By Meg Jorsh

Last updated at 15:44, Saturday, 14 November 2009

Extreme sports are ‘snow’ joke for one man, as he embarks on a snowboarding tour of England.

• Video: Dan Jesse shows his snowboarding skills

Dan Jesse

Dan Jesse, 23, from Gretna, will set out on Thursday, November 19 to conquer as many of the country’s 43 indoor ski slopes as possible in three days. He will be joined by hundreds of fellow skiers and snowboarders, taking part in a charity Snowball Rally.

The event has been organised to raise money for Snow-Camp, a group that offers skiing and snowboarding lessons to underprivileged teenagers.

Dan, of Africanda Road, said: “Snowboarding changes your perspective, and it basically gave me all the friends that I have now. I like the freedom and the culture involved – if you meet other snowboarders you know you’ll be able to have a good craic with them.”

Giving the lessons to youngsters is a great way of teaching them life skills like perseverance, he added.

The graphic designer will face the challenge with friends Tom Napper, Andrew Gray and Nic Claypole, all former students at the Cumbria Institute of the Arts. They will set out by car from Milton Keynes at 11am on Thursday and aim to return by 7pm on Saturday.

He added: “I saw the event a couple of months ago and I didn’t think it was possible -but then Nic emailed about it and I thought we might as well give it a go. I think it’s around 1,800 miles in total, so it’s going to be a challenge.”

The team will be awarded points for each slope based on their location, with cups and trophies for the winning groups.

“It should be fun, and it’s for a good cause,” said Dan. We were aiming to raise about £250 each, but I’ve already passed that and the others have met their targets as well.”

Also a keen mountain biker, Dan organises outdoor activities around Cumbria through his website, Jackrabbitt.net.

First published at 09:11, Saturday, 14 November 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk