Andorra Snow Freedom
I'm writing this one after my trip because the last week has been nonstop! i left for Barcelona not before my
plane breaking down before we set off which was a lil freaky, the pilot
announced we would have no air which was a bit worrying, how are we going to
breathe with no air! (chris brown? ) anyway we eventually set off and landed in
Barcelona. After a lil fuss over where i get the bus to Andorra i was on my
way. I met a cool family on the bus and had a good chat for a while, we had to
say our goodbyes though soon as i would be changing buses to go Sispony, a
different region in Andorra.
When i arrived at the lodge where i would be staying for a week things didn't start so well, i was waiting for nearly an hour in the cold before i could even get inside and check in so i weren't really in a good mood after travelling for 8 hours. The place i was staying had a gothic thing going on, the building used to be a converted church turned lodge so i guess it worked, there was a also a husky dog and two funny grey cats, who hated being in the same place as eachover always fighting!
the lodge was not bad but not amazing. The second day i started to meet more people, Cristoph a French dude who was also in Andorra for the comp was in my room and introduced himself and we chilled the entire time, he was a very cool relaxed guy with a warm easy going personality, i also met Vincent that day who was the complete opposite a wild all out guy who was always lively and joking around, a real cool guy too enjoying the experience. The snow in Andorra was hard cement type stuff and didn't really help that it was so sunny although it was really nice and a change from arctic condtions.
I met Anton on the chairlift who was also in the competition, a Russian Entrepeneur quiet but picked his words right which was funny as he would just say it how it is. We were riding for a few days and ended up going on a road trip to the south of France to see a james bond style solar beam building straight from a villains sketchbook, Anton was really keen to see it, we know what the Russians get up to in James bond!
either way the drive was nice but very windy i started feeling seasick on the way back, we also discovered the Grandvalira pass is a freeride paradise. I met Marea in the lodge, a really nice laid back swiss girl with a really cute smile and nice nature, we had a good vibe going on and always was nice and different spending time with her, unfortunately she's a popular girl on the tour and i didn’t see a lot of her towards the end of the trip, maybe in the future we will meet up again but who knows.
I had my line down perfect in my mind for the comp so i went into it pretty confident the next day. After the briefing and a reunion with a guy from France it was time to make the hike for the comp. We reached the start point and was watching the skiers dropping in like whoaa wait we go from here!?
i chosen a really difficult line and decided to drop from the highest point where no other snowboarders had dropped in but i was confident and going for the win.
My friend Vincent had to push me over just for me to start which was crazy, i turned quickly and slipped a bit until i regained control on the really steep section and continued with my line.
I was trying to reach a medium cliff to jump but i went in too late and lost a lot of speed trying to turn in hard to reach the drop in point for the cliff, anyway i didn't reach it and ended up butt checking trying to turn out of it uphill which wrecked my line, i made over the second jump but did the same thing on the way to the third, i finished and was pretty disappointed in the end as i knew i could have had the win but it was a lesson in experience as i didn't really take the snow condition too serious as an obstacle on my run but was still valuable experience and more important my confidence was higher knowing i could have won it with such a good run, so in the end i was looking to the positives and the future. Later me and vince went to ride a big face, he saved me actually from sliding half way down the mountain on the climb up, anyway on the way down i lost edge and slid down anyway most of top part which was really exposed and icey. The bottom i had some fun through the trees. We later met up with Damien another very cool guy from France who was so chilled out, we hooked up with Cristoph again and went on some tree runs.
We watched the 4 star event the next day, had an arctic bbq which was pretty funny, there was a lot of cold sausages out there haha!
later went to the afterparty which was pretty wild and me and Damien rocked that place out and were doing some serious time on the tequila. I had to call it after 4am and go back to the lodge as we had to be up by 9am to go ride, i remember we had some crazy Andorra/Catalan wine which we had to drink by pouring it like a water fountain into your mouth which was really sketchy being red wine which would have really been a night spoiler if it went wrong. The bbq was also great and a nice thing for the organisers to setup for the competitors. I don't know what happened to Damien but Cris left early and dam was there even later than me but somehow still managed to be in one piece for 9am the same morning to go ski!
We were drained later that day and just crawled our way through a few intense tree truns which were really hard work and would have been without a tequila hangover, dam was really feeling it the most! The yerba tea he made in the morning didn't help, not surprised with the taste of it! i also got stuck on a chairlift and nearly ended up going on an upside-down ride but luckily the chairlift guy saved me. Cristoph was leaving halfway in the day which was a pretty down moment, Marea had left, Vincent had left and it was only me and dam left to ride it out.
Later we went for a great meal in some bohemia bar in Massana which was really nice and the girl serving there was also pretty hot we were like daaamn. we talked about the future and what’s coming up, hopefully we will all be riding again in the near future. After a big chat a proper finish to the week catching up and winding down we were saying goodbyes to smash mouth all-star playing out on the radio on the way back to the lodge in dams truck, a convenient and great song to end a great week with new friends, sadly dam had to make his way back home and i would be on my way back to Barcelona for the flight home the next morning, So long Andorra, see you next year!!
When i arrived at the lodge where i would be staying for a week things didn't start so well, i was waiting for nearly an hour in the cold before i could even get inside and check in so i weren't really in a good mood after travelling for 8 hours. The place i was staying had a gothic thing going on, the building used to be a converted church turned lodge so i guess it worked, there was a also a husky dog and two funny grey cats, who hated being in the same place as eachover always fighting!
the lodge was not bad but not amazing. The second day i started to meet more people, Cristoph a French dude who was also in Andorra for the comp was in my room and introduced himself and we chilled the entire time, he was a very cool relaxed guy with a warm easy going personality, i also met Vincent that day who was the complete opposite a wild all out guy who was always lively and joking around, a real cool guy too enjoying the experience. The snow in Andorra was hard cement type stuff and didn't really help that it was so sunny although it was really nice and a change from arctic condtions.
I met Anton on the chairlift who was also in the competition, a Russian Entrepeneur quiet but picked his words right which was funny as he would just say it how it is. We were riding for a few days and ended up going on a road trip to the south of France to see a james bond style solar beam building straight from a villains sketchbook, Anton was really keen to see it, we know what the Russians get up to in James bond!
either way the drive was nice but very windy i started feeling seasick on the way back, we also discovered the Grandvalira pass is a freeride paradise. I met Marea in the lodge, a really nice laid back swiss girl with a really cute smile and nice nature, we had a good vibe going on and always was nice and different spending time with her, unfortunately she's a popular girl on the tour and i didn’t see a lot of her towards the end of the trip, maybe in the future we will meet up again but who knows.
I had my line down perfect in my mind for the comp so i went into it pretty confident the next day. After the briefing and a reunion with a guy from France it was time to make the hike for the comp. We reached the start point and was watching the skiers dropping in like whoaa wait we go from here!?
i chosen a really difficult line and decided to drop from the highest point where no other snowboarders had dropped in but i was confident and going for the win.
My friend Vincent had to push me over just for me to start which was crazy, i turned quickly and slipped a bit until i regained control on the really steep section and continued with my line.
I was trying to reach a medium cliff to jump but i went in too late and lost a lot of speed trying to turn in hard to reach the drop in point for the cliff, anyway i didn't reach it and ended up butt checking trying to turn out of it uphill which wrecked my line, i made over the second jump but did the same thing on the way to the third, i finished and was pretty disappointed in the end as i knew i could have had the win but it was a lesson in experience as i didn't really take the snow condition too serious as an obstacle on my run but was still valuable experience and more important my confidence was higher knowing i could have won it with such a good run, so in the end i was looking to the positives and the future. Later me and vince went to ride a big face, he saved me actually from sliding half way down the mountain on the climb up, anyway on the way down i lost edge and slid down anyway most of top part which was really exposed and icey. The bottom i had some fun through the trees. We later met up with Damien another very cool guy from France who was so chilled out, we hooked up with Cristoph again and went on some tree runs.
We watched the 4 star event the next day, had an arctic bbq which was pretty funny, there was a lot of cold sausages out there haha!
later went to the afterparty which was pretty wild and me and Damien rocked that place out and were doing some serious time on the tequila. I had to call it after 4am and go back to the lodge as we had to be up by 9am to go ride, i remember we had some crazy Andorra/Catalan wine which we had to drink by pouring it like a water fountain into your mouth which was really sketchy being red wine which would have really been a night spoiler if it went wrong. The bbq was also great and a nice thing for the organisers to setup for the competitors. I don't know what happened to Damien but Cris left early and dam was there even later than me but somehow still managed to be in one piece for 9am the same morning to go ski!
We were drained later that day and just crawled our way through a few intense tree truns which were really hard work and would have been without a tequila hangover, dam was really feeling it the most! The yerba tea he made in the morning didn't help, not surprised with the taste of it! i also got stuck on a chairlift and nearly ended up going on an upside-down ride but luckily the chairlift guy saved me. Cristoph was leaving halfway in the day which was a pretty down moment, Marea had left, Vincent had left and it was only me and dam left to ride it out.
Later we went for a great meal in some bohemia bar in Massana which was really nice and the girl serving there was also pretty hot we were like daaamn. we talked about the future and what’s coming up, hopefully we will all be riding again in the near future. After a big chat a proper finish to the week catching up and winding down we were saying goodbyes to smash mouth all-star playing out on the radio on the way back to the lodge in dams truck, a convenient and great song to end a great week with new friends, sadly dam had to make his way back home and i would be on my way back to Barcelona for the flight home the next morning, So long Andorra, see you next year!!
Below is a picture diary from my Blog Post - Andorra
Highlight : The FWT Face
Legendary Crew on the chairlift
Going for a hike
Very Calm in the BC
Event Photo
Scanning the Event face
Drop in?
James Bond Villians Secret Lair
Beautiful Weather for event day
We even had a white Husky in our Lodge
Perfect traditional views out the front door
Event day, Me
