# Thinking About Joining Adult Snowboard Camp. Advice Needed!



## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

Subscribing! 

p.s. At 32 you are still a kid! Of course, some of the guys on here would say the same thing about my 43 years.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

well presuming you are going to summer camp....by timing its going to be more park oriented, upper glacier/alpine...therefore very little trees or free-riding per sae. Thus mostly jumps, jibs and etc. But you should contact pro-camp...iirc whistler and inquire as to the time/season.

however if you want to learn free-riding...go to a big mtn in the winter, stay and ride for 2-3 weeks...make friends with some local shredders and try to keep up....you will learn alot, learn to ride better and it will be less expensive than shelling out a few grand for camp fluffers and handies. in part freeriding is also about reading snow, terrain and other conditions....which just riding a summer glacier won't do...because its the same old shit...freeze at night...mid morning thaw and slush in the afternoon....in big mtn freedrideing...that don't happen unless its late spring and summer....

fwiw...2 cents


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## Funkfish (Apr 3, 2015)

Thanks wrath. I'm actually not saying I want to do summer I'm totally ok with doing 17-18 winter season. But yes if it was during the summer then obviously it would just be screwing around in the park on a glacier. That's kinda why I was interested in Pro Ride. It seems like they do a full on adult free riding camp during the winter. However I wasn't able to find any other camps like this.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

imo, just doing a season or even dirtbag a month at a freeride type hill...someplace in pnw will set you right. Of-course my bias is pnw (not that I've riden anywhere else) is because of the varied conditions and terrain...you are what you ride. Being forced to ride rather extreme varied conditions terrain will harden you that much faster. I've met numerous folks from back east and even the rockies that are surprised by the varied challenges and end up getting worked. 

the nice thing about a camp is the instruction, feedback and likely consistent features...i.e., the jump line is the same and being able to hit 5 jumps in a relative short run...thus you will get good at hitting that jump line. Where as at Baker I could take you on a run and you could get 5 different natty jumps in but they change from first hit to the 5th time and the next day will be completely different because the conditions have changed. You could flow a run from pow hits, ball bearings, ice to slush in 1 run. 

perhaps a thing to do is to do a camp for a week to get some basics down and then another 3 weeks just riding a big mtn and scatter a few privite lessons in. Another thought is to just dirtbag and fine a good local instructor and do some privates...might be the best, most cost effective and funner.


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## TooNice (Feb 7, 2014)

I attended Pro Ride last season, so I thought I'd give my two cents. 

First of all, I should note that I spent most of the season doing their instructor course, save for a week or so of freestyle, and a couple of days of freeride. That said, much of the instructor course involved levelling up one's riding and there was a lot of freeriding (used to challenge our abilities) involved. And on powder days, we would do pows, trees, drops etc.

I think it is fair to say that everyone who spent the season there levelled up their riding quite a lot. I went there with a couple of weeks of "self-taught" riding experience (basically it was pretty dire), and managed to pass the CASI L2 exam at the end of the season. During that process, they helped with riding off some (many) of the bad habits I picked up while riding by myself.

And I think that is one of the main benefit of joining a camp (or taking lesson for a period of time). The coaches see you ride and are there to provide feedback, which may or may not happen when riding with friends/people whose job aren't to coach you. The coaches also knows the mountain well, so you will get to ride diverse terrain in Whistler and Blackcomb. 

In terms of your goals, I know that those on the instructor course -have- to learn how to do short radius turn. You will definitely have the chance to ride trees. You will definitely have the chance to work on grabs and spins (though I find it harder to say how much you'll progress there). The coaches will let you know where it is relatively safe to try something inverted on a powder day, and occasionally (twice last season) there is a jump day where you go to the backcountry, build jumps and get to try stuff including inverted things. Now, truth to be said, not everyone who wants to will land one, but you should get a couple of chance to try during the season. As for pipe, we did use it a couple of times during the instructor course to improve our pressure and edging, but it's not something we did enough to even go from zero to getting air and -really- riding pipe (unless the person is either pretty good at freestyle and/or a particularly fast learner). 

There are usually two park groups (at least last year). One catered more towards beginner park riders (so you will do mainly smaller jumps and boxes), and one towards more advanced riders wanting to do bigger jumps and hit rails. That said, you won't be forced to do any jumps/rails if you don't want to. One thing I will note though, is that last season I was terrified of rails and stayed as far away from them as possible. This year, I spent at least half the season avoiding them, before mustering the courage to try one and.. it's actually not that bad. Obviously it depends what you are doing, but 50/50 a basic rail is much, much easier than edging properly on the pipe in my opinion. I think it is worth to learn at least that much so that you don't have to completely skip a whole bunch of features in the park. And you might actually find it quite fun (I can't guarantee that, but I actually started liking towards the end of this season).

Overall, it is fair to say that I had a good time there, and improved more than I would have on my own. I found it pretty well organised, with good coaches and would consider attending again in the future. Only caution I might note is that while there are some older riders, the majority are still young adults, there to have fun. That mean the team house can at time get pretty.. lively, which may or may not be your thing.

Might also be worth sending Tuan209 a PM for his opinion. He also spent last season there, and went back for a month or so this season.


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## ctoma (Aug 9, 2011)

wrathfuldeity said:


> you will learn alot, learn to ride better and it will be less expensive than shelling out a few grand for camp fluffers and handies.


I've been married so long that paying a few grand for fluffers and handies is pretty enticing.


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## nickpapagiorgio (Aug 6, 2016)

TooNice said:


> I attended Pro Ride last season, so I thought I'd give my two cents.
> 
> First of all, I should note that I spent most of the season doing their instructor course, save for a week or so of freestyle, and a couple of days of freeride. That said, much of the instructor course involved levelling up one's riding and there was a lot of freeriding (used to challenge our abilities) involved. And on powder days, we would do pows, trees, drops etc.
> 
> ...



Great insight! I've never heard of adult snowboard camps until recently and i'm seriously considering taking time off work at the end of the year to do a month or two. How old are you if you don't mind me asking?


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