About Gary King
I’m a writer, speaker and lover of all things that raise the heartbeat and tickle the senses. If there is one thing that I’ve learnt from my years of extreme sport and adventure travel is that life is for living - not spectating.
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Welcome to Gary King's Extreme Sports Blog
Ten of the Best - Snowboarding Routes
by Gary King on 19-Feb-10 07:43
Ones to tick off before you? Or perhaps die trying.
Anybody done any of these?
1 Mount Everest. Successfully descended by Frenchman Marco Siffredi in 2001. He attempted it again in 2002 and was never seen again.
2 The Spearhead Traverse, Canadian Rockies. Backcountry expedition that takes in 14 glaciers over three days.
3 The Couloir Bellevarde, Val D'Isere. Fantastic off piste fun favoured by Olympian Lesley Mckenna.
4 Mount Cook, New Zealand. In 2008 British snowboarder Johno Verity nearly perished in a huge avalanche whilst boarding this region. Not only did he live to tell the tale but he captured it on film as well.
5 The Wall, Avoriaz, France. A technically challenging course that features an array of humps, bumps and dips recommended by Jenny Jones.
6 Peak 7601, Alaska. Unspeakably steep pinnacle of snow and rock first negotiated by snowboard legend Terje Haakonsen in 2005.
7 The Valle Blanche, France. Europe's longest uninterrupted off-piste run littered with crevasses and hidden snow bridges.
8 Sache Valley to Les Brevieres in Tigne, France. Precipitous cliffs and avalanche risk make this a truly testing run.
9 The Haute Route. Classic seven day tour between Chamonix and Zermatt in the Swiss Alps.
10 North Face of the Aiguille Midi in France. Treacherously steep run in the shadow of Mont Blanc.
Filed under: Snow / Ice Snowboarding
Comments (3)
Shaun White Gets Gold in Vancouver 2010
by Gary King on 18-Feb-10 12:50
Halfpipe supremo Shaun White won gold in the Vancouver Winter Olympics with an unprecedented piece of snowboard magic. This is his second Olympic gold in a row after clinching top spot in Turin 2006.
White effectively won the competition on his first run scoring an impressive 46.8 with Finland's Peetu Piiroinen getting silver and American Scott Lago taking bronze. However with the gold in the bag, White pulled out all of the stops with a combination of a double cork, a 1080 and then his infamous Double Mctwist for a second run that blew the judges away. He scored an impressive 9.7 out of 10.
What now for the 24 year old? Roll on Sochi 2014.
Filed under: Snow / Ice Snowboarding
Comments (1)
Peter Colat Smashes Freedive Record
by Gary King on 17-Feb-10 09:06
Swiss Freediver Peter Colat has held his breath underwater for a staggering 19 minutes and 21 seconds breaking the oxygen assisted world record. Prior to his dive, the rules dictate that he was allowed to inhale pure oxygen for ten minutes.
Think of what it's possible to do in 19 minutes and 21 seconds - Paula Radcliffe could run nearly four miles, you could soft boil 6 eggs in quick succession or watch a quarter of a rugby union match.
Count to three and hold your breath.
You can breath again in 1162 seconds* if you want to be a record breaker.
* Don't try this at home.
Filed under: UnderwaterComments (3)
Activities in Whistler
by Gary King on 15-Feb-10 10:12
The eyes of the world will soon be focused on British Columbia in Canada now that the Winter Olympics 2010 have got underway. Vancouver will play host to the world’s top winter sports athletes as they vie for glory across a multitude of sporting disciplines. Whistler is the venue for many of the ski and snowboard events including the slalom, downhill and halfpipe. As well as being home to a fantastic skiing area there are numerous other activities to do in the town.
I picked my top five for Adventure Travel Mag.
Filed under: Snow / Ice Adventure Activities
Comments (2)
TTR Snowboard World Tour Canadian Open Update
by Gary King on 11-Feb-10 06:35
TTR rider, Iouri Podladtchikov, takes first place in the 5Star Burton Canadian Open 2010 Halfpipe competition, helping him maintain second spot in the much coveted TTR World Snowboard Tour rankings.
After a solid performance the ever outstanding Iouri improves his ranking, closing the gap between himself and the current tour champion, Peetu Piiroinen.
Filed under: Snow / Ice Snowboarding
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Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong Olympic Update
by Gary King on 10-Feb-10 10:47
The Snow Leopard Oympic Update
Story in The Daily Telegraph
Click the image for the link
Pic by Action Images
Filed under: Snow / Ice SkiingComments (0)
Ice Diving in the French Alps
by Gary King on 08-Feb-10 13:45
One of the most surreal things that I have ever done is to go diving beneath the ice on Tigne Lake in France. It's a truly mesmerising experience.
Tignes Lake
The high pitched buzzing of a chainsaw echoes across the lake. The noise stops and I watch as the heavy boot kicks the circular block so that it bobs downwards leaving a cobalt blue hole vivid against the ice. The chainsaw goes to work again, this time cutting a four foot by three foot rectangle.
“Are you ready to dive?” The thick French accent bubbles with enthusiasm. “If it’s a beautiful day on the surface it is even more beautiful under the ice.”
“Eeh ooh, c’est un Telly Tubby,” says Alban
as he joins me fully suited.
I’m in Tigne in the French Alps where I’ve come to go ice diving. The setting is stunning with steep sloops rising up to snow covered peaks. Well manicured pistes dotted with skiers wind into the valley and the sun burns brightly in the clear blue sky. It is a perfect alpine day.
Cutting a whole in the ice
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say although my reply is lost as the chainsaw’s teeth tear into the ice for a third time. The lake is completely frozen and has been visible throughout my descent by snowboard into the valley from the neighbouring resort of Val D’Isere.
“Good, in that case we’ll get ready,” says David Monmarche who is one of my instructors. He leads me to a small wooden hut that acts as both changing room and office. Various certificates of qualification hang at odd angles from the wooden walls. I give them a cursory once over and am reassured that they all seem to be in date. We are joined by my second instructor, Alban Michon who runs the ice diving school in Tigne.
After going through some essentials such as signals and use of equipment I’m soon ready to get changed. The dive is open to anybody from complete novices through to seasoned professionals; more time is spent on the introduction depending upon the diver’s level of experience.
“You only need to take off your jacket and shoes,” says Alban as I step into the dry suit which is just as well because the temperature is just above freezing according to the hut’s thermometer. My breath comes in short wispy puffs as I struggle to pull the suit’s rubber hood over my head. David appears with a bottle of talcum powder.
“Here, try this,” he says and coats the rubber with a thin dusting of talc. The resistance, although somewhat reduced still drags and I emerge with a bright red face and snow white ears. David then proceeds to push my hands into some thick blue gloves and screws them into place onto a plastic coupling that fits on the end of the arms.
The only way is down
I shuffle out of the hut, down the steps and stand in the snow.
“Eeh ooh, c’est un Telly Tubby,” laughs Alban as he joins me fully suited. This dispels any previous thoughts that I’d had about how decidedly 007 it was to snowboard down a mountain and then plunge straight into an icy expanse of water.
We follow David who pulls a sled that is laden down with air canisters, respirators and masks. The diving area is marked out on the lake with red fencing and all three of us stop by the rectangular hole.
“It is very important that we cordon off where we dive because it could be very dangerous if anybody strayed onto the ice and fell through one of the holes,” says Alban, “the holes always freeze over each night but you can never be too careful.”
The sub aquatic atmosphere
has an ethereal calming quality.
I am instructed to sit on the ice and a pair of giant yellow flippers are attached to my feet, an air canister is strapped to my back and an unfeasibly large weight belt is slung around my waist. I then dangle my feet in the hole and David pulls on my mask and respirator.
He then clips me onto a harness and I slowly lower myself in until I’m completely submerged. One of the instructors is always on the surface throughout the dive, in this case its David whilst Alban waits for me below. The transition from bright sunlight to the inky depths is surreal and it takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Alban is directly in front of me with both thumbs up; I reciprocate the signal assuring him that I’m fine.
Getting ready to dive
It is truly beautiful. If there is a colour known as serene blue then this is surely it. The sub aquatic atmosphere has an ethereal calming quality. The other end of my harness is attached to a rope that is stretched between the ice holes. We float a couple of metres below the surface and slowly edge along the rope; the bubbles from our respirators surge upwards and gather under the silver ice like mercury in shimmering pools. Small cracks and fissures show the irregularity of the ice pack and a few tiny fish dart around our suits.
The disc cut by David’s chainsaw sits under the ice like a giant hockey puck adjacent to its hole. Alban gives it a gentle nudge and it slides away. Again, we trade thumbs up signals and I experiment by spinning through 360 degrees and floating up and down. Sunlight streams through one of the ice holes refracting, reflecting and cutting an eerie fan of colour through the blueness.
After thirty minutes Alban steers me to one of the circular exit points, as I emerge into the crisp alpine air David pulls me onto the ice and in one movement has me sitting upright and has removed my mask and respirator.
“How did you find it Gary? Isn’t it beautiful?”
For a few seconds I am silent as I struggle to find the words.
“C’est magnifique, David, c’est magnifique,” I eventually reply.
Going down
Filed under: Snow / Ice WaterComments (2)
Freeride World Tour 2010 - Latest News
by Gary King on 05-Feb-10 11:58
French dominate in Chamonix
Filed under: Snowboarding Skiing
Comments (0)
Space Invaders
by Gary King on 04-Feb-10 09:37
The Original.
The Best.
Click to Play.
Filed under: Games
Comments (1)
Wakeboarding with Jess Hilbery
by Gary King on 03-Feb-10 10:14
With Wakestock heading out to Abu Dhabi on the 6th March the world of wakeboarding is alive and well. As the fastest growing water sport in the world (does anybody know if that is true?) it's going from strength to strength. I've not done a huge amount of it myself but I did go out for a day with top boarder Jess Hilbery at JB waterski in Chertsey. We had a cracking day - I did manage to leap off the wake but only after taking a face plant that had water coming out and going into every orifice in my face. Nice.
Gary King getting to grips with wakeboarding. Pic by Clara Molden
I’m crouched down low in the water, bobbing around with just my head protruding from its surface. My white knuckled hands are clutching the submerged tow rope handle that is drawn close to my hips. The motorboat grumbles into life churning up a rich froth and as it begins to surge forward the rope tightens. I lean back taking the strain and somewhat miraculously rise to find myself rattling across the lake on a small fiberglass board.
I’m at JB Waterski in Chertsey, Surrey having a lesson in the UK’s fastest growing watersport, wakeboarding. I bounce across the choppy water feeling incredibly unstable; imagine being strapped to an ironing board and then being towed across a field by a tractor.
“Bend your knees Gary,” shouts my instructor Jess Hilbery from the stern of the boat, “chest up, relax.” I do as I’m told, straightening my back and squatting slightly. The difference is immediate and the whole experience becomes far more serene. Thumbs up from my teacher.
Hilbery, 27 is one of the country’s top wakeboarders. She has represented Great Britain and has won numerous titles although she’s currently under doctor’s orders after having life saving surgery.
Jess Hilbery doing what she does best. Pic by Clara Molden
“I had a kidney transplant in 2007 and was told to convalesce for a year,” she explains whilst we are taking a break, “which I did but then I decided to compete at Wakestock in 2008 after some persuasion from a close friend. I went along and decided to take it easy by just doing one trick at a time. It kind of worked out.”
Work out it did indeed. She came third in Europe’s biggest annual wakeboarding festival. Wakestock typifies how far the sport has come in a relatively short period of time. It was only in the 1980s that an America surfer called Tony Finn came up with the name skurfing for being towed behind a speedboat on a surfboard. Now twenty years on, it’s estimated that over 3 million people worldwide partake in the sport. Wakestock, now in its tenth year will attract over 30,000 thrill seekers to the town of Abersoch in North Wales with a combination of live music, DJs and of course top level competition.
At competition level, wakeboarding is all about tricks. Competitors do a series of runs; each run is judged in three categories, with points being awarded for composition, style and intensity. The wakeboarder who performs the most complex set of spins and flips, in the most extreme manner and with the most grace, wins.
Trying to get some air. Pic by Clara Molden
Back on the water my confidence is slowly building after another series of runs up and down the lake. I’ve just watched Jess perform a multitude of gravity and doctor defying loops and turns and now that’s it’s my turn I’m determined to get airborne.
“Keep the stance,” she shouts whilst gesticulating that I should now come across the back of the boat and use the wake as a launch pad. Just as I hit it, my position falters and I spin round so that I catch the front edge of the board on the water’s surface. In a millisecond all my forward energy is converted into flipping me over into a full blown faceplant. Water shoots up my nose and quite possibly every other facial orifice whilst all of the air is expelled from my lungs.
“Are you alright?” The boat has pulled leveled and a concerned face is peering over the side.
Winded, dazed and very much confused I nod in the affirmative.
“Good. We’re having another go.”
I’m back up again and although tentative at first I go through the whole routine again. Lean back, come out to the rear of the boat, bend knees, adjust stance and zip back across the wake. Bingo. I launch myself out of the water and land again without wiping out. Fantastic. Granted it wasn’t a double somersault with a backward spin but it was still air.
I wonder if they’re still taking entrants for this year’s Wakestock?
Anyone got a tissue? Pic by Clara Molden
Know the lingo
Tips from Lee Debuse. Pic by Clara Molden
Air: Getting in the air; the amount of space between the rider and the water.
Choppy: Rough water.
Faceplant: A fall where the rider catches their toeside edge causing them to fall very quickly so that their face slaps the water hard.
Eye-Opener: A fall where the rider faceplants so fast that they can't manage to close their eyes before hitting the water.
Kicker: A ramp hit by a wakeboarder to catch air.
Invert: When the rider goes upside down whilst in the air.
Switchstance: Riding the board backwards from the normal riding stance.
Glass: Smooth water.
This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph. All pictures taken by Clara Molden.
Filed under: Water SportComments (0)
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