Words by Josh Bishop

Action photos by Darcy Bacha, Riley Snyder & Ethan Stone

Adventure photos by Jacob Wester, Josh Bishop & Nick Martini

As skiers, we are but a small percentage of the global population that live a truly privileged life. We thrive on adrenaline, fun, and challenging ourselves physically and mentally. We unite friends from across the globe, obliterate language barriers, and influence others to pursue their dreams. We do not wear numbers on our backs denoting positions on a field, mandatory practices do not exist, and when we fail, we conquer month after month of rehab programs in hopes of another day on snow. The only rules to which we abide are the laws of physics and the only thing holding us back are cerebral blockades built by our own trepidations. Through skiing, we create our universe however we see fit. Welcome to a world of self discovery, perpetual stoke, and limitless fun. Welcome to Windells Camp Session 5.

Witt Foster gets blunted on the big jump.

Jacob Wester launches a switch left 7. Photo: Ethan Stone

John Spriggs mean mugs the camera midway through a flat 3 blunt. Photo: Ethan Stone

Coaching is an absolute blast. It allows a select few athletes to shred all summer long, for free room and board, receive a paycheck, and meet some incredible campers along the way. To ensure the coaches are stoked well into mid-August, everyone gets a session off. For Collin Collins, session 5 was his time to shine, sleep in, and log bangers all week long.

Collin Collins fun fact #1: The name of his first girlfriend is Kelly.

Collin Collins fun fact #2: He got his foot in the door with Saga Outwear after winning a video contest. His video had a mind-blowing balance of pow and park skiing.

Collin Collins fun fact #3: He was featured on the front page of NS.

Dane Tudor has been on the glacier recovering from a knee injury. For those of you that have seen Dane’s footage in “Everyday is a Saturday” you know that Dane taking it easy means launching all four nines on a daily basis.

In other recovery news, in case you’ve been hiding under a rock…Tanner Hall is back on snow! The campers were genuinely happy to see him hiking around, sliding rails, and keeping everyone stoked as he rolled through the park.

T-Hall, lounging on the double barrel with a lipslide. If you don’t know who T-Hall is, you have no business being in the park, skiing backwards, or considering yourself a skier at all. Tanner is one of the founding fathers of freeskiing and is to style what Thomas Edison is to the light bulb.

Session 5 brought an entirely new park set up with one rope tow servicing the big jump/jib area, and the bottom rope tow servicing a medium three-jump line. Below the three-jump line, the halfpipe and airbag awaited any camper interested in learning new tricks.

If park skiing were compared to basketball, one level of athletes would be on junior varsity and the other level would jockey for positions on varsity. Here, Ben Moxham shows why he’s the varsity point guard and slays yet another shot.

One thing that sets Moxham above and beyond the average park skier is his ability to work with a photographer to create photos with untouched features. Here, Ben tail presses the swing set rail over volcanic ash and boulders left over form the 1904 eruption.

Just in case the shot wasn’t good enough from below, Moxham drops an unnatural tail press over the same feature. Similar trick, different angle, it’s all games to Moxy.

For years the backdrop to photos taken at Mt. Hood flourished in my dreams as I pictured yet another day in paradise. Above, Moxham makes his dream of stomping switch 10 blunt a reality.

Skateboarding is real fun. If you have any interest in riding the best concrete parks in Oregon, come to skate camp at Windells!

After watching so many session recap videos from the Windells media team, Jacob Wester booked a flight from Bali to coach a few sessions at camp. If you need any help perfecting your 80-foot backflip, Jacob is your man.

Taller than Snoop Dogg and more stylie than an early 90’s Gangstarr concert, John Spriggs skis as hard as possible 110% of the time. Get well soon buddy!

Session 5 was Traveling Circus week featuring Andy Parry, Will Wesson, Max Hill and Ian Compton.

Compton was surely excited to attend!

Max Hill was overjoyed!

Even the campers were dropping Hippy Killers to honor Andy Parry.

Thanks to our friends @CamperQuotes, we know the majority of campers each session think that 22-year-old Witt Foster is approximately 10 years older than his actual age. This has absolutely nothing to do with his beard.

Mandatory snowboard shot: Jonah Owen. From opening segments in Technine films, to mind blowing urban, having Jonah around this summer was an absolute blast. He slept in a tent outside of employee housing, coached campers, and sessioned features all summer long. If anyone needs an intro to snowboarding with style, Jonah is your man.

Keri Herman skied Windells for 5 weeks and absolutely slayed. From cork 3’s and 5’s over the 110-foot SCI jump, to switch cork 5s and 7’s, this girl has style for days and will out ski the majority of boys hitting a jump at any given time.

Ben Moxham going for gold!

Ashley Battersby coached a few sessions this summer and skied hard everyday. From homemade hoodies to insane rail trickery and unyielding energy, Ash B is stoked to be on snow!

Skiing with Dane is like driving an abandoned road at 110 miles per hour (that’s 177.02 kilometers per hour) on cruise control. Fast and aggressive, yet comfortable and relaxed.

Dry slope rail jams are where it’s at and these campers are stoked to have won some prizes!

Henrik Harlaut’s approach to rail skiing is pure genius. He can think of any trick and stomp it immediately upon conception.

Developing the future of skiing one baller athlete at a time. Ali G and Lyman Currier, two of the most talented young slayers in the game.

In old-town Sweden, two individuals lived with the same name. To avoid confusion, the western resident took the name Wester and the eastern resident took the name Easter. Here, Jacob Wester makes his ancestors proud with a baller portrait.

Dane Tudor can stack quality photos all day!

Bishop’s crew! Session 5.

And as always, Twitter.com/CamperQuotes was in full force capturing rhetorical bangers from the week!

"If I learn rodeo 5 my mom said she would buy me a BMX bike!"

"I bet when Tom Wallisch was born, he did a double flip out the womb!" – Camper to Ben Moxham.

"Will you teach me misty grabs? You know the crossed grab on the tail of your ski." – Dania Assaly 's camper.

"I don't need dinner... I just had a bag of gummy bears."

"I definitely want to slide the ENTIRE box rail before the end of the day."

"WHAAAT!!!!! You get paid to be sponsored?" – camper to Jacob Wester.

In-between sessions, members of the Windells Staff disappear to adventures on the coastline, camping, cliff jumping, exploring Portland, and embracing the diversity of the Oregon countryside.

Banks Gilberti vs the Pacific.

In certain counties along the coast, camping near or on the beach is illegal. Thankfully, after multiple expeditions to the ocean, we know exactly where to camp and not be disturbed by anyone. Here’s the view from our favorite location.

Setting up camp!

Any fishermen out there? Because I hear Keri is quite the catch! As lame as that joke was, she uses that line all the time and I guarantee you can pick her up with it.

Just minutes from camp, you can access the national forest via hundreds of trails scattered throughout the hood land. This particular zone is called Castle Rock.

Estacada National Park is a cliff jumping paradise. 50 - 70 foot cliffs tower above a seemingly bottomless river. You can flip, run, and jump from hundreds of different areas without worrying about hitting rocks or other hazards along the way. Here, Jacob Wester sends a gainer.

Upstream form Estacada, you can jump rock to rock for miles without touching water. Huge salmon jump and swim throughout the stream, and you can dive into an infinite number of hidden pools on your journey.

Here, Jacob captures his future album cover as we venture upstream.

Nothing says rehab like walking across fallen logs! Welcome back Martini!

Tamanawas Falls.

Huge trees, thick vegetation and sunshine are more abundant to the area than comical videos on YouTube. For those that say otherwise, they’re just trying to keep this place all to themselves.

The falls.

The view from behind the falls.

Thanks to the contributing photogs for making this article possible!

 

Windells Session 5