vanhoskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I just returned from Session 6 of Momentum's mogul camp, an all-adult camp based in Whistler, BC, and run on the Horstman Glacier up on Blackcomb Mountain.
This was an AMAZING experience......fun, challenging, educational, and motivating. I chose this camp due to its inclusion of an adult session, its decent accommodations, and the good communication I received from the camp's operations manager. For an overall peek at the camp, go to https://momentumskicamps.com/web08/adult_camp/index.html
The camp is run by John Smart, a 13-time World Cup medalist, 2-time Olympian, and Canadian Ski Hall of Fame member. John is a personable, energetic guy who obviously loves what he does. He also is one of the coaches, so I had some one-on-one instruction time with him.
The camp began Sunday, July 20 and ended Saturday July 26. We had three days of skiing, a day off, then three more days of skiing. The typical day's schedule ran like this:
7:15-8:00 AM: breakfast at the base of Blackcomb Mountain
8:00-8:45 AM: ride up to Horstman Glacier.....2 chairlifts, one bus ride, and another chairlift ride. The long trip gave a chance for caffeine to enter our systems
and for us to take in amazing views and lots of bears.
9:00AM - 9:45AM: warm ups and stretching on the glacier
10:00AM - 1:30PM: group instruction, free ski after
11:30AM - juice break at our "base camp"
2:00-3:00PM: lunch at Horstman hut before riding the chairlift back down to Whistler. Lunch consisted of either hamburgers, veggie burgers, or cold cuts, cheese, soup, fresh vegetables, and chocolate chip cookies.
Momentum operates its own private mogul lanes, jumps, and flat skiing terrain, so we didn't have to share with other skiers. The t-bar lines were short, so there wasn't much of a wait, if any, to ride back up. By the end of the day's instruction, we were exhausted.
At our "base camp" near the t-bar, we had a tent, coolers of lemonade, a nice sound system playing tunes, some lawn chairs, and a Salomon demo tent where we could demo next year's skis for free.
Each afternoon, other activities, such as mountain biking, rock climbing, water ramping, and hiking were offered and included in the camp cost. I found that I was pretty exhausted by this time and needed more rest and quiet time instead of more activities. I did sign up for water ramping, but a tweaked knee relegated me to water ramp photographer instead. There's always next year.
We lucked out with good weather....warm, mostly bluebird days with one foggy day thrown in. A chilly chairlift ride requiring layers was always followed by stripping down to a light shirt before the day's skiing began. I quickly learned the virtues of bandannas and how they can block the sun when sunscreen doesn't quite do the job.
The first day, we had a "ski-off" so the coaches could judge our skills and divide us into groups. This was the most embarassing moment of the camp, but necessary. Since I was terrible at moguls, I was put in the lowest group - no big surprise there. Then, we received our coach for the day (every coach was a World Cup medalist and/or Olympian) and off we went.
We began the morning by doing drills on the flats, while the snow was still firm, then we proceeded to the bumps. We worked on absorption, weight transfer, body position, and knee rolling to initiate turns. I learned that I have a lot to learn! There was a lot of information to absorb, but each coach had their own unique style and broke things down into manageable bits. Although intense, the day's instruction included a lot of humor and joking around. The coaches are some of the top skiers around, but they realize that we are just "normal" adults learning to ski bumps.
By the third day, I could make it down a line of moguls in the field. That was a big accomplishment for me. Although, I still had my share of wipe-outs. including a big face plant that left "glacier rash" on my forehead and arm and a dazed expression on my face.
I wasn't the only one who crashed, though, and we learned to deal with frustrations by laughing at ourselves.
In the evenings, we visited a different restaurant in Whistler every night, where we had a choice of 3 different meals from the menu, included in the camp cost. The food was good. Beer/wine was extra and most of us ordered it in the evenings. All the coaches ate dinner with us, and they participated in apres-ski activities, as well. After dinner, we met with our coaches for a video review/analysis of that day's work. Watching myself on video was eye-opening, and sometimes depressing. However, it is the best way to correct mistakes and discover what things I was doing right. By the end of the week, my videos had improved drastically.
If we had the energy, we sometimes visited one of Whistler's many bars/outdoor cafes at night for a few drinks and laughs.
It was a great way to get to know everybody. On my birthday, I was presented with a large birthday cake and candles, along with a big party after dinner. Thankfully, it was the night before our day off....many people bought me drinks and I didn't get to bed until 3 AM!
On our day off, we had a choice of ziplining or wakeboarding. I chose ziplining. (Again, included in camp cost). It was fun, but I wouldn't choose to do it again. Next year, wakeboarding, here I come!
Accommodations at the Blackcomb Lodge were decent, but not luxurious by any means. The rooms were clean and included full kitchens, which was nice for preparing snacks and storing cold drinks. A nice touch was a bottle of wine and 2 large chocolate bars, along with a welcome card on the first day.
The other skiers were great. They came from all walks of life and many places around the country. 7 were women and 35 were men. Two guys were from England, another from the Netherlands, and another from South Africa. The average age was in the mid to late 30's, but our oldest skier was 72 and quite accomplished. Many of the campers were repeat attendees, which spoke volumes for the quality of instruction. By the end of the week, we were like a big family.
The last day of skiing ended with the grand finale - a duel consisting of 2 skiers pitted against each other in the moguls, with the winner continuing on, until one final skier was left. Judging was based upon turns, jumps, and number of falls. My coach had ordered me down the hill that day due to a tweaked knee, so I had to watch rather than participate, but it was great fun to sit with the coaches and watch the festivities. There was some trash-talking between competitors, all in good fun, and some grudge matches between losers. And....some quite spectacular crashes! All of this whet my appetite to return next year and compete!
OK, for pictures, see the next entry in this thread as my text is too long.....
This was an AMAZING experience......fun, challenging, educational, and motivating. I chose this camp due to its inclusion of an adult session, its decent accommodations, and the good communication I received from the camp's operations manager. For an overall peek at the camp, go to https://momentumskicamps.com/web08/adult_camp/index.html
The camp is run by John Smart, a 13-time World Cup medalist, 2-time Olympian, and Canadian Ski Hall of Fame member. John is a personable, energetic guy who obviously loves what he does. He also is one of the coaches, so I had some one-on-one instruction time with him.
The camp began Sunday, July 20 and ended Saturday July 26. We had three days of skiing, a day off, then three more days of skiing. The typical day's schedule ran like this:
7:15-8:00 AM: breakfast at the base of Blackcomb Mountain
8:00-8:45 AM: ride up to Horstman Glacier.....2 chairlifts, one bus ride, and another chairlift ride. The long trip gave a chance for caffeine to enter our systems
and for us to take in amazing views and lots of bears.9:00AM - 9:45AM: warm ups and stretching on the glacier
10:00AM - 1:30PM: group instruction, free ski after
11:30AM - juice break at our "base camp"
2:00-3:00PM: lunch at Horstman hut before riding the chairlift back down to Whistler. Lunch consisted of either hamburgers, veggie burgers, or cold cuts, cheese, soup, fresh vegetables, and chocolate chip cookies.
Momentum operates its own private mogul lanes, jumps, and flat skiing terrain, so we didn't have to share with other skiers. The t-bar lines were short, so there wasn't much of a wait, if any, to ride back up. By the end of the day's instruction, we were exhausted.
At our "base camp" near the t-bar, we had a tent, coolers of lemonade, a nice sound system playing tunes, some lawn chairs, and a Salomon demo tent where we could demo next year's skis for free.
Each afternoon, other activities, such as mountain biking, rock climbing, water ramping, and hiking were offered and included in the camp cost. I found that I was pretty exhausted by this time and needed more rest and quiet time instead of more activities. I did sign up for water ramping, but a tweaked knee relegated me to water ramp photographer instead. There's always next year.
We lucked out with good weather....warm, mostly bluebird days with one foggy day thrown in. A chilly chairlift ride requiring layers was always followed by stripping down to a light shirt before the day's skiing began. I quickly learned the virtues of bandannas and how they can block the sun when sunscreen doesn't quite do the job.
The first day, we had a "ski-off" so the coaches could judge our skills and divide us into groups. This was the most embarassing moment of the camp, but necessary. Since I was terrible at moguls, I was put in the lowest group - no big surprise there. Then, we received our coach for the day (every coach was a World Cup medalist and/or Olympian) and off we went.
We began the morning by doing drills on the flats, while the snow was still firm, then we proceeded to the bumps. We worked on absorption, weight transfer, body position, and knee rolling to initiate turns. I learned that I have a lot to learn! There was a lot of information to absorb, but each coach had their own unique style and broke things down into manageable bits. Although intense, the day's instruction included a lot of humor and joking around. The coaches are some of the top skiers around, but they realize that we are just "normal" adults learning to ski bumps.
By the third day, I could make it down a line of moguls in the field. That was a big accomplishment for me. Although, I still had my share of wipe-outs. including a big face plant that left "glacier rash" on my forehead and arm and a dazed expression on my face.
I wasn't the only one who crashed, though, and we learned to deal with frustrations by laughing at ourselves.In the evenings, we visited a different restaurant in Whistler every night, where we had a choice of 3 different meals from the menu, included in the camp cost. The food was good. Beer/wine was extra and most of us ordered it in the evenings. All the coaches ate dinner with us, and they participated in apres-ski activities, as well. After dinner, we met with our coaches for a video review/analysis of that day's work. Watching myself on video was eye-opening, and sometimes depressing. However, it is the best way to correct mistakes and discover what things I was doing right. By the end of the week, my videos had improved drastically.
If we had the energy, we sometimes visited one of Whistler's many bars/outdoor cafes at night for a few drinks and laughs.
It was a great way to get to know everybody. On my birthday, I was presented with a large birthday cake and candles, along with a big party after dinner. Thankfully, it was the night before our day off....many people bought me drinks and I didn't get to bed until 3 AM!On our day off, we had a choice of ziplining or wakeboarding. I chose ziplining. (Again, included in camp cost). It was fun, but I wouldn't choose to do it again. Next year, wakeboarding, here I come!
Accommodations at the Blackcomb Lodge were decent, but not luxurious by any means. The rooms were clean and included full kitchens, which was nice for preparing snacks and storing cold drinks. A nice touch was a bottle of wine and 2 large chocolate bars, along with a welcome card on the first day.
The other skiers were great. They came from all walks of life and many places around the country. 7 were women and 35 were men. Two guys were from England, another from the Netherlands, and another from South Africa. The average age was in the mid to late 30's, but our oldest skier was 72 and quite accomplished. Many of the campers were repeat attendees, which spoke volumes for the quality of instruction. By the end of the week, we were like a big family.
The last day of skiing ended with the grand finale - a duel consisting of 2 skiers pitted against each other in the moguls, with the winner continuing on, until one final skier was left. Judging was based upon turns, jumps, and number of falls. My coach had ordered me down the hill that day due to a tweaked knee, so I had to watch rather than participate, but it was great fun to sit with the coaches and watch the festivities. There was some trash-talking between competitors, all in good fun, and some grudge matches between losers. And....some quite spectacular crashes! All of this whet my appetite to return next year and compete!
OK, for pictures, see the next entry in this thread as my text is too long.....
I WILL be returning! 
