Snowboarding in the Milky Way in the North West of Italy, broadcasting from Turin, the host city for the 2006 Winter Olympics, I recount the adventures of ordinary snowboarders in the Italian Alps, giving weather and snow reports for Italy, snowboarding equipment and film reviews, with detailed desc…
6 Inches of fresh powder and bright blue skies in a winter wonderlandFriday 24th March - snowing all dayovernight temperatures risingNatasha arrived from England on Tuesday snowboarding with Natasha on Saturdayfantastic scenery - all tracks coveredvirgin powder in Sansicariogradually everybody turns up - and we head to Sauze doulxback to Sansicario for lunch and some sunthe temperature is rising and the snow is beginning to melt upper slopes still in good condition thoughafternoon spent in the powder above sansicarioSunday starts fairly warm notwithstanding a later sunrisethe slopes are hard from the overnight drop in tempstill preparing the piste 72 first thing morning after the lifts openwhere the cats have just been - is perfectNatasha is up later after a night out on the townwe all meet up at 11ish and head to Sauze Doulxonce round Triplex - a bit soft underfootback to Anna's bar for lunch and sunbathing on the terrace 7500'a few trips round Colo/Rio Nero off Fraiteve for the afternooneven the upper slopes are slushygood for practising back-to-back 180s down the fall line Podsafe Music101 - Swim To Me 101 PMN Page 101 WebsiteAmerican Heartbreak - Things Are Looking Up American Heartbreak PMN Page American Heartbreak WebsiteCyndi Vellmure - Could Cyndi Vellmure PMN Page Cyndi Vellmure Website[15.9MB 21:43 96kbps]
Overcast, horrible weather but fantastic piste bashing, including first trip to Sestriere via col BassetSaturday 18th MarchAlmost considered using the hard stuffopted for the newly serviced WinterstickLow cloud but sunshine above to start the dayFraiteve is bathed in sunshineCanale Colo and Rio Nero are the places to bestill some good powder even after last sundays high windsHigher level clouds roll in from France and it starts snowing fine dense snow in the afternoonvery poor visibility everywherecall it a day at 4:30ishSunday 19th March - Italian Fathers Day3 inches of overnight snowpiste 72 has an unpisted stripFraiteve is above the cloudand Canale Colo is irresistibleRio Nero lift breaks down just after I drop into Canale Colocol Basset chair twicethen Borgata - Sestriere Colle and back up in the Gondola milky way piste mapRio Nero is fixed so we can do it againPiste 21 from the top to get to lunch - fantastic piste bashingvisibility even below the clouds is OK - much betetr than Saturdayafter lunch straight back up to Rio Nerooff-piste right and left 21 twice and a single Baby Sansicario to finish at 5PMN MusicSupergene - Big In Japan (UK Indie Rock) Supergene PMN Page Supergene websiteKanalo - Come On Over (Hawaiian Reggae) Kanalo PMN Page Kanalo websiteLaura Clapp - Let It Rain Laura Clapp PMN Page Laura Clapp website[18.7MB 25:17 96kbps]
High Winds and Rio Nero - first trip to Sauze Doulx this season via link liftsLaura Clapp - Hey Hey Sister Laura Clapp PMN Page Laura Clapp website6 inches of fresh snow between Tuesday night and Thursday2 inches more overnight FridayFriday storm force winds in TurinForecast was for Strong wind Saturday, Very strong wind Sunday and calm Monday expecting the worst - Saturday variable cloud and strong windsRio Baucet under the 8 man gondola - peach off-piste bowlunexpectedly Rio Nero draglift opens - first time this season get stopped by the police - told not to go off pistehead back to San Sicario - great powder to be had in the treesCreation Science - Hot Wire My Heart Creation Science PMN Page Creation Science websiteSunday - stronger winds - doubts about lifts openingLa Sellette is open - and Roccia Rotonda - and then Fraiteve opens aswellSestriere link gondola was open but Rio Nero is closedthere are trials of Venue, Protein and Phiokka snowboards - c/o La Glissetoo busy shredding pistes and powder in the trees to test anythingWinterstick All Mountain 162 - still going strongfrom the top of piste 21last run of the day hit rocks under windswept powder - well damagedstraight to the repair shop - overnight repairs to be ready for Monday morningFigureOne - Beautiful Creation FigureOne PMN Page FigureOne websiteMonday morning - clear blue skies and freezing cold - no wind !!!straight to the top of 21 - all on our own - what a dreamRio Nero is open - twice round it on the way to Sauze D'Oulx2nd time across the funnel into the powder in avalanche territorythen on down to the long link draglift up to the top of Triplexlovely long piste under the new Triplex 4 man chairlift to the top of piste 29piste 29 is a freecarve dream - so soft - all of the way down to clotesback up Pian della Rocca 4 man chairlift and the New Triplex back into the Col Basset valley and up the 4 man chair to the Rio Nero draglift round Roccia Rotonda, Fraiteve and another loop of rio Neroone more long top half of piste 21 and upto La capanina for lunch2 hours later after 1 hour of which in the sun at 7500'a few more runs til 5pm when its time to call it a dayRachel Kann - I Know This Rachel Kann PMN Page Rachel Kann website[24.4MB 33:40 96kbps]
Granian - Sex In A Box Granian PMN PageGranian websiteAfter 2 feet of powder - another 1 and a half feet in 3 daysSansicario in the heart of the Milky WayWhat a fantastic weekend - a 3 dayerSnowing from Thursday til Sunday morningWinterstick All Mountain 162 up to the taskSaturday its snowing fairly heavycouple of variations thru the woods and then Colombiere2 hours later and Im still trying to get back to civilisationwaist deep and then boot deep (thank god)afternoon a little bit more low keyUrgencies - Strange Girl's Weird Boy Urgencies PMN Page Full Breach Kicks Records websiteSaturday night agriturismo in Fenils - as much as you can eat & drinksnow had stopped but sunday morning further 6 inches of freshslightly cloudy - and expecting the PN Snowpark gangout early to savour the powder - then guiding through the woodsby lunch time - I am knackered - but recover for more afternoon powback leg burn startting to bitefinish the day with some hard and fast piste runs finishing with 21Kingsdown - Next Train to Brighton Kingsdown PMN Page I had booked Monday as a holidaydrop in temperature overnight of 10 degrees Centigradeperfectly groomed pistes and plenty of pow still to cutanother 9 to 5 with no lift queuesunfortunately high winds have kept the link lifts closed[26.9MB 35:32 96kbps]
Stingray - 143 Stingray PMN Page Stingray websiteOlympic Winter Games 2006 draws to a close at end of week 22 feet of snowfall in the 2nd week - Winter WonderlandFriday snowing on the way up and still snowing Saturday morningSansi lifts still shut so Cesana - Claviere for a days knee deep powder funvisibility is excellent even during snowfallThe woods above Cesana - endless backcountry - through the treesSunny intervals in the afternoonItalian hope crashes out of Sestriere SlalomThe Saturday night party is cancelledKingsdown - Signs Kingsdown PMN PageSunday morning - glorious sunshine - crisp and clear08:50 outside the back door clipped in and nose pointing downhillfirst run from La Sellette into the woods dividing 72 and 78 down to soleil Boeufup to the Roccie Rotonde - back all of the way down 72head to Rio Nero but its closed - snowcats workingMilky Way has done us proud - open a day early - and almost everything openpistes 18 19 and 20 and 21even rio Baucet - down to the intermediate 2300 Gondola stationthen down the Fraiteve run top of WMN DH - cut right to powder wall21 and into the woods at the Northern extreme - bottom Colombierethese woods are fantastic - and I was the first through themMonte Rotta woods in the afternoon - followed by 72 off-piste and then 21 o/p againthis time from the very top of rio nero - the guards let us through ??back up La Sellette then head for home via 3 trips round the Babybig air jumps off the path in the powder - til 5pm and Im exhausted but extaticJims Big Ego - WTFMFWTFAYT? Jims Big Ego PMN Page bigego website[23.6MB 32:26 96kbps]
1st Week of Torino 2006 - An audio blog of living the Winter Olympics PMN Munk - Dirty WorkMunk PMN PageMunk website10/2/06 the opening ceremony went off well11/2/06 Claviere by cable-car11/2/06 Swedish IOC reps selling tickets for 10 EUROS - snowboard for 20 EUROS v list price of 35 EUROs 11/2/06 first SanSi event Biathlon German Gold and Norway 2nd and 3rd12/2/06 Telegraph nonsense 7 hours return trip to Sestriere12/2/06 get 4 tickets from USA squad for 2 man bob finals for 19/2/0612/2/06 Shaun White wins the Gold in H/P USA 1st & 2nd13/2/06 Tickets for sale - this time from British touts13/2/06 Carabinieri intervene13/2/06 looking for WMN DH Swedish rep offers 4*110 for 250 14/2/06 Tash and Lucy arrive from London to see the WMN DH 15/215/2/06 At the egg for 10am to find tickets for WMN DH15/2/06 looking for 2 tickets at least for Tash and Lucy15/2/06 Brit ticket tout sells me last 3 100 Euro tickets for 20 each15/2/06 Prime seats sitting with Austrian brass band - party atmosphere15/2/06 met Chemy Alcotts brother and she comes 11th15/2/06 the girls go to Sestriere in the afternoon - A great dayPMN Redefining the Moment - Oxygen for Two Redefining the Moment PMN PageRedefining the Moment website16/2/06 heavy snow all morning and high winds - 2 inches settled16/2/06 Swindon girl gets Skeleton Silver for team GB16/2/06 the girls travel home almost 12 hours door-to-door17/2/06 wake up to heavy snowfall - 6 inches settles17/2/06 WMN Dh Combined delayed by 1 hour due to snowfall17/2/06 get 2 100 Euro tickets for 20 each off Dutch team17/2/06 race starts at 13:15 - abandoned after 1st skier falls17/2/06 slalom goes ahead DH rescheduled for Monday18/2/06 Mens SuperG Sestriere - long walk down to Borgata18/2/06 snowing all morning - getting heavier after 11am18/2/06 GBR 7th after 15 runs - race abandoned 12pm18/2/06 rescheduled for 14:30 - 14:00 Sun comes out and race completed18/2/06 Get 2 extra tickets for 50 Euro for the rescheduled WMN DHK19/2/06 Snowfalling again in morning - SuperG WMN scheduled for 12pm19/2/06 11am get a 110 for free, a 110 for 50 and 2 110s for 40 Euros19/2/06 Snow and Fog postpones race - hopefully to be rerun Monday19/2/06 Snowing stronger than ever all afternoon and all evening19/2/06 2-man bob finals > 6 inches of snowfall in 3 hours total 18 inches in 18 hrs 20/2/06 Wake up to sunny skies - first for 4 days - and half metre pow20/2/06 WMN SuperG put back to 3pm - Chemmy's big chance - top 20 finishPMN Anonymous - Apology Anonymous PMN Page Anonymous website[26.8MB 36:45 96kbps]
DJ Come of Age - No Pressure by Jahaha DJCOA PMN PageTOTP was on Monday and Tuesday - Live acts incl Craig Davidturned cold againdress rehearsal was on Wednesday night2006 Opening ceremony coming up on Friday www.torino2006.com Torino 2006 Winter Olympics70 odd heads of stateI'll be in the mountainsTash arrives on Tuesday for the Wednesday Wmn DownhillWMN DH 15th 17th and SG 19th Alpine skiingSnowboarding in Bardonechia H/P12th and 13th SBC 16th and 17thForecast is cold, clear and sunny - no more snowfall for at least a week (16/2/06)www.weknowsnow.com backcountrymapsnice video blog and Illuminati snowboards and osprey packsMilky Way 3D Map promo 3D maps from www.mountmaps.com5 EUROS or 5 GBPPlanet of Women - Waking up the Neighbourhood Planet of Women PMN Page Planet of Women Website[12.9MB 16:54 96kbps]
Butterfly Catchers - Wake Up Butterfly Catchers PMN page Butterfly Catchers Websitededicated to Absent Friends1.4m Limone Piemonte, 1m Prato Nevoso, 1m NE, 80cm Alagna, 50cm Milky way, 10cm extreme NWToast DVDTorino 2006 - 1 week to go TOTP from Sauze Doulx 13/2/05 7pm Volunteers in the mountainsSansicario and Sestriere all lifts closed to public for squad trainingOff to Claviere for fun in the sun1 hour of lifts Cable Car + 3 chairs + 1 dragCost of the lift passes in ItalyA few free tickets for season ticket holdersOlympic flame arrives at Sestriere on its tour of Italy to TurinAmplifico - 10p Mix Amplifico PMN page Amplifico WebsiteSleepy cloudy Sunday showBack to ClaviereMore adventurous powder excursionsNearer you get to France less fresh snow fell last weekendI had fun practising switch 180s and what pow there isLearning a few new routes for future referenceLess people than on saturdayStill lots of Sunday drivers on the way downBloody Olympic Games - the sooner theyre over the betterOh and I pranged the car the day after last weeks showItalian drivers, cars and insurance - but thats another storyEarly publication next weeek and a late one the week after - cos Im OlympicingOlympic daily updates ??Swindon win at home yet again - 1 point from safetyThe Argyle Pimps - Geezers The Argyle Pimps PMN Page The Argyle Pimps Website[20.4MB 27:48 96kbps]
Podsafe Music Network (PMN)The Argyle Pimps - Argyle Pimpin The Argyle Pimps PMN page The argyle Pimps websiteFriday snow in the valleys - Saturday and Sunday 30cm - 40cm - 50cmSaturday morning 10 cm alreadyMilan airports closedTurin-Bardonechia motorway closedout at 10 - snow getting ever heavierpoor visibility above the tree line1300 - 2700
dos de picos - solo noi dos de picos PMN page DDP website snow snow snowAlte Navigation - Niederschleg - 9-panel - 6 hour slots for detail www.wetterzentrale.de www.weatheronline.co.uk www.sansicario.itfrigin cold - too cold for lots of snowwarming up on Saturday - should snow more thenNatasha is coming over for the olympicspeawees - No Reaction artistdetails.php peawees PMN page peawees website [9.1MB 12:38 96kbps]
Chrissy - He Is Chrissy PMN Link Torino 2006 - 4 weeks to go - will everything be ready ?Lost Dog70cm upper 30cm lower = 2 foot and 1 footstill struggling to come to terms with reconditioned boardto Serre Chevalier or not to Serre Chevalier when we got 6 inches they got 20burned my butt - again the training run is open to the public - piste 72still only links towards Francenew gondola will have to wait til after the olympicsSilence is Sexy - Reptiles Silence is Sexy PMN Link Toast a great freeride video - Black DiamondVenue snowboardsMilky Way lifts - 90 lifts an over 250 miles of ski-runsTurin 50 miles, Milan 120 milesseason pass was 550 Euros day pass 26 or 31 - 24 days so farweather forecast - tuesday should snow but more in Francefeedback snowboardcast@gmail.com live feed record voice message - 1-888-65-GCAST or outside US +1-305-437-8719 then give 208-777-7777 pin = 7777 copy this feedback cast link to your podcatcher I must get myself a USB mic - no timeThanks for listening - next show due out next MondayLuis Claudio - A saga do Guerreiroartistdetails.php Luis Claudio PMN Link
Italian music nightPeawees - Road to Rock n Roll The Peawees PMN page The Peawees WebsiteWeather report - no fresh snowfall25th day milestoneThe season pass is paid forFriday night is Snowpark night in Prato NevosoVenue board purchaseSaturday the new Gondola opensSansicario race piste difficult - training piste is a dreamdifficult conditions - especially the slalom race piste SestriereThe dog is staying real closeItalian Soul - Soul Basement - L.O.V.E (Radio Edit) Soul Basement PMN page Soul Basement websiteFriday night investment - Samson c01u - Mac switcherSunday intention to head for Sauze via new lift and SestriereKandahar piste - mens d/hill - excellenthardly anybody on the mountain - bad queues heing homeLast Thursday www.RockcastItalia.com - RAI2 - Galatea Rockcastitalia podcast The forecast is Cold in the North - Snow in the SouthRisoul - 50 miles from the Milky Way - 16"Swindon 4-2Peawees - Cause You Dont Know Me
The episode about the Christmas holidays - the recovery of the Winterstick, burning my butt and the lack of fresh snowfallfirst track - - [ ] fuck no techno by .22- [ ] from music.podshow.com Podshow .22 artist page page.22 website - [ ] The Xmas Holidays begin on 16th December til 2nd january still no snowfall - time to dedicate to riding switchthe objective an entire piste - starting with a backside 180- [ ] 30th december and New years Eve the snow returns - about 6 inches- [+] Good fun had by one and all - what a difference 6 inches makes to hard pistes temporary repair falling out of the bottom of my board - down piste 21- [ ] 6th January is a bank holiday in Italy - I am at work- [ ] Friday night head for the hills with fully repaired snowboard- [ ] Winterstick is back up and running - permanently repaired now back on my butt - first descent - hard patch out of control- [ ] Equipment check - Winterstick All Mountain 162, Ride bindings, Burton Driver boots all bought 3 years ago- [ ] The Faint on saddle Creek Records (Omaha) playing Typing: 1974 - 2048Podshow artist page for The FaintSaddle Creek Records website- [ ] The board repair made it uncontrollable- [ ] the 180s qre left in the bag til my butt is back in shape- [ ] sunday morning snowing lightly - poor visibility- [ ] I need new goggles and new everything- [ ] what a view from the top of Fraiteve- [ ] snow stops at lunchtime clears to haze in afternoon- [ ] too late time to go home- [ ] Tony Adams by Joe Strummer (Epitaph Records) artistdetails.php /
This is a trial podcast as an introductory episodefeaturing some fine hip hop music from the podsafe music network at music.podshow.comand an introduction to the Milky Way ski areaOK I switched the two music tracks round so the reference to the band Anonymousactually refers to the second track playedThe first track is by Blackalicious on Epitaph Records called PowersEpitaph PMN PageThe second track is in fact by Anonymous called I See Dead PeopleAnonymous PMN Page
This is the first real episode and covers the start of the season - the first big snowfall and the pain of a damaged snowboardThe Season kicks off in style and then some......rocks- The Update for December - covering everything that has happened so far this season- Blackalicious on epitaph Records entitled Powers www.anonymoushiphop.com - Where do we snowboard - The Milky Way, Italy - detailing the 6 resorts that make up the Milky Way Ski Area- The snow conditions - the story so far this season The lifts opened for the first time on Saturday 3rd December50 cm of snow fell the day and night before = approx 20 in. - what a reliefpistes were ready to open anyway based on artificial snowsnow being made all through November thanks to unusually cold weathercold weathe has continued with extremes of -26 in Livigno in Decembercold weather has allowed snow cannons to function 24/7 for 2 monthswith more new natural light snowfalls beginning again on 30 decembera couple of inches overnight 30thand snow continuing to fall on New years eve- Sansicario is where I am based At the centre of the Milky Way with direct lift-links to Sauze, Sestriere and Claviere - from where you can cross the boarder into France by ski-liftSansicario is the venue for the Womwns Alpine Skiing events- turin is the Host City for the 2006 Winte Olympics Alpine skiing in Sestriere and Sansicario - snowboarding at Bardonechia- Other events in Sansicario being The Biathlon and the Bobsleigh, Luge & Skeleton- The Olympics building site, permanent and Temporary the centre of Sansicario being overrun by a temporary tented village of hospitality and grandstands currentlybeing built- The plus side is New Lifts and New Snowmaking > 100 Million $ of new liftsthe same amount in new permanent snowmaking systemsSansicario alone - of 14 lifts - 11 replaced in the last 7 years - 8 replaced for Olympics - 2 new 8-man Gondolas replacing 3 2-man chairs4 times as fast and twice the volume- 1 New super-fast 4-man chair replacing 2 drag-lifts- 1 4-man chair replacing the 2 beginners drag-lifts- a faster twin drag-lift replacing an old single drag-lift- More music by Anonymous entitled I See Dead People from the album To Whom It May Concern- after the 2nd December snowfall I couldn't resist the off-piste on saturday 3rdpretty much a the side of every open piste - all for meplus one closed piste - where the snowcats hadn't passedpowder snow everywhere - just enough to surf, Saturday and Sunday, what a weekend- 10th and 11th December Back again for 9th and 10th - surfing powder - still plenty untouchedI hould have known better - rocks - 3 holes in the bottom of my board by lunchtimerepaired overnight - sunday on piste practising tricks and switch - explain- the theme music by colin Owns a yet to be released tune called '1 this Day' www.aboutfaceaudio.com see www.artfilmdesign.com boston based podcast - conversations with artists filmmakers and designers - music.podshow.com -
Listen to a mellow piece of music here! SBC-00e-2005-12-09.mp3 [4.8mb 00:06:42 64kbps]A Test Archive downloadable
Listen to a mellow piece of musicSBC-00e-2005-12-13.mp3 [4.8mb 00:06:42 64kbps]Stiil plenty of fresh snow to be found especially in SanSicario - its unbelievable how few people go off-piste, not to mention the fact that closed pistes were still full of untracked, a full week after the half metre dump from 2nd December
Listen to today’s show here! SBC-000-2005-12-09.mp3 [27.8mb 01:00:42 64kbps]Well today is a bank holiday in Italy so everybody will be in the mountains