ASC Freestyle Camp

So the start of this week kicked off the first freestyle camp on snow run by Aberdeen Snowsports Club. Many events have been run on snow but not a freestyle camp in this proportion. Neil Cameron came to me a while back now and told me what he wanted to do. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity for the kids and tried my hardest to promote(big it up) to the kids that it would be a benefit to. A lot of the Wednesday Rippers have amazing skills on the drymat but now it was time to take it to snow. Now not only did we have interest from the Aberdeen lot but some of the guys I coach with GPS were keen. In the end we had about 20 kids, skiers and boarders. Great turn out for the first camp run. So 20 Kids, with me(Andy Begg) and Chris Mahony as the coaches. Oh yes! now its time to show these kids how to shred.
So Day 1, left a little later but organising all those kids is a mission. Up to Glenshee, met some guys up there. Time to shred. Went up to the park to check it out. Boarders disappeared??!?! think they went up sunnyside(was ment to be good?!) So anyway, us skiers checked out the park. Twas good, soft snow, good features and low winds, and off and on sun. Went through the park hiking features, getting used to the features on snow and going over safety. Biggest safety point was “Watch out for punters, theres wads of them”. Finish a good days riding, getting used to snow for most. Time to go home. oops we were late, to many pee stops lol.
Day 2, well lets just say it was a wee bit breezy………. 4 runs which took the whole morning(lifts kept breaking) but the glenshee staff were on top of it as best as poss. Went home and some had a slide at the drymat with me and Chris.
Day 3, we had organised the day before to sort out an alternate and I’m glad we did cause the weather was apparently poor(super windy). So we hooked the kids up with and airbag sesh, pizza and a photo shoot. There was coaching on the airbag and on the kicker/tabletop, boxes were out and there’s the quarterpipe also. You could see, even with only a day and a half on snow, most of the kids were stepping it up. Backflips, frontflips, rodeos, corked spins were all getting thrown. My favourite was the 2 youngest rippers age 7 girls, Kirsty and Ramone, hitting the kicker for the first time and landing it.
It was a shame we couldn’t get on snow for the last day but I think the kids really enjoyed their last day. Pictures will be coming from the camp, some from the mountain and from the photo shoot at the dryslope.

I think the camp was a huge success even with the rubbish weather but hey that’s Scottish skiing 😀 I think it’ll be bigger and better next year and i hope to be a part of it again.

Thanks
Andy Begg
Freestyle Ski Coach

Carpet Burn Cup Series and Airbag Final Review

Photos to come!! – if you have any photo sfrom the night facebook / email them over and we’ll pop them on here. cheers.

The Series!

There was a lot of excitement for the commencement of this year’s Carpet Burn Cup way back in February, especially with the news of Aberdeen Snowsport Centre’s very own Airbag being used for the final! This year’s format for the series started with the ¼ Pipe followed by the Bumps, a Rail Jam, Slalom, Big Air, Boarder Cross and for the first time ever… the final on the Airbag.

With a total number of 44 entrants for Round 1, the ¼ pipe, the competition was set to be hot! With some familiar faces mixed in with some new faces, it was great to see the regulars maturing greatly on their skis and boards while at the same time the new faces were keeping them on their toes. The night was mixed with some thrills and spills however 8 people throughout the categories came out on top! Lara Wood held her own in the female over 16 sb category, Kris Bell stepped up for the adult male sb, Fin Bremner for the the male 11-15 sb, new comer to the series Andrew Budge took first place for the male junior under 10 sb, Katie Boyd took a convincing 1^st place in the female over 16 ski with Erin Sharpe securing 1^st place  for the 11-15 ski, Andy Wilson was top dog in the male over 16 ski, Andrew Hadfield pulled off some amazing trickery in the male 11-15 ski to secure a podium finish and finally Fin Jacobs took first place in the junior under 10 ski.  This was just the first event and a great start to the series!

Things were very close in pretty much every category so those in the lead knew they had to work hard to maintain their place.  With a further 6 events to go it was great to see everyone stepping it up in each event. The beauty of the Carpet Burn Cup is that each event is totally different, so by the end of it competitors’ skills on a pair of skis or a board grow so much stronger. With some people being stronger in some areas but weaker in others, it meant that this series was never going to be a one horse race no matter what category people were in.

The Final!

With an impressive attendance of 76 competitors throughout the competition, this contributed to the event being a huge success.  With sponsorship from Cotswold Outdoor, Granite reef, Bawbags, Candy Imports, Transition Extreme and  Aberdeen Snowsports clubthe Airbag final was one of the best events of the whole series, with the Groms throwing down some impressive tricks and the Seniors following with a jam format to their night. Resident MC Nicol was on the mic and in charge of the tunes, along with Aberdeen Snowsports Club who were cooking up some mean burgers on the bbq to keep everyone going throughout the night.  The atmosphere was great with over 40 competitors on the bag along with plenty of their family and friends cheering them on. With some great prizes to be won for the overall winners and not to mention the huge shiny Carpet Burn Cup trophy, people were throwing themselves in all different directions in the air in reach for the cup and some even going for double flip variations.

It was time to announce the winners and thank all the sponsors and people who contributed to this great event.

The results!

+16 Male Ski – Adam Hunter ; +16 Male SB – Matt Gibson
+16 Female Ski – Katie Foot Boyd ; +16 Female SB – Lara Wood
11-15 Male Ski – Angus Jacobs ; 11-15 Male SB – Emmet Strachan
11-15 Female Ski – Erin Sharp
U10 Male Ski – Finlay Jacobs ; U10 Male SB – Andrew Budge

A Big Thanks from all of us at Aberdeen Snowsports Centre to all the supporters throughout the series, the competitors and parents who came down to all the events, and to all our sponsors who put together some awesome prize bags! We look forward to seeing you on the slopes, and hope to see you all at the next Carpet Burn Cup!… Time to get practicing your skills for next year!