The Camp of Champions was the first camp to have freeskiing before there was even twintips, before 1080's, before Johnny Mosely and the Dinner Roll, before it was even freeskiing. After all these years we still know how to make your week the most amazing good time ever on a pair
skis with more progression that you could ever imagine. There are a lot of camp choices out there for sure. They are all slightly different camps doing sort of the same thing. You only have a few summers to make your dream of getting sponsored and going pro come true so you definitely don't want to choose the wrong camp and be riding the lift looking over at the park you wish you were skiing.
At COC we've chosen to concentrate on slopestyle. As far as who has the best park, I'll leave that up to the National Slopestyle Teams that need the best summer facilities to progress so they can own it the following winter, to say what park is the best. Careers are on the line so they don't have time to waste in a park that is a cartoon drawing, too steep or a simply a substandard park.
This summer, the Canadian, US, New Zealand and Norwegian National Slopestyle Teams have selected COC as their preferred place to train. If you checked the podiums last year on the AFP Tour (which also selected COC as their official summer camp), those teams pretty much had every spot on lock. They pay to train at COC. That is the opposite of being paid to turn up and be celebrities or coaches for a day. That should tell you what camp has the best park. They might be paid to be celebrities at other camps during the summer, but when they want to learn, they pay to come to COC, just like they did when they were campers just learning to ski park.
Coaching at COC is really hands on in small groups. All the coaching is one-on-one so you learn the most you can in the shortest time possible. The coaches really care about how much you learn and push you in fun ways to progress as quickly as possible. You'll learn more than you ever imagined. As one camper last summer put it so well... "It's like filling your bag of tricks with both hands". With Olympic, X Games and AFP Tour podiums on the line you want the best coaches to ensure you have the best possible chance to stand on the podium. To make sure that Bobby Brown, Tom Wallisch, Gus Kenworthy, Sammy Carlson and the other members of the US Team have the best shot to podium, the US Team chose former COC coaches to make that happen. The last two head coaches for the US Slopestyle Team were former COC coaches. Skogen Sprang and Evan Raps. Your coach this summer will continue the tradition of coaching excellence whether your personal goal is bragging rights in your local park or an Olympic podium. Five or ten years from now, it might be you bragging about how your coach at summer camp is now the head coach of an Olympic Team or an Olympic medalist.
As far as "No Compound" goes, Tim is right and wrong. Right that there is no compound but wrong on everything else. We asked the campers last year if they would rather be away from the village up at staff housing with the compound and all the fun that it is, just like at other camps, or at the Holiday Inn, dead center in the heart of Whistler , the best ski town on earth, with the entire town as their compound, with so many places to hang out with your friends and so much fun stuff to do that it's crazy. The answer was a resounding "
VILLAGE!!!"
It wasn't a surprise really, the skatepark is across the street, mini golf is a block away one way, The driving range a block the other way, Starbucks, Earl's Restaurant and Mongolie Grill and the movie theater are right downstairs. Bungee Jumping, paintball and Bounce Academy and two lakes are a couple minutes away. Meals are at actual restaurants or from actual restaurants with amazing food instead of cafeteria food that is cooked by a bro who's just there for the free skiing in exchange for pretending to be a cook. Living in the dead center of the most fun town on earth with pros from all over the world as your fellow campers, coaches and friends with the lifts a two minute walk away instead of a 20 minute bus ride, is pretty great compared to being stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but skate or hangout in a compound like facility. We think it was a great trade. Once you get here and see how much fun you can have in Whistler, you will too.
Also to make COC even more epic this summer, to celebrate our 25th anniversary,
if you are one of the next 25 people to register for Camp D, 4FRNT Week, you'll get a free pair of 4FRNT park skis handed to you by the owner of 4FRNT, Matt Sterbenz, who was once a COC camper, digger, coach and head coach who is now the founder and owner of 4FRNT. Freeskiing, free skis, epic pros and amazing good times. Life doesn't get much better than a week at COC.
