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["It is a great experience, you meet loads of friends and you improve a lot in the sport you do." Snowboarder (UK), 13 years, Summer Camp] MY DIRTTRIBE MOUNTAIN BIKE SUMMER CAMP - BY MOUNTAIN BIKE COACH ED BOLAM["Go! Now! It was great fun, check it out!" Mountain Biker (Ireland), 18 years, Summer Camp]
By mid-week we were going down runs that were far beyond us at the start of the week. Fortunately we didn't have to get up quite as early as the Tourparty Skiers and Snowboarders! After a good breakfast we would generally start each day riding trails that were easy and familiar before attempting harder and more challenging tracks later in the morning.
Later we would head back down the mountain to join the skiers and boarders in the afternoon activities like beach vollyeball, trampolining, golf, archery, the luge, swimming, ice skating etc. These activities were really good for everyone and as they were all located close to each other in Les Deux Alpes people could go off in groups to activities they wanted to do. Towards the end of the week we had progressed far enough to ride some of the harder red runs. This inevitably meant a couple of crashes but this did not stop us and we were all eager to keep riding despite the bruises!
Michael especially was working hard on his cornering and this was soon noticeable in the switchbacks. On Thursday when the skiers and boarders joined us in the afternoon Michael was a great help with guiding the group and none were able to challenge him through the courses he was familiar with. Marcus had also progressed a long way and was alot faster down the trails by the end of the week.
Having ridden the harder reds all day Michael asked to go down a black and we got down it without a problem which was fantastic. There were a lot of steep technical sections and although there were some nerves, fear was held in check and the sense of satisfaction at the bottom once we had completed it in one piece was tremendous. This was really great to see because at the start of the week I was questioning whether we'd be able to go down half the red runs let alone a black with a lot of steep technical sections! ["The Tourparty Camp was excellent, the best thing ever!" Skier (UK/France), 9 years, Summer Camp]
The best thing about the whole week was how, even with the natural rivalry between us, all the mtn bike riders, skiers and boarders got on really well and were encouraging and helping each other when we all went biking on the Thursday afternoon. It was an excellent week, everyone had a lot of fun while still progressing in their chosen sport - excatly what DirtTribe Mountain Biking holidays and Camps and Tourparty Camps are all about! See you next time! By Coach Ed (Edinburgh & Oxford, UK) ["I had a great time, met some new friends, learned new things etc!" Mountain Biker (Switzerland), 16 years, Summer Camp]
["Make it a longer Camp!" Skier (UK), 31 years, Summer Camp] MY MOUNTAIN BIKING & SNOWSPORTS SUMMER CAMP - BY COACH CHRIS MCGUIRE AND CAMP DIRECTOR MATTHEW D'ARCY
Fortunately, despite a few issues with a temperamental bus reluctant to start (thanks again to Rob’s Dad for a midnight dash from Brighton and to Coach Chris McGuire’s Dad and Gran for bringing him and Rob down from Peterborough), everyone arrived on time… that is, everyone except for Tourparty's Ski Coach Glen Lawley who got trapped on a train from Sheffield because of a river bursting its banks in the Midlands! (He made it in the end, flying out with Ryanair a day later!) ["Excellent - I'll try to bring some friends along next year!" Skier (UK), 25 years, Summer Camp]
With a lot of laughing and joking and a few stops for refuelling, refreshment and red bull (plus the occasional cooling ice cream with the temperature rising the further south we got through France) we made fast progress and Chris even managed to learn a few words of French when dealing with the toll booths on the motorway! As it turned out we had some fluent French speakers on the bus, with skiers and snowboarders Patrick, Rob and Rob helping us keep out of trouble, especially negotiating the barriers at Lyon airport when we got caught out by the car park charges after stopping en-route to pick up Gabriel (Sweden) and Graham (UK) who had flown out to join us, plus Helen and Emma.
For those of us used to Les Deux Alpes (L2A) in the Winter it was a strange experience driving into the resort with no snow on the mountain slopes but it was great to see snow on the mountain peaks and to see so many mountain bikers around town and hitting the massive L2A bike slopestyle park. After a typically warm greeting from Enrica, manageress of La Belle Etoile hotel, Coaches and participants all met up at last for dinner and the chance to get to know each other and plan the first days biking, skiing and snowboarding. ["It was excellent!" Skier (France), 12 years, Summer Camp]
["(I will come on another Tourparty Camp)... it was good fun and my riding has improved." Snowboarder (UK), 22 years, Summer Camp]
It was brilliant seeing everyone up so early for breakfast but so awake and keen to hit the slopes and pretty soon everyone on the Tourparty Camp were making the short walk to the Jandri Express up the mountain to the Les Deux Alpes glacier in under 30mins. Fortunately we were not disappointed. The skiing and snowboarding was really good with everyone ready to follow the tips and support of the Coaches who soon got busy encouraging people to get comfortable being back on their skis and boards again. Back at the hotel the mountain bikers were stiring and after a hearty breakfast we were getting the bikes out, checking them over, grabbing protective gear and heading out for a warm-up ride on the lower slopes and then our own trip up the Jandri Express.
By 1.30pm up on the glacier the snow was becoming too slow and it was time to head down for lunch and some R&R including afternoon activities, which Les 2 Alpes is definitely not short of! The Coaches were happy to try any number of the many activities included in the lift pass, from the Luge, Archery and Golf to “Beach Volleyball”, Swimming, Ice Skating etc. Other options included downhill mountain biking (all the skiers and snowboarders joined the mountain bikers riders for a brilliant afternoon of biking on the Thursday afternoon), a pool tournament and 10 pin bowling and we managed to do it all over the week as we got stuck into the regular programme of skiing, snowboarding and biking in the morning, a big lunch back in the hotel and then more mountain biking or activities in the afternoon and evening… normally finished off with crepes in town!
For example on the ski side it was cool to see 9 year old Mike doing rails and coming off switch, 12 year old Jack almost dialling 270 on to rails and 12 year old Max charging at everything and showing up a lot of the older riders in the park! Not to be shown up by the younger Campers Mark and Kate were throwing it down too by Friday, with Kate doing a huge 3 off one of the bigger kickers in the park!
Having met earlier to talk about who should get a prize the Coaches had decided that everyone deserved recognition for their role in making the Camp such a success, so plenty of t-shirts were given out, many people thanked, and everyone promised to keep in touch via Faceparty and see each other again soon! We'd love to see you on a future DirtTribe or Tourparty holiday or Camp sharing in the fun, dates have been announced and booking has opened for holidays and Camps through to September 2008 - book now! By Chris (Spalding, United Kingdom) and Matthew (Brighton, United Kingdom) ["(Compared to other Camps/holidays this Tourparty holiday was...) totally different, a lot more fun and laid back." Skier (UK), 31 years, Summer Camp]
["(I will come on another Tourparty Camp)... because it was so good!!" Snowboarder (Sweden), 14 years, Summer Camp] MY DIRTTRIBE MOUNTAIN BIKE SUMMER CAMP - BY MOUNTAIN BIKER MARCUS (18 years, Ireland)["It was absolutely awesome!" Mountain Biker (Switzerland), 16 years, Summer Camp]
Everything about the week was perfect, from the organisation to Les Deux Alpes to the people on the DirtTribe and Tourparty Camps. As a Mountain Biker, every morning we would take the Jandri Express ski lift up the mountain and spend the afternoon flying down!
The coaching with Coach Ed was excellent and very personal, I really learnt so much! In the afternoon we either went riding again up the mountain or in the incredible freestyle park or we did activities with Ed and the other Coaches Alexa, Chris, Glen and Will. We did all kinds of things, from ten-pin bowling to beach volleyball, and generally discussed the day, all positive things. So despite a few crashes from both the snow folk and the mountain bikers, the week was incredible, the people were incredible and DirtTribe was incredible! I'd recommend it to anyone! :) By Marcus (Dublin, Ireland) ["It was good and a really really fun Camp." Skier (Poland), 12 years, Summer Camp]
["Offer a two-week option - I couldn't get everything done!" Snowboarder (UK), 18 years, Summer Camp] MY TOURPARTY SNOWBOARDING & SKIING SUMMER CAMP - BY SNOWBOARD COACH ALEXA HOHENBERG["It was so good, you should definately do a Camp like Tourparty sometime!" Snowboarder (UK), 13 years, Summer Camp]
Saturday saw everyone arrive in time for dinner, settle-in, join forces and construct the jokes that would set the tone for the week to come! Day 2 - Sunday After a full night’s rest there was great enthusiasm for the first day on snow, and we got up early to a banquet of cereals, fruit and charcutrie. Energy levels peaked in anticipation of the treasures that awaited us on the glacier: the pipes, the park, the occasional pixie… Day 2 promised to be full of surprises! After a Jandri Express ride up from the resort, trying to spot Marmots on the mountainside, we stretched our muscles into action. Taking the T-bar up the slope we rode to the chill out area or “Cool Zone” as the French call it, to drop our bags.
Never has a Coach been so proud of her students! Graham styled it out with a 50-50, Big Rob raced to each obstacle with glee, Patrick made up new tricks contorting his body to bring his board around in weird and wonderful way... ...Gabriel managed several perfect boardslides, and lil’ Rob quickly tired of his comfort zone, proceeding to try everything switch. Wow, what a first day! That afternoon everyone wore big smiles reflecting the morning’s achievements as we went en mass for an expedition to the Golf Driving Range. The ‘Happy Gilmore Challenge’ revealed two young budding sporting stars as Gabriel and Marcus pounded the back pylon with their unassuming golf balls. Even the Italians with their strange golfing outfits and matching gloves were impressed. A new career possibly boys?
["Make it a longer Camp with time off." Skier (UK), 25 years, Summer Camp]
Never before have a team of Campers sat at the top of the big half-pipe so full of enthusiasm! I was a bit apprehensive on their behalf but confident that everyone in the group could drop down the halfpipe’s walls safely. Having given them some tips they set off one by one, pivoted on the pipe’s side and road confidently to the next wall popping a perfect 180 back round again…”tip and tail…..yeyyyyy…that’s the one….whoooooo hooooo”. Shouts of applause came from the Spanish Campers nearby, though I think they were more motivated by their jealousy than anything! Off we went to the wall ride… Rob found his new passion for girl’s snowboards and I filmed the day’s shenanigans.
We had a new recruit ‘Anaud’ join us and we quickly befriended him as he had high hopes of joining our ‘Trampo-competition’! It was great to see everyone getting some good airtime. That evening we all got together in our hotel for a video review and analysis, reliving great moments, and a few slams, and sharing tips and techniques for improving our riding the next day. ["I learnt to Downhill Mtn Bike really well within a week." Mountain Biker (Switzerland), 16 years, Summer Camp] Day 4 - Tuesday
After Monday’s session and with the feedback from the previous night’s video analysis still fresh in our minds, everyone was amped to ride bigger, better and faster so we took to jumps with grabs, spins, and tumbles. Upping the ante on the box again, we tried the whoop-de-whoop rail… I cheered as my class of near shred-head experts showed me up! It was also great to see the skiers sliding to the end of the rail and even coming out switch. Ski Coach Glen Lawley, trapped in the UK when his train was caught in the flooding, arrived just in time to see some very stoked and rather sunburnt campers! His energy raised the bar again.
["(Compared to other Camps/holidays the Tourparty Camp was...) more relaxed, we were more free to ride how we wanted." Snowboarder (UK), 22 years, Summer Camp] Day 5 - Wednesday
We rode the pipe with Coach Glen and then went to the little kickers; lil’ Rob was eager to land that Frontside3. By 11am all had subscribed for a weekly freestyle competition run by the locals! On hearing that it wasn’t on the smaller jumps we had been practicing on, not even the line of three biggens…. but on the really big left-hand kickers, the ones the guys with their clothes waaaaaay too big for them rode… ...I waited for a sign of apprehension from the group but it never came! Not an eye lid was battered, not an eye brow raised. Everyone gave it their all and raced to the starting line.
13 year old Skier Max made everyone stare with his laid-back style. 20-somethng Snowboarder Graham showed the comfortable style of a veteran kicker rider. I still can’t believe I saw 12 year old Skier Jack grab the nose of both of his skis as he went airbourne!
Prize giving meant we missed lunch back in the hotel as the French took the best part of the afternoon to organise themselves! It was worth it however, who needs lunch when your team win that many prizes?! Off we went to ‘Le Take Away’. 10-pin Bowling that evening was fantastic. Not because Skier Kate and I managed to thrash the boys at every turn, but because we also found out how painful it was for them to lose to us! Hehehe! Can’t wait for tomorrow…
["(I will come on another Tourparty Camp)... to meet other people keen for the same stuff!" Skier (UK), 25 years, Summer Camp] Day 6 - Thursday
We rode pipe and videoed the rails. Learning butter tricks on the piste, we pressed our way to glory on the rails. The style master lil’ Rob did it switch, Gabriel got it perfect though was never satisfied (the sign of a true champion as he would always strive to make it better), Patrick aced it and came off switch, Graham stole the show with the best nose slide we had seen all week, and big Rob bent his knees while making jokes…. surprising how he can multi-task so well!
That afternoon we joined the team of strong and experienced bikers on the DirtTribe Mountain Biking Summer Camp (running in conjunction with Tourparty) to tour the trails of L2A. I’m not sure what was scarier, the pace that everyone descended or Gabriel’s bloody nose at the base of a steep turn! “That was so much fun” he shouted, pointing to the ditch that he had just head-butted! A sigh of relief came from Mountain Biking Coach Ed, Ski Coach Chris and myself. Mountain Biker Michael then left us in a cloud of dust! This is one sport that I am definitely going to take up, I have to be able to catch up with Michael by next year! Ummmmm a Chocolate Crepe a day keeps the doctor away. This amazing day finished with a sugar injection of Nutella from the resort”s finest fast food establishment. DirtTribe rider Marcus was late getting there, from practising his marriage propositions to our waitress back at the hotel!
["It was great fun and you can improve a lot!" Snowboarder (UK), 15 years, Summer Camp]
The last day on the glacier saw all inhibitions left at the hotel door that morning. 3s were spun, perfect 180s from Patrick, the smoothest grabs from Graham, and a ‘Frontslide3 to Face’ from me as I landed badly only to have two remedials from a distant European destination hit the kicker after me and come down on my head! I proceeded to watch from the sidelines as everyone battled with their speed to make the landing of the kicker. Big Rob went so fast I think he hit the landing of the kicker below! “No fear”… is what I like to see!
This was to be one of my fondest memories of the Camp. The Spanish contingent challenged us to a jewel of skill, timing and teamwork. We lost. Badly. Look-a-like Rob Schneider joined us and took his position as veteran volleyball extraordinaire shouting “You can do it!”, “Where were youuuuuuu” and ”NOOOOOOO not like that, like theeeeesssssssss”. I think we cried with laughter. I certainly did. Which was why I couldn’t hit the ball back! Or was it big Rob and his jokes? We put the Kommunity Camp off their game next door… besides they were far too good and, well, we were far too funny!
What a way to end a great camp with great people! Day 8 - Saturday Saturday was sad but the jokes are still living on the Tourparty Facebook page. Jagapo we love you! Rob and Marcus you should be a double act! To our waitress…. you broke many hearts! Signing out until next year xx By Coach Alexa (Les Deux Alpes, France) ["It was my first time skiing in the Summer, I learned a lot and it was really fun." Skier (Poland), 12 years, Summer Camp]
["(Compared to other Camps/holidays the Tourparty Camp had...) more time in the Park, better activities, better food, in-depth Coaching!" Snowboarder (UK), 15 years, Summer Camp] MY TOURPARTY SNOWBOARDING SUMMER CAMP - BY SNOWBOARDER ROB (18 years old, UK)
On the first day we had a nice early 6.30am start (!) for breakfast and were up on the glacier by about 8am. We spent the morning getting used to the snow (which varied considerably depending on the time of day) and the feeling on the board. We took a few small jumps and Alexa gave us some tips on staying balanced in the air (worked so well) to start the week. The second day we hit hard and fast - getting up again in the early hours and going straight up. We started sessioning a small box in the park and spent a lot of time on rails which was really useful for our overall confidence on them. The third day started slightly later than the rest - Glen Lawley (one of the Ski Coaches) had arrived and we decided that the snow conditions very early on were just too icy to be of any great use. We practiced butters on our boards (where you slide on the nose/tail) and this helped with our balance and tweaking. Once we had accomplished that we moved on to applying the theory to rails and we started to look pretty good. ["It was great fun, sign up!" Snowboarder (UK), 15 years, Summer Camp]
Alexa lent me her board to practice wall rides which was really good fun but I had to go back down to the town early to get my board fixed. We had been discussing the prospect of us all entering a local ski and snowboard competition during the week and Wednesday presented the perfect opportunity - it turned out the good people of Les Deux Alpes (L2A) run a great weekly competition for all amateurs interested in competing. Amazingly the competition was moved onto a kicker much larger than any we had attempted thus far - giving us a ridiculous amount of airtime compared to what we were used to.
Two of our group even placed in the Top 5 - incredible! We won a variety of prizes including backpacks, beanies, and fanny packs. The last two days we spent doing similar things - our aim was to solidify our style overall with some great tips from Alexa. We wanted to ride pipe smoother, hit bigger kickers, and tweak out our rails for some serious steez! I think we all managed to attain a higher standard of riding than we brought with us to the Tourparty Summer Camp and I know I speak for everyone when I say that the whole week was immensely enjoyable both on and off piste and we couldn’t have achieved what we did without the help of our incredible Coach Alexa. Thank you for a great week Tourparty, I will definitely be back next year! By Rob (Brighton, United Kingdom) ["It was wicked and awesome!" Skier (France), 12 years, Summer Camp]
["I've never been Summer Snowboarding (before) and never had even close to this good coaching!" Snowboarder (Sweden), 14 years, Summer Camp] MY TOURPARTY SKIING SUMMER CAMP - BY SKIER JACK (12 years old, France)I loved it, I thought the mountain was excellent, the activities were brilliant. The skiing was really great. I think Les Deux Alpes is the best snow park I have ever been to. The jumps were challenging but fun, and there were some small ones to start on. I am a good skier but I hadn't done much freestyle. Just a bit. By the end of the week I was a regular expert. Well, nearly! I was really happy because I managed to do rails which I have never done before. ["Have two weeks instead of one... (offer) longer Camps!" Snowboarder (Sweden), 14 years, Summer Camp]
["It was great fun and very useful." Skier (UK), 31 years, Summer Camp] Coaches Chris, Alexa and Glen were the best teachers I have ever met, they always listened to my ideas and comments even when they were absolutely mad! Chris taught me how to do rails, he was really cool. fun to ski and be with, and up for anything. The best bit of the whole week was hanging out with fun people. The other boys on the Camp were great. We skied every morning and then played all afternoon - trampolining, swimming, bowling, biking etc. It was just a big party with lots of skiing. What could be better?! I will certainly go back to every Tourparty Camp available - if they let me! By Jack (Chamonix, France) ["Make it a longer Camp!" Mountain Biker (Ireland), 18 years, Summer Camp]
["(Compared to other holidays the Tourparty holiday had...) lots of people I hadn't met before - more interesting!" Snowboarder (UK), 18 years, Summer Camp] Who are DirtTribe? How do you contact DirtTribe? Click on the link to find out all about DirtTribe. |
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