Summit Training Camp
So with the season only just underway the one universal problem that all snowboarders have, is finding jumps. This is a global problem this time of year, and the answer is to go to the European glaciers, or Summit County Colorado.
Our journey began at 5am in Boston with 5 snowboarders, 15 skiers, 3 coaches and a direct flight to Denver, where after a skate session in the Denver City skate park we headed up to Silverthorne in Summit CO, in our pick-up, 15 seater van and mini-van. Where we settled into our 24 bed ski-house, equipped with sauna, hot-tub, pool table, Foosball and 3 kitchens…!
Snowboard Team members on this trip were Peter Hoops ’13, PJ Steber ’13, Bo Warren ’15, Mitch Romanowski ’16, and Shannon Maguire ’16 who joined us on Monday.
Day 1 at Keystone
Day 1 of riding was at Keystone, which offered 25-30 rails and top to bottom cruisers but no jumps. So the decision to head to Breck the next day was a fairly easy one, as we’d heard they had jumps. Which was high on our list of things to do.
Day 2 at Breckinridge we did find 2 jumps….and lots of people..! But the team had a great first day working on 25ft and 30ft jumps.
Breckenridge
Day 3, back to Breckenridge, but with less crowds due to the fact that Keystone had opened their 3 jump line.
We did find out that Breck was the better option, as Keystone was mobbed and subsequently a little dangerous….! But everyone was itching to go to Keystone to check out the jumps.
Shannon getting some airtime in Breck
Day 4, Keystone it was, and the jump line did meet all expectations, three fine jumps 20ft, 30ft and 40ft.
Everyone else in Summit County seemed to be there too, but with a mutual respect and such a high skill level, it never seemed chaotic or dangerous. Bo was very happy with the situation
Bo getting some hang-time at Keystone
here, throwing backside 7’s, Rodeo 5’s at will. Peter was struggling a little with the second jump which had a lot of kick, so he transitioned to rails where he found more success. Mitch, PJ and Shannon ran laps on the Gondola.
Day 5 hasn’t happened yet, but I see Keystone in our future. Watch this space for updates on this training trip.
