Camp of Champions & Momentum Update

Words: Jeff Schmuck
Photos: Jeff Schmuck & Mason Mashon

Hello again from sunny and beautiful Whistler, BC. As you read this, the summer camps high above us on the Horstman Glacier are about to begrudgingly come to a end, as Camp of Champions' last day on the hill is sure to go off today, while the glacier itself closes for business all together on Sunday.

But before we delve into the deep sadness that comes with the end of the season, it's time to turn back the clock a week to take a gander at all the fun that went down during Session 4 of Momentum and Session 3 of Camp of Champions.

But first, we know we've been showing you a lot of on-hill big ski action along with what the campers get up to after they're done getting their shred on, but here's a look at what goes down before they hit the slopes...

The welcome meeting.

...then the campers check into their home away from home for a week. At Camp of Champions, the COC Dorm lies in a picturesque location between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains and a rock's throw to the COC Compound.

While over at Momentum, the kids attempt to sleep off their obsessive energy drink consumption at Blackcomb Lodge in the heart of the Village.

Then it's time to board the Wizard chair at the base of Blackcomb, followed by Solar Coaster and 7th Heaven.

Daily bear sightings are a regular and enjoyable occurance both on the way up and down.

Heaven

The morning stretch.

Lunch Time!

Speedman loves lunch. Marg doesn't.

Over at the almighty COC, Matt Sterbenz and his rag-tag gang of ski pirates played host with the most during 4FRNT Week, and showed many a happy campers how to walk their planks.

4FRNT Week

Captain Matt Sterbenz leads the charge...

...and as always, the campers follow suit...

Cannonball!

Due to the fact that many of the 4FRNT team have been coaching all summer long at COC (Sterbenz, Finn Anderson, Mack Jones, Will Berman, etc), there weren't too many additional special guests in attendance, although as mentioned in the previous update, the illustrious Luke Van Valin was in town, and he came ready to play...

Luke Van Valin...

Still one of the best back flippers in the business.

Grabbin' tail on the hip.

And speaking of special guests who weren't in attendance, on a more somber note, this summer's 4FRNT Week was sadly missing someone very, very special in comparison to last year...CR Johnson, who as always, was very much in our hearts this past week.

We miss you CR.

Also making their presence felt in their own wild and wacky way was the Voleurz Family, led by Darren Rayner, who came to town to party, get shots for his new movie Look on the Bright Side...and party.

Voleurz' Darren Rayner & The Intern.

And once again making the trek to Whistler all the way from France for the summer was their infamous intern Mathieu Soumet, who upon arrival was quickly victimized by Matt Margetts, Joe Schuster, Braden Dean and Max Hill for the benefit of their segments.

Intern Taps. Matt Margetts...

Joe Schuster...

Braden Dean...

...and Max Hill.

Apparently Joe has some pretty sharp edges.

And when the Voleurz fam wasn't burning the candle at both ends at night during their legendary Black Zone parties at Garfinkels, they were burning them (along with a lot of helicopter fuel) atop the glacier during an epic sunset shoot with Margetts, Schuster, Riddle and Axe Kill...

The following pretty pictures were taken by Mason Mashon. Click here to vote for him for the wild card spot in this summer's Deep Summer Photo Challenge here in Whistler.

Max Hill

Matt Margetts

Mike Riddle

and Joe Schuster...

Another series of major events that have been going down over the past two weeks have been courtesy of the ladies, as camper Emily Childs and Jess Warll have been doing their damndest to progress women's skiing by throwing flawless and stylish flat 5's, 7's and underflips all day every day, and as you probably heard, Jess also threw down the first ever double flatspin by a woman on the TTR jump the other day. Stay tuned for footage from Camp of Champions and Nick Martini...

Emily Childs

Jess Warll

But enough with the serious stuff. Because summer camp is all about being unserious, and if there's one thing that the boys on the ski side of things at COC have down to a science, it's shenanigans...

Schuster & Margetts sunscreen each other up in a totally not gay way.

Rob Kingwill puts his megaphone to good use during the daily 'Send It With' sessions.

Reed Speedman throws down a mean spread eagle disaster on the down-flat-down...

...and an even mean dodgeball toss in the COC Compound.

Mack Jones getting made in the shade...

...and teaming up with Speedman during a Send It With 4FRNT Session.

Sean Pettit shows off his keen fashion sense...

Snowboard skills...

Skateboard skills...

...and goes toe-to-toe with the Stepchild mascot.

Paddy Graham has gone home to jolly ol' England and Max Hill has fled the COC coup to attend Line Week at Windells. Thanks for all the good times boys.

And a COC update wouldn't be complete without more gratuitous shots of the always entertaining COC N' Roll...

And summer camp wouldn't be summer camp without barbeques, games, and of course, free swag...

The Budget truck is jam packed full of free stuff for the kids.

LVV dishes out the goods via a selection of entertaining challenges...

The shoe toss.

First person to hit Sean Pettit with a dodgeball.

...and hiding prizes in the forest and turning a hose on the campers.

COC El' Presidente Ken Achenbach gives a touching speech on how COC wouldn't exist without his Mother, who turned 80 last week, before leading the campers in singing Happy Birthday to her.

Over at Momentum, TJ Schiller was back in town to coach a herd of anxious kids, including contest winner Matt Anderson, who won a free session on www.tjschiller.com.

TJ Schiller and his contest winner Matt Anderson.

With only an adult mogul session remaining, things were getting as buck wild as ever in the lane as campers and coaches alike prepared to close up shop for the year.

Bladin' it!

JF Houle throwing down for NSF Productions' new film, Chase That Feeling.

Some of the biggest highlights of the week (and arguably the entire summer) on the glacier went down on Momentum's new and improved step over jump, where numerous ams and pros learned a quiver of doubles, along with five of seven of Colby James West's campers.

Camper Michael Brush

Ladies and gentlemen, Vernon's newest rising star: Noah Morrison. Remember the name.

Digger Sash Lazic

Remember this name too: Kris Atkinson

Noah Bowman

Colby James West

Tim Russell

TJ Schiller

Justin Dorey

Alexis Godbout

JF Houle, mid-double cork 14.

Paul Bergeron's silky smooth dub cork 10 lead tail.

Everyone was throwing down so hard that even TJ Schiller was getting cover shots.

And after it was all said and done on the glacier for Momentum, they threw a glorious end of session pizza party at Lost Lake.

Not a bad place to end summer camp.

Colby James West & Kristi Leskinen

Justin Dorey & Mike Henitiuk

Team Sparta

Yes, those are Oreo's.

...and that's a lot of pizza.

Trennon Paynter and his baby.

SWAG!

See you next summer!

Stay tuned for one last (and epic) update from Whistler on the last session of Camp of Champions...Newschoolers Week.

Camp of Champions Session 3