Swoard ECS 2012 - 9th session: Feedback, pictures, etc.

[fivat]

Please, use THIS subject and only THIS one to give your feedback about the Swoard ECS 2012, so the readers do not have to open many subjects... Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------

This has been a great Session again! We did not have the best snow for extremecarving because it was quite soft on Saturday. But we could lay down with good visibility and nice moments of sun, despite the pessimistic weather forecast. Riding off piste was great and many participants could enjoy the powder down to the other resort, Grimentz. The snow was harder on Sunday and Monday, and the freeride boards were replaced by the alpine weapons.

Many thanks to all the Swoard fans and the participants for the great moments which we shared! We love this family spirit.
On Saturday dinner, we were exactly 201 persons in the main hall. Moreover, about 10-20 riders showed up for 1 or 2 days but could not participate in the dinner. So in total we were about 210-220 participants, despite the bad Euro-CHF rate and the pessimistic weather forecast (which turned to be wrong since we got good moments of sun every day)!

Many many thanks to all the people who helped Swoard before and during the three days. Without them, this event would not exist.
Not in alphabetical order: Jean-Pierre, Romain, Franck, Arnaud, Julien, Sylvain, Anthony, François, Alex, Francesco, Tali, Sergey, Natasha, Evgeny, Christian, José, Valérie, Laurent, Mallorie, Bernadette, Joerg, Yann, Minh, Pierre (the cameraman), Fred (the photographer) and more (sorry, for sure I missed someone).

PICTURES
Our official photographer Fred has shot some nice pictures.
Here is the link to the Gallery: http://www.swoard.com/gallery/ EDIT: we are working on the error problem, sorry > the Gallery has to be reinstalled.
You can see other pictures shot by pokkis below in this thread.
Here is a nice surprise for everyone: dowload here (22 MB)

MOVIE
The movie shot and edited by Pierre for the screening on Saturday dinner is available...
- on YouTube:
- for downloading: https://www.extremecarving.com/films/20 ... S_2012.zip (94 MB)

For the 10th anniversary next year, there will be special activities, and the "Swoard Film Contest": detailed info will be published in autumn.

The dates of the Swoard ECS 2013 are already known for sure! Jan 26th to 28th, 2013 !
The resort is small and the beds are limited to 300 in the hotels of the resort. So book early enough!
It's also possible to rent a chalet or an apartment for only 3-4 days.

Patrice Fivat

Group photo on Saturday

ECS2012_group_Saturday.jpg (76.68 KiB) Viewed 41859 times

Picture in high resolution: dowload here (1.9 MB)

ECS 2012 mosaic

ECS2012_mosaic_small.jpg (144.34 KiB) Viewed 41859 times

Picture in high resolution: dowload here (22 MB)

David

David_first_run_Swoard_ECS_2012_Zinal.jpg (74.22 KiB) Viewed 41859 times

[tommes]

Hi all,

already started for the Swoard Film Contest :

[hugo]

It was very interesting and cool!!!!!
See you in next year!!!!!

Some photos will be posted later.

Serge

[Viviane]

Back home and settled again!
For the fifth time we had most wonderful days, meeting new people and old friends!
Thanks to all those who made the event possible once more!
Looking forwards to the 10th anniversary!

[manuchill]

Not sure who you are, but my girlfriend shot some pictures of you on Monday morning carving down the black slope underneath the lift that will take you to Le Col

If you want the rest of the pics, please send me a PM

[au]

No luck with the weather.
Snow was very soft and we rode no more than one hour. Unfortunately the main slopes didn't live longer. Hope next year the grooming will be performed at night, not just before the opening.
Nice to see old friends anyway!

EDIT (10.02.2012): reply by the organizer.
When it is snowing in the night (even slightly), they groom in the morning, not in the evening.
From Sunday to Monday it has not snowed but the weather forecast was bad for Tuesday, so they could not change the schedule. They need two days of sun in a row. The people working there need to sleep too. We asked them at least to prepare Le Col in priority at 5 am, but of course it was still soft at 9 am.
The good thing is that we got partial sun every day, and thus a good visibility, while the weather forecast didn't predict so good conditions for Saturday!

[Roelh]

Just got back from 5 days carving in Zinal. The ECS was super, like the previous sessions. Staying a few day's longer was an excellent choice. After the event we got lots of space on the black slopes, perfect snow conditions and made run after run with the other carvers who stayed longer. Thanks for the fun and thanks all of you who makes this event possible. I'm looking forward to the pictures from Pokkis. These pictures below were made by Pauline. I will be there in 2013!

[pokkis]

Yep, got some nice shots of you. Will send when back home


EDIT (10.02.2012) by the administrator:

First pictures by Pokkis here: http://pokkis.1g.fi/kuvat/Zinal+2012/
Congratulations for these nice pictures!

[pokkis]

Paula and me returned happily home last night
Saturday morning on start of Durand lift temperature was -22C and at night when coming home it was -30C, so quite cool day.
Anyway last Thursday and Friday were out best slope days ever in Zinal.

It was great pleasure meet againg lots of familiar faces seems like family reunion

I start move pictures to my PC today/tomorrow so few more days before new pictures

[Alissa]

oh pokkis, that'll be nice. I'm looking forward to see the pics.
That's great.
T'was nice to see you once more . Also all the other nice guys.

[pokkis]

Ooops, forget tell what crowned my last day at Zinal
on our last run, slightly before noon, we run to village via Aigle, as first ones, and it was nice combo of thrill and enjoy to do relaxed turns there,
and same time looking all missing saftey nets to stop sliding to down due posible rider error
That was one of most enjoyable rides for both of us for whole session, would have loved to to go up and push little bit more but we needed to dig in car and start trip to home.
Next year Aigle will be more on agenda, if it is groomed and snow is good. Usually we go via it when off piste but that slope is hidden jewelery.

[Alex]

The official video

...Thanks to petit pierre

[rcrobar]

Loved the video, great job!

Very cool to see and feel the positive spirit of the EC event, it just seems to keep on growing each year!

So many talented riders, really nice to watch!

Cheers
Rob

[Dmitry]

Thank you for the session, however, some shortcomings. It would be better if the packages "blue", "red", "yellow" does not contain the number of mulled wine and days, and the level of riders with the appropriate slopes. With the appropriate groups of photos and video.

Thank Pokkis for photos!

[Peti]

Hi!

Great session, great people, loved it!
Is there any chance to see the pics, that were made by the photographer? I think, it was Pierre, who made them.

Thanks