More About The Author

I’m Gavin Hope, I live in the North East of England; I really like to snowboard. I started this blog back at the beginning of 2006. Back then I didn’t have a specific reason for blogging about snowboarding. I’ve always liked writing about things and a blog seemed a handy way to document my snowboarding experiences. It was an ongoing chronicle of my snowboarding experiences from the UK and beyond…
Over time I’ve added reviews and articles; resources that others have found interesting. With time, the content and the goals of the afterbang site changed. It’s now mostly about providing useful information to other snowboarders – I continue to get enjoyment from doing this. You’ll still get a mix of my personal experiences too. On that side of things I most of all I like to write about two things: the snowboarding trips that I go on and my progression as a snowboarder.
If you’d like to contact me, my email address in on the contact page.
What’s the deal with “afterbang”?
If you’ve seen Robot Food’s film, afterbang, you may be thinking why’s this guy stolen their name?
I didn’t use the name for that reason. Back in January of 2006, when I started this blog, I was signing up with blogger and I thought crap, what am I going to call the blog? A few options came to mind, words, phrases, but they all seemed a little lame; then I had this thought I know, I’ll call it afterbang – that’s a sick name.
Robot Food was my introduction to snowboarding, it got me hooked. Well, that and a handful of lessons on a dendex slope. I watched that DVD before I bought my first piece of snowboarding equipment, even before I’d ridden on snow. The soundtrack to afterbang was playing as we drove into Chamonix. A lot of the fun and the reasons that I love to snowboard are associated with that word, which is why I called the blog “afterbang”.
Thanks Robot Food. Thanks Pierre Wikberg.
Author-related content
If you’d like to read and watch some of my own, personal snowboarding experiences, the following is a list of my favourite posts/categories/work. Enjoy…
Writing for the World Snowboard Guide (wsg): I’ve had the opportunity to write some reviews for the wsg. I started with some of the UK slopes, but then took on the mammoth task of the Portes du Soleil – 12 resorts spread between France and Switzerland.
- Castleford (UK)
- Halifax (UK)
- Chill FactorE (UK)
- Portes du Soleil overview. Resorts: Avoriaz, Morzine, Chatel, Les Crosets, and more…
Favourite posts
- Avoriaz: Jean Noel from the Stash
- Fernie Day 7: On The Cat
- Backcountry tour in Lenzerheide
- Learning To Manual A Box (skateboarding)
- Gap Jump – Revisited
- You’ll Find Me Riding The Halfpipe…
Previous snowboarding trips
- Morzine/Avoriaz 2010 (France) – Twisted ankle kinda ruined this one…
- Morzine/Avoriaz 2009 (France) – Excellent trip, really like the Stash
- Fernie 2008 (Canada) – Unbelievable powder!
- Laax 2007 (Switzerland) – Such a fun trip, maybe my favourite!
- Morzine/Avoriaz 2007 (France) – Trip posting was a bit thin on the ground…
- Tignes 2006 (France) – I could ride the halfpipe back then
- Chamonix 2006 (France) – The start of this blog
Tignes, March 2006
Gallery
There are plenty of photos and videos scattered around this site; this is a collection of those that relate to my own riding. With regards to the photos, the collections below are a mixed bag. Some of them are photos of my own snowboarding experiences, whilst others are groups showing different snowboard parks. For the videos, all of the links are for video of me or my friends, both snowboarding and a little skating…
Photo Collections
A collection of afterbang favourites:
The full list of photo collections…
- Afterbang Favourites
- Avoriaz Arare Park Pictures (2009)
- Avoriaz Stash Pictures (2009)
- Backcountry Tour In Lenzerheide
- Heliboarding With Snowmotions, Switzerland
- SNO!storm Indoor Park (Castleford)
- Halifax Snowflex Slope/Kicker
- Avoriaz Chapelle Park Pictures (2007)
- Les Deux Alpes Summer Park
- Castleford Indoor Park
Videos – Snowboarding
Here’s my most recent “season” edit:
Here are the rest of the edits…
- Riding Footage From The 2008/2009 Season
- UK Summer Shred 2008
- 2007/2008 Season Footage
- Fernie Footage January 2008, Simon’s Edit
- Fernie Kicker, Jan 2008
- 2006/2007 Season Footage
- Halifax Session 4 – June 2007
- Halifax Session 2 – May 2007
- Airbags & Snowflex – April 2007
- Short sequence of group box footage – Laax 2007
- January 2007 Avoriaz Park Footage
- The Network’s take on the 2005/2006 Season
- 2005/2006 Season Footage
- Indoor kicker footage, Xscape Castleford – Nov 2006
- Jibbing, Xscape Castleford – July 2006
- [small] Urban Gap in Tignes – March 2006
- My halfpipe progression part 3 – March 2006
- My halfpipe progression part 2 – March 2006
- My halfpipe progression part 1 – Summer 2005
Videos – Skateboarding
I started skating around the same time I started this blog. If you can’t stand sideways on a snowboard then why not do it on a skateboard, hey? Seriously though, I really enjoy it. My skills are pretty weak and I’ll sometimes go twelve months without skating; but it’s still a lot of fun. It’s also a good way to keep fit and I’m sure the balance helps with the shredding! Here’s my favourite little edit, way back from 2006, learning to manual on a box…
Here are the rest…
- Skate Relief – June 2007
- [really small] Spine Transfer, Part 2 – August 2006
- Exploring at the Prissick Plaza – August 2006
- [really small] Spine Transfer – August 2006
- Mini ramp, no. 2 – August 2006
- Mini ramp, no. 1 – July 2006
- Learning to manual a box – June 2006
- First session at R-Kade park, Redcar – May 2006
- Skating at 5 Bridges, Gateshead – May 2006
Enjoy the site!

