Sunday, August 17, 2014

NYSEF Freeride - July overnight ramp camp

Summer is one of my favorite seasons out of the 11 that we have here in the Adirondacks (Winter, Mud, Black fly, Road work, 1 week of spring, Summer, Indian summer, Road work - take 2, Autumn, Leaf peeper, and Frozen mud). In my opinion there is no better way to spend a summer then being out doors in the Lake Placid area. There is so much to do! On any given day you can run, hike, swim, skateboard, golf, bike, or paddle to name just a few activities. For winter sports enthusiasts you can even ski or snowboard in the Summer!



In early July, 10 talented athletes came to Lake Placid to partake in a NYSEF freeride camp with the goal to focus each day towards progressing as freestyle ski or snowboard athlete, while also enjoying as many of the activities that Lake Placid has to offer as possible.


A main philosophy of this camp was to let every athlete unplug, and detach from the cyber world of texting and Facebook. One of our many unplugged activities was a walk around Mirror Lake in conjunction with a small hike up Cobble Hill. This short hike brings you up to a rock face on one side of the hill that overlooks the Northwood School campus and Lake Placid, as well as to a rock out-crop at the summit that looks out at the back side of Whiteface Mt. At this out-crop every athlete was given a postcard to write to a friend or family member.

Bridge trail to the base of Cobble Hill.


The Crew (Whiteface and the Wilmington notch int the backdrop)


Will chillin' with a Lake Placid legend (Art Devlin)


We took a tour to the top of the ski jumps


The view from the top is pretty spectacular!


Mrs. Lysek with the crew and Coach Jake


Mrs. Lysek with the crew and Coach JP

Below is a youtube playlist which contains video clips of every athlete. 





When we weren't at the water ramping facility, or hiking, or touring the ski jumping facility, we were playing field games such as Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, or Wiffle Ball. We even made time one morning to take a field trip to the Wilmington skate park, and dirt jumps. In the evenings when we weren't eating dinner or doing video review, we had fun bowling, or going to the movies. 

Overall this camp was a blast! We ate well, played hard, trained harder, and went to bed happy and tired every night.