Adventure Show presenter Dougie Vipond reveals how he had to tackle his phobia of going off piste for the new series of the BBC Scotland programme.
With ski resorts closed, long-term presenter, Dougie Vipond, tackles his phobia of going off-piste by taking to the hills around Glenmore in the Cairngorms.
After a frightening experience 11 years ago while filming for the show off-piste in the Alps, Vipond reveals a crippling fear of leaving behind the safety of ski tows and resort slopes.
Vipond is joined by Zoe Laird, from Advie, Speyside, who has also been scared off back country skiing by a past experience. With able encouragement from Alison Thacker, one of Scotland’s top ski instructors, the pair find their feet.
He said: "I had a really scary experience in 2009 filming for the show doing off-piste skiing and if I'm honest, I lost my nerve a wee bit.
"With the resorts closed, it was suggested that Zoe and I go off-piste and I was nervous – and a bit unfit too after a few months doing no exercise. Alison is a brilliant coach and I really got into it after a day 'skinning' up Meal à Bhuachaille near Aviemore, and then flying down the hill.
“After I’d done it, I genuinely thought afterwards that I could get into off-piste skiing. I borrowed special skis from my friend, the Olympian skier Alain Baxter, which helped me uphill - and down. There must have been some magic powers in them, propelling me on."
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team also features in the show
Meanwhile, fearless free-style skier Finbar Doig, 19, from Inverness, who usually spends his winters in the Alps, performs backflips and jumps while leaping over crags. The 19-year old from Inverness is at his happiest off-piste, making moves which would make most armchair adventurers hide behind the sofa.
"Some of the best skiing is some of the stuff which is harder to get to," said Mr Doig of free-styling in Scotland.
Blind adventurer, Dean Dunbar, 52, is als as he entices presenter Patrick Winterton to try out his latest passion, prone boarding, a fast-growing water sport in which participants lie on a board and use their arms to propel it forward.
Patrick also introduces Dean to the new sport of windfoil boarding, which makes the participant feel as though they are flying over the water.
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team training exercise features on the show
Dean, from Blairgowrie, has set 25 world firsts and completed 120 different activities and challenges. Despite a recent scare prone boarding on Loch Tummel, during which he says he "thought he was a goner", this year he will attempt a couple of prone boarding "firsts".
As his eyesight deteriorates, Dean continues to set himself incredible goals – and inspire others, along the way.
Adventure Show: Winter Sports, Thursday, March 11, BBC Scotland, 7pm to 9pm.
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