Gordy's Straightline Camp

[Tresckow]

This weekend has been so awesome. The crew was a bunch of rippers, and video has been taken of alot the camp.

Were all worked and tired; from the skiing, and the GMD.

Straightlines were done, so stay tuned...

ps Thank you to all that made this happen; from those who threw down their money to sponser others, and those who wanted to throw down their own cash to make this happen.

If anyone is on the fence to book, well go for it.

Your going to get real good.

dpps

[Endlessseason]

Thanks for the link, APKeaton. I had no idea.
Sorry to hear that, GT. I also broke mine early in the season a few years back. You'll get really good with one pole. In fact, it was so painful to put any pressure on my wrist (even in the cast), that I ended up skiing the whole season with just one pole.
Heal quick, and good luck, mang.

[Crinkle]

seriously bob, get off your ass and write the TR

you certainly have a captive audience.

[GT40]

i talk to both bob & flyk last night. they were both so beat, the only thing keeping them going was the stoke. ( which was wearing off ). bob says he got some good pics. flyk felt the camp really helped his ability. they said gordy was the best. he really worked hard to make the camp successful. the pro skiers who taught were all very cool and great teachers.

[Magoo]

Still no TR... <sigh>

[Anxious Mo-Fo]

seriously bob, get off your ass and write the TR

Yeah... with the cigarette monkey off Bob's back, he should be able to write all night.

How can you improve on these skillz?
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic30662.jpg

[kush1]

STILL WAITING.....................

[snorkeldeep]

my writeup is coming sometime this evening or tomorrow am .. in the meantime, heres another picture of bobmc.

[Stu Gotz]

Hold on a second. Gordy made you walk during the camp?

[Buzzworthy]

OK, HOLD THE PHONE!!!!

http://tetongravity.com/forums/attac...tid=3509&stc=1


What is that thing growing out of Bob's head?????????



First he quits smoking, then a brain bucket???? Is the world ending?????????

[iceman]

I dunno, but I heard the bottom just fell out of Anheuser-Busch stock, too.

It's funny, Bob once said I was like a test case for his lifestyle, he was keeping an eye on me to see how it turned out...

...guess he didn't like what he saw.

[truth]

I dunno, but I heard the bottom just fell out of Anheuser-Busch stock, too.

It's funny, Bob once said I was like a test case for his lifestyle, he was keeping an eye on me to see how it turned out...

...guess he didn't like what he saw.

Funny, I'm diggin' it more and more.

[Castro's]

The only word I can think of right now is UNBELIEVABLE!

This past weekend proved to be the best 3 days of my life. I went into it having no idea what my first maggot experience was going to be like. I left feeling like there was no way it could have been any better. Everybody I met was so frickin' cool that words cannot describe it.

Gordy, Jeremy, Brant, and Will were super awesome. They helped all of greatly and were a blast to hang with off the hill as well.

Greatest thanks to everybody who made this weekend possible, and thank you to everyone I met for making this trip so incredible. I'm still having trouble believing it ever happend. Gordy, I owe you big time. I just did a search there is a curling club in Ogden, and there is a Wasatch Curling Club at the Salt Lake City Sports complex, so next time I'm in SLC you can get those curling lessons I owe you.

[iceman]

Funny, I'm diggin' it more and more.

heh, need a lesson?

Wait. No, no you don't.

[splat]

C'mon, Mc. Your losing this crowd.

[BobMc]

Ok folks, here it is.

Friday morning the sun rose and shined its light all over the Wasatch. I awoke with the dawn and began to get ready. I had set my alarm early enough to be able to stop at McDonalds on the way to the canyon. Once my appetite was satiated I continued my drive towards Alta. It felt a little strange to drive by the BCC road, but I continued on. I arrived at Alta about 8:30, which to say the least is DAMN early for me.

I found Flykdog and Castro's waiting in line for lift tickets. Sidenote, what the hell is up with that lift ticket situation? They don't sell lift tickets until 8:45? They open the lift at 9:10, how the hell are you supposed to get first chair? If you arrived without a ticket or pass, by yourself, there is no way you could get first chair. The "locals" would toss your skis out of line and you'd be fucked. Soul, I guess? Heh.

Anyways, after we got our lift tickets we all assembled at Collins. We had 14 participants in the camp, a few faces I knew and a bunch I'd never seen. Gordy quickly scrapped the idea of a warmup run, this was going to be the best chance for soft snow of the weekend, if we wanted it we had to be quick. We all joined the line and began to wait for our ride up Collins. At the top of Collins we assembled once again, this time we were divided into two groups. We all voluntarily decided if we wanted in the fast group or slow group. Of course I wanted in the slow group, I'll be damned if I wanted to chase around a bunch of kids all day .

Let me digress a bit, down at the bottom Brant Moles was introduced as the guest coach for the day. Brant took the ripping group first and we were forced to go with Gordy . We immediately headed out on the High-T, I looked everywhere for gapers, but there were none to be found. Figures, just when I was ready to unleash some Pain Train on someone, no one was to be found. Oh well, I gave it a few train whistles just to be sure. We blasted by the toothbrush and took a look at Alf's, it was pretty chewed already, the group opted for untracked off the backside. During all of this Gordy just kind of watched us all. The next run down began the coaching, he began to isolate the little things each of us needed to improve our skiing.

As a whole we were a pretty damn good group of skiers, most of us had the fundamentals down, but we each had our little flaws. Mine was my hands, for years I've skied with a lot of hand movement, I tend to have one hand in front and the other behind me. After a few runs Gordy started videotaping us. One of the highlights of our first video run was Castro's spectacular almost recovery to complete destruction.

Our most exciting run with Gordy that morning was an excursion into the Nest, we ducked a rope and lined up above a rocky chute. Gordy tossed snowballs down to where he wanted us to turn. He then took off down the chute as if it were a blue run. I went first and charged about three turns, after my third turn I noticed the rocks which weren't visible from above. These rocks immediately became in play for my fourth turn, I went down and stomach slid over the top of them. I came to a stop and started removing the snow from my goggles and helmet about a 1/3 of the way down the pitch. Flykdog quickly followed, he began his slide a bit higher than mine and quickly gained speed. I sat there dumbfounded watching him slide, completely oblivious to the fact that he was coming straight for me. Too late I realized it, bam, I caught a ski to the wrist while attempting to help him stop. It was really just a cursory attempt, and I watched him slide for a bit longer. He got up with a huge grin and began removing the snow packed into his pants.

Being as this was probably the best snow day we decided to skip a sit down lunch, everyone grabbed something quickly and we switched instructors. For the afternoon we toured around with Brant Moles. Brant was probably the strongest coach of the bunch, he had us do several drills to reinforce turning with the legs. Many of us relied on the upper body to initiate our turns, the drills Brant had us do helped us to understand how to turn with the lower body. I know a lot of this sounds over simplified, don't get me wrong, each of the coaches had a very keen eye onto the individual problems of each camper.

We skied till late in the afternoon, we were supposed to be down at 2:30 to do beacon drills with Conway. The soft snow kept us on the hill till a bit after 3:00. After skiing we loaded into several vehicles and drove down to the Snowbird beacon drill range. Here we were once again divided into two groups, one group ran beacon search drills with Moles, the other group dug a pit with Conway. Jim Conway had a very good presentation on snow science and what you should be looking for in both a pit and environmental observations. After observing the pit and taking in the way this latest storm arrived Jim said there was no way in hell he'd go out in this snowpack. This proclamation was revealed as rather prophetic when I got home that night and read our board.

After the excercise down at Snowbird we drove back to Alta and settled into the GMD saloon. We commandeered the big screen and watched the video from the day. This was one of the best tools of the camp, you could see exactly what you were doing wrong and the consequences of it. Gordy and Brant were very attuned to these little failures of ours. Each offered various ways to try and correct these deficiencies. After we had watched the video several times, and Castro's crash I might add, we took a test Jim Conway had prepared for us. After Conway graded our tests we went over the answers as a group. I know I don't have enough knowledge to go out of bounds quite yet, but learning a bit from Jim definitely helped get me closer.

The group bonded very well that night, plenty of beer was drank, laughs were had. I imagine from this weekend we may see a few more user names posting regularly.

The next day I arrived even earlier, I pulled into the lot and like the day before showed no regard for the parking attendant. Each day the attendant attempted to get me to park where "they" wanted me to park. I really saw no reason why I should park halfway down one of the first few rows when there was a perfectly proper close spot by starting a new row. Each day I was treated to the evil eye, mad hand wavings and an attempted run towards me to enforce the natural order of Alta parking. Once I had started my own little row it was quickly filled with other cars, others who didn't see the need to park halfway down the row. This only fueled the attendant's obvious dislike of me. The steady stream of cars coming into the lot and their attempt to regain order allowed me to gear up and get out of there.

Once again we assembled at Collins, huge grins on everyone's faces. Jeremy Nobis soon showed up and we all loaded Collins. Gordy took our group this morning as well. We took a few groomers and then headed into Glory Hole. Once again I had my mad hands going on. Just before the lift Gordy suggested something I try. This was like an epiphany, I finally figured out how to keep my hands in front of me. It was a pretty damn good feeling, I had never really realized what I'd been doing wrong all these years. I've always been able to ski pretty well, I can usually make it down pretty much anything. But, I tend to get tired, tend to wear out. Hands in front and losing a lot of extraneous movement really helped my skiing.

We took a run down Eddie's High and was treated to an airshow by a few of the Alta players. Rockstars pulling 3's launching off the ridgeline, Sage smoothly hitting every piece of the terrain, Jamie Pierre hucking off the largest cliff nearby. We took a few runs down Ballroom after that, Flatlander performed a crash that rivaled Castro's, thankfully also captured on video and digital. Around 1:00 we attempted to all meet at Watson's for lunch. Watson's was quite crowded and we decided to move down to the GMD. We formed a large table and everyone had a needed boost of food energy.

After lunch our group went out with Jeremy Nobis. With full bellies we sidestepped up to the top of Gunsight. A few of us were breathing a bit hard and a bit nervous of the rock and exposure. The run down was quite nice, a few hop turn ledges and then a smooth carveable styrofoam surface. Joel videotaped our descent while Jeremy watched. By now most of us were getting the idea of what they were teaching, our group looked pretty darn composed. Jeremy gave us all suggestions on how to fix the details he found us lacking. He did a few stationary drills to show us the importance of balance and how to distribute it. We spent the rest of the day lapping the High-T and backside until we were spent at about 3:30 or so.

We adjourned to the GMD once again, once again taking over the spot in front of the TV. Plenty of beer, pizza, and more beer were consumed. Like the night before we had plenty of video to watch and analyze, both Gordy and Jeremy positively reinforcing our good traits and helping to correct bad traits. After the video watching was done we all followed Gordy down to the basement/activity room. Here Lee Cohen set up a slide show, our own private viewing of his spectacular images and the stories behind them. I left after the slide show and from what I hear missed some rather interesting stories from Gordy.

Part 2 in the next post...

(Excessive character limit)

[BobMc]

Part 2


Sunday morning found me arriving early again. I felt rather guilty about complicating the life of the parking attendant for the last two days. Therefore, I decided to cut them some slack, I dutifully followed their waving arms. I felt a bit of smug satisfaction from them, as if they had won. I can't imagine being a parking lot attendant allows a lot of job satisfaction, I felt pretty good allowing them some small victory. A few of us were gathered around the maze to Collins, Will Burkes came strolling up and as if he could recognize maggots immediately introduced himself.

Gordy and the Rossignol van showed up soon afterwards. I think I mentioned in another thread I had wondered if I would be laughed at because of my 70mm waisted old dinosaur skis. Well, yeah, maybe not laughed at, but... Pretty much every coach asked if I had some other pair of skis, some other pair a bit fatter. When I told them I had a quiver of one they just kinda chuckled. So, Sunday was pretty cool, I got to ride a pair of B3's for the day. It probably wasn't the ideal day for a B3, but I liked them all the same. Immediately I noticed they weren't as "turny" as my Heads. But, they sure were a bit more stable at speed, although I found myself going faster than I'd want to wipe out at.

Enough about ski type nonsense. It was decided our group would be with Will for the morning. We loaded Collins and then took a warm up groomer on down to Sugarloaf. After riding Sugarloaf we headed over to Snowbird. From the top of Hidden Peak we decided to ski Regulator down Little Cloud Bowl and cruise on down to the tram. We rode the tram to the top and headed up hiking on Baldy. After we got as far as the ropes would allow us we traversed over into the competition venue for the Snowbird Freeskiing comp. The snow was some of the best on the mountain, plenty of exciting lines and a consistent pitch. We took three laps on this hike/ride before retiring for lunch. Our two groups ran into each other after our first lap. Will was dazzling us all by his speed and apparent fearlessness. The campers took turns hitting a straightline through the rocks, clothes flapping in the wind and big smiles. Gordy took a lot of video and I took a lot of photos.

We took a late lunch and lounged on the tram deck for a while. I think it was decided we'd better go ski before we all fell asleep in the sun. We finished out the day with a run down Little Cloud and another into Mineral. Some of the less tired took the home run down West Rustler, I was content to groom my way to the bottom.

Once again we all gathered at the GMD saloon. Being as how it was Sunday we had a dilemma, a rather large group of rather large men were gathered around the TV watching football. We debated watching the video somewhere without beer, this idea was quickly scoffed at and discarded. Gordy went over and talked to the rather large gents, soon we were taking over the chairs and couches and they left. After all, they were watching the Packers versus Lions, the Lions were up 13-0 and obviously were going to win the game.

We watched the days video and it was apparent that all had progressed in their skiing since Friday. Gordy and Will gave us all some things to work in on the future, things to keep your skiing sharp. A lot of people think it's all about just getting out there and ripping the shit out of everything. But, all of that is really based in fundamentals.

After we watched the video Will was itching for a real drink. He suggested we all head on over to the local hot spot. I'm not going to say the name of this place nor the whereabouts. But, think of the Seinfeld episode where George stumbles onto the models hang out bar, this was much like that. Every rockstar floating about the Alta scene was at this bar, I'm sure if I ever went back again I'd find nothing but an empty room, the old scene replaced by some new clandestine place.

I haven't gotten any pictures shrunk down yet, as I've been spending the last couple hours writing this drivel. I'll try and get some sized and posted as soon as I can. If anyone from the camp would like some full sized pics let me know.

In closing I'd like to thank GT40 for the opportunity to attend this camp. I'd like to thank Gordy and the others he's recruited to teach for the advancement in my skiing. As far as pure fun factor, technique, and knowledge this camp was all it was billed to be. If you are thinking about it, DO IT.

BobMc

[powderwhore]

Nice Bob! Soon we'll be seeing photos of Mr. Mc straighlining and hucking his meat around Solitude.

Maybee I should take this camp.

[Xover]

Nice repo bobbie!!

If she ain't a hundy in the waist, you shouldn't be on her

[crashnburn'd]

Nice... Now I'm even more excited.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Okay, so as BobMc is still sorting through the hundreds of pictures I'll put in my take on what went down. As the resident JONG of the group with very few posts to my name, I suppose I can provide a different, if perhaps skewed viewpoint. Also, representin' the only dawdling dude on tele skis, (or as Mr. Altagirl said to me on day 1 "free the heel, slow the group"), I'll put in my perspective for future campers on hippie gear.

Campers:

BobMc
Castro's
Flykdog
Lynx
Gforce
FollowMe
Tresckow
Kristen
SnorkelDeep
Miniracer
Robbie, Miniracer's bro-in-law
ElRipio
Hardrider
And yours truly.

Nice to see the good turnout and many many props for those kind Magnions (and Str8line) for spancering campers-in-need. Good turnout from both coasts and the heartland with plenty of local representation.

Day 1 (Friday)

8:45 at Collins lift, wandering around trying to figure out where the Magnions are, especially since I don't know any of them F2F. Finally spotted Str8line, who being famous and all stood out like a sore thumb. He brought Brant Moles with him for d#1 instruction. Introductions were made and we headed up the lift. We were post-storm, with a few areas recently opened, so everyone was itching to get the goods.

At the top, we separated into 2 groups, with half following Brant and the other spending the AM w/Str8line. We warmed up with a fast run down the Nest, with crewmembers rippin it up and whooping as we enjoyed the untracked through the trees. Conditions after the last storm were interesting, but pretty good, primarily turnable windboard on a hard surface. Getting a glimpse of Brant's relaxed yet raging technique gave us all the idea of what we needed to aspire to.

Next run was off Thirds to North Rus, and was videoed. Everyone had an El Guapo, some much more than others. I'd never formally learned to tele, so had some 14 years of bad habits to break, most prominently lack of counterrotation (which is worsened by the exaggerated tele-turn) and flipping my poles around in the air like a fairy, yet not keeping hands high and forward enough. Everyone needed to work on hands, and there were a few others with counterrotation problems. Body position (too forward, too back) were noted and commented on. Brant was incredibly attentive to details and way tuned into technique, giving excellent pointers to each and every one of us. Often I'd see another camper who I considered absolutely ripping, and Brant would notice some way they could improve their technique that would immediately become apparent as soon as he mentioned it.

My group included Hardrider, Gforce, ElRipio, Treskow, Kristen, SnorkelDeep and FollowMe. We were also accompanied by Joel, our very own, very groovy videographer.

BobMc's commentary dovetails with mine, since his group included everybody else.

We did more turns and another vid sesh, doing runs down Jitterbug as well as another into the far reaches of the Ho. Brant gave us tips and drills as well as giving examples of what needed to be done, and providing a smooth natural style for us to emulate. My counterrotation drills freaked me out so badly and I got so wound up and confused that I got more and more gaperish as the lessons went on. Part of it was being nervous about fucking up in front of the rest of the crew (on vid, no less) as well as in front of a bona fide Rockstar. Nonetheless, Brant was way mellow and not at all demanding, just gently guiding us to where we needed to go with infectious enthusiasm. Finally something clicked, and I "got" what he was trying to tell me. I immediately noticed a difference and will continue to work on it through the rest of my season.

We were going to break for lunch, but wanted to ski through, so we met up and switched leaders, spending the afternoon with Str8line. Next runs included Eddie's Main (with more vid and invaluable tips and instruction) then ended the skiing for the day in Rus4 chute, where the snow was deep, soft and mighty fine. Again, Str8line was upbeat and enthusiastic, pointing out what we needed to work on individually with excellent guidance and a fun attitude.

Through the day we bumped into many many other Rockstars, including Sage, Jamie Pierre and a few others, nodding to Str8line (and some of his awestruck crew) with casual "'sup".

We then headed downcanyon to the new automated avy beacon practice area (next to the Powderburds building) where Jim Conway, AKA "Sarge", Safety Coordinator for TGRand logistician for their AK and foreign shoots, was waiting to go over avy safety basics with us. We had a lecture, beacon and probe practice and the basics of snow pits, witnessing firsthand the 2 running layers causing the mayhem around the Wasatch after the recent storm.

We then retired back to GMD for beers, nachos, pizza and to go over the vid. Personally I'd never seen myself ski before, and it was very instructive watching myself flail for the camera, with very helpful and totally nonthreatening commentary by Brant, Sarge and Str8line. The vid was so helpful in that I could see what I was doing right/wrong and having the pros point out both the obvious as well as more subtle things. Even though Sarge is the only one who teles regularly, all of their information was absolutely key and completely applicable for me to work on to improve my form.

Gotta say right here, that technically, the skier in each group with the best form was the chica, with Kristen ruling our pack and Lynx putting the rest of the boys in the other crew to shame. Not a huge difference though, because everyone was very good, with only shades of distinction in terms of ability from top to bottom. Everyone had their distinct style, with Hardrider pulling the bigass Gs, Tresckow on his Spats stylishly smearing his turns, Gforce and ElRipio with hammering solid big mountain cuts, FollowMe looking like an aggro version of Stein and Kristen with her rock solid racing fundamentals combined with the ability to find the perfect line. Also gotta mention that all the campers were totally awesome folks, just as you might expect and that we all got along fantastically, again just as you might expect.

I headed back downcanyon, as others stuck around with Str8line and Brant to shoot the shit and hang out for a little longer. Brant got pretty lit up after a few beers and was really into it. Something that we all commented on to each other was how low key all the pros were, (including the other instructors later in the weekend). Despite their achievements, there was absolutely no chest thumping 'tude or self-important posturing, none whatsoever, just a calm confidence that was super inspiring. Any modesty was not at all faked, and their approach was upfront. I guess it's prolly 'cause they really don't have anything to prove, that they're that way, but it made hanging out with them very kewl.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Day 2 (Saturday)

Next AM same Bat Time Bat Channel at Collins we met up with Str8line and Nobis. Jeremy was a bit more subdued than Brant, in part due to some heavy partying the night before. Nonetheless, he also gave me some excellent, very helpful personalized tips to improve my turns. We spent the AM with him, heading over to Supreme, where control was being completed. Since the 'trollers knew him so well, we were treated to first through the gate into Supreme bowl for our own session down the far couloir, all captured on vid for our edification. A few more runs in Supreme before the crowds arrived, then we headed back over Germ Pass to the frontside, for more work and instruction, including a run down Gunsight. Nobis may not have been as outgoing as Brant, but was also very cool in his own way and very genuinely nice. Though he had a bit less to tell us, every bit of his instruction was spot on, at least for me.

Many were a bit tired at this point, so we took a leisurely lunch at GMD before swapping leaders to Str8line again for yet more fast skiing and first-rate lessons. The day completed with a run down High Notch (where I turfed after hitting some rocks) and the run of the day up to Eddie's direct to Gunsight, then over to complete on High Boy in surprisingly good turnable snow.

More hanging at GMD, and reviewing the vid – it was interesting in that everyone looked better, despite being more tired, and I can only attribute it to the lessons we were learning.

After that, we retired to the basement for a slide show hosted by Lee Cohen, still photog extraordinaire, and recently profiled in this months issue of Skiing. Not only did we get to see many of his famous shots, but other spectacular pics that never made it to the mags, all the while accompanied by lively storytelling about what went on behind the scenes. The evening ended much much later after many many more beers, as Str8line regaled the group with other funny stories of what went on behind the film shoots. I had to drive back down earlier than I wanted to get some sleep, but others who stayed behind were treated to even more great tales and good times.

[Tri-Ungulate]

Day 3 (Sunday)

Again met at the base of Collins, this time armed with Alta/Bird passes. Today's guest coach was TGR's Will Burkes, yet another super mellow dude with slashing skiing style. We spent the AM with Str8line, heading up and over into the 'Bird's Mineral Basin for a high speed groomer warmup before heading over to the frontside. As we arrived at the top, Little Cloud Bowl opened up for us and we did three fast laps on mostly untracked mixed with soft avy debris. We then headed to the tram for a hike over to West Baldy. We had another vid sesh down the main face, funneling down to the bottom chute for some straightline practice. At this point we met up with our counterparts on Will's crew and we all skiied down together. I had a comical bit of a OOC sketch at the bottom of the first choke, almost taking out some of the observers below. At the straightline part, I tried for some air, and immediately found myself too far back on the landing, eventually losing control at high speed and cartwheeling into the flats – all on vid. Several other TGR homies (including Nobis again) were running the same circuit, and we got to see how the pros did our line before doing it ourselves. Conditions were softening springlike corn, and great turning, so the entire group did another lap on Baldy down the same run. This time I was able to stick the landing without wiping out.

After a leisurely lunch on the deck we headed up again for more turns, this time with more casual approach. People were beginning to tire after 3 days of all out, and so we made our way back to Alta and called it around 3:30. Back at GMD, we went over our final vid review of the camp. Str8line noted that we'd all improved, and he was absolutely right. Looking back I could see how each and every one of us had taken some key point to heart and applied it to our skiing, and even after 3 days of fast riding on variable terrain, everyone looked more in control and more ripping that they had on day 1. After plenty more beers and pizza, I had to get back, and take FollowMe to the airport. Some of the others continued to hang with Str8line, moving the party over to the Sitz at Alta Lodge.

We said our goodbyes, after a great weekend of learning, camaraderie and fun. I'm pretty sure every one of us felt we'd gotten not just terrific instruction, but great times with an excellent group of like-minded folks, including some of the best skiers in the world.

Oh, and in case you missed it, here's Gordy's Powder interview about the camp in general:
http://powdermag.com/gordy_102504/

[truth]

Nice Bob! Great 24th post Tri!

So stoked for the Jan camp!

[gonzo]

awesome!

st8 - get jeremy jones to come for boarders @ the 'bird and I'm there in a heartbeat!