Lynsey Dyer Goes To Jib Camp To Find Her Freestyle Flair

July 25th, 2006 at 09:28am Vanessa Pierce 8

BLACKCOMB MOUNTAIN, British Columbia – Dyer finally did it.
It was amazing – a full rotation, hips and shoulders cocked, perfectly balanced and fluid – a smooth 360. Yep, there you have it, until this past week this pro skier friend of mine couldn't stick a damn 360. It only took her 15 years to finally get it.
Big-mountain skier Lynsey Dyer, 25 – who has been featured in films by Warren Miller Entertainment, Teton Gravity Research and Arris and Big Bang productions – and I (journalist person, also 25) drove 17 hours from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Whistler/Blackcomb, B.C., with a mission to learn a "3" at the biggest camp on the hill, Camp of Champions. If we couldn't learn it there with top-notch staff like Steele Spence, Matt Sterbenz, Luke Van Valin and Shidasha Holmstead, forgetaboutit.

Campers (from places that I never even knew had snow) hardly noticed Dyer's dizzying heli as they continued to work on their "5s," "7s," "9s" and any other number that was way bigger than 3. These kids were throwing 360s and lincoln loops on day one of camp with nary a sore muscle in their body. We, on the other hand, were suffering.
But for the longest time it was one "almost" and "shit" and "oh, my ass" after another on the beginner bump. It's a racer hang-up apparently. The Junior Olympic national downhill champion and 2004 IFSA North American Tour champ seemed to be stuck with a bad case of "no pop."
"In the training I come from, you're supposed to suck up the bumps not pop off of them," Lyns said, "and trying to get that through my head was apparently harder than it seemed because I've been trying since I was 10.
"I'm not an f**cking acrobat," she said, "I quit gymnastics the day I started because I couldn't even do a cartwheel. The thing is, I've always been the slow learner. I got pulled out of 3rd grade to go to the 'stupid' kid room because I had trouble learning long division and was the worst kid in ski school because I couldn't figure out how to snow plow."
In every case, however, Lyns overcame the challenges. She ended up winning statewide poetry contests in 5th grade and discovered edgy-wedgies, concurring the wedge to become one of the most recognizable women in the ski industry today.
"It's good to be the worst at something," she said. "It let's you know who you are and if you're willing to do what it takes to get to where you want to be."
Being that the progression for big-mountain skiers nowadays is to bust out some park tricks skiing down a spine or dropping off death-defying cliffs, there seems to be a little, say – what's the word? – pressure to perform.
Canadian freestyler Sarah Burke, who was also playing on the famous British Columbia hill, took a minute to tell us the secret to a 360, which apparently is to "just go for it." Then, "turn your hips and keep looking around."
Simple enough, eh?
But trying to keep up with the mission, this duo became fully crippled – knee swollen to watermelon proportions, ass muscle doubled in size from massive contusion, hyper extended thumbs, and bloody shoulder and fore arms cut from casing it aplenty on the salted slope. Actually, that's just me; the pro seemed to be doing OK. Nonetheless, I – who had never stuck one either -– landed my 3 before she did.
"I suck in the park," Lyns said. "But I'm so inspired by the girls who are charging. Girls like Michelle Parker, Sarah, Grete, Ingrid and others are representing so I have an obligation to step up and do my part to help women's skiing be taken seriously. In an industry where we're often promoted more for our looks than our skills, we have to keep proving it everyday."
Ken Achenbach, owner of Camp of Champions, was fully behind us, especially Lyns. He's seen big-mountain hot shots come to the glacier and consistently respond to his question the same way: "So why are you here?" he asks. "To take big-mountain skiing to the next level," they say. How original. But in Lyns case, he sees promise and not a cliché answer. She genuinely wants to get better, unlike some female athletes who seem satisfied simply smiling for the camera and making a couple pretty turns. For Dyer dropping off a 50-foot double drop – for Teton Gravity Research – off the backside of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort earlier this season wasn't enough.
"If she can do that [360]," Ken says about her doing one off a cliff in a ski film, "then she's the golden one. And she's not even ugly, and that's a plus."
With one day left in our five-day stay, the pressure was on Dyer to clean the 360. And of course being the superb athlete she is, Lynsey bucked up and did it. And not only did she throw a 3, but off the lip in the half pipe. After six days, sore as hell and a lot less cash, we were forced away from summer fun at camp. But we accomplished our measly mission and drove away champions.
"To all you little pip squeaks that can kick my ass, keep up the good work but watch out," she warned the kiddies. "After all, Mike Douglas didn't learn a backflip until he was 25 and look who won the K2 Back Nine last season. It's not so much what you can do but how driven you are to do what you can't," Lynsey said.
Camp of Champions is over for the summer season, but Lynsey will be back next year to learn a lincoln loop. For more information, visit www.campofchampions.com.

Entry Filed under: Resorts, Travel, Sports Women, Canada, Whistler-Blackcomb, Freeskiing, Movies, Wyoming, Jackson Hole, Extremes, Resort Management