Skipress - Index

Skipress - SkiPress Canada Vol.22 No.4 - Index

Google ‘summer ski camps’ and you’ll get well over 200,000 hits. Dig a bit
deeper and you’ll fi nd Alpine, Telemark, X-C and water-ski camps; racing,
freeride, mogul and ski instruction camps. There are camps for children as
young as nine and for adults aged way over 20. Manual Osborne-Paradis
and his fellow Olympians even offer a free End of Season ski camp to less
fortunate kids.
Camp ranks keep swelling. Last summer, alone, Whistler played host to some
4,200 campers who were over-the-moon skiing under the hot summer sun.
How do I pick the right camp?
With so many camps to choose from, it’s hard to know where and how to
begin the selection process. For some lucky skiers, the task is made easy
by their local ski or racing club. The club selects the dates, locales and
airlines. Club members who choose to attend then fl y off to an exotic locale
with their good friends, fellow teammates and favourite coaches in tow.
End of story.
For the rest of us, Heather Metzger recommends hooking up with a friend
who has either attended or is going to attend the intended camp. She also
advises checking the participating coaches’ credentials and experience.
Until 1997, Momentum Ski Camps only hired former Olympians as coaches.
That was the year Mike Douglas, the godfather of freeride, came onboard.
Today, their roster of coaches includes superstars such as Sarah Burke,
Vincent Dionne and TJ Schiller.
Summer ski camps don’t come cheap.
Figure on at least $1,000 per week, plus airfare.
John Smart says, “Meeting and skiing with them all day in small groups is
a great lesson for kids. They learn how normal everyone is and how they
can achieve their goals. Having younger coaches also keeps the adult
campers young.”
Coaching, as John points out, is very age-specifi c. “Kids are all watchand-go.
Show them how, and they’ll follow. Adults often lack such confi -
dence. They want something more social, more analytical, more talking.
The pace is slower.”
Should I go north or south?
Summer ski camps are held almost everywhere there’s snow. Skiing in the
Southern Hemisphere entails fl ying off to exotic places like Chile, Argentina
and, if time and money are no object, New Zealand and Australia.
Heather reminds us, “You have to remember that in the Southern Hemisphere,
our summer is their winter, so you get to ski the full mountain, on
winter snow, for the whole day.”
Exotic locales also offer exotic sights (that you’ll probably never see because
you’ll be too busy skiing) and exotic customs (that you’ll never encounter; see
above). You may encounter exotic food, and for picky eaters or those with
tender tummies, that may prove even more challenging than the skiing.
“Camps in the Northern Hemisphere,” says Heather, “are usually held
on glaciers or snowfi elds. Temperatures are warmer, and you mostly ski
in the morning.”
At Whistler, summer ski camps typically run from fi rst chair till just past
noon. Lifts open to the general public at 11:00 or 11:30. This pretty
much ensures no liftlines and that campers ski the best snow before it
melts to mush.
Photo: Hans Hedberg/Skier: Momentum Camper, Ryan Waddel
Photo: Hans Hedberg/Skier: Momentum Coach, TJ Schiller
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