Monday, February 15, 2010

Surf or Ski

Until now the winter in Scandinavia has been the toughest I'w ever experienced. There has been frost and snow from mid December and there is no real sign of milder weather. Normally we get a few days with snow during a whole winter.

Friday the 12 of February a new snowstorm hit Bornholm and the south-eastern part of Skåne. On Bornholm people was evacuated and most roads was closed until Saturday. In Skåne things didn't look that bad Saturday morning, maybe because the Swedes are better handling these snow-conditions.

The drive

With the snowstorm a decent size NE swell was forecasted for southeast Skåne. This was about to become my coldest surf session ever. Air temperature was -2 degree Celsius and water temperature was -1 degree Celsius.

Frozen Lineup

The ice forecast was right, the coastline was not frozen, it was only slush-ice with ice cubes.

The crowd

If it hadn't been for the slush-ice I think the waves would have been quite good.

Slush-ice wave

What to do when you can't surf because of slush-ice? Go skiing, luckily we brought ski and snowboards :)

Second track
Rider: Roelf Hans

The reef was then exchanged with this nice snow ledge.

Where is the lift ?

But where is the lift?


Rider: René Brask

And it was possible the get a few turns

Carving
Rider: Vincent Bakker

And quickly we had build a small kicker

Frontside grab
Rider: Roelf Hans

Backside grab
Rider: Vincent Bakker

Flying fisherman
Rider: René Brask

And I ended up paying with a sprained thumb :(

Hope u all enjoy this unusual winter. Europe has been locked inside a freezer. The great oceans gets one big swell after another. And the southern hemisphere gets grilled.

Cheers