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Snowboard Canada
Summer shreddin’ south of the equator
Robin Van Gyn sent Snowboard Canada an update on her camp experiences at South America Snowboard Sessions where she’s coaching and hanging out for six weeks.
Photos by Ed Herbold
After three full days of traveling, being down a board bag, and having ate my weight in media lunas and chocolate, I arrived in Bariloche to coach at South America Snowboard Sessions for the next six weeks. After reuniting with the crew of familiar faces from past camps, and meeting the new crew, it was straight up to Cerro Cathedral to start shredding.
It took a few days to get settled, but nothing that a bit of yerba mate and a good night out couldn’t solve. I find it funny how somehow everyone manages to party till dawn and still coach all day and then repeat the process. I think there is something in the water or maybe it is the excessive amount of meat eating that gets everybody juiced, who knows?
Speaking of meat, there was a lot of it getting thrown around on the mountain as campers were trying to get their banger tricks dialed before the first session was over. The end came faster than any of them would have liked, but hey, it has to end sometime. Six of the campers decided to stay for another session with the camp. Soon enough there was a whole new crew of kids in the SASS mansion for session two. They were completely shut out by Ullr for the first week and had to throw down in some dangerous icy conditions. We rode a lot of park and saw a stupid amount of yard sales—Argentina style. For some reason it seems like there’s chaos everywhere on the mountain, people losing everything, always somehow right in your path waving poles and yelling in Spanish, and being super sketchy. I think the way things run down here makes it as though disaster could strike at any moment. It’s a little thing we call “the factor” and it smells like meat—it’s awesome. Not to worry though; the view of the giant lake and mountains and the ridiculous amount sunshine kept spirits up.
Finally this last week we got a buttload of snow overnight. It snowed thigh deep, no exaggeration, and we slayed some serious lines in the trees for two days. It was sick. They were the no-time-to-pee-or-eat kind of days. When the sun came out it was time for big mountain riding and booter building 101. My crew of girls became buff hiking so much and the tan lines were starting to show face. The terrain here is off the hook, it’s definitely the best summer snowboarding out there. Stay tuned for another update from the land of meat and babes.
