Wiski

I don't ride listening to music. I have done in the past - when doing a season there are often times when there's nobody else to ride with, or you fancy getting away from it all, and music is appropriate - but not any more. There are several reasons for this. 1) I like to hear the crunch of snow under my board. 2) I like to hear the wind as I ride. 3) I'm not a big fan of the Trevor Andrew "yo boy" image. 4) I fell on my ipod last year, broke it, and vowed never to ride listening to music again.

However, I can understand why more people are doing it, why every manufacturer makes jackets and rucksacks designed specifically to work with iPods. If only for the fact that when you go out of your way to drop a rockband next to the piste and fail miserably to land it you can't hear the laughter from the chairlift above you. And not hearing laughter directed at you by strangers is brilliant.

I don't ride listening to music, but if I did I know exactly what I'd listen to, and where. Obviously, different types of riding require different moods, and we all know that music can alter your mood. However, you could ride the same type of surface one day, then want to be a bit more aggressive the next, so we're going to need to break this down a bit more. But, for the sake of argument, let's just go with the different riding disciplines. That's easiest.

Piste riding. Maybe it's the first day back, maybe you're with mates who aren't as good as you, maybe the off piste is crap and the park is icy and you just want to cruise. Learn to ride switch. Learn 180s at speed. Learn butter to switch 180s at speed. Whatever. For me, this is about stimulating music that absorbs you, whatever the genre. De La Soul, The Nextmen, Leftfield, Squarepusher, Belle and Sebastian, Blur, the Beatles. These are all great, because if you catch an edge you can always claim it's because you were trying to work out what the hell "I am the Walrus" is all about while riding switch, or that you got lost in one of Squarepusher's messed up bassline solos.

The park is a completely different matter. Now I don't know about you, but being at the top of the run in for a kicker or a rail scares me. It's an excited kind of scared, trepidation and anticipation at the same time, it's humiliation or glory. Ultimately I'll make the same mistake every time, so I don't know why I bother. I know for a fact that I'll convince myself to hit the obstacle with speed, because speed is my friend. Then, a nanosecond before the obstacle, I'll speedcheck, and fail miserably in my efforts.

So you need music that'll drive you on. Something that'll inspire you to push that bit harder, to not wimp out, to give it all you've got. Especially if, like me, you're at an age where falling actually hurts. So this is where heartrate-increasing tunes come in, like the The Rifles, Chemical Brothers or the White Stripes, where a Smashing Pumpkins riff could be the difference between a solid noseslide on a rainbow rail and, well, pain on a rainbow rail. In this arena it's all about frenetic, aggressive music for me, something that'll force me to get off my lazy arse, stop thinking about it and actually do it.

Which leaves us with riding off piste. I can't decide whether I prefer off piste or parks, but I do know that sitting at the top of a bowl off the side of the resort in complete silence with fresh, untouched snow all around has provided me with some of the most serene moments of my life. The moment when you stand up and make those first turns is sheer bliss, and if I don?t turn around I can ride away smug in the knowledge that I have left perfect tracks for everyone else to look up at in envy.

In keeping with these moments, I'd choose uplifting and atmospheric tunes. Aphex in ambient mode, Orbital's "Halcyon", Faithless, the soundtrack to Amelie, Jose Gonzalez - basically anything that makes you smile. Something which works in harmony with your surroundings and makes you want to stand up, spread your arms and just shout. (Obviously not so loudly that you start an avalanche.) At the end of the day that's what being in the mountains is about, enjoying the beauty of it all and being away from the humdrum of normal life here, and if music adds to that, then perfect.

I'm going away pretty soon, and writing about it just brings it all that much closer. It's so close I can almost touch it. And thinking about it, all these tunes fit in so well with the whole snowboarding experience for me. Maybe I'll pack my new ipod this time...and any musical suggestions are more than welcome.

By Ben Letham