MY SUMMER SKI CAMP: PART TWO
16th July 2018 | Kirsty Muir, Whistler, BC
Last modified on January 26th, 2023
GB’s young freestyle skier heads up the hill to be coached by skiing royalty. Read Kirsty Muir’s latest account from Whistler, written exclusively for PlanetSKI.
The talented 14-year-old from Aberdeen is on a Momentum Ski summer camp.
She won the ‘Spirit of Sarah Scholarship’ to attend the camp in memory of the Canadian freestyle skier, Sarah Burke, who died after a crash in training in 2012.
Kirsty has been keeping a diary for PlanetSKI:
The second part of her diary begins as the skiing gets underway…..
The excitement really started building when I got ready in the morning of the first day of the camp.
All of the campers went to breakfast in a building just above the first gondola to go up the hill.
We walked up towards the restaurant and got our lift passes and food tickets given to us before we could dig into a hot breakfast.
The first gondola up to the top of Whistler mountain felt like it took forever.
The views the whole way up were stunning and we passed the mountain bike tracks on the way up the hill.
Next was the Peak to Peak gondola which joins Whistler to Blackcomb Mountain, then onto a bus round to 7th Heaven chairlift, and up the chairlift to the top of the Horstman glacier.
At the top at last. Image © Kirsty Muir
For Day 1 my group’s coach was the Canadian skier, Cassie Sharpe.
It was amazing to have an Olympic gold medallist as our coach.
Me with my coach, Olympic champion Cassie Sharpe. Image © Kirsty Muir
She is the reigning Olympic halfpipe champion, a former gold medallist at the Winter X Games in Oslo and she won the World Cup halfpipe finals in Tignes in March.
Momentum camps have a safety rule of no flips on the first day but it was a great chance to get a feel for the jumps…….
Me getting a feel for the jumps. Image © Cassie Sharpe
Video by Cassie Sharpe
After skiing every day we can choose one activity to do from several on offer, then we have dinner and a video review of our skiing.
On day one (and again on day three) I went to the water ramps.
It was a first time experience for me and I really enjoyed it.
Water ramps. Image © Kirsty Muir
I would recommend anyone to give it a try if you have the chance.
Dania Assaly was my group’s day 2 coach.
She is a former member of the Canadian National Halfpipe Team.
We really started to try and progress tricks whilst styling out grabs.
Me doing a blunt grab. Image © Cassie Sharpe
We hit the airbag and tried some new tricks on it too.
For my after-ski activity today I chose to go to Bounce trampoline.
On day 3 the American skier Taylor Lundquist was our coach.
Me with Taylor Lundquist. Image © John Smart
We did lots of rails and hit the jumps too.
I was so happy to get to the end of the S rail and back 2 out of it after trying it since day 1.
So far the week has been super fun and I am really looking forward to the days to come.
Me with Cassie Sharpe and her Olympic gold medal. Image © Kirsty Muir
The final part of Kirsty’s Whistler diary follows soon… so do check back.
Watch Kirsty’s coach Cassie Sharpe’s winning run in the World Cup halfpipe finals in Tignes in March 2018:
