So here we are, winter is finally here after a year that I think we can agree has been um... a bit shitty! Personally I’ve been counting down the days till we could get lifts open, get on top of the mountain and have myself some mountain meditation in the form of clipping into my snowboard and getting some turns in. Then it happened, here in France like the rest of Europe we got told we’d have to wait another 6 week for our resort to open. After that gut punch there was just one thing to do and that was pick ourselves up by our binding straps and work out how we’re gonna scratch the shred itch!
Over the next few post I’m gonna tell you how we did just that, some good ideas, some that could do with some polishing and some that serve as more of a cautionary tale! So here we go...
Part 1: The DIY build!
‘‘Twas a pretty ropey morning in the van, looking for rails with our homie Jordan in the French Alps. After about 40 minutes of looking at building sites for discarded piping and realising we don’t have criminal mind to straight up thieve something we decided to sack it off and head to the DIY store! As it turns out it’s easier to buy things than find them on the ground!
We checked out some vids on YouTube and off we went still with barely a clue what we were doing, but a desperation and willingness to do what it took to have a slide! After about 40 minutes in the shop, picking up bits of PVC piping we decided a 2 x 2m section of shotgun rail was the way to go.
Now I’ll admit I’m a lack handed fucker with 0 construction skills so here are the pictures to show what the boys did. (Also I’m sure you have some better ideas so if I were you go with that, we’re just trying to get a bit of inspiration going!) After less than an hour, voila!
Pretty chuffed with ourselves we went to setup, scraping the 10cm of snow on the ground into a passable run in with enough snow to anchor the feet of the rail, now it’s shred time.
First ride of the season and we had fun! Bs and fs boards out the bag, 1 on 1 off, even a cheeky little train! Then came them the inevitable huge crack in the pipe and here comes the lesson learned: fill your fucking pipes with expanding foam! Now we’re back up and running and although we’ve got some bigger and better features (see you in part 2) this just goes to show , if you’ve got nothing, make something! Happy shredding, stay safe!