So Long 2015, Hello 2016!

First off… Happy New Year and thank you for following this blog or even reading it from time to time.  It means a lot to me that anyone at all cares what I have to say and this gives me reason to keep going!
2015 was a bumpy year with a rough start.  With the loss of friends from skiing accidents and also my dearly beloved Grandfather who was a great inspiration to me, motivation for skiing and general mountain activities was low.  Ordinarily I’d expect to ski off a mountain or two and have at least a handful of long days in the mountains with friends. Looking back I realise that I hardly had any stand out days last winter due to work commitments, lack of snow and lack of psyche.

The summer was long and hot and with the mountains falling apart options were limited but I still had some awesome times out with Irene climbing some classics of the massif.
The main focus for this past year has been work. With years gone buy I’ve lived a frugal and sometime even destitute lifestyle bouncing between transfer driving and random odd jobs to get buy.. often only just scraping enough money together for a lift pass in the autumn.  With my application onto the British Mountain Guides scheme accepted back in the spring is was imperative for me to save money to be able to pay for the courses and have my equipment in good shape too.  Even If this cost me time in the mountains.
Starting with Epic Tv back in February has been a really good thing for me for sure.  Its given me the money I’ve needed and also given me the chance to explore how business works and also given me the chance to develop other skills.  After not too long working there I ended up doing a screen test for being a ‘Gear Geek’ presenter.  For the remainder of the season I made some 50+ ski test videos and then into the summer I continued to make rock shoe review videos and gear buying guides.

Quite recently and after ‘The Charlie Boscoe’ left the company I was offered his old job of Climbing Daily presenter..  With more viewers, this would certainly be more of a challenge but its given me a chance to push my presenting skills forward and its something that I genuinely enjoy doing.  Not something that is that common from a job in Chamonix!!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07dU5Y_tWw&w=560&h=315]
This year I’ve also started as an ambassador for Salomon for my Skiing and Alpine climbing.  I’m supper happy to be working with them and I can say that I’m very pleased with the equipment I’ve had from them so far!

With a ski expedition to Baffin island in the pipeline and more courses with the guides scheme to look forward to I can feel that 2016 is going to be a good one.  I’m feeling pretty fit, motivated and now that the snow has finally returned to the alps and I can’t wait to get out there and have some big days.
Here’s some highlights of the past year!

See you out there!