A powder day in Brixton, London

I must be genetically programmed to wake up at stupid o’clock when it snows. I was wide awake at 5.30am, swooning over the huge amounts of snow in our street. I’d have been stoked to see this much white stuff in a resort, never mind in south London.

All London’s buses were cancelled late last night and over a couple of hours early this morning I watched on the internet as most of London’s underground network ground to a halt too. Logging in to check my work email, I saw we’d been advised to work from home. I’ve got plenty to do, but thought I’d opt for a later shift and head to the park get my first tracks of the year before hitting the strategy documents.

Most of the parks near me in Brixton/Clapham are pretty flat, with the exception of Brockwell Park, so that was the obvious place to head to. Given the lack of buses there wasn’t much chance of me getting anywhere else anyway.

Grabbing an old board – anticipating twig and stone-ridden terrain – we headed down Brixton Hill to the park. We got more than a few stares walking down the street. We also got a thumping with snowballs by a bunch of kids who demanded a go on my snowboard and didn’t like the answer they got.

Arriving in the park we met a couple of snowboarders who asked if we’d found anywhere good to go. They complained the bits they’d tried were too slow. We headed to one long but quiet pitch in the middle of the mark which was still ankle deep in untouched snow. I strapped in, shoved off and promptly stopped. I hopped and jumped about another ten feet before giving up.

Other people in the park seemed to be heading for an area near the old country house and café on the Herne Hill side of the park. Walking round the corner we saw what they were flocking to – a much steeper and wider area – yey!

However it was mobbed. There were gazillions of families, hysterical puppies and children on all kinds of objects from post wooden sledges to plastic bin lids, shovels, bits of cardboard and even some boogie boards covered in bin bags.

There were a fair few snowboarders too – including a dad with a young boy he was getting to stand in between his legs before they straightlined down the hill- whooping all the way.

You had to get your timing right to avoid colliding with kids on sledges going down the hill or just generally rolling around the ground in all directions. But I managed to get a few runs in, getting a bit further every time until I made it across the path at the bottom almost to the edge of the park. Okay, so it wasn’t an untracked powder bowl but you’d pay £20 an hour to ride something a similar length of piste in one of the UK’s indoor slopes so it’s all relative.

It was also one of the friendliest atmospheres I’ve experienced in London in a long time – lots of happy people, chatting to strangers, building snowmen and enjoying the fresh air.

But having no poma or chairlift, it was pretty knackering – I haven’t hiked to anywhere further than a shopping centre in recent months so after half a dozen or so runs I was pretty pooped. My trusty photographer’s toes were also starting to freeze so it was time to head home.

There’s more snow due later so who knows how many more snowboarders will get a chance to get their gear out – fingers crossed for lots of fantastic footage and photos to come in the following few days.

That's me done for now though - got a day's work to do - in slippers of course...