It’s so great to be back in France and I spent this morning on Les 2 Alpes’ glacier. There was plenty of snow, beautiful sunshine and the lift queues were much shorter than in the Summer. So if you’re a keen skier or snowboarder, make sure you remember to book your holiday here for half-term week 2011 and check out today’s video:
05-Jul-2010
Video – Kumi Yama 2010 – Les 2 Alpes
Category : Events, Les 2 Alpes, Snowsports, Video
This year’s freestyle ski and snowboard competition, the Kumi Yama, proved to be a showcase for some epic riding. The eventual winners of the amateur Slopestyle ski competition were Bopcrew, and Bomb Squad on snowboards. In the professional event the winners were Elvis Harsheim, Nicolas Vuigner and Markus Eder on skis, and Matthieu Crepel, Alluar Ricciardi and Arthur Longo. Longo is also a Deux Alpes local and competed at this year’s Olympic Games.
The prize for Best Trick on skis was won by Bapiste Collomb Patton and there were joint winners in the snowboard category: Johan Baisamy and Kazu Kokubo. In the Superpipe, the winners were Nivo Bijonsen on skis and Kazu Kokubo on snowboard. The photography prize, a trip to Japan and a huge goodie bag, was won by David Tchag.
But that’s enough text, here’s the video…
03-Jul-2010
Not so-massive air at the Kumi Yama
Category : Events, Featured, Les 2 Alpes, Snowsports
Today was the final of the Kumi Yama’s invitational Superpipe competition and – as always – the talent was mixed. You’d expect riders that have been invited to take part to be of a certain standard, but the quality of tricks was hugely varied. Some riders barely managed to reach the top of the wall, let alone get any air. Of course, I’m far from an expert myself, and have been known to snow-plough down the pipe screaming. But that’s probably why I don’t get invited to compete in this event… and quite rightly so!
02-Jul-2010
Busy, busy, busy…
Category : Alpe d'Huez, Bourg d'Oisans, Cycling, Events, Les 2 Alpes, Other Activities, Snowsports
This weekend is easily the busiest of the summer as thousands of people descend on the Oisans region for a variety of events. In Les 2 Alpes there’s freestyle ski and snowboard event, the Kumi Yama, and the Raidlight Trail on Sunday. In Alpe d’Huez it’s all about road bikes with La Marmotte taking place on Saturday and the Ascent of the 21 Bends on Sunday.
It’s one of those weekends when you need to be in at least two places at once and manage without sleep or food in order not to miss out. But I’m recovering from a nasty cold and my car is being repaired it’s going even harder than usual to report on all the exciting stuff.
So this year I’m not going to stress about it. I’m going to go where I can go, see what I can see and bring you the best photos and films I can… so stay tuned to Destination Oisans!
18-Jun-2010
After the endurance riders proved their worth in yesterday’s Mavic Free Trail competition, today was the day for the freestylers. Les 2 Alpes‘ MTB festival – the Mondial du VTT – attracts some of the best riders in Europe and I spent the afternoon hanging out with Britain’s top guys, Sam Pilgrim and Grant Fielder.
