First hike of the year was up Scarr Mountain in the Wicklow mountains. Just by Glenmacnass. First time taking the dslr too.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Val Thorens
Skiing trip 2012.
Went to Val Thorens in France which is part of The Three Valleys which is the largest ski resort in the world. Went with UCPA for the second time. They do a great price which includes board, food, ski rentals, ski pass and ski lessons for the week. I think the UCPA this year was not as nice as last year in Serre Chevalier but overall Val Thorens was better as the town was much more lively and there were a lot more slopes and more investigating to be done.
I found the ski lessons to be a lot slower than last year and I probably should have went to the class above as recommended by the teacher last year but I wanted to stay with our gang. In the end I did 3 days of classes and then myself and Louise skipped the last two days and went across the The Valleys with Adam, Toner and Graham. These two days were the highlight for me and I really enjoyed being able to ski pretty much non stop for those two days and not spend so much time waiting.
During those two days we tried mostly red slopes and a couple of blacks which were tricky but manageable. We did the ski park on both days too which involves trying to do very small jumps. It was great fun but fell more than half the time I reckon. I also tried a massive jump into an inflatable cushion. That was great fun but I'm not good enough yet to take full advantage of. The skiing highlight of the week was when I did the snowboard cross track. I had no idea what it would be like and didn't expect it to be so fast. I flew through the course not really in much control but just about managed to get around it without crashing. I reckon if I had tried another 10 times I would have crashed every time. Just happened to fluke it first time around. My adrenalin was pumping and I just started laughing at one stage I was enjoying it so much but knew I had little control.
Party wise we had a good laugh any time we went drinking in La Folie Douce and the ski home afterwards was always good fun trying to avoid all the crashes. Our last night out on the town was a mental one too. We had planned to go home around midnight but ended up staying in a club until 5 because we were having such a laugh dancing around like lunatics. Unfortunately we had to be up at 8.30 the following morning to get our taxi to the airport.
All in all, I think I would go back to Val Thorens again but would like to stay in private accommodation.
Went to Val Thorens in France which is part of The Three Valleys which is the largest ski resort in the world. Went with UCPA for the second time. They do a great price which includes board, food, ski rentals, ski pass and ski lessons for the week. I think the UCPA this year was not as nice as last year in Serre Chevalier but overall Val Thorens was better as the town was much more lively and there were a lot more slopes and more investigating to be done.
I found the ski lessons to be a lot slower than last year and I probably should have went to the class above as recommended by the teacher last year but I wanted to stay with our gang. In the end I did 3 days of classes and then myself and Louise skipped the last two days and went across the The Valleys with Adam, Toner and Graham. These two days were the highlight for me and I really enjoyed being able to ski pretty much non stop for those two days and not spend so much time waiting.
During those two days we tried mostly red slopes and a couple of blacks which were tricky but manageable. We did the ski park on both days too which involves trying to do very small jumps. It was great fun but fell more than half the time I reckon. I also tried a massive jump into an inflatable cushion. That was great fun but I'm not good enough yet to take full advantage of. The skiing highlight of the week was when I did the snowboard cross track. I had no idea what it would be like and didn't expect it to be so fast. I flew through the course not really in much control but just about managed to get around it without crashing. I reckon if I had tried another 10 times I would have crashed every time. Just happened to fluke it first time around. My adrenalin was pumping and I just started laughing at one stage I was enjoying it so much but knew I had little control.
Party wise we had a good laugh any time we went drinking in La Folie Douce and the ski home afterwards was always good fun trying to avoid all the crashes. Our last night out on the town was a mental one too. We had planned to go home around midnight but ended up staying in a club until 5 because we were having such a laugh dancing around like lunatics. Unfortunately we had to be up at 8.30 the following morning to get our taxi to the airport.
All in all, I think I would go back to Val Thorens again but would like to stay in private accommodation.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Choice Music Awards 2011
Myself and Louise went to the Choice Music Awards in the Olympia on March 8th. It's getting bigger by the year as it was held in Vicar Street last year. Still a lot of industry heads at it who tend to talk the whole way through the night but I find it's a great way to get to see some good new Irish bands perform a couple of live songs.
Here was the shortlist and each act performed 2 songs live on the night:
And So I Watch You From Afar – Gangs (Richter Collective)
Bell X1 – Bloodless Coup (Belly Up Records)
Cashier No 9 – To The Death Of Fun (Bella Union)
Lisa Hannigan - Passenger (Hoop Records)
The Japanese Popstars – Controlling Your Allegiance (EMI)
Jape – Ocean of Frequency (Music Is For Losers)
Patrick Kelleher & His Cold Dead Hands – Golden Syrup (Osaka Records)
Pugwash – The Olympus Sound (EMI/1969 Records)
Tieranniesaur – Tieranniesaur (Popical Island)
We Cut Corners – Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards (Delphi)
My highlights were ASIWYFA, Japanese Popstars and fav pick were We Cut Corners, two teachers that formed a band on the side and still teach full-time.
Jape won the award, the first act to win the award twice. I'm not really familiar with them so can't judge either way.
Good night all round. Will try go again next year.
Here was the shortlist and each act performed 2 songs live on the night:
And So I Watch You From Afar – Gangs (Richter Collective)
Bell X1 – Bloodless Coup (Belly Up Records)
Cashier No 9 – To The Death Of Fun (Bella Union)
Lisa Hannigan - Passenger (Hoop Records)
The Japanese Popstars – Controlling Your Allegiance (EMI)
Jape – Ocean of Frequency (Music Is For Losers)
Patrick Kelleher & His Cold Dead Hands – Golden Syrup (Osaka Records)
Pugwash – The Olympus Sound (EMI/1969 Records)
Tieranniesaur – Tieranniesaur (Popical Island)
We Cut Corners – Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards (Delphi)
My highlights were ASIWYFA, Japanese Popstars and fav pick were We Cut Corners, two teachers that formed a band on the side and still teach full-time.
Jape won the award, the first act to win the award twice. I'm not really familiar with them so can't judge either way.
Good night all round. Will try go again next year.
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