Weekend At Windells: Mt. Hood Update
6/20/05
Click here to see more photos from Hood!
CLICK HERE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY FROM HOOD!
This spring the rumor mill was running strong. Many predicted the poor snow season would leave summer camps high and dry. Some guessed the camps would have limited terrain, but no pipe. Fortunately for everyone, ski industry rumors are about as reliable as Michael Jackson as a baby sitter. Although the WINDELLS pipe has a few "jib rocks" to dodge and the Magic Mile is completely bare, the glacier remains packed with terrain features and is going off as usual.
The Windells on-snow set up includes two jump lines and a slew of box options, including the 65-footer, a S-box, a down-flat-down, a C-box, a flat-down (recently changed to a up-flat-down), a roller coaster, a wall-ride style box and an incline box to gap. Campers and coaches usually choose one feature to session and destroy before moving on to their next victim.
The vibe is as chill and progression as friendly as one could imagine, with campers, coaches, skiers and snowboarders all obsessively hiking features trying to dial their respective tricks. Riders quickly pick up on what everyone else is working on and act as an overly bro-ed out support group offering cheers, advice, encouragement and the occasional heckling.
One of the most interesting sessions of last week was centered around the 65-footer. Sammy Carlson, Tommy Elington, and Tim Durtschi dominated the session with spin-in, spin-out switch up combos. Grete Eliassen worked on 270's in switch up, snowboarders worked on their presses, and campers worked on everything from their first switch up to just greasing the whole thing. Highlights included Durtschi's stomped switch 270 in to 5 switch ups to 270 out and Rossignol skier Colin Wright's 270 in to 720 surface spin to 450 out.
The speed of progression on the glacier is staggering. Wyatt Fowler, one of Durtschi's campers, had never slid a rail before coming to Windells and by the end of the week was consistently and comfortably tackling a number of features. Fowler recognized the importance of high quality coaches. "Timmy really helped me out with both my jumps and rails,” he said. “It helps so much to get to watch the coaches kill it and then get personal help learning my own tricks." As for the coaches, Durtschi, Carlson and Elingston all tackled switch unnatural spins up to 720 in a matter of about 45 minutes.
After sessioning to the point of exhaustion, most shredders head into Government Camp for Kobra Dogs, Tacos, or a milkshake at Sally's. For the Windells campers it's back to the compound for video analysis with the coaches, dinner and plenty of time to get rowdy on the skate ramps, BMX jumps, indoor skate park, Olympic tramp and foam-pit.
Click here to see more photos from Hood!
Despite the dismal snow season in the Northwest, Hood camps are running strong. Just check out the video of the Windells crew taking advantage of a less than perfect snow situation. If you haven't booked your trip to Mt. Hood this summer you're missing out on the "funnest place on earth".
CLICK HERE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY FROM HOOD!
For all the latest camp action, tune in to windells.com!
Check out more Hood footage check in next issue of Volume Video Magazine!