This year's first Progression Ski Camp went down this past weekend at Blue Mountain in

Collingwood Ontario. It's the first of two girls-only camps this year put on by skiing rockstars Denise Jaworksy, Sarah

Burke, and MC Waryas.

The NS crew arrived at the scene on Friday, just as campers were starting to sign in for the weekend's festivities. We

ditched our gear and took to the hill to survey the scene in the Badland's Terrain Park.

Blue Moutain had done a stellar job working on the park the night before (rumour has it the

park techs stayed up until 6am working on it). The park consisted of two super pipes, three different rail lines of varying

difficulty, a massive s-rail, and three jumps, each with one to three take-offs on them. The park ended with a massive 55

foot money booter that was opened on Sunday.

We skied the park for the better part of the day, then headed back to registration to work out accomodations. Blue and

Progression came through in a big way with some stellar condo accomodations for the NS crew (actually we were given a hotel

room, but we traded somehow and ended up with the coaches). We headed to our condo, only to find Sarah and Emily cooking up a

storm. The campers hadn't made it to the coache's condo for dinner yet, so we were able to poach some of the best garlic

bread I've ever had, and I guess there was spaghetti also. Anyway that doesn't matter, the campers arrived, everyone had

dinner, and then the festivities began.

Camp was supposed to start Saturday morning, but in my eyes, it really started Friday night. A

brand spanking new club called Gel had just opened in the new Blue Mountain Village, so we made that our home for the

evening. I don't really remember what kind of music they played, or how busy it was, or what color the couches were, but man

what an evening. It definitely started camp off with a bang as everyone got to know eachother real well, and went to bed way

too late.

So then on-hill camp started! But the NS crew wasn't around. I think I heard people eating breakfast in our condo in the

morning, but when we arose from our slumber at noon, there was definitely no one left. So we mosied back over to the badlands

terrain park and wouldn't you know, the girls were already there rockin' their newly found rail and jump skills. It was quite

a scene. A couple dozen girls on twin tips and fur-clad Orage jackets stomping threes and busting out of the pipe. It was

really testement to the advancement in women's freeskiing. So the camp went on for the rest of the day and everyone had a

great time!

The girls then went off to some pizza joint and the NS crew took a jaunt to team rider Doug

Bishop's place for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner. Doug and new NS Clothing team member Dave Bishop (known as the

collective Brothers Bishop) had cooked up one hell of a lasagna with salad, garlic bread, and a fantastic red wine to

compliment it. Now I wouldn't normally speak of a fantastic home-cooked dinner in the middle of ski camp, but I'm sure you

can appreciate the irony.

Saturday night was much tamer than Friday as far as partying goes. I don't think many of the girls had slept for more than 4

hours the night before, and a day of hiking and learning really takes the steam out of you, so some fun was had, and everyone

went to bed.

Sunday was really the money day. Perfectly blue skies, a modest -10C, and no wind. A great

day to round off the camp, and a great day to open the big jump. None of the girls hit it, but Doug Bishop, Dave Bishop, Dave

Pauls, Charles Grant (all NSC riders) took advantage of the great weather and just utterly went off. Pictures and video of

that to follow.

So the camp ended Sunday afternoon with every girl I talked to smiling from ear to ear. It was an amazing weekend for women's

skiing, and for the sport on the whole. Oh and I can't forget to the mention the prizes provided by Salomon, Orage, Giro, NS

Clothing, Smith, D-Structure, and Dakine. Every single girl got well over $100 worth of prizes. It was totally insane.

'Bummed about falling on your 540? Here's a pair of Smith sun glasses.' There were so many prizes in fact, that the NS crew

was even given some just out of pure love. It was glorious.

So if you're a girl and a skier, and you missed this past weekend's camp, you aren't too big a

loser because a second Progression Ski Camp will take place from May 20th to the 23rd at Timberline, Oregon. Visit progressionskicamps.com right now to reserve your spot.

You can catch a six minute re-cap of camp on Ride Guide, a National Canadian show that airs Saturday afternoon. The

Progression Segment, filmed by the illustrious Cory, will air some time in March.

Huge thanks to Jodi at Blue Mountain for the hookups, Denise at Progression for being a rock star, and all the girls that

were killing it, for killin' it.

Words by Matt Harvey.

Pictures by Mike La Anyane (Mauii).