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Day 3 by Lewis Clinton

I'm back from the brink of man flu. It was touch and go for a while, but I managed to pull myself out of bed really early this morning because a surprise was in store.

Tuition time. Pic: Leigh Mytton

Up until now, Leigh Mytton has been teaching us, but today her friend Ed Clarke came over from neighbouring resort Val d'Isere to put us through our paces. Ed's a high-level instructor and pro snowboarder, so we were learning from the best.

We've met him before, when he came down for a surf while we were at the World Juniors in Hossegor in June. It was really cool to see him. With our snowboarding stances, we're both regular and Ed is goofy, but he'd set his bindings so he was the same as us. Amazing!

He got us straight on to a chair lift (that's progress) and had us mastering how to control our heel and toe edges on a fairly steep slope. Then we used the technique we had learned to improve our turns. So much for clearing up - it's still hammering down snow. But Ed was keen to push us, so - after a few runs on the mini-slope - we were being carted off to 2,800ft to the top of the mountain on a massive chairlift. Our first time up the mountain, but we weren't worried because Ed and Leigh came with us.

Training Pic: Leigh Mytton

The control thing is what we're really working on now. I can go fast, no worries, but sometimes I just lose it. At one point, I properly stacked it. Ed and Leigh were laughing their heads off, until they realised I was winded - then you've never seen two people move so quickly. It was all good, though. Part of the learning curve.

After lunch, we went up the hill again - we were really feeling the burn in our legs by now and the visibility had got worse, so this run down was way more heavy. By the end of it, my hands were frozen. But I learned a good tip for warming up quickly - as soon as you're off the mountain, get your gloves off and put your hands on your stomach. After they've thawed out a bit, put the gloves back on and get your arms moving to get the blood flowing again.

Just as well I learned that - the man flu might have come back. We're chilling back at the hotel now. There's a 'school disco' here tonight, but I might go to bed early because I want to be fresh for tomorrow. Never say never, though...