Feb 7, 2012
Author: Kate MacLennan, photos by Scott Furkay
It’s an unspoken rule that the day you have a comp or an event on a mountain, it will dump, pour, or get socked in. A day with respectable visibility is a score. You don’t bank on bluebird and you certainly don’t expect a spectacular day of sunshine. Yet a cloudless sky and sun strong enough to deliver serious goggle tan is exactly what Mother Nature doled out to complement Roxy’s first ever B.C. Ride Day on Grouse Mountain this weekend.
Girls signing up for the clinic and receiving their Roxy gift bags, not a bad start to the day!
The weather was a sign of good times to come, and the mood around the Roxy tent at the base of Grouse was jovial as the coaches led the group—an impressive 45 of us—through standing warm-up exercises and a crash course in trick lingo. Half the group hadn’t been in the park before, after all, the only prerequisite to being here was the ability to link turns and stop. The rest—box slides, rails and jumps—the brochure claimed they could teach us.
The girls make their way up the mountain to hit the park and progress their skills.
The Roxy Ride Days are one-day, all-girls snowboard coaching tour that moves around Canada and makes stops in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The idea is that whether you’re hitting your first rail or you’ve got already got skills, Roxy will make you better. And based on the advancement of the group on Grouse in a few short hours, a Ride Day delivers on that promise.
The day is laid out in a way that nobody feels left behind or thrust out of her comfort zone. In the morning, the coaches do a quick assessment of the group, break everyone into beginner, intermediate or advanced small groups. You work within your own group but the other groups are never far away, so you always have the inspiration of watching others right there, which helps you push yourself a little harder. The vibe is completely supportive.
“Girls know how to teach girls,” one of the coaches, Christine, explains. “Boys can usually go out and do a trick, but they can’t really break it down and explain to you how. They just do it. We need to be told the steps, then we can put them all together and do it.”
Girls who had never touched a box at 10 a.m. had mastered 50-50 slides and moved on to tail presses by noon. Those who could just land jumps when they arrived were hucking 180s by the time they left. Roxy also had a full quiver of next year’s boards on the mountain for anyone wishing to demo a couple.
The day wrapped with mini jam comps and some sweet prizes for Most Improved, as well as top three in jump and rail. Everybody left with new skills, heightened confidence and, presumably, a goggle tan.
Coaching, a lift ticket, a $10 lunch voucher and new shred friends for only $80. Throw in a Roxy swag bag—which they did— and it just might be the best deal in snowboarding. Their are still several opportunties left to attend a Roxy Ride Day, the next camps takes place at Mont Avila, QC on March 17 followed by Lake Louise, AB on April 7. Click here for more details and to register.
The day left just enough time for the coaches to throw down and take advantage of the park, the sunset, the sweet view and the photog.
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