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DAY 4

So the weather was still pretty bad. The snow was hammering. All the brit boys did really good in their qualifications. Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholls got through to the next round. The Girlylegs ladies arrived, was really happy to see some familiar faces! Here is a pic of Nadine and Liz chilling in the riders lounge

After hanging around all day waiting for the ladies practice at 5.30, we managed a couple runs each then it was called off as the weather was too bad, gutted!

DAY 5

Epic amounts of snow had fallen, so today was a bit of a powder day. Here is a pic of Billy Morgan, Sam Turnball and I after a run. And then bellow my friend Courtney Phillipson from Australia

The girls were supposed to be competing today, but as quite a few girls had pulled out, they decided to let the remaining ladies progress straight through to the semi finals the next day!!!! Yikes, the semi finals in a 6 star TTR event, not a position I EVER thought I would be in!!!

Also had a peak at next years O’Neill clothing. And it is lush, easily could have picked myself at least 20 items to take home with me! Hope I dont get in trouble, but here is a sneaky pic I took

Watched the guys semi finals that evening. Was cheering hard for Billy and Jamie. They did so good. Jamie got through to the finals, wooooohoooooo!

DAY 6

Finally the girls were on and we got to ride the course…..and the weather actually cleared up for a bit! I can honestly say that it was the most petrifying moment of my life so far! Even just standing at the top of the course is pretty scary! Here is the view from the top and all the girls waiting to drop :

I really just wanted to stay on my feet so I kept things basic. Im trying not to make excuses for being as shit as I was, but I really havent had the training and days on a snowboard this season that all the other girls had had. So just did what I could do and hoped for the best!

I stuck my first safety run, but fell on my second. I didnt make it through to the finals, the rest of the girls were AMAZING!! Well guess it was the worlds best female snowboarders!!

The finals were straight after, Spencer O’Brien killed it! First place!!! I want to be her! It was so inspiring to watch all the girls in the final. Would give anything to be able to ride like them!!!!

Boys final was crazy, some stunts going down!! Such a good atmosphere watching the night final. Congrats to Mark McMorris for winning! Here is a pic of Dan Wakeham (my team manager) looking very professional doing the live webcasts

Also, here is a pic of Nadine from Girlylegs, looking equally as professional with her camera!!!haha!

And then there was the after party…..considering it was a FREE BAR, I was very well behaved!!! I didnt even do the splits! And came home with all items of clothing and shoes!!!!

Back in Mayrhofen now enjoying the powder and thinking about what I should do next!! Even though it was very intimidating at the start, but I kinda got a buzz from the whole thing. I loved it!! I know I didnt do that well, but I achieved what I wanted to achieve……. to come back in 1 peice, to not come last, to make some new friends and have a new experience. I found it so inspirational and it has given me a goal now. I want to push myself and get some training and try and become a better snowboarder

Massive thank you to Dan Wakeham for looking after me for the week and to O’Neill for putting me up : ) Going to do better for you next year ; )

Sorry about the long post!

Powder and Katie Blundell At The O’Neill Evolution 2012 from Girlylegs on Vimeo.

This week I headed over to Davos in Switzerland for the O’Neill Evolution. This was to be my first big competition, and straight in at the deep end with it being a 6 star TTR……with the worlds top pro snowboarders there, it was fair to say I felt I was a little out of my league!!!!

Not only that, but I had only had a few days on snow so far this season, and only a handful of hits one morning on a small jump in Mayrhofen. With a lot the girls here coming from weeks of training in America, I was definitely a little under prepared!!!

But oh well, I was looking at it as an experience, and a learning curve for me. See if this is the path I want to go down. If I could come out in one piece I would be stoked!

DAY 1

Travel from Mayrhofen, mission on the train changing 4 times. Came into Davos, and definitely was sick in my mouth a little when I caught a glimpse of the course through the train window. Met Dan Wakeham and crew and went to apartment. Could see course from the balcony, just making me even more nervous

                                                                                     View from window of jump

DAY 2

First practice day. Couple of quick powder runs then straight to the course. Dan took me up to look at things close up. Things were pretty gnarly (to me anyway). Even standing at the top of the course is terrifying. Pretty much ruled out the big jump straight away as it was 25m!!!! This is HUGE. Not really good for my first jump of the season. But was relieved that most of the girls were only hitting the “small” one too (the small one was still pretty big!). Only a few girls doing the big one. Straight airs and 50/50s for first day for me : ) Even the boys were struggling with the big jump, it was whipy as well as being huge!

The Course

I must just mention the riders tent!!! I have never been in one before, free food, drink, internet, xbox, physio…WOW, felt like i didn’t deserve to be in there really with all the pros!!! Got a little star struck! Also had about 7 cups of FREE tea (Cheryl Mass below!!!!)

Riders Tent

DAY 3

A little snowy and windy, so not the best. Had a few hits on the jump, still no spinning: ( Weather was off putting, and I really want to spin off something smaller first to get my spins back. Didn’t want to risk doing something before I was ready and hurting myself and not being able to compete at all. Got some better tricks on the rails though……took a few nasty bails . Also kneed myself in my face=swollen jaw, sore neck, headache…….FREE MASSAGE!!!!! Really am so worried though, these girls are so much better than me, don’t want to look stupid : (

Front blunt

Ouch!

DAY 4

Woke up feeling pretty broken. Boys qualifications all day today and girls don’t get to practice to 5.30 pm. so decided to chill out in the morning, go down for 12 to watch my team mate, Lewis….

                                                                        Lewis and Sam

                                                                         Billy and Ben

Ill keep you updated hopefully : )

This season Girylegs are doing some new features on their site, one of them is “Trick-Tips!!”. The girls asked me to take you through how to do a Frontside 50/50 on a down-flat-down rail. Hope it makes sense!! This picture was taken by Mitch Ayers in Australia this summer. Click on the image below to go to the Trick-Tip:

Frontside 50/50 down-flat-down

Happy New Year, hope you all had a good one : )

In May this year I went to the British Snowboard Test in Kaunertal, Austria. I tested some snowboards for the Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Magazine.

I wrote some reviews and James North took some pictures!

Cant wait to go again at the end of this season : )

So christmas morning we headed up to have breakfast at the Girlylegs House. Which was closely followed by Bucks Fiz (think this is where the downward spiral started for me). Then we got ready and headed up the hill

Outside Girlylegs Flat

Kept it mellow for christmas day shred, couple park laps and cruising around the mountain. Then of course having a christmas day beer break

Christmas day beer break

Few more runs, then back down the hill for xmas dinner…..via apres bar for quick xmas day Jagermeister!!!

The ladies cooked up a storm, it was delicious

Then drinking games, party hats, and a Girlylegs Make-over for me (thanks Nadine!!!!)….then we hit the town. Who knows what happened next but here is one of the pictures I found….oh dear

Gymnastics in the Toilet

I very rarely drink nowadays and had actually been T-Total for a few months now, so this hangover hit me hard! I am now firmly back on the wagon now, and concentrating on  my snowboarding, not partying!!!

Here is a video that Liz from Girlylegs made of the day

Girlylegs Christmas from Girlylegs on Vimeo.

Thank you so much to Girlylegs for including Rich and I in the festivities. We had a lovely day : ) Sorry to everyone whom I crossed paths with that evening, i’m very embarrassed!! Happy Christmas everyone  x x x x

ps. if anyone finds my white wolf t-shirt, please let me know

Only just seen this on the internet, but I did a phone interview with a nice girl from Sportsister a few weeks ago. I babbled on a bit as I was put on the spot, but think this is what happens to me when I get nervous!!

Thank you to Lizzie for speaking to me : )

Here is a competition that the Skullcandy Core Uk team are doing…..

Want to win some Skullcandy Aviators??? Then tell us how many logos there are in the photo of our new Skullcandy Core UK team! Closing date Jan 31st 2012. Check out their latest film

http://video.mpora.com/ep/y995w4yvI/
More Snowboarding Videos

So the start of seasons never quite go to plan!!! The Ride team trip got cancelled as there was no snow: (  So then I left for Mayrhofen last saturday. Finally got here on wednesday, via Stubai and Val Gardena, Italy!!! (long long story!!). First morning in Mayrhofen we went for a walk to start looking for some accommodation , heres a pic of the river!

5 days later, we were still looking for accom. It was so hard to find accom in Mayrhofen this year, dont think we could have tried any harder. We walked miles and miles each day. We even thought about sacking it off and going to Morzine, accom was easier to find and they have LOADS of snow.

But we have found somewhere, well not our own pad but someone who we can crash with : ) STOKED!!! So thank you Greg and Dee Dee!!! And massive thank you to GIRLYLEGS for letting us keep their place warm before they arrive here on the 23rd

So decision made, we bought our lift passes and went for our first shred here today. Here is a pic of the dashing Rich Jonas

There has not been much snow here yet, but they built some cool features in the park already to get warmed up on. Want to check out some of the other resorts nearby too. Really need to get on some jumping as have a comp in 2 weeks and haven’t hit a jump yet this season………pretty scared as i’m going to be WAY out of my league

And here is a pic of the view coming down in the gondola at the end of the day

So now we can relax a bit and enjoy christmas  x

So the lovely Rich has been putting together a little mellow edit from our last couple of weeks in Perisher, OZ. So here it is!! Features the BHK crew : )

End of Season Peri Peri Chicken from Rich Jonas on Vimeo.

The snow in Europe is not looking so great at the moment. Our Ride team trip has just been cancelled due to no snow : ( So just trying to figure out what I am doing with my life!!!! Hopefully get out to the snow soon x

I still cant quite believe my luck, but I have a lovely new sponsor…..O’Neill. There has been chat about it for the last few months, but now its official! It also means that I can still stay with Ride for hard goods and then have O’Neill for outerwear and clothing : )

They sent me a box of goodies a couple of weeks ago, and it was like christmas!!! I felt well and truly spoilt!

Then I had a photo shoot in my new stuff (lets face it, “Next Top Model” is out for me this year!!!!). Pics taken by a Devonshire photographer , Aladdin Gulec

 Bumped into the Girlylegs crew at Freeze Festival a couple weeks ago and had a chat with them about stuff, here is a link to the interview, just click on the image:

Only a couple of weeks left now until the season begins for me. First stop, France! Have been working/ saving pretty hard for the last couple of months, so no riding for me : ( But excited to get back on my board again now, and a little nervous as I really hope I can do well for O’Neill this season : )

Huge thank you to Dan Wakeham too for hooking me up. I owe you a beer!!!! Big time!

And thank you to all the lovely ladies at O’Neill x

At the British Board Test this year I met Luke and Stuart who run the Board Basement in Exeter. This is a really cool online snowboard shop, only down the road from me! They have asked me to be do some writing/ blogging for their website and gave me the VERY fancy title of “Digital PR”. Im really really stoked with this as it will be my first “proper” job, and its within the industry. I can also still do my day job then write in the evenings, perfect!

So here is a link to the first article I have written for them ” A Guide to Buying the Right Snowboard Boot”

Click on the image to go to the page : )

This saturday I went up to London to hang out at Freeze that was held in Battersea Power Station. They have music, drinking, snowboard brands and snowboarding. Seemed like the whole of the UK snowboard scene was there! I only went for the day as I had to work the next morning, so I escaped before it/I got too crazy! But I managed to watch some of the riding, here is a pic of Billy Morgan from the day before at the top of the drop in for the kicker (I forgot my camera so have stolen pics from Facebook!)

                                         Billy Morgan, Freeze 2011

And here is a pic of Ian Ashmore (Thrasmore) from the Dalikfodda crew, gutted I missed watching him on friday!

                                          Thrashmore, Freeze 2011

Props to Jamie Nicholls for killing in the finals on Saturday! Was really ace to see everyone again and catch up. Got to meet all the O’Neill lot too which was awesome, got me stoked for the season : )

The lovely Corinne Mayhew from Tignes Spirit sent me a few questions to answer. Click on the image bellow to see the full interview : )

In May this year all the UK snowboarders , brands and snowboard shops headed to the UK Snowboard Test in Kaunertal, Austria. All of the Ride Snowboard team were there and here are a sample of the team pics we had taken by Charlie Eddington. Watch out for more popping up soon : )

   We are off to France at the beginning of December for a team trip, cant wait to hang out with all of us! Although miss Lynsey Ashdown will be missed, but she is now with bun-in-oven!!!!!

In the pics : Lynsey Ashdown, Helen Fox, Chris Chatt, James Hull and Rowan Biddiscome, and me!

Last year in Perisher I did a little photo shoot with Torah Bright and Michelle Samuel! This year when I went back, I picked up some of the mags that the pics had been used in:

                                                                                        Mojo Snow 2011

                                                                                           Last years media crew

                                                                                            Snowy Times 2011

                                                                                    Perisher Brochure 2011

So after three years of back to back winters I decided to head Majorca for a last minute girlie holiday and a sun fix. I love winter but I had definitely got to the point where I was desperate for a little bit of summer…even if it was just for 5 days

                                                                         Majorca!!!!

I got my hair done, got myself a spray tan (thanks Keira Hill!!!) and went on a crash diet of tea and sit-ups to prepare!!! I packed my bag, and set off to the sunny shores of Majorca with my two lovely friends, Laura and Nicola

Laura and Nicola

I would like to say we did loads of adventurous stuff and write some really interesting things……but we basically just lay on a beach, ate and slept!

Me and Laura on the beach

Something that is worth mentioning though is that we managed one 15kg suitcase between THREE GIRLS!! I think this is impressive!

                                                                        The three of us!

We had one crazy (ish) night out…. well, I went a bit crazy with sangria, spanish shots and acrobatics in a maxi skirt (not advised)

The calm before the storm…….

Subsequently the 5 day holiday was reduced to 4, as the next day was lost in a sea of sickness, headaches, blurred vision and naps on the bathroom floor

I’m now feeling fresh (ish), revitalised and ready to attack next winter!

Whilst I was in Perisher this summer I was riding for the daily snow reports for Perisher Media. Here is a wrap up of the best bits from the season….including an AWFUL face shot where I look like  some kind of mouse (thanks Mel!!). It makes me miss Perisher a little already!

Here is an AMAZING edit from Mitch for a video competition in OZ, check it out, its really REALLY well edited…..features the crew BHK, yeeewwww!

A Boardworld Short film – Bringing Colour To The Valley from MitchAyers on Vimeo.

So after arriving back from OZ in the early hours on Friday morning, I decided to head to Tammworth for the Burton High 5, and to watch the Grindhouse new movie (which was sick by the way, props to Jamie Durham!)

It started at 9, jam session to warm up, then the heats, then a 2 run final at 12.30am!  Having not succeeded in sleeping much at all, I was pretty jet lagged to say the least. So thought it would be a great idea to have 3 cans of monster, oh no! Felt like id been out raving all night, and was in my own little world!

It was also hard to adjust to riding indoors, it was totally different from the slushy spring shred id just left in OZ.

So in short, I rode like a penis!!!ha! So sorry to everyone that had to watch that! And sorry to everyone I crossed paths with that night, was really not all there!!!

Was pretty gutted to as I wanted to try and do some stuff I had learnt over the summer, but could even do the tricks I can normally do. 50/50s were even a struggle!

Somehow made it to the finals, continued to ride like a penis. There were 4 chicks in the final, I didn’t  get placed so reckon I came 4th! Pretty happy with that! So stoked for Orla Doolin coming 1st, this lady has some steeze and think she is one to look out for! All the ladies were killing the features

Im now happy to report that i’m feeling a little more human. I would recommend  never riding with jetlag and 3+ cans of Monster! I would def like to get some indoor riding practice in before the next one

Here is a vid of the night from Gonzilla……

Burton High 5 2011: Tamworth from gonzilla.tv on Vimeo.

So im now back in sunny England, pretty jet lagged but happy to be back after a long journey. We filmed for our last 2 days in Perisher so hopefully Rich will be making another edit soon. Here are some screen grabs from the footage : )

                                                                            Jed, Stale Fish over “u” rail

                                                                         Snow Dice

                                                                         Harley Front Board

                                                                       Jed, Liplide

                                                                        Pauly, Front Nose Blunt on Down-Flat-Down

                                                                         Jed, Taco!!!!

                                                                         Katie, Double Tail out of Donkey DICK

                                                                        Harley, Blunt!

                                                                         Rich, Front 1 Nose Grab out of Donkey DICK

                                                                        Katie, Back Board (for you Pauly!!!)

Watch out for the edit soon! x