While most of us try to chill down from a heatwave, The East Coast appears to not know winter has ended and we’re right here for it!!
AKAMP Summer season Camp saved the winter jibbing deep into the summer season.
Photographs and phrases: Jeremie Perreault
We would not have the West Coast’s snow and mountains, however we’ve obtained the vibe, the will to trip it doesn’t matter what, and the strongest neighborhood to realize the unimaginable. The AKAMP summer season freestyle snowboard camp made a triumphant return for its 14th 12 months at Sommet Saint-Sauveur’s Avila aspect. From june 27 till july 3th, Avila hosted the one summer season snowboard park on snow in Japanese North America. “It’s a very distinctive occasion,” beamed organizer and proprietor Dave, simply days earlier than the launch of AKAMP.
This 12 months’s lineup featured heavy hitters like Seb Toots, Eli Bouchard, Jacob Legault, Nic Laframboise, Maddox Matte, Seb Picard, Westley Willyam, David Tourigny, Kamilla Kozuback, and Maggie and Joey Leon, to call only some. The mix of grassroots riders and aggressive snowboarders created the right vibe, enhanced by day by day jams sponsored by manufacturers like Bataleon, Nidecker, Memento, and Rome. The help of those manufacturers was essential for pushing modern tasks like AKAMP, tasks that require immense sweat and dedication.
Regardless of the modest terrain park setup, the crew did a formidable job with the snow they’d. Pulling off a summer season camp on snow in late June and early July is not any small feat. Every year, as winter winds down, The cat driver hops in his snowcat and gathers the remaining snow into an enormous pile on the base of the hill. This mega mound ensures that future campers have much less uphill mountaineering to do.
As soon as the snow is piled excessive, the Axis crew and a bunch of volunteers cowl it with hay, creating an insulating layer that preserves the snow for a stable two months. It’s wild how efficient the hay is at preserving the snow intact till it’s time for the crew to sculpt the park.
The setup this 12 months was nothing wanting spectacular. From rails to jumps, the park supplied a bit one thing for everybody. On a regular basis, varied crew have been bettering the setup, including rails, stairs or no matter they will discover to maintain the crew sending. The day by day jams saved the vitality excessive and the methods flowing, with riders pushing their limits and feeding off one another’s hype. And let’s not neglect the hotdog stand on the backside—all the time somebody there to be sure to can feed the munchies.
In true AKAMP style, the neighborhood facet was entrance and middle. Riders of all ranges shredded aspect by aspect, dropping bangers and even sending double wildcat into the bushes (shoutout to Colton). Doubtful, goal for the bushes. The ambiance was electrical, and for those who needed to play, you needed to work—no constructing, no driving. That’s the way it rolled.
Dave Brown, one of many essential organizers and an energetic member of the East Coast snowboard neighborhood, summed it up completely: “AKAMP isn’t a clean trip. The snowboard neighborhood is so current, and that’s why all the hassle is value it! The way forward for AKAMP seems promising. We’re not revealing an excessive amount of, but it surely’s potential we’d return to the great outdated
stomping grounds of Snoprk Les Sommets, the place we’d have triple, even quadruple the snow.”
AKAMP 2024 was a testomony to the dedication of everybody concerned, from the organizers to the contributors. The trouble to protect the snow and create a killer terrain park paid off. Because the camp wrapped up, the excitement was already constructing for subsequent 12 months’s version, with everybody desperate to see what AKAMP 2025 will convey. East Coast snowboard neighborhood making one other robust assertion proper there.
