7:15 am. Breakfast at Merlin’s.
8:00 am. Board Wizard chair lift.
9:30 am. Meet on top for stretching.
9:45 am. Break into groups and ski.
There’s a schedule. And groups. And stretching. This morning at Momentum Ski Camps is beginning to feel more like camp. Campers are put into groups of six or seven for the session; each day, they ski with a different coach. I suppose this is all straightforward information for ski camp, but at Momentum, it seems like the coaching environment sets it apart from the rest of the glacier.
For one, nearly half the camp is made up of mogul skiers. I rode up the lift yesterday with some adult mogul campers from Squaw Valley who’d come to sharpen up on their bump skiing, but apart from them, I haven’t met many mogul skiers who didn’t have coaching and competition forever ingrained into their minds.
That’s not to say that the freestyle coaches are competition hounds, but with names like T.J. and Sarah, they’re gettin’er done; summer camp is no exception. Momentum also offers a “competition program,� a session like every other except with added value in competition training, featuring a sports psychology class in between sessions.
“Some campers are here to rip and hang out. Some campers want a little more focus on competition. We try to cater to both,� says Trennon Paynter, head freestyle coach
Every afternoon, Momentum’s staff videographer trails each group for a few laps and captures their newly polished tricks on film. In the evening, he splices each up into separate DVDs and following dinner every evening, campers sit down with their coaches and analyze each tidbit of their 540 to the tee. While High North and other camps offer similar video review sessions, Momentum offers the most consistent.
Off the hill, however, things are Whistler as usual. You can play Josh Bibby in a game of soccer or see the newest Harry Potter flick with T.J. Schiller. Or you can sit back in the village with Splitz burger and a massive Slurpee. It’s not that any one activity is the best; it’s that there’s way too many to choose from, and the beauty of this little nook of Southwestern Canada lies in its bounty of choices.
