Nick - Ops Director

I started snowboarding back in 1989, when I was only 14.  I was keen on skateboarding at that age and had witnessed the occasional snowboarder riding around whilst on ski trips with my family, and having already been skiing for around 5 years by that point, I desperately wanted to try what looked like great fun sliding sideways on snow.  I convinced my parents to let me rent a snowboard for a couple of days on our family ski trip to Argentiere that year, but back then the rental snowboards were shaped like ironing boards and had clips on them that you could fasten your ski boots to, so it wasn’t the easiest of learning experiences, but I was already hooked.

After renting and borrowing snowboards for my trips over the next few years, I eventually managed to acquire my own when I was 18, which was a Burton Air 6.1 that I bought second-hand from my geography teacher after he had bought all the kit and tried it once but didn’t get on with it, so I picked it up for only £80 including bindings, bag, and a pair of Burton snowboard gloves.  After buying myself a pair of Airwalk boots from Rollersnakes in Nottingham I was good to go, and off I went to do my first season in Les Menuires in December 1993, which is where my love for the sport grew exponentially.

After my first season, I came back to the UK to go to University, and whilst I was ‘Captain of Snowboarding’ for the Nottingham University Snowsports Club, I used to drive a minibus of other keen snowboarders to Tamworth Snowdome every Tuesday to participate in the snowboard nights they used to put on there.

I also used to do a fair amount of snowboarding on dry slopes too, but this didn’t quite cut it, and when I finished my degree course all I could think about was going back to the mountains for some real snow, so off I went to Meribel in December 1998 for my second season.

I was fortunate to witness the progression of snowboarding throughout the boom years of the 1990’s and into the 2000’s, and it’s incredible to see how things have changed over that time.  For example, when I did my first season there were barely any snowparks and so it was all about making use of the natural terrain, and when I did my second season there were some reasonably well-shaped kickers and a fairly basic halfpipe, but nowadays most resorts put a great deal of effort into making sure they have well-maintained snowparks for all to enjoy, and this of course has helped the progression in freestyle snowboarding and skiing no end.

Now I’m a bit longer in the tooth and so I don’t throw myself around as much as I used to, but I still enjoy riding pistes and powder as much as I ever did.  With the advent of new technologies and a plethora of different snowboard shapes to choose from, this has only added to the interest of snowboarding and the versatility it offers.

I've been lucky to have the opportunity to go snowboarding all over the world, to countries including France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Japan and the USA (Colorado and Alaska), but there are many more mountains in lots of other countries that I still want to explore, and the list is basically endless!

I often get asked which is my favourite resort of ours, which I always find quite difficult to answer, as they are all different and each one has a lot going for it, but if I had to choose then I would probably say Serre Chevalier - I just love the rustic mountain village of Monêtier, and the ski area is amazing, with runs for all abilities and lots of easily accessible off-piste, much of it in the trees.  The valley has a very laid-back atmosphere, and it's rare that you have to queue for a lift!

If you'd like to know more about what it's like to go snowboarding in our resorts, then have a look at the article I wrote about it here.