In the first of a series looking a summer camps happening this er… summer, we checked in with Gilly Seagrave for the lodown on Our Camp one of the best ladies only camps out there.
Tell me about you camp what’s it called?It’s a Girls Freestyle Camp called OUR CAMP. We are a group of pro’s in the UK and we decided that keeping our wealth of knowledge to ourselves was just selfish! ; ) That we would use it to help girls that wanted to learn in the same environment we had created for ourselves, a tight crew of like minded girls that pushed each other to learn new things, in a supportive way.
Where is it?Sunny Les2Alpes FRANCE
What is the resort like?It’s like a big holiday camp, with loads to do and training teams everywhere!
What is the set up like on the mountain?Big jumps, small jumps, big Pipe, small Pipe, big rails, small rails, a bit of everything really and a nice coffee shop too! It’s always pretty quiet when we get up there first thing which is nice, then it can get pretty busy towards 12ish so we usually pick a jump or rail to hike for a bit, this is great for getting tricks dialed and the hikes are always pretty easy and quick.
What time do you get on and off the hill?
Depending on the weather, if it’s a hot day it’s about 1:30pm- 2pm on a cooler day we can stay up there till 3pm.
How much is it?£599 this includes everything except equipment, travel and insurance. (visit www.ourcamp.co.uk for full list of offer)
How long has it been going?This is our 3rd year running the camps.
What kind of riders is your camp for/ can free riders benefit from a visit?It is aimed at girls who want to get into the park and pipe, but snowboarding is all about board control so anyone that comes on the camp, even if they might not want to carry on in the park, will benefit from the skills they learn there. We get plenty of return campers that don’t go in the park unless they are on a camp week, but are very happy to learn tricks on the jumps because they want to be able to do everything that snowboarding has to offer and just really love the camp atmosphere.
Do you have pro instructors?All of Our Camp coaches are pro riders. The pool of riders we use is pretty big now:-
Gilly Seagrave, Sonia Shaw, Emma-Lea Rogers, Jenny Jones, Lollo Mhyreman, Laura Berry and Laura Hill… to name but a few. Each camp uses 2 or 3 of these girls for coaching.
We keep ourselves busy in the afternoons sunbathing by the pool or the new lake down town, flying down the luge (which by the way is the highlight of my week!) or playing golf, archery or tennis, all of which are super close to the centre of town. The last summer camp had skate coaching in the afternoons so if the girls want this summer we’ll do that again. And once the sun goes down a bit (it is HOT HOT HOT most days) we go and play on the trampolines, these are great for practicing tricks to take to the hill.
Yes we’re staying in the Hotel La Belle Etoile, and taking advantage of their breakfast and dinner. (no idea what the foods like, it’s our first year there!)
Everything is open so we sometimes hit the Avalanche night club, maybe go to the Secret bar and Smithys or Smokeys before, they are always good places to see a few familiar faces.
What age range do you get at the camp?16-39 seriously, the age range is massive, I’d say the average camper is in their 20’s though.
Why is it better to have a girl’s only camp?The funny thing is, we don’t hate riding with guys at all, but this really is the best environment to get girls to progress and feel that they are in a non competitive, supportive atmosphere. After the camps the girls go back to their usual riding buddies feeling a bit more ’empowered’ for want of a less corny word! At the end of the day this is a male dominated sport and it is nice to feel part of a majority once in a while, the only way for girls to get that in snowboarding is to do female only camps and competitions……this is such a long discussion, but I hope that has kind of answered the question.
Don’t you miss the boys?
NO… hehehe, only joking, it’s not that we totally detach from boys, it’s more that we are a crew of girls riding together, boys will ride with us too but we are there for each other and to help each other with tricks, a lot of the time we get boys asking for help too as they can hear us coaching each other, sometimes the campers will help them try the jump or rail with them, it’s not about segregation it’s about finding a supportive unit to inspire you to learn. Besides, most weeks we have Drewie there as the male contingent, he’s our filmer.
With the absence of boys is there a little less emphasis on drinking?This TOTALLY depends on the crew of campers, the last camp we had in winter was full of hard core girls that weren’t interested in drinking at all, they just wanted to reach their goals riding that week. Other camps are party, party, party, most are somewhere in between. The drinking makes it hard on the hill the next day so a lot of people party less than they thought they would.
Where can they find out more about your camp?
www.ourcamp.co.uk and our blog- www.ekawear.com/oc
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