Last year, I heard about Whistler Blackcomb’s Roxy All Star Snow Camps, and I looked on the internet to see if I could find a proper review from someone who had attended. I could not. The internet let me down.
Now that I am an alumana of the aforementioned camp, I have decided to fill this electronic void and provide you with my review. Because my opinion matters!
What it is:
The Roxy Camps are held one weekend per month throughout the winter for female skiers and snowboarders over the age of 19. The camp claims to be suitable for all levels of ability and all types of style. The coaches are ladies too, and the website promises new snow friends. I love snow friends!
Factor One: Girls
As someone who rides the vast majority of the time with bros, I was a little unsure of how it would be riding with a group of girls. The night before the camp, I found myself saying “I’m not intimidated by girls, but I do find girls a little intimidating.” In my mind, there are two kinds of snowboarder girls: really, really good ones who wear oversized hoodies and don’t brush their hair, and those girls who wear a full face of makeup while riding and max out at blue groomers. I, of course, am the special exception.
Well! Imagine my surprise when I found out the other girls in my group were an AWFUL LOT LIKE ME. Including the coaches, there were even three other blondes from Ontario—I’m not such a special snowflake after all. Our group demographic was about 75% locals/25% visitors and ages ranged from 19 to early 40s.
The girl factor was actually really nice. Not to get all cheesy, but it was a really supportive environment and you didn’t feel afraid of trying new things or screwing up. The whole group would erupt in cheers when you landed something (or even when you almost landed something), and it was pretty much the opposite of intimidating.
Snow friends achieved!
Factor Two: The Sorting Hat
There are six levels for each the snowboarding and skiing camps. I came into the camp pretty confident about my freeriding skills, although I’ve never formally taken lessons and was sure I could benefit from a few pointers. What I really wanted to work on was park riding. Fun fact: prior to this weekend, I couldn’t do anything in the park, even the terrain garden. I could successfully hit the fattest and shortest of the boxes maybe 50% of the time. Pretty weak.
The first morning, I headed to level 5 after being told that the 6’s would have at least some park experience. When I heard the 5 coach talking about hitting lots of blue runs and starting to work on blacks, I made a beeline to the 6s.
It turns out the 6s were just like me: decent freeriders who wanted to improve their mad park skillz. I don’t think any of us could 180 prior to this weekend, so it worked well. I guess it would depend on the individuals who attend the camp, but I probably wouldn’t recommend the camp for anyone who was much better than me. If you’re already pulling 360s+++ in the park, you’ll probably get bored. But if you’re someone like me, who knows they have the ability and desire to improve but just doesn’t know where to start, it’s perfect.
Ability levels go all the way down to 1, which is for people who have never snowboarded before, so there’s a good range for everyone. Our group had about 12 girls and two coaches, but some groups were as small as two girls. It just depends on the makeup of that particular weekend.
Factor Three: Learning Stuff
The first morning seemed slow as our coaches went over the fundamentals. I was a little concerned after we only got one run in, and things were taking a long time because there were so many of us. But that afternoon, we headed into the park and split up into two groups. And guess what? I learned stuff!
By the end of day two, we’d gone over building our foundation, ollies, pops, grabs, 180s, board slides, fun things like tripods, and a little powder riding (alpine opened with 60+ cm of freshies… come on now).
Factor Four: Free Things
Technically nothing was free, since we paid to attend. The cost is $229 plus taxes, but you get $50 off if you have a season’s pass. Everyone received a Roxy hoodie, breakfast each morning, and ‘chos and beer at Merlin’s both days for après. There were also a host of prizes. I walked away empty mittened, but girls in my group won a Torah Bright jacket, Roxy luggage, gloves and a hoodie.
Now you’re all dying to know: does the Roxy camp get the Magee endorsement? My answer is a resounding yes, for beginners to Magee-level riders. I met very nice people, I learned new things and became more confident as a rider, and I finally got to use the ski school lane in the lift line, which was a personal dream.
To check out the Roxy All-Star camps and for booking info check em out on their website HERE
