Category: snowtravel

Risk’n’ fun – “Heiligenblut” places available

By , 14.02.2011 15:59

An alle Action- Suchenden Freerider aufgepasst – es gibt noch Plätze für HEILIGENBLUT!

 Nach 7 ausgebuchten Sessions in Serfaus und Tauplitz sind für den Termin von 28.2. – 3.3. 2011 derzeit noch letzte Ausbildungsplätze verfügbar. Mit wahnsinns Abfahrten bis zu 1200 zu bewältigenden Höhenmetern, Blick auf den Großglockner und der Unterkunft direkt am Berg im Wallackhaus gilt die letzte Trainingssession im Winter 2010/2011 als “das Highlight”. Übrigens: Auch für alle 30 + ler eine geniale Möglichkeit, an einer Session teilzunehmen. Hier  gehts zu allen weiteren Infos und der Anmeldung, und hier  gehts zu den Impressionen der letzten Wochen. Continue reading 'Risk’n’ fun – “Heiligenblut” places available'»

Trick tips for the new year!

By , 07.01.2011 13:58

New Year, new tricks like they say in Finland (oh, yes, we know this kind of things too!). We decided to go trough a bit of a trick glossary of snowboarding and freestyle skiing…Just to make sure people know what they’re talking about, you know. Nobody wants to be a kook who doesn’t know the right jargon!

First some obstacles in the snowparks:

Kicker: It’s the thing out of snow you jump! Different sizes and shapes exist, always take the one you can make and check the speed from others!

Box: Obstacle from metal/plastic/wood that you can slide on. Most basic looks like a long box, but shapes vary as much as the imagination! It can be kinked, wave, rainbow, everything!

Kink box: Box with an angle at one point, for example first the box goes straight and then turns a bit down.

Rail: Metal pipe (round or square) which you can slide on. Usually the next step from the boxes. Handrails in the cities are new favourites of the pros!

Wall-ride:
Big plywood wall that you can ride up and do tricks on.

Half-pipe: Long half-round shaped tube you can go down and do multiple tricks on one run!

Off we go with basic snowboarding trick definitions:

Straight air: This is the most basic jump, where everybody starts. Like the name indicates, you just jump straight!

Frontside: Frontside of your board is the side where your toes are at. Any frontside turn or spin is then one where you start the turn face first. Got it? Well, to put it simple, frontside turn for regulars is to the left and for goofies to the right!

Backside: Well, if you read trough above, backside is the opposite..meaning back facing forwards and so.

With rail tricks front- and backside appear the other way around. Don’t get too confused now! It all comes from the side that faces the rail when you approach it, when your board is still parallel to the rail. With boxes this does not make sense, since often you jump on the from the start of the box, but often with rails the riders jump on them from the side. So when you approach the rail with you back facing it, youre about to make a (backside) boardslide, since from that side you have to turn your face facing forwards. Go it? Don’t worry, it makes more sense when you see it or do it yourself!

50-50: The most basic trick one can perform on a rail or a box. Just slide trough parallel to the rail!

50-50 on a kinked box (Rider Kristiina Nyman)

(Backside) boardslide: The second most basic (In our opinion!) where you slide on a box or a rail your board perpendicular to the direction of the box/rail.

Boardslide on a kinked box

Frontside boardslide: The same as above, but your back/heel edge is facing forwards to the direction you are going (pretty opposite from the spinning fronside/backside definition)
Nose: the front end of your board

Switch: All boarders go either right or left leg forwards normally. Riding switch means riding the “wrong” leg first! Fakie is another term for switch riding, but nearly only used when describing landing a trick. Like frontside boardslide to fakie.

Caballerial (Cab): Any trick performed swicth and combined to a frontside spin or turn. For example Cab 360 is a frontside 360 spin which you take of switch!

Half-cab: Caballerial a.k.a switch frontside 180, the only one that has different name than all the rest of the cab spins!

Spinning: Pretty obvious; jumps where you rotate around, and the degrees tell how much! 180 = half circle, 360 = full circle and so on!

Spinning it with a grab! (Rider Tobias Aalderink)

Grab: This one is pretty obvious too, it means grabbing the board while performing a jump! There are tens of different grabs, but the most basic ones are Indy, where you grab you board on the toe-edge with your rear-hand in between your legs. Melon is the opposite, you grab with your front hand in between your legs, on the heel egde. The list of grabs is endless, but those are the two most basic ones!

And then something for the skiers too!

Spinning: The jumps whit rotation are the same as with snowboarding, it all comes down to the degrees. 180, 360 and so on!

Switch/Fakie:
Also quite similar to snowboarding. Normally you ride you face forward, and when switch, your back is facing forward!

Grabs in freestyle skiing are tricks where you grab your ski(s) when jumping. Here are some of the basic ones:

Mute: When airborne, grab you ski with the opposite side hand.
Rocket Air: Turn your legs forwards when airborne and grab both skis with both hands
Tail grab: Grab the tail of one of your skis while airborne
Nose grab: The opposite of tail grab, you grab the nose of your ski!

Rail slide: Sliding sideways on a rail or a box

Iron Cross: When airborne, cross your skis in front of you.

Daffy: While in the air, make a split = one leg back, one front!

Backscratcher: Move your skis backwards so that they touch your back while you are airborne.

These all tricks are from the basics and good for beginners in the snow parks. Go out, push your limits and stomp some new tricks! If you feel like you can’t get these on your own, we at Lineupexplorers Snow Travel offer some nice freestyle courses! Check them out!

Stay safe and enjoy the new year of snow!

-Lineupexplorers Travel Team

Lineupexplorers – Ski Trips and Snow Travel Packages

Find your perfect ski trip! Lineupexplorers offers a huge selection of ski trips to destinations all around the world for the best possible price. Alaska, Russia, Austria, France, Canada, India and many more. Let’s go shred pow!

Ride safe…

By , 19.12.2010 21:47

Since the snow-season is running, and people are super stoked, like here at Lineupexplorers, we decided to remind you all from few things about safety. Because often when super stoked, people tend to get bit reckless! It might sound boring and same the jargon your mom always tells you before going, but these few tips might save your or your mates life…Or at least some minutes of suffering in case of an accident.  Better safe than sorry, believe us!

  • Always have a phone with you! Also to call your buddies how stoked you are after the first ride!
  • Save the rescue services/emergency number to your phone. This should be available at the lift stations. This saves so much time if something happens, you can call for help immediately!
  • European emergency number is 112; it works in every EU-country and they can connect you to the local rescue services. But always check the local rescue number too!
  • In United States the emergency number is 911; the same for this as above, always check the local mountain rescue number too!
  • Grab a map of the ski resort and make sure you know where you’re heading (especially when going off-piste!) so if you need to call for help you can quickly tell where the help’s needed!  If there’s no pocket map available, remember the names of the lifts and numbers of the slopes where you’re close to.
  • First time riding somewhere, take it easy and if planning to go off-piste, check as good as possible the terrain for any cliffs, drops and such, so there would be as less surprises as possible! The feeling of the ground disappearing underneath you isn’t that cool…
  • If going ski-touring/off-piste, always have the essential 3: Avalanche beacon (transceiver), shovel and probe and the know-how for using them. Also take something to drink and eat with you, and you’ll enjoy the ride more for sure.  Well-fuelled people are also more alert! With off-piste it’s also crucial to check the avalanche risk status and not take un-necessary risks!!
  • Make sure your equipment is in shape, especially now that the season is still fresh! Check your bindings and boots after the summer storage that they’re not the ones to let you down! Even if it wouldn’t mean accident, who’d want the great bluebird day to go to waist when a strap breaks? Not me!
  • lso check your insurance. Boooring, yeah, might be. But I don’t think you want to find out how much it costs to fly you to the hospital from the ski resort  by getting the bill…(One hint, it’s expensive!!)
  • Don’t go riding wasted or high. That won’t be fun for anyone.  And anyway if you’re drunk, you’ll have to pay the heli-bill yourself.  Yeah, that was the expensive thing, remember?


If still after all precautions and preparations something happens, here are few tips how to act:

  • Do not panic. That won’t help you or the injured person!
  • Call for help. Especially in ski resorts the patrollers are close and know first aid, and can estimate the need of further medical care. Don’t be afraid of calling for nothing!
  • When calling try to explain your location as clearly as possible
  • If you are with more than 2 people, at the same time when another is calling the others should find out how serious the situation is and calm the victim down. If somebody has first aid skills, now is the time to use them! But make sure you seriously know what you are doing, would be a bummer to make the situation worse!
  • Mark the area above the injured person so that no other riders will hit him/her. E.g. put skis/poles/board on to the slope as a sign.
  • Do not move victim’s skis/board if the injury is in the legs or back, that might make it worse. If it is absolutely necessary to remove them, do it extremely carefully!
  • In case of an avalanche it is crucial to know how to locate the victim as soon as possible (less than 3 minutes) and how to use the probe and how to dig. Sounds super simple, but think again. How about having some practise with your buddies? Might save YOUR life if you make sure they also know how to find you! We will tell more about freeriding safety and avalanches and stuff later on…

These are just few basic things that sound boring, how to prevent unwanted things from happening and how to react if something happens. Often people take these things for granted but no body wants to be sh*tting their pants when action is needed! And acting is ten times easier if you’ve thought about how to act even for a few minutes in advance. Mind is a mysterious thing, you might think you won’t remember this all, but when the situation is there, it’ll all come back and you’ll be the hero saving precious time!

So small recap of the basic 5:
1.    Charged phone and the emergency number!
2.    Slope map in your pocket or in your mind!
3.    Your location on the map!
4.    Check the avalanche report and risk! If it’s too dangerous rather go park or party!
5.    The backcountry safety equipment and the know-how of using them!

And if you got really interested and want to be the hero, check out the snow-safety courses on offer at Lineupexplorers!

Ride safe and have a blast!

-Lineupexplorers team

Winter season 2010-2011 is starting! What to be expected?

By , 08.12.2010 14:32

The Northern hemisphere snow season of 2010-2011 is knocking on our doors…Some lucky ones of you have already started it weeks ago in the glacier resorts of Europe (and we’re not jealous, not at all!). And as the white gold is starting to fall down in more and more places around the world and we are planning and dreaming about THE snow trip of this season, we tought it would be a good time to take small sneak peak into the season; what’s going on at the moment and what is to be expected (so we know where to book the ticket to ride!).

Last week it was dumping in Vorarlberg, Austria!

Main season kickstart time is from the end of November to the beginning of December, so it is ON! Many resorts have already opened their first slopes and lifts in Europe and US, and first big contests have been held, thanks to the nice snowfalls already this winter. The last week it has been dumping in many places around Europe and US and more is expected in the near future. So it has been nice for the early birds with their season tickets!

But what the forecast for this whole winter? Are we treated with superb snowfall of meters and meters of powder or do we have to suffer from icy artificial slopes when the natural snow is not to be found? Or the worst case scenario of super-warm weather? Winter weather is according to experts very depending on the natural phenomenons called El Niño and La Niña that storm thousands of miles away from where the effects actually take place…

Do not ask me how they work in detail, but apparently (and again according to experts) this year the major player is the La Niña, which means that sea surface temperatures across the equatorial central and eastern Pacific are lower than normal. So in the weather this means that the northern parts are getting a break from extreme winter when around the European Alps is expected lots of snow and cooler temperatures…And thats good news for us all!

For the US and Canada La Niña is pretty good news too, specially in the Whistler area. The first of many La Niña storms have already dumped  feet of freshies to large parts of the US, stretching from the coastal Cascades to North Dakota. Anyway for the whole continent the phenomenom has already showed good signs, many resorts have now good base layer for the coming season. So lets all cross our fingers that these patterns will work out for the rest of the season too!

So yeah, seems to be a good winter ahead of us in most of the places (atleast at the moment in Austria it has been already EPIC!), and that means guys and girls that it’s time to wax your boards and skis and book your ticket to ride for the winter holidays!

It was pretty nice 1st day of the season...(Gargellen, Vorarlberg, Austria)

Enjoy the first rides!

-Lineupexplorers Team

ps. check out the abundance of snow trips we at Lineupexplorers have to offer, anything from beginner freestyle camps to experts freeride tours all over the world! Ride on!

Who wants to win an epic powder-holiday in Japan?!

By , 07.12.2010 09:36

WIN A SKI OR SNOWBOARD TRIP TO JAPAN!

Go shred Japan! Win the ultimate freeriding road trip across Japan’s snow spoiled north island – Hokkaido: With no set itinerary, we follow the snow to the best of the best over seven days. Equipped with a full set of backcountry touring equipment, 2 vehicles and 2 certified backcountry guides the options are almost unlimited. Fortunately, our comfortable 4WD vans come with a decent sound system to keep you entertained and an ice box to keep the drinks cold.

Travel Dates: 22. – 29.th January 2011
Trip Value: approx. EUR 1.300
Final Call: 19th December 2010

Powered by Lineupexplorers and Black Diamond Lodge!

HOW DO I TAKE PART?

Prove that you deserve it. Are you a real powder addict? Then show us your LIKE & LOVE with attesting passion, karma and creativity:

1) Passion: Become a fan of our brand new facebook page, because only this way you will stay up-to-date with news from the winter wonder land.
2) Karma: Spread the word by posting “Win a Free Trip” with the link to this raffle on your wall! This is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/Lineupexplorer?v=app_10442206389. Just copy&paste, as simple as that!
3) Creativity: Upload a snow photo on our facebook page. Yep – this is a open foto contest – no matter out of which segment: Powder, park, couch, party, nonsense, professional or handyshoot. No worries, everything is good, just make as many people like it as you can!

So this is as easy as winnning a trip can be! But if you want or need more details visit our facebook page! (Fun to visit anyway)

The Chase for the powpow is ON!! :)

-Lineupexplorers Team

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