Westbound Boarder

As ya’ll know already (or maybe you don’t) summer is right around the corner and for all of the shred heads out there, it can only mean one thing…you’ve got it, time to start thinking about snowboard camp. With options all across the globe (literally), there is bound to be a camp out there for you. We have the round up that includes them all - check out our favs:

• Timberline Summer Snowboard Camp: Introducing to you this summer in its inaugural season, Timberline Lodge is bringing you their very own snowboard camp. With the home court advantage you will have the luxury of staying on Mt. Hood at the historic Timberline Lodge, have priority lift access and meals provided by the award winning Timberline Culinary Team. Not too shabby…check out the new Timberline Summer Snowboard Camp and make some memories and history with Timberline.
• Windells: Known as being one of the best summer snowboard camps in the Pacific Northwest, this camp really lives up to its tagline of being the “funnest place on earth.” Year in and year out, Windells continues to capture the attention of top industry pros; this year’s lineup includes JJ Thomas, Louie Vito, Darrell Mathes, Annie Boulanger, Eddie Wall, and more.  Want to go for free? Enter to win on Windells.com as someone will be improving their skills riding with the pros for free this summer at Mt. Hood! Also, read our recent feature on Tim Windell for a bit of background on how the camp came to be.
• High Cascade: Known for their Signature Sessions, High Cascade Snowboard Camp (HCSC) is planning on appearances from all sorts of guys and gals this summer (Hanna Beaman, Tara Dakides, Darell Mathes, JP Walker, the list goes on). On top of the pros HCSC offers “HCSC Girl,” giving the lady campers girl-specific activities and events to continue to open up the world of snowboarding and skateboarding in the perfect, encouraging environment.
• South America Snow Sessions: Hailed as one of the premier international snow camp excursions, SASS is heading into its fifth year of operation. Translation? These guys know snow. However, as opposed to the above-mentioned Hood camps, which focus on summer training and park riding, SASS boasts the full International experience. SASS campers will head to Bariloche, Argintina, where they will live and breathe the full culture of South America (yes, camp activities even include Spanish classes!) This summer, Natalie Gough is returning as head coach of the snowboard program, and for you skiers, Michelle Parker will head out as well, after taking a full year off due to a nasty knee injury. Additionally, this year SASS announced a signature women’s session, which will be held during session 3 (August 17 - 31) and feature pro riders such as Chanelle Sladics and Jamie Anderson. BONUS: If you sign up for the SASS newsletter here, you could win a free trip out to Argentina!
• Camp of Champions: With loads of pros, all day coaching (we’re talking 8am-3pm), free stuff, guaranteed goggle tan and the Whistler Village to conquer after your days riding, what is not to revel? Check out the deets of the Camp of Champions, held at the infamous Whistler ski/snowboard resort in Canada, fersure.

Have more questions? Let us know. We can get you in touch with the peeps you need (and between the few us us, we’ve been to one or many of these!)  Shoot us an e-mail at WestboundBoarder@gmail.com

For those of you looking for adventure this summer, what better place to find it than at a world renowned snowboard camp. Attending snowboard camp (okay, they allow skiers too), is the best way to push your skills to the limit while snowboarding at America’s only summertime resort (Timberline Lodge).

On top of siiick summer riding, you get to board with the pro’s, improve you skate skills (something I never thought I would do until I attended Windells), demo the 2010 gear all the while getting a tan. Still need convincing? Check out our reviews of the funnest places on earth; High Cascade Snowboard Camp and Windells.

So quit dragging your feet and let us know what camp you choose, you can’t go wrong either way!

Looking to have a “More Good Time” at your next camp?  Look no further.  In our quest to educate you on the top snowboard camps for females each Wednesday with our Wicked Snow Camp Wednesday series, we came across a camp exclusively for women.  MGT  (More Good Times) Snowboard Camp for Girls, presented by Burton, is “intended for female snowboarders who want to have fun and progress their snowboarding skills, especially in the park and pipe.”  Finally!  A camp that’s caters to the more advanced rider!  Don’t get me wrong, I completely support beginners attending camps to advance to the intermediate level, however, sometimes it is nice to attend a camp that’s a little more advanced if you really want to improve your skills in the park.  This camp is meant for females who want to pursue snowboarding competitively or professionally, and it seems like an awesome way to start that journey.

MGT boasts a legit roster of professional coaches, including Alexis Waite, Tara Dakides, and Spencer O’Brien.  The coach to rider ratio typically stands about 1 to 5, so you’ll really get the attention you need.  And you’ll spend most of the two-day session focusing exclusively on the park.

Another cool thing this camp’s got goin’ on is “MGT Academy.”  Basically, the program is “designed to select one promising MGT camper and place them under the tutorial wing of the MGT pro coaches to give a head start on pursuing a snowboard career in 2010.”  The graduate receives gear, photo shots, video shoots, etc.  Two graduates are chosen per session, and at the end of the year they’ll all regroup to give a presentation on why they should “graduate with top honors.” The person chosen will get some new gear, a travel budget, and awesome lineup for 2010.  Sweet!

MGT offers three camps in the winter and two in the summer at various locations around the globe.  Winter locations included Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, AB and Grouse Mountain in Vancouver, BC, and the third session is set to take place April 4 - 5 at Mount Norquay, Banff, AB.  (Soo, if you still want to make it up to a camp before season’s end, now’s your chance).

Though dates and prices for the summer camp have yet to be announced, both will take place in August 2009, one at Timberline held in tandem with High Cascade, and one in South America alongside South America Snowboard Sessions (Danielle’s previewing this camp next week, so stay tuned!)  Summer camp prices include accommodations, however, lift tickets are not included so keep this in mind when you are budgeting your trip.  Au revior, and see you at Timberline!

UPDATE: I got a chance to catch up with Joanna, co-creator of MGT, tonight (we’ve been playing phone tag for a couple of days) and she told me a little bit more about the camp; so we’ve got the inside scoop right here.  Joanna started the camp seven years ago with riding buddy and pro boarder Leanne Pelosi (hey, that’s an idea; instead of attending camp, just start your own!) and they’ve been at it ever since.  She told me they started the camp for “purely selfish reasons” (hey, that’s fine by me if we all benefit from it, too!) -

Basically, back around the time they started the camp, there weren’t many lessons available just for female riders.  They had several tricks they really wanted to learn, so they put their necessity to action.  Since both girls were competitive boarders and had a large network of people in the industry, they got a good group of talented coaches together and started MGT.  One of the cool and unique things about MGT is that, year after year, they still manage to have awesome pro riders come back to staff the camps (Joanne even mentioned its fun to watch the star-struck campers on the first day).  The riders range in skill level, but they all have one thing in common - they’re passionate about snowboarding and they have high expectations to rise to their full potential, prepared with lists of tricks to master and all.  The camp concludes with a “Jib’n'Jump” Jam, where the coaches throw out their best tricks and the girls follow suit; and the best girl wins a prize!

So… where can you sign up?  I mentioned earlier that there’s still one winter camp left this season, but there are also two summer sessions as well.  In years past, summer sessions have always been held as separate sessions in themselves (just like the winter sessions) alongside camp partners, however, this year MGT will be part of High Cascade.  Students will attend and sign up directly through HCSC for Leanne Pelosi’s session, which is August 8 - 15 and is the session MGT is promoting.  

If you’d like to make a complete world vaca out of your summer camp this year but still ride with the awesome MGT staff, MGT’s other summer session will be held in tandem with South American Snowboard Sessions July 31 - August 16.  Aside from being longer and further away, the Argentina camp will feature more backcountry riding, during the country’s winter, and really foster a truly cultural experience.  It will be completely different than HCSC, but still, of course, a good time.

Well, its Wednesday, and you know what that means… another Wicked Snow Camp Review!  In case you haven’t been following along, we’re profiling one of the top snowboard camps for females each Wednesday, every Wednesday, and this week we’re profiling High Cascade Snowboard Camp (HCSC).

Thought you couldn’t snowboard in the summer?  Think again.  Thanks to the glacier Timberline at Mt. Hood, Oregon sits on,  riders from around the world can enjoy the resort all year round.  And one of the most well-known camps in Oregon is back again this summer with the 20th Anniversary of their Signature Sessions.

High Cascade is “an all-inclusive 9-day summer snowboard camp determined to show you the best time of your life.”  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, at HCSC you’ll spend 9 consecutive days riding with some of the best pros in the industry, including Darrell Mathes, Tara Dakides (!!!), Jamie Anderson and JP Walker. (I’m pretty stoked about Tara Dakides coaching this summer.  Being the woman to basically up the anti for lady riders nationwide, if there’s one thing that would push me over the edge to attend HCSC it’d be her.)

You’ll spend the morning riding with your coaches and then have optional sessions in the afternoon, and later in the day (this is my absolute favorite thing about HCSC) - you’ll meet up with your coach for video training where they’ll analyze your riding from the day and give you tips on how to improve.  Back in the day when I used to compete, I found that video training was one of the best ways to see how you think you ride versus how you actually ride, and then tweak your style based on that.

Another really cool thing about HCSC is that the camp has optional sessions just for girls, coached by girls, so if you find it intimidating to ride with guys, you absolutely don’t have to.  Sometimes it can be helpful to have a female coach because they understand how women learn and how they need to be taught.  They also have adult camps (this year June June 15 - 23 and August 8 - 15) if you’re 21 and up and don’t want to hang with the kiddos all week.  ALSO (yes, there’s more) they have awesome photo and video workshops if you want to learn the creative art of photo storytelling or filmmaking straight from the pros.

HCSC has a ton of fun activities in store, including dodgeball, trampoline sessions, paintball and white water rafting (check out what a typical day might look like here), but of course the focus is on the riding.  I must admit, the camp is a little spendy, but its pretty much all inclusive so you get a lot of bang for your buck. (Heck, just a summer pass at Timberline can run you nearly a grand!)  And from what I hear, HCSC is one of the best snowboard camps to stretch your ability and really get you to the next level.

Fore more information about HCSC, visit the Web site, and check out the dates and pricing here!

As we find ourselves in the dead of winter and are snowboarding our lives away, it’s hard to imagine where we will all be, come summer time (okay, so it’s not that hard)! Anyways - with that being said - I am here to tell you exactly where you should be this summer.

Some call it the ‘funnest place on earth’ and some call it Windell’s - we at Westbound Boarder call it snowboard camp and are hoping that you call it your summer plans! Whether it be Windell’s or High Cascade Snowboard Camp, or one of the many other wicked winter, spring or summer board camps- we think you should seriously consider attending one.

My senior year of high school I attended Windell’s Snowboard Camp and I have never been the same snowboarder since. I rode with the pros in the sun for a week straight, refined my snowboard skills, made some new friends, learned to skateboard (something I never thought I would do!!) and was able to demo the best gear around! I look back on my Windell’s camp experience as one of the best times of my life and I cannot wait to attend snowboard camp again someday.

The reasons are endless as to why you should get on board and earn the cash it takes to attend snowboard camp - and we are here to help you make the decision a little easier! So without further ado, I introduce to you, Wicked Snow Camp Wednesday’s!

Be sure to tune in each Wednesday as we feature one of our favorite snowboard camps so you can make an informed decision about which camp you are going to attend this summer - and get excited because we have camps from all over to tell you about - so where ever you are from there is a camp that you can call home this summer!

Have you been to snowboard camp before? Tell us where and let us know what you thought by leaving us a comment or shooting us an email, www.westboundboarder@gmail.com!