Welcome to Simon Philp's Blog

Well this morning was a bit of a shock when I looked out the window to find the below: This was the result of 3 hours of heavy snow. What a day, been out snowboarding, yes, in Dalgety Bay :) I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Stay safe and to a fabulous 2010.

It wasn’t until a friend Simone on twitter stated about how it’d been snowing all night that I suddenly realised, I’ve not checked the weather reports for up north. Yes, this year I am late in checking out my usual winter haunts. Usually I am on top of any sign of snow fall up in the highlands in hope that the season will kick off early. Like the previous posts: What a pretty sight... Early Season? - Oct 2008 Nevis gets some powder - Nov 2007 Man is it...

It's been a couple of weeks now since we arrived back on British soil after having a fantastic week in Borovets.  I have been very busy working on other projects during this time (hence no updates) these will come into the light in the next couple of weeks. We arrived in the shack they call Plovdiv airport.  For anyone who hasn't experienced this airport then you are truly missing an experience.  The airport itself can't handle masses and masses of people.  This was shown in the single baggage reclaim area whereby you couldn't move while waiting the 30 minutes for the...

A couple of days ago I announced that we're heading back to Bulgaria in the next coming weeks and it's time for a revamp of the playlists.  While my podcasts haven't been that active I have been doing mixes offline which I might be posting up in the future.  Talking about podcasts it was good to see Simon aka One Phat Dj post another podcast entitled encore.  Lets hope that we can persuade him to do the best of 2008 :). Also Marc aka Dj Cruze has put up his Christmas edition podcast - sexy dancer. What other podcasts have I...

Having been to Pamporovo twice now and making the decision of never going back we've decided to give Borovets a try.  When initially at the travel agents we priced up a couple of resorts in France and Italy but being so soon and with Christmas coming up we opted for Borovets. After adding on the price of lift passes, board carriage etc it turned out to be a right bargain.  Most of the other holidays cost more without the lift pass at self catering so was a very easy decision. Photo courtesy of Simon Reip If anyone can...

Couple of days ago while checking out the Scottish resorts to see what the story was in relation to snow and nothing really stuck out.  Today is a different matter. Taken from : Glencoe Mountains live feed - Click picture to enlarge Taken from : Cairngorm Mountains live feed - Click picture to enlarge Taken from : Nevis Range live feed - Click picture to enlarge Lets hope that the snow keeps falling so that the resorts can open.  As always keep an eye on Visit Scotland for snow conditions.

Update It's been over 2 weeks since I last posed on my blog and the reasons are simple, holiday and real life.  Holiday to Majorca was fantastic,  unfortunately the weather wasn't that great but with old and new friends much fun was had.  Yes, being British, chucking it down with rain and we're all the in the pool playing volleyball.  I am not sure if it was holiday spirit or the vodka slushes but everyone was having a laugh.  I will be uploading all the holiday pictures to Flickr over the next couple of days.  If you'd like to see...

Baz and I decided that we would fire up north Yesterday to the Nevis Range.  On the morning looked out the window. Weathers not too bad, checked weather report for Nevis all's well. At 7am we manage to get petrol and start our journey north. Not too far into the trip and voila snow.   Wasn't long before we were within the range. On arrival around 9.15 we found that there was a problem with the Gondola and that updates were going to be announced hourly.  We went for a cuppa, got changed, started preparing for heading up and enjoying some white stuff. At 11.15...

Yes, the site hasn't had alot of updates the past week and the reason for this is that we've been away boarding it up in Austria. We thought this year we would again venture out to a new resort and this time it was the Austrian soil we choose. Our flight landed into InnsBruck just after sunset but during the flight I managed to take a couple of pictures.

I am off to Austria very soon but I am fan of the Nevis range.  This morning when looking at the new live web cams it looks very disappointing :-S. The above picture was taken from http://www.summitpark.eu. Cairngorms The news isn't all bad.  If you keep checking out http://ski.visitscotland.com for the latest updates on the other resorts.  Cairngorm looks decent as they posted an update http://www.cairngormmountain.co.uk/news/77 outlining fresh snow and conditions. Glencoe It looks like Glencoe isn't open....http://glencoemountain.com  If you manage to get up north for some of the powder have a fantastic time.

It's booked and paid for, we're off to Mayrhofen in January.  I managed to persuade Sammy to agree to another spontaneous snowboarding holiday and Austria was our chosen destination. Mayrhofen is located 43 miles from Innsbruck and has 146km of pistes split into 40km of blues runs, 86km of red runs and 20km of black runs, the longest run being 9km.  About 30 minutes away you'll find the Hintertux Glacier peaking at 3250 metres. From sources weather can be extreme here going down to a chilling -30 with unpredictable white outs.  However, on a good day the views are meant to be breathtaking. We're...

Well, winter is finally here and the Nevis Range my favorite Scottish boarding resort has received some powder. Lets hope it keeps snowing :) The following photo along with others can be found on the Nevis Range website      "The Gondola is closed for annual maintenance and will reopen on 19 December. However if it snows during this time it may be possible to open at the weekend." - Check Nevis Range for further updates.  Lets hope this winter is a good one.   Be sure to check out previous visits to the range Nevis Range - Early 07 Glencoe...

Well it's getting to that time of year where it's booking time for our primary snowboarding holiday.  Pamporovo, Bulgaria and Balkin Holidays are staying well out of the picture so we're looking at some other resorts France - Les Deux Alpes France - Sainte Foy France - Tignes France - Alpe d’Huez Andorra - Pas de la Casa Austria - Tirol Italy - Bardonecchia It's now the matter of working out Flights and costs...

It's come to that time of the year where we have to chat about where our snowboarding adventures will take us next year.  There was a glimmer of heading back to Bulgaria or even going to Canada.  After thinking what a disaster this years Balkan holiday was we're not going back to Bulgaria nor using Balkan holidays. Decisions, decisions.... What are we looking for? Well.  The resort has to have some long runs which are suitable for snow boarders. A park to have some fun in. Some good off-piste...

Have you ever found a site you thought "wow" that's quite cool? Do you have a list of websites you visit on a daily basis? I was asked this by a friend of mines a couple of weeks back and it got me thinking. The following are sites that I use for work and for my hobbies all broken down into categories. Snowboarding Sites SCUK - Snowboarding Club UK My Fav Scottish Resort - Nevis Cairngorms Interesting Blogs CSS and web design right from the source ...

Another day in my favourite resort, Nevis. Upon arriving the slopes looked a little grim and it was a tough call whether to go for it or face defeat and head home. We made the decision to go for it and what a day we had. As you can see from the picture below all the best boarding was on the upper goose and at the summit. The mountain only had about 15 people on it which meant we were able to get some fresh tracks on the summit where a cm or 2 of snow had fallen. "the two...

Well it would seem that Pamporovo has had some decent snow over the last couple of days. The below image was taken from The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology What a huge difference from when we were there. From the camera it looks like the mountain isn't open as the lifts seem empty and the pistes haven't been groomed. Well if your out there or going out there have a great time on what looks like good powder. Seems Les Deux Alpes has decent cover aswell on upper and lower slopes. Think I might check out holiday prices for the up...

This morning I received an email telling me that all 5 resorts in scotland have had the heaviest dumps this winter. Nevis range alone has received over 5 inches of fresh powder. The last time we were up was a couple of months ago so I think it may be time for another road trip. For more information regarding the forecast at all the resorts please check out Ski Scotlands Website.

Well it's official. The holiday videos have now been uploaded to Youtube.com. I have to mention that it's not easy boarding while holding a camera in front of you so i must aplogise for the bouncing about. Infact the Santa one was probably the hardest due to Dave also singing Jingle Bells. You Tube Videos Link Listings for people that can't see the embedded videos from youtube. Note i haven't added Dave's on so please use the link below. Santa SnowBoarding Snowboarding Fun 1 Snowboarding Fun 2 ...

We have been back from Bulgaria for nearly a week now and I finally have time to put something up here. The holiday itself was fantastic, a big hi to Mark, Gary and Ted at the snow shack. Guys thanks for fixing my board. Shoutouts going to Sam, Paul, Vicki, Marti, Dave and Paul number 2. Next years holiday will surely be a blast. As you will soon see from the pictures there just wasn't alot of snow cover at our resort which resulted in us only being able to board about 2 hours a day. What else can you do...

Well it's that time. Today we fly to Bulgaria for a week of snowboarding. The snow over there currently doesn't look as good as last year so we're hoping that it dumps over the next couple of days. No doubt we will have lots of pictures and hopefully a couple of videos.

Well the count down now begins till Myself and Sammy return to Pamporovo, Bulgaria. 3 weeks on Sunday and we'll be on our way to re-unite with the people we met last year at the same place. A big hi to Vicki and Paul, not long now and the snow is looking good. Also a hi to the lads at Snow shack out there :) Sam and I are looking forward to going back and having alot of fun on and off piste. Sam has his eye on a big jump he didn't quite manage last year. For anyone not been to...

Well the Les Deux Alpes holiday is now over and what a holiday it was. Below are 2 pictures from about 200 that we took. me at the top station picture of the glacier I will be putting the rest up soon so please keep an eye. The resort itself was very scenic and shops to cater for everyones needs. The lack of snow on the lower part of the mountain meant all the best runs were at the top. To which you boarded the 1st gondola station to go back down the mountain. We had an excellent time and would like to...

Well not far now when Santa comes and visits all the people that have been good this year :P. I don't think I will have time to post much up over the Christmas holidays so have a good one and stay safe. If anyone is going up north either Cairngorm or Nevis (should it be open) then please get in touch. Sam and I will be hopefully heading up on Boxing day and/or the 27th. Till next time Si

This weekend it seems that Cairngorm is opening it's doors to snowboarders and Skiers for more information check out there website or check out Ski Scotland. It's that time of year again when everyone realises that Christmas is just around the corner and they haven't bought a single thing. Lucky enough I am not one of those people, well not this year anyway. For anyone stuck for ideas I would recommend Play.com. We bought one of the 3ft usb Christmas trees for the office. Doesn't look as good as their one mind you but it puts a little spirit into our...

Well we're back from the road trip and it was unfortunate that there just wasn't enough snow at Cairngorm which was a bit of a disappointment. However we still had a good time. I will be adding a new gallery soon with the pictures taken over the weekend and will continue to update it as more trips up north happen. On the drive home we popped over to see how the Nevis Range was doing, and I can't wait till they open. Here is a pic taken on Sunday 3rd Dec 2006 Ah well hopefully next time.

I know I haven't posted in a while. November has been very busy. Sill Game gets 2 Scottish Bafta awards. Borat movie is sooooo fecken funny. Little Britain live at Edinburgh playhouse. Cairngorm mountain opens its doors. Glencoe gets first tracks. Road trip up north is happening this weekend. Still Game won 2 awards at the Scottish Bafta awards. One for Best performance and the other for Most popular Television programme. I feel these awards were...

Since buying my new Burton Custom 162 it looked very naked up on the wall next to my nidecker. A thought suddenly came, she needs bindings. Well, off I went to my local Summits where I bought a pair of Burton P1 Bindings.The outcome looking like: Now I think they both are complete. This seasons gear is looking sweet, if only i was a millionaire. When I was in getting the P1's I saw a bonfire jacket which looks the b0ll0x and will go with my pair of bonfire bottoms, of which i just had to buy. Oh well there goes...

Is it just me or is it getting very cold? You would expect there to be snow up north, but NO! On Friday looking at the Cairngorm webcam there was a flicker of hope as it showed a thin layer of snow covering the slopes. None now :(. Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer for a nice dump. If you want to keep an eye on what's going on with the weather at Scotlands ski resorts be sure to check out Visit Scotland.