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.

While winter is off to a slow start this year, that hasn’t stopped Windells staff and friends from snowboarding as much as possible. On the East Coast, staff members Luke Haddock, Riley Nickerson, John Murphy, and Ralph Kucharek have been filming with Ian Post and putting out “After Hours” edits. Check out the videos below for some snowboarding by Luke, Riley, Ralph and Murphy, as well as friends Shaun Murphy, Yale Cousino, Zack Wilmot and more at Sugarbush and Mount Snow, Vermont.

Bonfire Pipe 2 Pipe is one of the funnest days of the summer on Mount Hood. Our diggers work with the Bonfire/Salomon crew to build a really unique set up, tents are put up, Bonfire team riders take positions in the judges’ tent, hotdogs are put on the grill, and everyone at Mount Hood comes together to ride, hang out, and enjoy the event. This summer marked the 14th year of the event–that’s a long history of boarding, skating, and having fun!

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.

Our sunny trip to LA Ski Dazzle was a blur of excitement and high energy events. We packed four days with clinics, rail jams, contests, and just plain fun. When Windells gets to be on the road, it’s a chance for us to bring the vibes of the “funnest place on earth” out of Oregon and in this case, to the Convention Center in the big city of Los Angeles. We had a blast. Congratulations to Nate Strother, the lucky winner of a FREE SESSION to Windells. Nate is a die hard skier and he killed it in our dryslope rail jam. We can’t wait to see you on campus Nate. Here’s a little taste of what went down during our Cali adventure.

For those of you who joined in the on the fun, thanks for being there with us and we hope to see you in Mt. Hood this summer! If you can’t wait until summer, well don’t fret. We have 3 spring break camps comin’ in hot. Only a couple months are left until we break up your second semester with a camp experience like no other. Join us and find out what all the hype is about.

When it’s a hot, summer afternoon in the woods of Oregon and you’ve spent all day shredding, what’s one of the best ways to cool down?

Waterballoon fight!

Well, maybe not exactly a fight, as a downpour of waterballoons from the top of a van where members of the Technine Team are throwing them at a crowd of people. Sounds like a pretty good time? We thought so. For this week’s Take me back Tuesday we remember Technine waterballoon surprise.

Session 7, the Technine Team spent a few hours filling up waterballoons at a secret, off-campus location, filling a few large boxes with the balloons. They then piled into the top of the camp van and drove slowly into campus. Derrek Dennison, Dylan Thompson, Andrew Brewer, Zander Blackmon, Ben Bilodeau, and Brady Larsen had campers gather round the van for a surprise product toss, and then the waterballoons started flying.

But, don’t worry, the campers got hooked up with T9 movies, tshirts, sweatshirts, stickers, and more. Everyone had a good time!

NJ Petersen and Seth Kitzke surprised friend and camper, Matty, with a tub full of H20.

Matty’s awesome, so he was a good sport about it.

There was a fresh T9 jacket to give away and so a breakdancing contest was held to pick the winner.

Getting soaked on a summer day is fun in itself, but when you walk away with some new gear given to you by a team of pros, it’s the funnest!

It’s the end of 2011 and looking back, it’s been a great year. Here at Windells, staff, campers, and family have taken tons of laps at Timberline during the summer, skated the Concrete Jungle all fall, and have been skating in BOB every weekend. We have gotten to meet the snowboarders, skateboarders, and skiers we look up too, have them as our coaches, take runs with them, learn new tricks from them, and get their autographs. We’ve gotten to see tons of new snow movies, gotten new gear, and lined up to take runs at our local mountains.

Now that 2012 has begun, we decided that we would set a few resolutions for the new year. Below, ten things that we will be doing in 2012 to have the funnest year ever!10. Perfect our backside 180.

One of the most classic tricks in snowboarding is also the most fun. During Session 6 last summer, the Rome Team taught us how to do this awesome trick.

9. Skate every day

8. Be appreciative of our friends and thank them for their hard work

The Diggers work hard every day to build the park we love to shred. Thanks guys! Joshua Parker made this video of our favorite park crew last summer for YoBeat. Check out the full post from Best Summer Ever.

7. Eat a healthy lunch at the mountainBlake Reid cooking up some Digger Dogs.

6. Have fun riding with our friends

5. Get to meet the people we look up to

Last summer, during Session 2, the Capita Team came to hang out at camp and promote their new movie, “Defenders of Awesome.”

Whether we get to high five a rider we watched in a movie, take runs with someone who compete in the X Games, watch a pro skate the Concrete Jungle, or even learn a new trick from someone we looked up to, it’s really cool to meet the people that inspire us to do what we do!

4. Be more green – do good for the Earth

Curtis Woodman and Nick Visconti gave a brand new Arbor snowboard to the camper that picked up the most trash on the last day of Session 4. Cleaning up around campus only took a few minutes–as snowboarders, skiers, skateboarders, and bmxers, it’s important to take care of the outdoors that we play in!

3. Try something new every day on our snowboard, skateboard, skis, or bmx

Learning is a big part of why we love snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, and bmxing, and not just learning new tricks, but riding more difficult terrain, perfecting our carves, dropping into something we didn’t think we could before. It’s all awesome, and even if we just learn something small, we are still really excited!

2. Stay inspired all the time

Whatever motivates you and makes you dream big, if it’s the actual Inspire Crew with Tanner Hall, or if it’s watching Willis Kimble skate, or if it’s Burton’s “Standing Sideways”, stay inspired to shred!

1. Spend time with our friends

Whether they’re new friends or old, there’s nothing better than a few laps with the crew, skating with some homies, or just hanging out, talking about how good the day was. Thanks to all our friends for hanging out with us all year!

Digger Austin Leonard blunt on the double rail.

The Windells Diggers are always looking to get creative with the on hill park. They are a hard-working crew of guys that, in between taking hotlaps and hawking Digger Dogs, spend their time dreaming up weird and creative features for the park. And it pays off. In summer 2011, campers, staff, and riders saw a ton of tubes, coping-inspired jibs, and lines that could be hit in any direction down or across the park. It drew similarities (as much as possible when transitioning to snow) from the Concrete Jungle and allowed for skate-inspired creativity in picking how to hit a feature and where to go to next. Riders like Dylan Thompson and Austen Sweetin rode the park multiple sessions last year because of the high level of fun that the Diggers had created with this set up.

Session 7, Head Digger Chase Weaver and his crew, in constant effort to make the park every awesomer than it was the previous session, put a double rail in the middle of the park. The weather was sunny and warm, the snow was slushy, the take off was salted, and everyone was stoked to session the double rail. Boardslides and frontboards on both rails started off the week, but every day people kept stepping up the tricks, transferring from one rail to the other, trying one footers, spinning on and off–it was excellent for spectating as you were eating your lunch, too.

Check out a few photos from the Session 7 double rail, complete with double frontboards, one footers, filmer Paul Heran, and picturesque views of Mount Jefferson and the Cascades. Looking at these photos, we’re reminded of  summer so much, we may need to put on some sunscreen. Summer snowboarding is the best.

Danyale Patterson.

Oliver Dixon.

Tim Durstchi is a longtime member of the Windells family. Growing up in Alaska and then moving to Bend, Oregon as a teen, for five years during his early twenties, Tim spent his summers at Mount Hood as a ski coach. He has lapped the Windells park more than most and knows the slushly June-August trails of Timberline like the back of his hand. His relationship with Windells goes even deeper, though. Tim also helped to start Saga Outerwear, a company that has its roots at camp and continues to be a big part of Windells. Though Tim was rehabbing a knee injury last summer, he came out to camp during Saga Week. And next summer, we can expect to see a lot more of Tim on the glacier. Tim’s season has just started, so we thought it would be a good time to go “on the road” with him and see what he has been up to.

SO WHERE ARE YOU LIVING THIS SEASON?

In Salt Lake City. This is my first season living there. I’ve always made trips there, but I wanted to spend my whole season and be based there. And, I like playing (working) at the Saga Warehouse.

TELL US ABOUT THE SAGA WAREHOUSE IN SALT LAKE CITY. WE’VE HEARD A LOT ABOUT IT AND IT SOUNDS KIND OF LIKE ROB DYRDEK’S FANTASY FACTORY.

Well, we have a storefront with an Xbox, so people just play SKATE all day and they can check out our gear in person. All of the Saga employees are in the back, working diligently. There’s a refrigerator full of good foods. There’s a skateramp, a claw machine, and a projector for movie night.

AND PEOPLE STILL GET WORK DONE?

Yes. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the offices. Haha. Everyone has their own space to work when they’re not playing the games in the warehouse.

Tim at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire on a blue December day.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK ON SNOW?

It’s really good. The beginning of the season has been really mellow for me. I’ve been traveling with the Tour de Shred with Atomic, which brought me back to the East Coast for the first time since I was 18. I got to ride a little bit of park at Loon and met up with my homie, Sean Kaulbeck, who’s a Loon local.

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF VISITING LOON FOR THE FIRST TIME?

It was sick to get some Dunkin’ Donuts because we don’t have that back West (but they still play the commercials on TV). The other Atomic guys who were in town for the tour, Chris Benchetler, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, and Todd Ligare, and myself did a poster signing at Rodger’s Ski Shop in Lincoln, too. I got to meet a lot of local kids who unfortunately couldn’t ski with us because it was a school day. You know a ski shop is awesome when they have a Christmas tree and fireplace.

Tim signing TONS of autographs at Rodger’s Ski and Sport in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

DID YOU GET TO DO ANYTHING ELSE COOL ON THE EAST COAST?

I had extra time to go hang out in Portsmouth for the night and feed the seagulls at the ocean the next day. But, it was a really short trip and once I get back to Utah, I’m going to ski some pow and then start filming.

So, alright, summer is a ways away. Heck, most areas of North America are still waiting for their first real big snowstorms to get the resorts 100% open. But, our parents have always told us to plan ahead and it’s hard not to daydream a little about 60 degree days on hill, tons of sunshine, and a slushy, yet perfectly groomed park. Summer snowboarding is the best.

Even more than that, we’re getting psyched about summer 2012 because we just announced our Snowboard Crew Sessions for the year! Each session, a unique crew of pro riders is taking over camp for the week, bringing their individual personalities and riding styles to Mount Hood for 8 days of sliding on snow, skating the Concrete Jungle, playing games, hanging out with campers, and having FUN!

For the first time ever this early, you can check out who’s coming to camp and pick your session based on which riders you’d like to ride with and meet!

We are so excited to have the most fun, awesome, friendly, super talented snowboarders at camp next summer, we wanted to help you get to know each rider a little better.

First up is Stevie Bell. Stevie is one of the most energetic people on Earth. Seriously. Stevie throws down all day on hill and once he’s back at camp is the first person into street clothes and skate shoes with his skateboard in hand, ready to shred concrete. Last summer, Stevie hosted the most insane game of Bump (you may also know it as Knockout) that camp has ever seen.

Stevie will be coming to camp during SESSION 4 for The Reunion, with Nick Visconti, Jason Robinson, and Curtis Woodman.

Name: Stevie Bell

Sponsors: Forum, Special Blend, Celtek, Spy, Park City, Skull Candy, Stance, Ethica

Where are you from: Salt Lake City, UT

Home mountain: Park City

WHEN WERE YOU AT WINDELLS THIS PAST SUMMER?

Session 4. I just wanted to come up and snowboard, skate, hang out with some campers and do the summer camp thing.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE ON HILL PARK?

All of it was fun, I can’t really say there was a favorite. The jump was really good. All of it was dope. I liked the whole park so I can’t really say one part was better than the other.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE WINDELLS CAMPS?

All of the activities. The skateboarding. My favorite thing is actually how stoked the campers were to be at camp. How much fun they were having to hang out with us, Marc [Swoboda], Curtis [Woodman], Nick [Visconti], JRob [Jason Robinson], all the homies…even if the campers lost the game, how stoked they were to be there. The European verses American basketball league we had going on. The American kids verses the Euro snowbard kids, the Europeans got no wins. [editors note: Marc Swoboda says “next time it’s gonna be soccer!”] Another thing on campus was that the dodgeball was very, very intense. Me, Curtis, and Joshua Parker were on the human side, but we were invincible humans.

WE HEARD YOU WERE HELPING TO TEACH KIDS HOW TO DO BACKFLIPS ON THE LAST DAY ON HILL?

It was cool to go over there, I came a little late, Sleepy Bear [Curtis] and JRob were over there killing it, showing the kids how to backflip. I kind of showed up as this little kid Sam, was trying his first or second attempt. He came down on his head, but bounced back up like a spring, and gave it a couple more tries. I think he will definitely get it next time. It was fun too, because it was supposed to be really bad weather and it ended up clearing up in the park and it was really fun.

TELL US ABOUT THE GAME YOU DID OFF HILL.

Stevie Bell Bump Game was crazy. The line was huge, there was like 70 kids. It was fun. Top five got product, but every time somebody came in the game, they had to deal with four defenders that were a lot bigger than them. But, some of those kids were dunking on us—they were ballers. Top five got product, but it definitely was not easy. It was the longest game of Bump I think I have ever experienced in my life.

WHAT WAS A MEMORABLE MOMENT ON HILL FOR YOU?

I think I saw a kid do his first front ten, and he was so amped. That was one of my favorite things. That’s a big trick to come to camp and learn. I think he was from the East Coast. My other favorite thing was seeing the group of three kids do Bernies on the dance floor.

WHAT WAS A MEMORABLE MOMENT OFF HILL FOR YOU?

Zombie Dodgeball. It was fun because me and Sleepy Bear were super humans, so we just got to throw the ball full speed at kids, with their faces painted. Everytime a ball would come back with facepaint on it.

WHO WAS THE CREW YOU HOSTED SESSION 4 WITH? AND WHY WAS THIS AN AWESOME CREW?

Well there’s plenty of reasons. It’s gonna be The Reunion. Me, Curtis aka Sleepy Bear, Nick and JRob and it’s going ot be the most intense session, just like this one. Lots of dodgeball, lots of basketball, loits of skating, lots of shredding, tons of laughs.

There’s something about snowboarding and skiing and sushi that goes together. Every mountain town and resort village has a prime sushi spot (usually doling out apres special handrolls, which is awesome) where locals and weekend visiters alike enjoy hanging out.

Because sushi and shredding go hand in hand, every session at Windells, adult campers go into Portland to enjoy some of the best sushi the Rose City has to offer. The evening is filled with sashimi, sake, invited coaches, visiting pros, and sometimes a wasabi-eating or soy sauce-drinking contest (hey, it’s camp, right? and there’s always prizes for the contests!).

Adult Host Logan grew up outside of Portland and knows the best restaurants to take everyone to.

Each session staff and pro guests are invited to join the crew. During Session 1 last summer, snowboard coaches Halo and Corbin went out for sushi. In the past, the Technine crew has attended as well.

Session 1′s adult crew enjoying a night out after a day on hill and at the skatepark.