Summer Review

During the summer, skiers go one of two places. Blackcomb or New Zealand. Most can't afford to visit the Kiwis. The summer session at Blackcomb was absolutely sick this year. Many people progressed their skiing, many more just went and had fun.

First things first. There are really 10 areas to the Blackcomb glacier. In order from left to right is Camp of Champs, Racer area 1, the public table, the crappy public pipe, High North, Racer area 2, a bunch of bump camps, SMS, the good public pipe and then the lift line. I poached every single area this year.

I'm gonna focus on COC, the public areas, High North, SMS and the lift lines mostly. The other areas weren't all that important. COC was nuts. With a solid coaching line (Moseley, McConkey, Loubek, etc) and the biggest freeride area, it had to be. Their park featured 2 pipes, serveral rails, a few tables and a huge quarter PLUS their own rope tow. They easily had the best terrain on the mountain. Despite being originally a boarder camp, this summer boasted more skiers then boarders oddly enough. They puched each other to the limits and those limits were pretty damn high. Among other things, CR Johnson threw a 540 cross 35 fucking feet above the lip. Christ.

Then there was High North. Though their terrain barely compared to that of High North, they had a stronger coaching line (funny things those coaches, one week they're at HN, the next at COC). They had a few shitty table at the top. Then a nice double table to the infamous flag bearing quarterpipe. There was a fun box and a spine hit as well. There were some sick things going on (some kid who never flipped before tried a front and landed directly on the top of his skull, major concussion). Among other things, Shannon Schad lost a tooth, Anthony Boronowski got 17 stiches on his skull and Brent Akhurst broke his thumb (not at HN though, while at the clinic we almost even stole a Toyata 4-Runner too). High North, despite crappier terrain was arguably the better of the two camps.

The public areas sucked this year compared to last. Last year there were several tables, this year there was one (and I'm talking good ones, those crappy little things don't count). Last year there were 3 pipes, this year two were so shitty there was only one that had a decent scene. 7th heaven melted quickly too. But the one table made up for those missing and the good pipe was nuts (I met a ton of cool guys there, including Mike Michalchuk who was throwing doubles like it was nothing).

Then there was SMS. One double table. One super long rail (which the fucked up on cause they put this plastic shit on top of the wood, wood slides much nicer). One decent quarter (which was out of shape most of the time). Two sets of rollers and a nice bump course I poached all season long. I never really understood why the left early in the afternoon almost all the time. I didn't really see these guys around too much (whenever I saw Mike Douglas though, he'd always give me a good punch, understandably, then brag about Freeskier, heh). But from what I hear, they had a good scene. Plus they were the ONLY camp with a decent number of HOT CHICKS (they had some lookers). HOT CHICKS. All you need right there, a hotel room and hot chicks. At SMS, you had both.

The lift lines were fun. With half an hour waiting periods, I always used the coaches line (only got the boot once). I saw guy lose his board (and when I mean lose, I mean for good). Then some punk in a yellow jacket climbed up on a nearby hill and started throwing snowballs. Pissing off a crowd of 200 people in never a good idea. Ski patrol came up to him out of nowhere and he rolled down the hill though. Also, whenever somebody when up the t-bar single, they'd get pelted. Note, if you ever want to totally skip the lift line, just say your friend thinks he broke his hand and took the snowmobile to the patrol station up top. It always works (it actually happened to us though, it'd still work though). Or you could ski down Sudan or something. We once hiked Hawii 5-0. Then, 2 days before closure, a 40-50 foot rock gap was built. It was sick. That day I got two minor concussions. It was worth it. We have it on tape. But the guy who took pictures I can't get ahold of. Too bad.

Then there was the nightlife. Since my folks never came up with me, I was free to party as I wished. Spent most of them drinking beer and watching tv with friends. Got snuck into a bunch of bars. Tommy's rules (especially on sunday nights, apres party!). I met this crazy french fucker called Steve who gave me free bud and beer. I only paid $20 for accomadations for the whole summer. The worst was when me, Brent and Moe spent half an hour driving around emerald at 1 am trying to find a party. We never did find it though... I talked to someone who did find it and he said it rocked. Turns out we drove right by it too... We came by too early though. Damn you Kori. All in all, it was a good summer and I'll be back next year.