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Words by Ashlon Durham
Photos by Mike Crane
Whether you want to get on the fast track to ride all of Whistler Bike Park, expand your bag of tricks, or perfect your style, Camp of Champions offers a top notch experience and they guarantee that you will become a better rider by the end of your session! Camp of Champions is a mountain biker’s paradise where some of the best riders in the world gather each year to dial in the next list of banger tricks for the upcoming contests. They make what seems impossible, happen right before your eyes. At the beginning of your week at camp, you may or may not have the skill set required to ride Whistler Bike Park, but after a week under the wings of the coaches at Camp of Champions, you will undoubtedly go beyond your expectations and push your comfort zone into the extremes.
The Camp of Champions is the brainchild of a creative mind, Ken Achenbach, a long time Whistler local, Snowboard Hall of Fame Member, and Powder Mountain Catskiing owner. In the summer of 1988, Achenbach was working at his store, “The Snoboard Shop” in Whistler village. The shop had an impressive team with nearly every Canadian snowboard pro riding for it; it was essentially the first Canadian National snowboard team. Being deeply entrenched in the Whistler scene, Ken noticed lots of up and coming rippers were not getting what they needed from other snowboard camps. Achenbach saw the opportunity to start something new so he took down the names and numbers of all of the unshreducated and unstoked campers. He left the campers with a promise to start something new. The following year, he assembled the shop team as coaches and began the first year of Camp of Champions for snowboarders with 75 campers.
After over two decades of giving ‘up and coming’ pros, newbies, and amateurs alike proper shreducations, the Camp of Champions has evolved into one of the world’s best training grounds to master style and amplitude. The original foundations of the camp still remain true today.
Mountain Biking was still in its infancy when the snow camps began. After a decade of Camp of Champs in the snow, Brett Tippie hit Achenbach with an idea to open the camp to Mountain Bikers. The next year a couple of Ken’s coaches started The Whistler Bike Camp so instead of competing with his coaches/friends, he decided to put it on the back burner. In 2005, Whistler Blackcomb, who own Summer Gravity Camps wanted there to be some competition in the bike park camp field. Rob McSkimming asked The Camp of Champions to open a bike camp in the park so Ken responded and developed a mountain bike version of the Camp of Champions.
With both ‘up and coming’ and established professional riders serving as camp coaches, every camper is guaranteed to see the latest and greatest moves while learning from the best in the business. With six of the ten Kokanee Crankworx Slopestyle finalists on board as Camp of Champions coaches, Achenbach has assembled quite the team of rockstar coaches including Mike Montgomery,Greg Watts, Casey Groves, Mike Hopkins, Alan Hepburn, Kelly McGarry, Katie Holden, Jack Fogelquist, Brett Tippie, Andrew Taylor, and the head-coach/legend Gareth Dyer.
Mountain Biking has been growing at a steady clip in the past years and there is no end in sight. With the constant growth of the bike industry and increases in the number of riders, The Camp of Champions is getting bigger and better with every year. New additions to “The Compound” are coming each season, creating an unparalleled experience. One of the most recent additions may be the best progression tool on the planet — the 365 Sports Air Bag. Rather than trying your next trick into a foam pit where landing is always questionable, “The Compound” uses a wooden ramp into an airbag where you can get a better feel as to whether you will actually land a trick, or not. Once you have the muscle memory for a trick down pat, there is a dirt jump and a mulch jump with the same lip right beside the bag, so that you can take your tricks to dirt and legitimize the new move. With new tools for training, every rider stands to add to their bag of tricks. And with the ability to attempt whatever you can dream up onto the air bag and mulch pit, it is easy to take new stunts that you have learned to the bike park and throw down on a big bike.
A primary goal of the camp is to cater to any rider skill level or style. Whether you want to learn the fastest lines down Original Sin or learn how to style out jumps all the way down A-line, there is a coach who can show you how. This camp includes all age of riders; twenty percent of campers are over 19, so age is no excuse stay away from camp.
A day in the life of a camper begins by meeting up with the coaches and bombing a ski run from Blackcomb down to Whistler Village where everyone meets at 21 Steps for a hardy breakfast which guarantees a full stomach for riding. After breakfast, a posse of campers heads to the base of the bike park and waits for the lifts to run. The first day begins with a clinic to help the coaches get an idea of each camper’s skill level and to separate everyone into groups. The first run is always a fairly gentle warm-up lap on a trail like B-line or Crank It Up to get the blood flowing and prepare for a day of riding. From there, each group splits off and rides whatever the campers want and whatever the coaches think that everyone will enjoy within their skill level. This also allows for progression on every run. Campers take laps in the park then head to the GLC for a quality lunch and to cool off before more laps in the afternoon. Lunch is a great opportunity to get to know the coaches off the trail, and to watch for style and carnage on the GLC drop and in the Boneyard. After all the campers and coaches are fueled up, they head back to the bike park for Garbanzo laps and more shredding throughout the afternoon. Right around five o‘clock, most campers start to get tired and in an attempt to preserve life and limbs, everyone catches a shuttle back to the compound on Blackcomb. Next up, dirt jumping and training on the air bag, or a quick nap before shredding until the sun goes down. After a full day of riding in the park and “The Compound”, everyone is welcome to hang out in the compound until 10PM. ”The Compound” is complete with a mini ramp, video games, pool, ping pong, foosball, basketball, couches, huge flatscreens, a booming sound system and good people. From there, everyone heads to the dorms for a little shuteye before another day in a bikers’ paradise.
The camp experience is amplified and documented by photographers and video aces who seem to be lurking around every corner. Getting quality bike imagery and video has never been easier. Instead of running back and forth on a trail to get shots, the coaches coordinate with the media guys to meet up with the groups on various parts of the mountain. As you are shredding down the mountain doing your thing, everyone will stop and space out a bit to give room for the professional photographer up ahead to get shots of each rider. It’s a great chance to have some quality documentation of individual ability without wasting any time.
The collective effort of professional riders as coaches, Ken Achenbach’s coordination and vision, an on-site Whistler Park Patroller as a medic, talented carpenters, and friends make the Camp of Champions experience world class. At the beginning of every camp session, the goals of the Camp of Champions team are made clear — support the growth of every rider and provide the best week of their lives in Whistler. Every camper gets to ride top notch bikes including Transition, Banshee, Santa Cruz,Morewood, Spank, and NS-bikes. Achenbach set out to create a place where anyone can go to step out of their boundaries in a supportive and inspiring atmosphere. Biking allows people to discover qualities within themselves that they never thought existed. After a camp session, every camper leaves with new skills, a sense of self confidence both on and off the bike, and the belief that they can achieve whatever they envision.
