Kamp K2: Good Snow, Good Friends and 6000 Beers

If you're ever feeling burnt out, tired of snowboarding and/or it's encompassing scenes ... go to Mt. Baker, it's like rehab for snowboard haters. Baker is a misty, possibly magical place that will remind you why after your first time riding a snowboard down a mountain, you wanted to spend every following day doing just that.

I never thought it would happen to me, but the reality is for the past few weeks I have been totally fried on snowboarding, and not just the scene, even the act of snowboarding itself. There are plenty excuses for being burnt and turning into a hater — never being home, living out of a bag, not getting good snow, too many clowns involved in the "sport" and the direction of it, blah blah blah. You could go on forever but the thing is after spending three days camped out at the base of Baker in an RV, I realized that none of these excuses are valid whatsoever. If you're tired of it, get out, move on with your life, and quit complaining.

During the month of April and until they close, the family owned and operated Mt. Baker is only open to the public on the weekends. During the week—silence. Not a chair lift moves, not a turn is made. But K2, as rad as they are, worked it out so that we could head up last Monday and spend the next three days camping in RVs in the parking lot, snowboarding during the day and partying all night at the first annual Kamp K2.

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There were roughly 300 people in total, mostly posted up in identical RVs thanks to a deal K2 struck with Cruise America. The cast for the trip included myself and Kyle Kennedy from Snowboarder, Lance and Mike Hakker from Ashbury, and Jared Johnson from Dragon all snuggled into one short bus RV. Then there were K2 riders Louie Fountain, Leanne Pelosi, Danny Larsen, Gretchen Bleiler, Chris Beresford, Jordan Mendenhall, Robbie Walker, Tim Eddy, Nick Dirks; local heavies John Laing, Pat McCarthy, and Matt Edgers; and the rest of K2's extended family including reps, in house employees, shop staffers from around the world, and a few media outlets sprinkled in for good measure.

It was snowing when we showed up and it pretty much never stopped. It was however, raining PBR. 60 kegs worth of the stuff was on hand and ready to assist in making party whenever it was deemed necessary. Not counting beers brought in by individuals, over 6,000 bad boy sodas were served over the course of the trip out of those kegs.

Our first day on hill was nothing less than all-time. We got face shots, pointed chutes, got airborne, shredded the mini banked slalom, and rode till the chairs stopped. Sean Tedore, K2's resident snowboard engineer and total B.A.M.F. said it best, "What more could you ask for, Baker to yourself, and powder". Well the only other thing I could ask for would be a handful of good friends to ride said powder with and 60 kegs of PBR to quench our thirsts afterward—so things were definitely looking good.

CLICK HERE MORE KAMP K2 PHOTOS

The simplicity of camping at the base of the mountain in our quaint little RV stacked like sardines, with nothing to do but snowboard and make party brought it all back for me. Snowboarding doesn't suck, not even a little bit. Snowboarding totally rules, and the only thing wrong with it, if anything, is all the people spending time hating on what they don't approve of instead of just shutting up and going riding. There are plenty of things to hate on in this world, and there is no time to hate on snowboarding. Right now there is a floating mass of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas, so if you're going to hate on something hate on trash, or Texas; but don't hate on snowboarding.

Many thanks to Kevin, Danielle, Tedore, the Howatt's and everyone else at K2 and Mt. Baker for making this happen. I would say I owe you a beer but I think you've had enough.

k2snowboards.com

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CLICK HERE MORE KAMP K2 PHOTOS
KAMP K2 EXCLUSIVE VIDEO