Over the weekend, Mount Battersea, which is situated within the heart of London’s Battersea Park was transformed into an authentic ski village with plenty of entertainment and attractions. The Telegraph Ski and Snowboard Show took its visitors on a one-of-a-kind authentic journey of an Alpine experience, where they could enjoy Alpine fine dining and street food from one of many options including German Bratwurst & Fries, Tartiflette, Austrian Tiroler Göstl and Moose Burgers, that has brought authentic mountain flavours to the city. As soon as I landed, I got right into the swing of things by doing what you do first, which is obviously grabbing a beer at one of the dedicated après bars. As soon as I settled in I got to watch the best up-and-coming freestyle riders demonstrating their skills as they battled it out to be crowned champion on the slopes of Mount Battersea on the 50 feet real-snow kicker. The excitement and adrenalin was literally second to none and if you have never tried skiing or snowboarding, the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead gave away 10,000 hour-long lift passes (worth £20 each) for free to show visitors, which also included ski and snowboard equipment hire. Perfect! I decided to get into the festive spirit, by getting some tips form impartial industry experts at the Travel Genius Bar, about where best is to go to for skiing this year. On my way I have also picked up the latest gear, whilst being entertained by a stellar line up of live music and comedy. Battersea also has not forgotten about the children, and has brought Santa from the North Pole to make their wishes come true.
Inspiring the next generation of athletes, Jamie Nicholls, Katie Omerod and Amiee Fuller from the British Ski and Snowboard Team were signing posters and answering questions for fans each day of the show. I was lucky enough to have a brief sit down with Amiee Fuller, who is a renown slopestyle snowboarder and the first woman to land a double back flip in competition. On her plans for the year, she said “This year I am going to Austria in 10 minutes time, so we are going to go and train for another week out there, and I have got a contest in two weeks time, then I am heading to the States. So loads of competitions but I am also going to mix in a bit of filming as well.” On how she prepares for competitions, she added “I have been training now with the British Team for 5 or 6 years and so we travel abroad quite a lot, but also in the summer I do quite a lot of dry land stuff, some gymnastics, and also we got the Snow Dome, that’s in London, so I go there quite often and that’s also perfect for getting your legs ready.”
Missed out on the fun this year? Why not get involved now for next year’s Telegraph Ski and Snowboard Show by visiting:
http://london.skiandsnowboard.co.uk
