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Snowboard Canada
Turning to toeside & learning to boardslide
Burton Women’s Learn to Ride camp hits Northstar at Tahoe for three days of sun, fun and learning new skills
Day Three: It’s a wrap
Words and photos by Katie Bailey
Day three is meant to be a mellow day, where campers can take advantage of the help of their instructors or head out on their own to test their new skills. On the way to scout out a new group of campers to hang with, our guide, instructor Kelly Smilie, takes us up the mountain to the top (finally!) to check out the view of Lake Tahoe and see more of the mountain.
We run down through the mini Jib Park, which is actually a series of fun mini-hits hidden among light glades and find ourselves back in the Progression Park, where we catch up with a group who have been building their skills up for this run, their very first through a terrain park, ever. They’re nervous, but like everyone at the camp, completely willing to give it a go. It’s a reality check—if these girls have never gone through a park and they’re game to try, there’s no excuse for someone who’s been riding for eight years to claim incompetence (as I have been known to). We join in the fun and detour through the resort’s beautiful halfpipe at the end, lapping through again and again until the lifts close.
As the campers gather for the end-of-camp group photo shoot, it’s pretty clear there are no regrets amongst the campers. Everyone chatters about their feats of the weekend, exchanges phone numbers and emails, and snaps photos for their MySpace and Facebook pages. Goggle tans abound. And everyone leaves with something—whether it’s a T-shirt and a toeside turn or the mechanics of a Frontside Lipslide to work on at home. And that’s the kind of goodie bag we’re stoked to take home.
