Get Stoked
This year we are rolling on double deuces – It’s been 22 YEARS since we practically invented the action sports summer camp and this year is going to be the best yet. Every summer we strive to outdo the previous summer. We spend all winter thinking up ways to make camp better and even more fun so that every summer will be the best summer ever.
Steve Petrie and Arena Snowparks fresh off building the Olympic Halfpipe where 6 of the top 7 men’s finalists (we just missed the silver medalist) came from COC. Steve build’s us the biggest, most perfectly designed private snowpark in the world. Whistler Blackcomb builds the best bike park in the world. The snowpark and the bike park have every square inch packed with features. Both parks are constantly evolving and getting better because Steve Petrie, COC and WB take rider and coach input to fine tune the parks, the experience and use everyone’s input to come up with new stuff. Best of all both parks are designed so no matter what your ability you will have the best time riding. Combine that with coaching from the pros and you will, no matter what your age or ability, progress so far in such a short time you will wonder how it was possible to get so good so fast.
Every summer the sessions that go off on snow and dirt change what is considered normal riding and what is considered cutting edge. With so many pro snowboarders, skiers and mountain bikers all in one place its no wonder Whistler is the center of the universe for all three sports. Just walking though the village drinking a Slurpee makes you feel like you’ve walked into a copy of your favorite magazine or the latest shred video.
Even the Olympics chose Whistler/Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Games. They chose Whistler for the same reason we did when we first rode here in 1988, epic terrain, absolutely amazing town and so much to do there aren’t enough hours in the day. You can’t compare Whistler to Mt. Hood. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. There just is no comparison. Whistler, a town of ten thousand, with the restaurants, stores, clubs and facilities for 50,000 people, is the most fun place to be for snowboarding, skiing, mountain biking and just general good times in the mountains. You can’t compare Mt. Hood’s facilities, a lodge at a ski area, with Whistler’s. If you want to go to a summer camp in the mountains, and have the best time ever, COC in Whistler is the place to be.
COC is a summer camp, but not a summer camp just for kids. Twenty percent of our campers are adults and they have just as much fun as our under 19 campers. COC is about sports and getting better, we don’t care how old or young you are… you shouldn’t either.
My goal at camp is to give every camper a taste of the life they can have if they want it. A taste of what it's like to live in a town that lives, eats, breathes and sleeps snowboarding, skiing, mountain biking and most importantly - good times. A taste of what it's like to have the world's largest and best parks at your doorstep waiting for you to drop in. COC gives you a taste of what it's like to hang out and be friends with the pros you usually only see in magazines and videos. You can start your Olympic dreams or any dream you want at COC.
Camp gives you a taste of your future. All you have to do is wake up in the morning, hop onto the lift, reach out and grab it to start living the dream. COC will change your life, be the best week of your life and be the start of your new life.
Ken Achenbach
Camp Founder/Owner/Director
Member of The Snowboarding Hall of Fame
Get Stoked
The best days are days you ride with your friends. Imagine if your friends were the people you saw in magazines and videos, throwing down just for you, and showing you how you can do it too? That is your week at The Camp of Champions. A week hanging with new friends that are top pros, teaching you everything you could ever want to know, in the most fun environment anywhere.
This year we are rolling on double deuces – It’s been 22 YEARS since we practically invented the action sports summer camp and this year is going to be the best yet. We spend every winter imagining that everything we do sucks and needs to be made better. We look at the comments from coaches, campers and posts on Pinkbike, etc, and take all that input, add our thoughts and opinions and then try up our game everywhere we can. As much as we love campers and people telling us we're great, we love hearing when something wasn't as great as it could have been, it means it's something that we can make better. Every year we want to make as many things as possible better than the year before. We want a camp that is different and more amazing than any camp anywhere.
People said we needed more rockstar coaches. We now have a ton of rockstar coaches. People like Greg Watts, who won The Monter Energy Slopestyle at Crankworks last year. Andrew Taylor, Kelly McGarry who all made the finals in the Crankworx Slopestyle are now coaching. We added coaches so that no matter what kind of riding you wanted to learn, we have coaches that are some of the best in the world at that discipline to show you how to get it done. The coaches are with you from 7AM till lights out. They don't disappear when the riding is done. They go out to eat with you, play paintball, or just chill. They live where you live, in The Dorm.
We wanted to make our bikes the best bikes available anywhere to demo. Riders at Sea Otter couldn't believe the bikes campers get to ride. They asked if they were our bikes. We replied... "No, those are our demos." We worked hard to add part sponsors to our already incredible stable of bike sponsors so that when you ride our bikes you can learn what makes them fast. Shaun Palmer who used to be one of our snowboard coaches, says "You can't be as fast as possible until you learn what makes your bike fast for you" so we wanted to help everyone learn what they liked and how changing components could help them get fast. Ride a TR-450 with Maxxis High Rollers then try the same bike with Ardents or Minions. Ride a bike with a Fox shock and then ride the same bike with an X-Fusion Shock. Then try the same thing on a Santa Cruz V-10, Morewood Makulu or a Banshee Legend Mark II. Not sure what kind of bike you like for jumping? How about trying Spank Tweet Tweets, NS Bikes Metropolis 1, 2 and 3?
Our "thing" is to make sure you have the best time ever and to help you learn as much as possible to make you a better rider and do whatever it takes to make that happen. No other camp anywhere has the dedication to making this happen like COC. We aren't figureheads. Camp isn't something we think of every time a paycheck arrives, it's not a job, it's our life. We think of camp and how to make it better 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. It drives our friends and families insane, but it sure makes for an awesome camp.
COC is a summer camp, but not a summer camp just for kids. Twenty percent of our campers are adults and they have just as much fun as our under 19 campers. COC is about riding and getting better, we don’t care how old or young you are… you shouldn’t either.
Camp gives you a taste of your future. All you have to do is wake up in the morning, hop onto the lift, reach out and grab it to start living the dream. COC will change your life, be the best week of your life and be the start of your new life.
See you this summer...
Ken Achenbach
Camp Founder/Owner/Director/Guy who thinks he's funny
Member of The Snowboarding Hall of Fame