During Session 7 last summer, Colin Walters, Dylan Alito, Brandon Hobush and the Hobo Headwear Crew came to camp and put on a backflip clinic. It was the last day on hill, the sun was out in full force, and there wasn’t a cloud anywhere. They built a mini backflip kicker and campers, coaches, and pros took turns getting upside-down.

Summer camp is perfect for learning backflips because the snow is so slushy. Everyone was hucking and stomping backflips, some for the first time. The crew on the sidelines cheered every time an attempt was made. It’s impossible to explain the energy of the contest, but it was one of the funnest days on hill all summer. Here’s a few photos to bring you back, we can’t wait for Hobo to come back to camp in 2012!

A camper learning backflips.

Hobush getting inverted with some friends.

Colin sending a backie off the little jump.

Saga Outerwear has a tight relationship with Windells. Did you know that Saga was started at camp by former Head Coach Austin Stevens? Tons of our snowboard and ski coaches ride for Saga and Team Takeover Session hosts, like Nial Romanek, ride for the company, too.

Last summer, Saga put on one of the most anticipated sponsor nights, both by campers and staff, Saga Dodgeball, where staff and Saga Team would face off against campers in a dodgeball duel.

On hill, Saga’s chocolate milk marshmellow race gave out tons of outerwear to campers.

Thinking of all the Saga games, jackets, pants, and coaching staff really makes us miss summer, but in the meantime, Saga just released “The Rotten Few 2.3″ which features awesome snowboard coach, Corbin Clement, riding Park City, Utah. Check it out and get ready for Saga in Summer 2012!

Last week, Forum Snowboards and Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania held the grand opening of The Streets, their new collaborative park at the base of the resort. Like the name implies, The Streets is a hikable terrain park filled with street features. Close out rails, ledges, planters that ride like flat boxes, wall rides, pole jams, and more, take their inspiration from real, urban features. Everything was designed and built with legitimacy and fun in mind, from the mind-blowing, large-as-life design of the “buildings” with attached stairsets, to the details in how the features look, their size, and how they can be ridden.

Austen Sweetin grabs a rake to help out the park crew.

Joel Rerko, Director of Action Sports at Seven Springs, and his crew, which includes a ton of Windells former staff members, including Jeremy Anderson and Jordan Soohy, worked for months building the features, putting them on the hill, and shaping snow for takeoffs and landings. The results are impressive, to say the least. When you walk into the streets, the largest features on looker’s right are huge and look like they would easily blend into any real city. As you move to the left of the park, intermediate features populate the park. A double sided flatbox functions as a planter and near the top of the park is a small, intro “hubba,” with a down rail and ledge.

Filmer Tyler Malay and Stevie hang out inside. Tyler was at the opening of The Streets to film an edit for TWSnow. Check out his edit here.

A good crew from the Forum Team flew in for the Grand Opening and it just happened to be the whole crew that is coming to camp this coming summer! Stevie Bell, Niko Cioffi, Austen Sweetin, Cam Pierce, and Nic Sauve will be out at Windells for Sessions 4 and 5–Stevie hosting a Team Takeover Week for The Reunion, along with Nick Visconti, Jason Robinson, and Curtis Woodman, and the rest of the crew taking over Session 5, along with some of the Gremlinz.

Pat Moore and Mario Kappeli were also at The Streets, hopefully they will get to come visit camp this summer, too!

If you live near Seven Springs, go check out The Streets asap! You’ll be so stoked on how fun all of the features are, and we guarantee that you will learn a ton being able to ride such awesome street-style features. We expect a ton of new tricks from all of our Pennsylvania campers this coming summer, we can’t wait!

Until then, check out some photos from the opening of The Streets. All of the guys were killing it on the set up. Thank you so much Forum and Seven Springs for making such an incredible park!

Cam Pierce in between drops.

Niko dropping into the wallride, during the grand opening of The Streets–excited crowds getting ready to drop and hiking back up all around.

Cam 270 on, Nic in the background, and Forum filmer Kurt Heine getting the follow-cam shot.

Nic Sauve throwing out some Forum gear to the stoked crowd waiting to enter The Streets. Nic is coming to camp for the first time ever during Session 5!

Niko backlip on the downrail.

For more on The Streets, check out Tyler Malay’s video on Transworld and some more photos on BNQT!

The first night of X Games was blanketed by a spirit of celebration in light of the recent loss of our dear Sarah Burke. Nick tweeted last night after the big event, “I’m going to sleep well tonight. Thanks, Sarah, for an epic night!” Burton’s Kelly Clark and a handful of other X Games athletes were showcasing Celebrate Sarah stickers on their helmets.

Photo credit Aaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post

Goepper attends Fall, Spring and Summer semesters at Windells Academy. Nick’s commitment to training in the off-season has allowed him to podium at professional level events. Nick’s next big competition is the Dew Tour Championships in Ogden, Utah, February 9th.

Watch Nick’s qualifying run and go to ESPN.com to watch his second run at finals.

Say the words “camp food” at most summer camps, and everyone runs away, shielding their tastebuds from an unfortunate onslaught of dry chicken fingers and tasteless macaroni and cheese. Not the case at Windells, where the kitchen crew creates delicious dinners every evening, cooking from scratch and using the most local ingredients possible. Since even in the wintertime, the mention of Philly Cheesesteak night can bring a nostalgic tear to a snowboard, ski, or skate coach’s eye, this Take me back Tuesday recollects dinnertime at camp.

Pizza night is a favorite. The kitchen crew bakes the standards, like cheese and pepperoni, but they also shoot the moon with wilder variations, like pineapple jalapeno and wild vegetarian combinations.

Session 1 hanging with Will Bateman and Johnny Lazz.

Dinner isn’t only about the food, of course. It’s one of the only times at camp that everyone sits down for a minute. During the day, you’re snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, riding bmx, running from sponsor night to Zombie Dodgeball, playing videogames in SAIGL, watching movie premieres, doing yoga, playing basketball with visiting pros–there’s so much going on and dinner is a time to get to relax, joke with new friends, hang out with your coach, and sit back in the late Oregon sun and talk about how much fun you’re having.

We’re already looking forward to pasta night next summer, who’s with us?!

And now to announce our winner. Congratulations to Corporal Nick Broms of the US Marine Corps sending some Windells sticker love all the way from Okinawa, Japan with the caption, “I would rather be at Windells.” We hear you loud and clear Nick, we hope we get to see you here on campus soon!

Thanks to everyone for sending us your entries! Stay tuned all winter long for more contests including our nationwide Employee Scavenger Hunt. Make sure to look for us and our staff at events all across the country including the USASA Hood Series at Mt Hood! Until next time folks!

Here it is. The seecond installment of our Employee Scavenger Hunt. Our staff is amazing. They come from all over the country to live life in Mt. Hood with Windells Camp. Once August starts to slip away, they all eventually have to go back to reality and back to their roots. As winter keeps on trucking, our employees are building parks, taking classes, teaching lessons, and just about everything you can think of to pass the time until summer comes back into our lives.

This winter hibernation gives us a perfect opportunity for you guys at home, to find our staff members in their natural habitats! “Who Are We? Where Are We?” will take place once a month all over the country. Each contest will spotlight one of your favorite Windells employees at home in their stomping grounds, and it is your job to find them, snap a photo, and win some swag! Sounds fun right? Well, yea, it is! Last month we visited Rachel at Ski Dazzle in Los Angeles. Let’s see what happens when we try and track down one of our longest running employees. The jack of all trades and all things food related, The Jerm:

Name: Jeremiah Paquette a.k.a Jerm
Position: In Between Counselor/Coach/Driver
Hometown: Brownsville, VT
Primary Sport: Eating.  but if that’s not a “sport” then snowboarding
Favorite Resort:  Kingvale
Favorite thing about Windells:  Endless supply of snowboarding, skateboarding, and food.
Favorite memory from camp: My first summer when I was told the food was free and I could eat as much as I wanted.

Stay tuned later this week as we release Jerm’s location. The first person to find him and take a photo with him, will be spotlighted on our blog, website, Facebook, and Twitter account (ya know, all those social media hot spots). Most importantly, YOU WIN STUFF! This winter we will be giving away apparel, gear, discounts, and more! You don’t want to miss out. Keep a close eye on all those social networking apps, because once the scavenger hunt is on, you won’t want to miss out.

The first half of this two-part contest takes place on hill, utilizing a special set up created just for the event. This past summer, the Windells Diggers built two mini halfpipes connected by a spine, and placed jibs and features on the decks. The last few years, Bonfire and Windells have really been able to create interesting, progressive courses for P2P. It was crazy to watch the tricks that the best riders at Hood were throwing down. There were some definite hammers!

The second part of the contest is, of course, the skateboarding portion, but we’ll leave that for another Take me back Tuesday. Until then, enjoy this video from Bonfire/Salomon of the the 2011 Bonfire Pipe 2 Pipe, originally posted on TransworldSnowboarding.