Whistler Wrap Up

By - Collin Campbell

The freestyle team just returned from a two week trip to Whistler, British Columbia. The team has been traveling to Whistler for as long as I can remember and every year it is a smashing success.

This year’s camp began on July 1st, which happens to be Canada Day, which is always fun for the kids. From the start we had beautiful weather with highs in the 80s and pretty good snow conditions, although the snow depth was extremely low. Even with the low snow depth, we were able to get a full course by the first day and hit the ground running. As much fun as skiing is, the afternoon activities were a blast! We would run about a mile to the fields as a team then play games like soccer, kickball, or speedball. The kids loved playing the games and since they’re all competitive, we had some really close games.

As the second session rolled around, the skiing continued to improve and we started to see some first time flips out of the athletes. Whistler is a great place to take skills practiced on the ramps and put them on snow for the first time. During the second session we also had the worst weather day of the trip, 45 minutes of fog which led to a beautiful sunny day. We also took the Peak to Peak, which is a tram that suspends 1427 feet over the forest floor below connecting to Whistler Blackcomb. The kids loved it!

The third and final session is always a blast because of the end of the camp competition, which has some amazing prizes on the line. All the athletes competed in a two run competition, judged by coaches. Athletes had the chance to win sweatshirts, candy, or even a jar of peanut butter.

Overall the camp was awesome. The athletes learned a lot on the hill and we saw some really great improvements. The kids also got the chance to explore the beautiful town of Whistler and had the best weather I have ever seen during camp.