that’s when accidents happen, and with the first leg of the Westbeach Snowflex Freestyle Series next Saturday I wanted to stay firmly in one piece.  I was especially keen not to repeat the run where I’d slide half the length of the corrugated gas pipe on my bum!

All in all it’s been a brilliant weekend, I managed to get about 8 hours riding into 24 hours and nail a load of new tricks into the bargain!

Here’s a slide show of my kicker shots from Hemel:

The full set, including Sam Cullum, Lon Canu, Jake Terry, Mikee Chen & Duncan Carr

It seemed fitting that we celebrated the anniversary by hitting the slopes and so we headed up to MK again, 7 years on and SNO!zone sponsor me, the enthusiasm I felt at the end of that first day has only grown and I was looking forward to a good session with some friends, Jools was looking forward to taking some photos and a fun evening was made evn better by the official announcement that I am now sponsored by Humanity Snowboards “Official Announcement: Kat Miller Joins Humanity“.  I knew the blog post was coming, but it was great to read it on my trusty N82 as I rode up the Poma.  I’ve come a long way in the last seven years, not just in snowboarding but in work as well and I love the fact that my enthusiasm not only for riding but the day to day stuff I do, the tech and the geeky stuff has led me to my first board sponsor.  I connected with Humanity not through the usual channels of showing up at comps and getting to know the distributors but by casual conversation over the internet.  It was a connection of like-minds, people with similar interests and a mutual love not just of snowboarding but of social tools and interaction as well.

I’m stoked that Humanity Snowboards picked me for their team and I can’t wait to get my first board from them and started shredding indoors & dry on it.  I’m looking forward to getting to know the guys behind Humanity and the other team members so that even though we don’t shred together we can share in our love of the shred!

Last night was also awesome thanks to Ludo Canu of Spazz Clothing & UK Tall Tees.  Not only has he made me up some brilliant die-cut stickers for my sponsor Sputnik Snowboard Shop but he’s made me up a Sputnik hoody as well.  Ludo and his son Lon are both awesome to ride with and have been really encouraging and supportive of me, giving me the confidence to try new stuff.  Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!

So as I move into year 8 on a board I just want to say a huge thank you to Jools,  to all my friends, the people I ride with and compete against, the mums and dads who not only support their kids but me as well and most especially to my sponsors SNO!zone, Sputnik Snowboard Shop & Humanity Snowboards……bring on the summer shred!

Pre-session groom

This is where I ride most of the time, SNO!zone MK.  As you can see it’s not that big, the two main slopes are 175m long, so you don’t really get the “whole mountain” feel while you’re riding, but it is perfect for freestyle and getting new tricks dialled.

I was really looking forward to last night’s session, it’s been a long hard week at work and I needed an opportunity to switch off and have some fun, I will admit though that as I went up the Poma lift I was a bit disappointed in the set-up, everything apart from the rainbow box was jump on and not easy jump up but proper, jump up and sideways on!  Even worse, the easiest of the toys was the gas pipe and I HATE gas pipes, I’m just not a fan of their slippery curved tops and even less keen in the corrugated-ness of the pipes they have at MK at the moment, especially because when you wrap yourself around them and slide along on your front it stings!

After a fast run down the slope to warm up and get my contact lenses used to the cold I decided to stop being miserable and get on with it, let’s face it it would have been a waste of an evening to have driven 75 miles only to give up and go home because I’m a wuss.  I was feeling a bit happier than I have been recently as I’d had a couple of good hits on the gas pipe at last week’s Maverix One Trick Pony session, so I went for it.  Luckily I jumped on fine, clearing the top of the pipe without catching my shins and without jumping too high (this is an issue I’ve had for a while, I tend to over cook the jump to make sure I get on and then I’m unsettled).  Admittedly I did fall off the far side just before the end of the pipe but all in all it wasn’t a bad start.  I then spent the evening lapping the park and building up to harder rails, after the gas pipe I tried the flat bar that was just above it, this had minimal kickerage and I was a bit scared I wasn’t going to make it but commitment and courage meant I made it OK, and even managed to stick in a quick speed check and hit the gas pipe as well.  After a couple of hours sessioning these, I started to feel a bit less sick in my stomach on every run in and decided it was time to give the down rail at the top of the slope a go.

Side-on down rail

This is where my “New Trick OCD” kicks in, if I’m really scared but serious about giving something new a go I find I can’t do it first try, for some reason it just doesn’t happen.  So there I stand at the top of the slope, looking down at the rail, plotting how to attack it and I drop in, I get my line but just ride off the kicker not popping on to it, just riding past.  Bac to the top and I do the same thing, I want to do it, I just can’t, I’m chicken and slightly convinced that it’s all going to go wrong.  I give myself a good talking to as I ride up the lift, I have to do it this time, it’s number 3, no more messing around and not committing.  I drop in, pop, up and forwards, I’m on the rail, I landed board first, I jump off again.  I didn’t ride the full length, but I got on it, my breathing’s a bit heavy and I have butterflies in my stomach but at least I know I can get on it OK.  Back to the top and I do it again, stayung on longer this time, ,then a couple more aborted attempts (run in not quite right) before Jools captures proof on the video camera.  After that I decided to call it a night, it was almost 11pm (slope closing time) and I didn’t want to risk a silly slam right at the end of the evening.

I’m glad I stayed and pushed myself, I feel like I achieved a lot, on the gas pipe and flat bar my arms were much more relaxed and less flayly above my head for most of my attempts and although they were raised on the down rail I know now that I can do it so I just need to keep working on it and let my style improve as I relax a bit and my confidence grows.  Although it’s Summer that doesn’t mean progressin can standstill.  I’ve got my first big air comp of the season in 3 weeks (Halifax leg of the Westbeach Snowflex Tour) and then in September the British Snowboarding Championships kick off starting with the Artificial Championships in Norfolk (plastic snowboarding FTW!) and then before I know it I’ll be back in Laax ready to hit the big stuff again.  I need to keep the momentum and feel like I’m getting better all the time, it makes me happy to improve and although I know a lot of people don’t understand why snowboarding is a sport rather than a hoobby/social thing to me, it is and I love it all the more for it.  If I finish a session without having learnt or progressed then it’s just not fun for me!

As you can see from this 12 seconds video I had a great time last night!

It was a pretty chilled night and it was good to be shredding with Lon Canu again, it’s always good to see him flipping his way over the kickers and killing it on the rails and it’s impossible not to feed off his energy.

I had a good night on the rails, mostly working on keeping my arms down as much as possible and just getting the feel of the board.  I also managed to get a few switch tricks down so I’m pretty stoked with that.  Jools was shredding as well and it was good to see him having some fun and getting back on some rails again.  It’s been about 9 months since he’s had an indoor session and it looked like he was loving it.  He also managed to get some videoing done and he’s put together a quick video of me, so you can check it out on Vimeo.

I’m back up to MK on Wednesday for the Maverix One Trick Pony course, this session is focusing on presses and side on tricks so I’m looking forward to building on Friday’s warm-up of the new board and really get my head round side on tricks!

It’s been a lovely weekend, and although I’d like to say it’s been a nice and relaxing one after a pretty stressful week at work I’d be lying if I did….what I can say is that it’s been brilliant and great fun!

Friday kicked off with a drive across the back roads to Milton Keynes ready for a night and day of shredding, SNO!storm was on on Friday night and then I had my second Maverix One Day Camp session on Saturday.  We’d decided to stay in a hotel to try and save mileage on the car and also to save us having to get up at 6am on Saturday to get to the slope in time and miss the traffic.  It was quite a smooth trip for a change and after dumping our stuff at the hotel we headed to the slope for the session.  This was the first night that an MK event has gone up against an event rather than a board night at the new slope over at Hemel Hempstead and I wasn’t sure how it was going to pan out, the majority of chat on the forums was about the FBBB event at Hemel and it did sound as though MK could be a wash out.

Thankfully it wasn’t! Steve Revill and his park builders had done a blinding job and with both of the main slopes and the lesson slope completely given over to freestyle toys of all levels it was definitely better on a direct comparison basis from the slope plan advertised by Hemel (half the main slope and the lesson slope).  Hemel did apparently have more people, but given the fact that they’d dedicated less of the slope to the toys I was glad I’d stuck with MK.  It was by no means quiet, by my reckoning there were about 150 people there but the mix of toys from basic ride ons, to mini sides ons with some pretty gnarly jump on rails it was for me the perfect set up. The only downside for me was the kicker which was just a touch out of my skill range, a whippy gap kicker built for spectacular inverts!  I’m too chicken to go inverted so gave that a wide berth but spent plenty of time playing on the newly refurbed jump on straight rail, spinning on the bench and working some presses over the kink.  I also had some fun on the mini wall ride, I always struggle to get my head round wall rides so it was good to have something a bit smaller to mess around on to try and get a feel for it next time I come across one at a comp.  The run ins and exits stayed in good nick all night and there wasn’t an icy patch to be seen.

Arriving back the next morning ready for the Maverix One Day Camp it was good to see Steve was out on the slope regrooming all the toys ready for the evening Park Strife session, the Maverix crew had also been hard at work over night and had built a double take off kicker for our course.  I had another great camp with them and this time was coached by Phil rather than Lyndon, it was great to get a different perspective on things but I’m pleased to say that both he and Lyndon are great coaches and both are really good at spotting your faults and helping you to correct them.

I was also lucky enough to get some time with Maverix’s founder James Streater who did some drills with me to help me with my attempts at side on rails, ollying a ski pole balanced on a couple of mini cones and doing jump ons on to a row of low cones or upside down snowboards.  It became apparent that not only am I pants at ollying (I have a tendency to lift both feet at the same time rather than lifting my nose followed by the tail, I also have a tendency to land nose heavy) but that my much loved Forum Craft may be just a touch too aggressive for learning rail tricks without me coming a cropper.

Although I didn’t learn as many new tricks on this session as I did on my first I had the chance to work on the tricks from the last session, trying to iron out my errors and avoid getting in to bad habits.  The coaches are good at pushing you but also bringing you back down to earth when required.  After landing some really nice FS180s Phil had encouraged me to go for the 360, unfortunately the panic set in a bit and rather than keeping the smooth style I’d had earlier in the session I started spinning like a ballerina, with my arms in a perfect circle above my head.  Rather than letting me struggle on spinning like this J and Phil took me back to doing the 180s while trying different grabs to try and get me more confident and settled with my arms in the right place.

To counter the over aggressive board issue I’ve got a Forum Manual on its way to me from Sputnik, a bit shorted and more flexible I’m hoping that it will allow me to get the technique of ollying on to rails and spinning on and off on a slightly more forgiving board before switching back to my Craft for the mountain and for bigger set ups.

So a great weekend, brilliant park setups to ride, a shiny new snowboard on order and a nice roast dinner and a glass of wine to finish it off with.  Thanks has to go to Steve Revill, Maverix & Sputnik for making it as good as it’s been!  Jools has got some photos from SNO!storm up on Flickr