Back in Laax - Orange Brits 2006
Practice day at the Orange Brits 2006. Blimey it was cold.
Sitting on the chairlift drifting towards the Laax roundhouse, we cradled our heads in our hands, buried our chins in our jackets and tried to keep the snow and cold out the best we could.
The wind was so loud we could hardly hear ourselves wailing with pain. And it turns out we weren’t alone – rumour had it that at least one other member of the Brits entourage had succumbed to frostbite.
Frostbite? Did we take a wrong turn at the Laax/Ice age junction?
It was worrying. In 2005 it was so hot and sunny that by midweek I had managed to burn the backs of my fingers and had t-shirt tan so severe I couldn’t wear either of the strapless tops I’d brought with me for the evening parties.
After our first day in 2006 I was starting to wonder if we were going to make it home with any fingers at all.
Monday
Opening my curtains on Monday morning we feared the worst. But no. The sky was
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| Blue skies got the filming for the music video underway |
 blue, the snow was bright and it was seriously sunny. Oh happy day.
I don’t know what kind of deal the Brits organisers did with the weather-gods to secure these bluebirds but you’ve just got to hope that no animals or small children were harmed.
So it was off with the lengthy jonathans and on with the SPF 30.
First up was boardercross. Thankfully we didn’t see too many of the pile ups of previous years. This year it seemed to be the whippy kickers which claimed victims – shooting the riders high into the air and leaving them winding the windows down for Britain. Andy Rivers took a pretty heavy slam here but thankfully wasn’t too badly hurt and was in action again the following day at the halfpipe.
Adam Gendle and Tim Warwood were out with their camera making a start on their annual music video – this year choosing the Pet Shop Boys ‘You Were Always on My Mind’. We ladies had the honour of being the first to be filmed with the whole boardercross field being asked to join in too for a group shot.
The girl’s contest was a nailbiter with Laura Berry coming up from fourth place in the final to take the title – passing Sonia Shaw, Vicci Miller and Jo Chastney.
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| James Thorne in the boatrdercross |
In the men’s final James Thorne took it down a level (literally) and shed his trousers to compete in his thermal pants. His aerodynamic physique didn’t cut the mustard though and he ended the final in fourth place with the New Zealand Olympic team coach Tom Wilmott taking the title.
Men’s masters competitor Olly Lambourne (who some of you ladies might also know as the one of the gang behind the Just4Girls camps) had a brush with a medal. He was awarded bronze at the prizegiving and his sister had to collect it for him as he was en route to Zurich to pick his boss up. However Olly had actually come fourth so poor Ms Lambourne had to then return the medal before her brother had even got to touch it. Oh so close.
Such is the jetsetting life of Britain’s top halfpipe riders, that several only got to drop in to the Brits for a couple of days between World Cup stops in the US and Japan.
In the women’s contest Kate Foster was out of action through a dislocated shoulder – leaving Lesley McKenna to wipe the floor with the opposition with a huge clean run. So good to see her back on form after her Olympic disappointment.
The men’s contest was a Dom and Dan battle but it was Dom Harington who went
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| Dom Harington took the men's halfpipe title |
 that bit bigger and higher to win this contest. Dan Wakeham still got a homecoming king’s welcome at prizegiving mind you and the pair were joined on the podium by Ben Kilner, who took third place. The whole of the Rider’s Palace bar grinned with glee as it celebrated arguably the strongest trio of British men’s halfpipe riders to date.
Nate Kern, taking part in his first Brits, stomped his mark well and truly on the event by landing a huge Cab 1080 in the men’s big air contest to take the title.
However he was a little overshadowed by a rider I know only as Charlie-yellow-trousers who made several astonishing attempts to land a double backflip. He got closer and closer but couldn’t quite make it. We didn’t care – we loved him anyway.
Throughout the week the Brits had been celebrating a record number of competitors – almost a third more than last year. And with around 90 riders registered for slopestyle, Thursday was always going to be a long day. We prepared as best we could with extra-large helpings of the entirely addictive burcher muesli at the Plazza restaurant and mountains of bread and cheese.
I was starting to wonder whether the girls (and me!) were getting a raw deal by having their events run between 10 and 11am – limiting their late nights and forcing early mornings - but slopestyle day was the day to appreciate it. It was a big course featuring two lines of kickers with huge knuckles. So hard, fast snow was necessary to get the best out of it – something the guys lost out on as the sun softned and slowed the base throughout the day.
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| Vicci Miller |
Jenny Jones and Vicci Miller were on great form with Lucy Passmore and Laura Berry looking good too but couldn't match the clean tricks of the older girls. Posy Dixon managed to dislocate her thumb during practice but still gave the qualifiers her best.
In the men’s contest Nate Kern continued his incredible debut – beating Tyler Chorlton by just 2.1 points to win his second contest in two days.
So after the mountain action it was back to the media centre to upload some pictures and the latest news.
Rider James Thorne dropped by to check his emails (and no doubt his MySpace account too). “Right I’m off home to watch a video and chill out before I jump out of a crane,” he announced on his way out of the door – to shouts of good luck. We weren't far behind him as we tried to cram in dinner before the Orange Air Time competition. 
It was so damn cold that in the time I’d spent going back to my room to get another
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| James Thorne pic: nathangallgher.com/Orange Brits |
layer of fleece, I’d managed to miss Jenny Jones land a massive four metre drop from the Orange Air Time crane. Looks like plenty of other people saw it though – there was a hefty crowd gathered round the quarterpipe at the base of the mountain.
Metre by metre the crane was raised until James Thorne was the only member of the invited crew left who hadn't fallen on hi/her landing.
Landing a drop of a massive nine metres left him the winner but it wasn’t enough for James. He wanted ten. He crashed in his first attempt but went back for more – with the crowd roaring and chanting his name. Slowly he unclipped his safety harness, edged himself the edge of the platform, dropped off – and landed on his feet. The crowd went wild and James soon vanished beneath the hugs of his sister, Mum and Dad.
Orange have got to be chuffed with the Orange Air Time –the first acid drop contest to be held in Europe. The competition – with an easy to understand format and stunning to watch - wowed both the local and visiting spectators and left one of the nicest men in snowboarding £4,000 better off.
Best go to the pub to celebrate then.
For most of us I think the evening went something like this – first to the bedroom bar (we named ours Barbados and it seemed to have lengthy opening hours), then drunken dancing for several hours to Ugly Duckling and Funk Royale, more drinking in the bar, a little sleep, waking up and realise that you’ve spent a million chuffs (Swiss francs) on two drinks. Oh and you’vemissed breakfast. Gah.
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| You just don't want to know how long he looked at that page... |
The locals chuckled at our robotic moves. We chuckled back – mainly at their outfits and the old man who had been staring at the page three boobs in the local paper for a wrongly long time.
We made it up the mountain in the afternoon for a bit of cautious and slow riding before retreating to the Rider’s Palace to chill. By this point the Laax lurgee – which everyone seemed to have – was also hitting hard and we were blowing our nose like some kind of off-tune Salvation Army nose trumpet band.
Food seemed like a good route to energy for the last night.
Laax is pretty small and their ain’t a lot of choice – especially for us vegetarians.
Many nights saw most of the town's visitors trying to pack into the local pizza restaurant – run by the dourest woman on earth.
We first spotted her last year through her shockingly bright 80s jacket which had shoulder pads you could have landed planes on. She grimaced her way around the restaurant at a pace only beaten by her sweet, overworked staff who literally ran around the place trying to serve everyone.
We joined the Protest and Capita team for some dinner and commenced battle. No the chef couldn’t leave anything off the pizzas – they were FAR too busy. And being brought the wrong dish – that was clearly our fault. But the food is good so it’s worth a visit. Just don’t expect service with a smile - or any manners at all really.
So another Brits ended, leaving us all wondering what’ll happen next year. Usually the Brits moves resorts every couple of year but will Soulsports be willing to give up such a fantastic set-up for 2007? Maybe other resorts will see how much money, coverage and fun the contest can bring and might make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Time will tell – but just make sure you’re there, wherever it ends up.
Full results of the contest are available at www.orangebrits.com
Powderroom.net galleries of the event:
Boardercross:
http://www.powderroom.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=67
Halfpipe:
http://www.powderroom.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=68
Big air:
http://www.powderroom.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=69
Slopestyle:
http://www.powderroom.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=70
Orange Air Time official pictures:
http://www.powderroom.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=71
