Snow Club Blog - Olympic endeavours at Four Hills

 
 
By Ed Leigh

Another week on the slopes and plenty to report from the sport’s biggest event, the climax of the Four Hills tournament. The first couple of days were spent staring in wonder at ski jumpers literally hovering over the landing slope in Bischofshofen. There is no way that television coverage could ever do this sport justice. The athletes fly on skis with the same surface area as an US naval aircraft carrier and the noise they make as they fly by is incredible.

If I could get my Foretrex 401 near one of the competitors, I’m sure we’d see they are dropping almost as far as they are flying – which means in the region of a hundred and thirty metres. More mind-boggling through is that if they land in the sweet spot (after the K point, the first red line on the hill and the hill limit line at one hundred and forty metres), the forces they are exposed to on landing are the same as jumping from one point six metres. How incredible is that?

Of course, they only need to jump an extra couple of metres and that figure goes through the roof. I’ve had some flat landings in my time, in fact among friends it is an in-joke that I actually courted them, but even by my standards a hundred and forty metres to flat is pushing it!

Gillings blazes in Boardercross

Over in Bad Gastein I hooked up with Zoe Gillings, a Snowboardercross competitor from the Arctic-like Isle of Man! In many ways, Boardercross is not a freestyle sport. There are very strong ties to the Freestyle side of snowboarding, but the reality is that you have to train like an Alpine racer with the kind of board tech and servicing that comes with Slalom or Downhill.

For any of you that don’t know Zoe, she is very, very good at Boardercross. She is a serious medal threat in next week’s Winter Olympics, consistently in the top five world rankings and, provided the Vancouver track allows for some close quarters racing, she will do very well.

She is effectively a pit bull, something I realised her coach Dan is immensely proud of after he showed me a horrendous barge/slam where Zoe takes out one girl who dares to try and cut her up knowing full well that in the process she has served herself up on a plate as well.

The recovery is amazing though and she beats the girl just by getting up first. I suppose that epitomises Boardercross - win pretty or win ugly, it doesn’t matter as long as you win.

What I didn’t realise until afterwards is that Zoe hadn’t qualified for the last race in Telluride, the first time this had happened in almost three years. It had taken her three races to get her speed back, a setback she can’t afford at this stage of Olympic preparations, so consequently she was very tense. She needn’t have been, she stormed the qualifiers in fifth place and then blitzed her quarter final in first.

Begrudgingly, it was now time to leave for a pan Alp-drive from Eastern Austria to Southern France, a distance confirmed by my Garmin Dakota of 954km. Place your bets as to how long you think it took us….Answer in the next blog.

As for Zoe’s remaining races, she had a dogfight in the semi, which saw her clawing her way down the home straight, but it wasn’t to be and she got pushed into the small final. The upside of this was her arch-nemesis Lindsey Jacobellis had lost too, and Zoe got a practice run with the blonde destroyer and beat her. Second place in the small final saw Zoe come in sixth overall. Only three precious places to jump and she’ll be in the medals come Vancouver…

Snow Club Blog - Freeride shoot and Skiercross in Alpe d'Huez

After a pretty frustrating day at the Adelboden Giant Slalom World Cup, cancelled after the first run due to fog, Garmin Snow Club Ambassadors Ed Leigh and Graham Bell drove via Geneva airport to Alpe d’Huez.  The plan had been to shoot links and interviews around the Giant Slalom for Ski Sunday, however with the cancellation of the G.S. they ended up having to show the Sunday’s Slalom instead.  

"Most of the footage we shot never made the air, and the guys: cameraman, producer and VT editor, barely made it back into the UK. They managed to re-book the Easyjet to Luton, the only flight that would make it to the UK that evening.  Geneva was bedlam with a massive queue for the information desk, and people bedding down for the night.  It was one of those occasions where I was quite glad not to be heading home!

We were in Alpe d’Huez to cover the Skiercross World Cup competition, and Ed, cameraman and producer had made the longer journey from the Bad Gastein Austria.  We had both opted for a long drive instead of breaking the journey because it would give us a whole free day on the mountain the following day.  The weather was set to clear, and Ed had organised for a local photographer, known as Pike to get some free-riding shots for us.

Alpe d’Huez actually has some good off-piste and wins over the more famous resorts because the standard of skier is generally of the on-piste recreational verity, so the powder stays untracked for longer.  A high altitude wind had meant that the best snow lay at the lower levels, and we headed for the Poutran gondola where Pike knew some small cliffs to drop off.  As is most often the case with photoshoots, once the cameraman has a good position established, it’s up to the riders to hike up again after each jump, much quicker than loping round for the lift.  Air shots taken care of we headed over to the Signal for some powder turns and portrait shots.  A temperature inversion, left a band of cloud covering the lower valley, as we looked out to Les Deux Alpes and La Grave.  Our last shot of the day was one of the best, blue sky and mountain background, with me following Ed riding champagne powder towards a bank of cloud.

Find the route to love with Garmin®

Stuck for romantic ideas this Valentines day? Why not download a free heart icon onto a Garmin nüvi® sat nav and be guided by it wherever you go. You could even treat your loved one by finding a good restaurant (using your Garmin nüvi of course) and letting it direct you to a romantic dinner for two.

Customising your Garmin nüvi is simple to do. Just go to www.garmin.com/vehicle to explore the full range of vehicle icons available. Or you can head straight to www.garmin.com/vehicles/product.html?vName=beMine to download the “Be Mine” Valentines heart.

Garmin has a range of sat navs to suit everyone, whether you want to travel the UK or the world, get live services such as petrol prices and flight arrival times, or you want to keep it simple and just get from A-B.

You can also personalise your Garmin sat nav with points of interest such as music festivals or DIY stores, travel guides, pedestrian and public transport guides, the Good Pub Guide and more. Many Garmin sat navs also come with the ecoRoute™ fuel-saver feature to help you make the most economy out of your miles. All Garmin nüvi units come with the “Where am I?” feature for extra reassurance, giving you your exact location, as well as the nearest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations for those emergency situations

You can download a heart icon onto any Garmin nüvi sat nav including the highly regarded nüvi 1490T, nüvi 1310 and nüvi 1210 
  which scooped a triple victory in the independent consumer body Which? magazine’s December 2009 Best Buy Awards.

Visit www.garmin.co.uk for more information

About Garmin
The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology.  Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information visit Garmin's media centre at www.garmin.co.uk/mediacentre. Garmin and nüvi are registered trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.  All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Notice on forward-looking statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. All statements regarding the company’s future product introductions are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 27, 2008, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of Garmin’s Form 10-K can be downloaded at www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Time to come clean with Garmin®

The snow may have passed but the sand, grit and dirt has been left behind – and your car is suffering. Well now you can get rid of the winter residue with free car washes for a year when you buy a selected Garmin nüvi® sat nav.

You just have to make the purchase, register your new Garmin sat nav on-line at https://my.garmin.com and you’ll receive a booklet with 6 car wash vouchers inside. The vouchers are valid until the end of January 2011 and can be used nationwide at Arc car washes.

The offer is available on a range of Garmin sat navs to suit every budget and need – the Garmin nüvi 765/ 865, nüvi 1300 series/ 1490 and the nüvi 1690.

The Garmin nüvi 765 and nüvi 865 are European navigators with Lane Assist and Junction View for clear directions while driving, traffic avoidance and Bluetooth® wireless technology for hands-free telephone calls. The Garmin nüvi 865 is even voice-controlled.

The Garmin nüvi 1300 series is super-slim, has an integrated ecoRoute™ fuel-saver feature to and you can use it to get directions on foot and public transport with optional CityXplorer.™ The Garmin nüvi 1490 has a 5-inch wide screen and offers multi-point route planning.

The nüvi 1690 is the latest sat nav from Garmin. It has a special feature called Garmin nüLink! that provides online services such as Google™ local search, traffic information, speed cameras, weather, fuel prices, flight status, telephone listings and Ciao!™ - an exclusive social networking system to help you find friends and family and navigate straight to them.

The offer lasts up to the 31st March 2010. Go on, clean up and get a Garmin. Terms and conditions are available at www.garmin.co.uk/carwash

About Garmin
The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology.  Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information visit Garmin's media centre at www.garmin.co.uk/mediacentre. Garmin and nüvi are registered trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.  All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Notice on forward-looking statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. All statements regarding the company’s future product introductions are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 27, 2008, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of Garmin’s Form 10-K can be downloaded at www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Garmin Announces First Aviation Traffic System - NOW European Approved!

Garmin the global leader in satellite navigation is pleased to announce that the GTS 800 and GTS 820 traffic advisory systems (TAS) and the GTS 850 traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS I) are all now European certified. This is the result of extensive work with EASA, who granted the ETSO on all Garmin Traffic products as of Friday 24th of January.

These systems are the first traffic solutions to be offered by Garmin and are the result of an extensive research and development programme, in order to continue towards providing a complete glass cockpit solution to the aviation retro-fit market.

These systems combine active and passive surveillance data to pinpoint specific traffic threats. The systems use Garmin’s patent-pending CLEAR CAS™ technology and correlate ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) and radar targets to provide pilots with the most accurate picture of the sky.

Gary Kelley Vice President of Marketing for Garmin said: “The GTS series incorporates ADS-B In technology, which is one of the cornerstones of the FAA’s NextGen program and worldwide airspace infrastructure.

“As ADS-B coverage improves worldwide, the expanded capabilities of the GTS system will be realized. We’re ready for the NextGen system.”

There are three distinct system configurations for the GTS series, and each model creates a 360-degree zone of detection around the aircraft so that pilots can see and identify targets in their airspace that may pose a collision hazard.

The GTS 800 TAS is a lower-cost system, offering 40 watts of transmit power and a range of up to 12 nautical miles. The GTS 820 TAS delivers 250 watts of transmit power and up to 40 nautical miles of interrogation range. The GTS 850 TCAS I features the same 250 watt performance as the GTS 820, and also meets the FAA’s TCAS I certification criteria. The GTS 820 and GTS 850 are installed in conjunction with a Garmin Mode S transponder.

All GTS series products include Garmin’s new CLEAR CAS (Correlated Location Enhanced ADS-B Receiver Collision Avoidance System) technology, a hybrid system that provides real-time information that is totally independent of radar-based air traffic control. CLEAR CAS combines active and passive surveillance data, including 1090 MHz Extended Squitter ADS-B data (ADS-B Out required). In the future, the system can provide enhanced information about a target aircraft including flight ID, altitude, velocity and direction on select displays. 

Traffic information from the GTS series is displayed on the map page or traffic page of Garmin’s panel mount aviation products and integrated display systems using TAS/TCAS symbology. Additional traffic symbology can be displayed on Garmin SVT equipped PFDs.

When the GTS product receives replies to its interrogations, it computes the responding aircraft’s range, bearing, relative altitude, and closure rate. Then, it enhances location data with data received from ADS-B Out equipped targets, plots the traffic location, predicts collision threats, and depicts the information on the traffic display. The system also includes expanded audio traffic alerts in an ATC-like format. For example, “Traffic; Eleven o’clock; High; Less than one mile.”

Unlike competitive systems, the GTS series also offers flexible antenna configurations that ensure optimum system performance for specific types of aircraft. Customers with fixed gear airplanes and rotorcraft may choose a single directional quadrapole antenna on top of the aircraft, with or without a bottom mounted omnidirectional antenna. For optimal performance on retractable gear aircraft, customers may select a top-and-bottom dual directional antenna configuration.

For further information on Garmin’s range of aviation products and systems visit www.garmin.co.uk/intheair

About Garmin
The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology.  Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information visit Garmin's media centre at www.garmin.co.uk/mediacentre. Garmin is a registered trademark of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.  All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Notice on forward-looking statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. All statements regarding the company’s future product introductions are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2007 filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 000-31983). A copy of Garmin’s Form 10-K can be downloaded at www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Snow Club Blog - Graham Bell takes on Val d'Isere

BBC Ski Sunday kicked off the season from the Premier Neige in Val d’Isere mid December.  It was Graham's first chance to scrape the travel wax off the old speed boards for the personal challenge that is the camera run, plus his first major use of the Foretrex 401. 

"The initial idea was simple: get an ex-racer, give them a camera, then chuck them out of the start gate before the race starts.  In the early days the camera runner would just have to concentrate on keeping the camera level, but soon enough microphones were added to the mix, and the camera runners were expected to commentate their way down the course.  Each broadcaster has their own ex-racer, and it is quite an exclusive club, double gold medallist Markus Wasmeier runs for German TV, and World Cup winners Hans Knauss for the Austrians, and William Besse for the Swiss.

I first started for the BBC in 2001, and have been slowly pushing the boundaries of skiing with onboard cameras ever since.  Because we are not live, generally we will film a race on Saturday for the programme broadcast Sunday afternoon, we have no issues with turning the tape around quickly.  We started using two cameras facing in different directions and editing them together: one hand held and one rear facing on the boot.  Although it means that you have to ski with only one ski pole, the hand held camera tends to be smoother than a helmet mounted camera, and you have the added advantage of turning the camera on yourself halfway down.  Recently we have added a camera mounted to the ski tip that looks back up at the skier, although it took some experimenting and a few broken bullet cams along the way.

The latest addition to the kit is the Garmin Foretrex, which will measure everything from speed, elevation and rate of decent, etc.  Compared to the cameras, it was very simple to set up.  It was just a question of setting the fields in the trip computer to show Speed, Elevation, Max Speed, and Average Speed.  I know that the Garmin is capable of much more, but in this case it’s speed that we were interested in.

When Val d’Isere was mentioned as our first stop, I had hoped we would be skiing the old Men’s Downhill course down to La Daille.  It is a high speed cruise, and although this week a Super-G instead of a Downhill was planned I was confident I would manage it safely.   No such luck; because of the excellent early snow conditions the organisers had decided to move the race onto the World Championship slope known as the Face de Bellevarde, a horribly steep and icy slope that even the top racers were nervous of. 

Rightly so as it turned out; come race day, throw a little bad light into the equation, and only half the field of 65 starters made the finish.  My camera run did not exactly go to plan either, I smacked my new helmet camera on a gate just out of the start, missed a gate on the middle of the course, then almost hit a course worker who had strayed onto the track just a few gates from home.  The Foretrex 401 did however work perfectly as you can see from the data download.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/21807906"

In the next Snow Club blog Graham and Ed are heading to Val Gardena in Italy, home of the famous camel bumps.  Hoping to up their speed on a downhill Graham knows and enjoys!

              

Garmin® zūmo® 220 Scales Down the Size and Price of Motorcycle Navigation

Garmin, the global leader in satellite navigation, is pleased to announce the zūmo 220 – a rugged and affordable touchscreen motorcycle navigator that includes text-to-speech guidance, lane assist, Bluetooth wireless technology compatibility and on-road/off-road travel options.

Colin Lee, Automotive Product Manager said: “zūmo 220 is a streamlined motorbike navigation device, with a price to match - it provides the most popular motorcycle-specific features at your fingertips.” 

“Compact and waterproof, zūmo 220 makes two-wheel navigation as stress-free as possible for riders on any budget.”

Whether you’re riding for adventure or travel, you’ll benefit from the years of hands-on experience and countless miles of motorcycle expertise of Garmin’s zūmo team.

With a 3.5” colour touchscreen that’s both rugged and responsive, zūmo 220 provides the information you need, at a glance, in an easy-to-read format as you travel. zūmo 220 displays speed limits on most major roads and gives turn-by-turn directions and spoken street names, via the built-in speaker or through a compatible Bluetooth helmet or headset.

Built to withstand the demands of the open road, zūmo 220 is waterproof, glove-friendly and resistant to fuel spray that can wear away at similar devices.

For spontaneous road trips or detailed route planning, zūmo 220 makes life easier with preloaded, full European street-level maps and millions of points of interest including petrol stations, hotels, restaurants and more.

Complex road junctions are easily navigated through advanced routing capabilities, such as lane assist which indicates the correct lane to be in for your destination. zūmo 220 also features HotFix, which automatically calculates and stores critical satellite information to quickly calculate your position.

Whilst riding, it’s also easy to access trip information directly from the zūmo, such as heading, altitude and a customisable fuel gauge that can be modified to the motorcycle’s maximum fuel range.  In addition, with the zūmo 220’s powerful trip planning tools, you can create and customise routes via computer and then transfer the saved route directly to the zūmo before you begin your journey. 

zūmo 220 is the latest breakthrough from Garmin, who has spent more than 20 years developing technologies and innovations to enhance users’ lives, making Garmin a household name in the automotive, aviation, marine, wireless, outdoor and fitness industries.

Stay close to the action anywhere, anytime, with the new Garmin nüvi 1490TV

Garmin® announces the nüvi® 1490TV, a personal navigation device that combines cutting-edge Pan-European navigation features with DVB-T digital terrestrial TV and radio. 

Using the DVB-T digital television standard, the nüvi can pick up freeview digital TV and radio content from over 14 countries across Europe¹.  In the UK there are over 50 digital TV channels and 24 digital radio stations including programmes from digital content providers such as the BBC, ITV, SKY, Film4 and Five to name a few.²

At the core of the device is an easy-to-use sat nav that has all the usual features you would find in a top-of-the-range Garmin nüvi, but with the addition of the DVB –T digital tuner, users can keep in touch with all the digital TV content available over the airwaves.

“The nüvi 1490TV is the answer for those who want to keep in touch with the latest sporting events, soaps or even cookery shows while following TV recipes in the kitchen.” said Colin Lee, Garmin’s Automotive Product Manager.  “The nüvi’s 5-inch screen and mount is just the right size to place anywhere in the home, caravan or car and is ideal for everyone - from parents waiting to pick up the kids from school to taxi drivers waiting for fares.” 

Any worries that the driver might keep the TV on while driving have been safeguarded against by Garmin engineers building in a safety feature that switches off the TV on the nüvi 1490TV and only allows the navigation when the car is moving.

The nüvi 1490TV features a dazzling, 5-inch colour touchscreen display, ensuring any picture is bright and colourful, great for sporting events such as the forthcoming FIFA World Cup as you won’t have to miss any of the games with this pocket-sized TV.  It also doubles up as a great picture viewer (with photo navigation capability).

The nüvi 1490TV has built-in stereo speakers and a 3.5mm headphone output, a long-life lithium-ion battery, composite video input for external reversing camera (not supplied), a built-in aerial for high DVB-T signal strength areas and two magnetic dipole aerials for low signal areas.

The nüvi 1490TV comes pre-programmed with highly detailed road maps of Europe, free premium traffic updates³, safety camera warnings³, a database  with over two million Points of Interest (POIs) featuring hotels, attractions, fuel stations and more, Garmin’s  ‘Where am I’ safety feature showing your precise location, nearest junction, hospital, police station and breakdown service contact details. Also turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions guiding drivers to their destination, announcing streets by name along the way.  If they miss a turn, the nüvi automatically recalculates a route and gets them back on track.

You can also have hands-free phone calls, the nüvi 1490TV can be paired with compatible phones using Bluetooth wireless technology.  Users can find and dial phone numbers (specifically supported phones can even access their history log of received, missed and dialled calls) or nüvi’s POI database (hotels, restaurants, stores and more).

The nüvi 1490TV will be available across Europe in early April 2010.

So that the nüvi 1490TV can be connected to existing aerial sockets within the home a ‘standard aerial socket to plug adaptor’ will be available in April.

¹ Countries where DVB-T  Digital TV is available:  Andorra, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom.  ² Subject to reception and digital and coverage area. ³ Subject to country/region.

Snow Club Blog - Ed and Graham take delivery

A month ago Graham Bell and Ed Leigh were preparing for their annual drive down to France with a car full of skiing and snowboard gear ready to start a season of BBC Ski Sunday filming. In amongst packing and unpacking boxes Graham handed Ed a shiny new box of Garmin toys. Here's Ed's first impressions

"GPS have for some time both intrigued and bewildered me. I am the first to admit that I’ve never been a huge follower of technology but having recently been introduced to some of the products out there by a guide friend I have started to show an interest. To me the function of GPS devices in extended backcountry treks is obvious as they provide such valuable information and back up in what is essentially a survival situation. But for everyday use on the mountain they have always seemed rather cumbersome.

There were two devices in the box, one the all singing all dancing Dakota 20 and the other the Foretrex GPS watch. I’ve never seen a GPS this compact before so was instantly drawn to the practicality. (I like things small, if you watch any of the Ski Sunday or High Altitude series you will note Grahams pack is always twice the size of mine). After slogging out the links for Ski Sunday and watching it dump for three days Graham and I finally made it onto the slopes. First priority was filming some innovation pieces for the show, but once finished we were free to get stuck into some very good snow.

We have both spent a lot of time in Val d’Isere and know a lot of the best runs and as you can imagine we weren’t hanging around. I by the end of the day had hit 55mph and travelled more than 30 miles. If you’re interested then the routes taken are the Banane, an off piste run to the skiers right of the Face and then there are a couple of runs off the Borsat ridge, the latter is a bit of a hike but if you watch the Ski Sunday product innovation section on Rocker you’ll see why we made the effort. You will also see the Olympic cable car and the La Daille funival lifts on there as well as our final descent down the Orange back into La Daille.

We also managed  to pick up a Geocache behind the Rocher du Charvet, but tired legs from an afternoon of powder took their toll and we were forced to call it a day"

Stay tuned for Ed and Graham's next Snow Club blog instalment and stay up to date with the latest edition of Ski Sunday on the BBC iPlayer

Share winning stats on the slopes this season with Garmin Snow Club

Ski Sunday presenters Graham Bell and Ed Leigh have signed up as Garmin Snow Club ambassadors to champion our new snowsports community.

Get more mileage from your time on the slopes armed with a Foretrex 401 wrist-worn GPS and upload your speed, descent, elevation and distance data at Garmin Connect for a chance to win a host of top winter prizes.

To celebrate the launch of Snow Club, we’ve joined forces with ten Garmin Test Centres across the Alps to give guests the chance to test-run our snow-friendly GPS for themselves. As well as tracking how fast, how high and how far you go, Snow Club lets you share your stats from the slopes and compete for bragging rights against visitors throughout the season.

Foretrex 401 keeps a record of where you’ve been as well as capturing your moments of excellence. Hit ‘TracBack’ when you’re ready to retire and it guides you right back to where you started, ready to upload the day’s data.

The season’s top scorers get a shot at winning a flurry of top prizes including a week’s winter holiday at one of the test centres next year and a range of Garmin GPS kit.

We continue our descent on the snow scene at the BRITS Snow and Music Festival in Switzerland from 21-28 March. Keeping the competitive spirit alive, we’re hosting the Garmin Downhill Challenge, encouraging revellers to charge down the slopes chasing the best time. The winner gets a return trip to defend their title next season.

If you want to bag two all-expenses-paid spots to this year’s BRITS, simply register your Foretrex 401 at MyGarmin for an entry into the prize draw.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or rank amateur, sign up to Garmin Snow Club to share your stats on the slopes and put the best to the test with the latest scores from Graham Bell and Ed Leigh.