The Alpine Challenge has got everything a great fundraising event needs – how else can you combine snowsports, a genuine endurance challenge covering a distance of over 150km in 2 days, loads of prizes and a huge party into one weekend?

Chemmy Alcott, Team GB Olympic Skier 

After a fantastic weekend of endurance skiing, snowboarding and mountain hiking – 18 teams have returned to the UK after competing in the 2013 Snow-Camp Alpine Challenge.

Conditions in Morzine were close to perfect for the event and teams made the most of the blue skiers and perfect snow as they raced around the Portes du Soleil to reach 15 checkpoints and racking up the GPS tracked kms.

Snow-Camp Director, Dan Charlish, said, ‘The event went even better than we had hoped. Teams loved the new orienteering format which put them in charge of their route and strategy – and the improved tracking facility kept everyone in touch with how they were doing and how far they had ridden. As ever, the mountain night hike added an extra level of endurance and is certainly a challenge after a big day of riding – but the experience of sledging home in the dark with 80 participants provided a suitable reward!’

In the end the DHO Warriors were crowned Alpine Challenge Champions for 2013, achieving a fantastic combined score of 251km (ski and hike) and hitting all 15 checkpoints over the 2 days. The Snow-Camp Super Vols were second and Team Eclectic third.

Tom Saunders of the DHO warriors said,’ It was a fantastic event – we thoroughly enjoyed raising money for such a good cause doing something we all love! We will be going back to the DHO Race Club and getting more teams for next year!’

Over 80 people took part representing companies such as RBS, Norton Rose, PWC, Barclays Wealth, Miller Insurance, Welbeck and London Bridge Capital, as well as snowsport industry teams including SCUK and the World Snowboard Guide. Combined fundraising across all teams has now passed £50,000, which will support Snow-Camp’s work with young people.

Dan Charlish said, ‘The effort teams have put into their fundraising has been phenomenal. The 2013 Alpine Challenge has now set a new fundraising record for an event run for Snow-Camp. The impact this will have on our work is huge – we coudn’t be more grateful for all the support from everyone involved.’

Sponsors Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports were proud to have supported the event once again and have been supporters of Snow-Camp for many years. They were joined by Morzine Tourist Board, Basecamp Group and White Blancmange Luxury Travel as key event sponsors.

The Alpine Challenge 2014 will be launched soon! To enter your team contact Snow-Camp or see www.snow-camp.org.uk/alpinechallenge to find out more.

Check out the video review of a rather nifty, lightweight tripod that’s good for shooting in tricky conditions and can hold firm with a DSLR on top.

Keep them coming guys!

Great for families and jibbers alike. For a small resort Boreal has something for everyone. The team at Boreal manage to create a great atmosphere and when it comes to freestyle features they really know what they’re doing.

For the freestylers among you’ll want to head towards the giant air bag or one of the many park set ups. If your heading out with the family there is a variety of slopes to suit all abilities, from beginners to advanced there’s plenty to keep you occupied. The resort is open from 9am to 9pm, so if you’ve never tried night skiing/boarding then try it at Boreal.

It’s a small local resort with good facilities but there’s much more on offer if you head to near by Lake Tahoe area.

If you’re travelling internationally don’t base your trip around this resort. But if you are a family staying in San Fran or a group of friends planning a road trip make sure you stop off at Boreal.

The lodging at the hill is good quality and cheap. Lift pass/accommodation packages are on offer. Click here for details: LODGING DEALS

Click here for the BOREAL TRAIL MAP

Enjoy!

The project is spearheaded by Lucas DeBari who has been filming video parts with large production companies such as Teton Gravity Research and Absinthe Films, so we’re looking forward to following the guys through winter.

Follow here: GOBOARDIN.com

The video above takes care of ‘How to choose the right size’ and type of snowboard for you.

“Mind The Video Man” explores progressive freestyle snowboarding with those in the vanguard and those about to make their mark, while asking the question, “What’s happening with the snowboard video, where is it going next and how will that impact our culture.” Follow the video man and his crew as they push the limits of possibility and progression through creativity in an attempt to create something of meaning that will stand the new media onslaught and the test of time. Mind the video, man.

Starring: Jesse Burtner, Scott Stevens, Ted Borland, Chris Beresford, Sean Black, Sam Hulbert and welcoming to the Think Thank family; Curtis Woodman, Ryan Paul, Nial Romanek, Brandon Hammid, Kyle Lopiccolo, Brandon Reis, Jaeger Bailey and more.

PURCHASE FROM iTUNES FROM HERE

Our backcountry expert for the evening was super chilled James Morland from Elemental Adventure: Heli Ski Specialist. James surved up a good couple of hours of quality information to kick start our thirst for more backcountry knowledge.

Check out the EA Heli Ski Website here.

Fresh from the talk we caught up with James at home in Chamonix to find out more about EA Heli Ski’s MD and here’s what James had to say.

Where are you and what are you doing right now?

Sitting looking out of my window at some freshly plastered mountains in Chamonix

We first bumped into each other at one of your avalanche awareness talks. How did you end up giving these talks and did you learn anything from them?

We have been working pretty closely with the North Face for nearly ten years now. Two years ago they started getting involved in promoting snow safety and as part of this they decided to include a series of avalanche awareness talks in various different countries – the UK being one of them. They were aware that I had a background in this kind of thing and asked if I would be interested in delivering the UK talks – and of course I said yes.

One of my main aims of during the talks was to get across some easy to understand, practical information that people would remember. There’s always a temptation to get bogged down with all the technical, scientific stuff and while I find that side of it super interesting, much of it isn’t of a great deal of practical use …so although I kept the content pretty simple I found that the whole experience of actually compiling the talk and then  delivering it 20 or so times really deepened my understanding significantly.

EA Heli ski covers top spots around the world but where did you start and why?

The first place I went heli skiing was in Alaska in the mid to late 90’s. I was working as a ski patroller in northern British Columbia and at some stage in late March I would pack up my pickup truck with skis, fishing rods, a tent and sleeping bag and head north to Valdez to spend my winter’s wages heli skiing and ski touring. At the time the internet wasn’t quite doing thing yet and apart from a small circle of diehard skiers no one really knew much about heli skiing – especially that it was possibly outside of Canada.It seemed to me that there was a good niche to be exploited by bringing all these incredible ski locations around the world together under one roof..Anyway, one thing led to another and here I am 11 years later!

We’d never ask you to give away your favourite spot to ski/board but what’s your second favourite?

I have lots of favourite spots but one thing for me that’s really hard to beat is being back home in Chamonix on a good powder day with old friends….

The EA Heliskiing website has extensive information on what makes you guys different from other heli ski operations but can you do it in five words?

The best, skiing, advice, service & price

You have a worldwide network of adventurers and pilots, how do recruit team members and what do you look for?

That’s probably a good question to prompt me into explaining a bit more clearly what we do actually do. One of the unique things about Elemental Adventure is that we act as both an agent for well established operations and also as an operator – usually in more remote and difficult to access locations. There’s really not a great deal of point in us charging into Canada and starting to operate heliskiing there because there are already a bunch of companies doing a great job. Far better for us to team up with the best and partner with them. So in this instance the process of recruiting really comes down to choosing a whole operation – guides, pilots, lodge, chefs, the lot – checking them out and making sure they offer an all-round high quality heliski experience.

For the trips we are operating ourselves we only use guides who are qualified by the UIAGM and ACMG – the international and Canadian mountain guides associations. Over and above their qualifications they all highly experienced and importantly have a sense of fun and a deep-rooted passion for the mountains. No matter how skilful your guide might be you don’t want to be stuck up a mountain all day with a boring old git whining in your ear. Anyway to sum up what we look for in anyone who works for us whether it’s a bus driver, helicopter pilot or guide it’s: expertise, experience, professionalism, passion and fun.

From the testimonials on your site, your team knows how to give your clients an exceptional and safe memory of the backcountry. Can you remember your first backcountry trip and did you leave it smiling?

I guess I don’t really count where I started skiing in the backcountry (Europe) as being backcountry at all! More slack- country as the north Americans would say. In Europe  you are never really that far from the nearest town or ski lift….I guess one of my first experience of more wilderness backcountry skiing was in New Zealand…and yes I came back with a big grin on my face!

You’re heading into the backcountry and you’re allowed a luxury item, what do you take?

A toothbrush. Too many guides and climbers have bad teeth. I don’t want bad teeth. If I’m allowed 2 things then a small bottle of scotch would make the list too – or maybe that would already be on the non luxury list of essentials?!

And finally, have you ever had flying lessons?

Not formally but I’ve spent  few hours at the controls of various planes over the years and once or twice a helicopter (with the real pilot’s hands never far from the controls!) I’d like to learn to fly planes for sure – pretty near top of the list of things to do !