[by Hugues Beauchamp]
Ah
summer...warm weather, skateboarding, beaches and female hunting for some, but
a hard time for others. For us snowboarders, summer can be hard to manage,
especially on the Canadian east coast. Wanna ride? Options are limited and
expensive. You can always book a session at the Camp Of Champions in Whistler,
fly to Hood for a week at Windells, or, if you have more dough, shred some pow in
South America or New Zealand. Unfortunately, most snowboarders tend to be broke
and many of us can't afford to spend thousands of dollars for such vacations.
Luckily enough, Rockstar MSS SNOPRK, in Mont-Avila, Quebec, found a way for us
east coast riders to ease the pain! The solution is called AKAMP, the one and
only summer camp this side of the country.
Adamo Sako Sidibe
photo.
Adamo Sako Sidibe
photo.
Founded by
Maxime Brochu three years back, the AKAMP allows young riders as well as
regional rippers to shred some snow and learn some new tricks in their home
province, right in the middle of the summer. But it ain't an easy task for the
AKAMP organization.
The idea came from Max a while back while he was on vacation visiting friends in
Whistler. "I wish I had such a camp near my house when I was their age",
he recalled. The dream became reality for the veteran snowboarder. He gathered
a bunch of friends together to set up what would become an annual reunion of
local shredheads, inspired youth, and even curious tourists. And it still draws
a lot of attention year after year, this year being no exception, thanks to
over 3000 tons of the white stuff visible on the mountain, and temperatures of
+40C in the middle of a record heat wave in Montreal! The snow was saved from
the park at the end of the season, then covered in a layer of hay to keep it
from melting until the camp was set up July 8-11. Thanks to Sebastien Desmarais,
Coco and Phil Poirier for putting their hands together with Max, because that's
some crazy work right there. The lack of snow last winter was also an issue for
the camp organization, but they managed to build a complete setup with many
rails, boxes and a jump. What more do you need, really, I mean, it's July,
isn't it? You can't control the weather!
Eric Lemay photo.
Adamo Sako Sidibe
photo.
Things weren't always easy for Akamp; the first year had a disappointing 18
campers. But they enjoyed it so much that word of mouth did it's work and this
year was a record one with more than 80 happy campers that paid an affordable
price to shred with the likes of Sebastien Desmarais, Yan Dofin, Matt Dano and
Guillaume Marquis just to name a few. You can bet the kids had a good time, and
got some good advice to bring home. The camp also focuses of preventing
injuries, as well as preparing the kids for the season to come. Add some
freebies from the sponsors, a big air contest on the last day to end this
awesome weekend, and rest assured these kids will be back next summer!
Eric Lemay photo.
Eric Lemay photo.
A big thanks goes out to all individuals involved in the camp as well as the
sponsors: MSSI, Quiksilver, Roxy, Oakley, Dakine, Rome, Etnies, Salomon, 32,
Nixon, Skullcandy and Axis.
Need more information? Visit www.akamp.ca.
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Related:
Video: Akamp Summer Camp '09