Parking lot party. Kamp K2 in full effect. Words and photos by Tawnya Schultz In 2008, K2 succeeded in pulling off one of the most amazing events ever, Kamp K2. Kamp K2 was a masterful concept bringing shop kids, buyers, media, and pros together for a 3 day, end of season shred fest at Mt. Baker. Sounds basic enough, but what made it so amazing was that the mountain was closed exclusively for us, everyone camped in either RV’s or a heated tent, and there was a setup in the parking lot with a mini-ramp, beer garden, and daily entertainment. (Not to mention that it decided to snow several feet while we were there. Bonus.) Needless to say, it was a time to remember and something that truly brought the shop employees closer to the brand. Fast forward to the present. With a year break, the European K2 sector took what the US team had accomplished in 2008 and decided to bring it to their home turf. The place? Austria, Ifen Resort, close to the border of Germany at the edge of the Alps. A lucky select group of media was invited from the U.S. and there was no way I was going to miss out.Day One In the early afternoon, we met the majority of peeps in Munich to pick up the RV’s and coordinate a game plan. K2 pros Jordan Mendenhall from Salt Lake, Jake Kuzyk from Whistler, Nick Dirks from Portland, and I were on a few hour wait so we decided to explore what the Munich airport had to offer. Neat lazy walking escalator shot at the Munich airport. Cool! Only in Germany. We were starving so we decided to pick up a bite in the food court. We wandered confused, trying to figure out what half of the items were. Dirks went for the special, pork knuckle, partially because of price and partially out of interest. I’m not sure if he knew what he was getting himself into when the lady cut the piece of meat off, stabbed it with a fork, and plopped it on his plate. Dirks enjoying his delectable pork knuckle. You can buy Jager, Wodka, beer, as well as a variety of snacks out of vending machines in Europe. Amazing. After enteratining ourselves for a bit, we were ready to board our Eurofied RV’s and head to Austria. Since our cellular devices were nearly nonexistent we bought a good ol’ fashioned paper map to lead us to the spot. Fiat Euro RV’s. It was necessary to stock our fridge before the adventurous drive. It took me a while to figure out what this meant. No 0-6 year olds allowed up the ladder to the bed. Nice illustration. K2 pro skier JT Holmes, attempting to lead us to our destination. The mountains straight ahead. Yeeeah! Several detours and turnarounds later, we spotted black Kamp K2 spray painted signs with arrows pointing the way. Since Austria is super hilly, with a million small winding roads, not to mention a ton of random small resorts like Ifen, it was pretty easy to get lost. We had finally arrived and sped into the parking lot honking and cheering. We were in Europe at Kamp K2! We headed directly to the massive circus tent setup to sign our life’s away and figure out what was going on. Euro K2 copied what the guys had done at Baker by setting up teams with a pro and employee as leaders, with an array of (drinking) games setup throughout the next few days, including beer pong, flip-cup, a hot dog, beer pounding, mini bike riding relay game; as well as bull riding, a rail jam, and a scavenger hunt where the teams would work together accumulating points for the grand prize all-expense paid trip to the next Kamp K2. The teams were a great way to meet new friends and pretty much just see who could handle drinking the most. That was the true test. The agenda. A casual beer was necessary to stand in line for an interesting dinner of meat, gravy, rice balls, and bread, lots of bread. The nightly entertainment called for a bull-riding sesh. And so the party begins…. Bull riding festivities. Bravery. Day Two After one of the shittest nights of sleep ever due to head throbbing techo rocking the RV until who knows when, no heat, and a male guest (to remain nameless) sleep talking and doing other very strange things in his sleep, the chics RV awoke irritated and on edge. Morning view from our house ain’t so bad. Myself and Meghan Grabow from K2 were starving so we headed to “breakfast” only to find a few random pieces of meat, cheese, a bread crate, and some chocolate granola something-or-other as our choices. Sweet. We managed and soon geared up, ready for an awesome day of spring shreddin’. Being the end of the season, the snow was slim but we could only imagine what the place and surrounding areas must offer in the middle of winter. Food tent. Pretty legit “Kamp” setup considering. Dining menu. Towards the top. Pretty rad. Our lunch mid station on the mountain was as Austrian as it could get with another type of meat slathered in gravy and rice ball to devour. The view however was about as epic as it could get. Not such a bad spot to spend a random Monday. It was breathtaking. Mellow lunch spot. Mountains as far as the eye could see. Man soup anyone? The late afternoon was filled with leisurely activities such as hot tubing, jam sessions, and RV apres parties. Since the resort was closed, so was the lodge. We were simply chillin’ in the parking lot with our friends, but one thing we didn’t have was liquor. Kamp K2 had plenty of beer but most of us were already beered out. We made a quick village run to the local market to gather necessities such as Whiskey, Wodka (yes Wodka is what it said on the bottle), and Schnapps, which turned out to actually be a type of Grapa. At any rate, it was on. Driving down to the village below. So Europe. Dinner is served. Whatever this may be. Don’t get mad I’m taking a picture. Maybe you should tell your mate not to pass out during dinner. From there on out we weren’t effing around. We got our buzz on wandering from tent to RV until we wandered back into the entertainment tent to find a Kiss cover band on stage. Front row was the place to be. The Kiss cover band was on point with its outfits, makeup, and tuneage. They played the hits and crowd participation was at an all-time high with a mosh pit ensuing. In Europe however a mosh pit means lazily jumping up and down and gently pushing into each other. If someone falls on the floor, everyone in the circle helps him/or her off of the ground. It’s clearly entertaining. Roomie and extremely talented pro skier Michelle Parker found these hilarious glasses. One of many drinking games. OMG! I mean, who can say they’ve seen a Kiss cover band in Europe in the parking lot of a random ski resort? We can. Stage beers. The crowd gettin’ wild. Michelle Parker and I partying with Kiss live on stage. This picture sets the tone. Birthday boy Matt Harvey with a stage diver in the background. Taking a bow. When Kiss was done jamming out a DJ came on and to be expected the Americans started a dance off. The one thing I’ve always heard about Europe if how hard everyone parties but that night it sure seemed like the Americans were the ones having all the fun. Maybe it’s because we were the ones that were the most drunk. Our liquor supply was already depleted. Day Three A great night of sleep due to alcohol intoxication and actual heat meant we were up early, ready to start the day off with a wake up call to our friends who didn’t have heat and a proper breakfast of eggs and cheese. Finally. The weather was delightfully warmer than the previous and it was game time on the slopes. Blue skies! We imagined how we might access this and how epic this could be with a little more snow. Sweetness. Are you freaking kidding me? Love this shot. The fact that we had to the entire place to ourselves made life that much sweeter and another epic lunch fest at the top brought smiles to everyone’s faces. After lapping the surfy, summeresque snow conditions it was once again time to hit the village for another liquor run. It was the final night at Kamp K2 and we wanted to make it count. Pro skier Michelle Parker, who was my roommate, mentioned earlier that she could just watch a movie in the RV and chill. For a second I thought the same until a wave of energy came upon me and I filled my cup with wodka conspicuously concealed as tea in a paper cup. I had purchased a bottle of whiskey for K2 team manager, Kevin Winkel, since he was the main reason I had made it out to Kamp K2 in the first place. In no time the bottle was empty and the snowboard boys were certainly having a good time. Meghan and I visited the man camp tent where the lower class kids were staying and had a little pre party drink off before team awards were announced. Man camp. No thanks. This dude had South Beach tattooed on his arm and proceeded to tell us an array of stories about his surfing adventures. Cot side chat with the crew. K2 TM, Kevin Winkel modeling his totally amazing wolf poncho. Random annoying Euro kid, Dirks, Kuzyk, Mendenhall and I. Winners were announced in the entertainment tent and the keg cup was passed on to the “Aftershocks” for a solid drinking effort. This kid won snow shoes. He couldn’t wait to wear them. Dirks won a Sleek Curl flat iron and was stoked as well. Passing on the cup. Harvey, one of the Aftershock team members reaping the rewards. The K2 fam on stage. Machura is the man, saying the thank yous. Mendenhall was in rare form, crooked eyed and swaying. He played a cardboard guitar for us then broke it on the floor just like a true rock star. Mendenhall with K2 shredder, Danny Larsen looking on. Break it! Cover bands and a DJ played the night away and of course another dance off closed down the party (as well as a beer throwing fiesta) until security was physically pushing people out of the door. Luckily there was an after party across the parking lot in “the tube” as we called it. By this time only the true heavyweights shined through. Winkel had passed out long ago in his RV (nice work team manager) but Michelle, who as I had mentioned had said she just wanted to chill, was leading the pack. The tube was a six wheeled cigar bubble looking RV pimped out with white leather interior and red lights, complete with a DJ setup. Ok, now this was what I had thought when I had heard about Europe. A sleppy Winkel. Too much whiskey before 9pm. The tube was sucking us in. The tube had gotten to some peeps. The convos began to get real weird around this point and after an hour or so security was hounding us once again to shut ‘er down. Who we were bothering I couldn’t figure out since the resort was closed to us and everyone who signed up for “Kamp” K2 knew what they were getting into. At any rate that’s about where this tale ends. I could fill you in with many more random details but hopefully the photos and video that should be up soon will fill the gaps. Major thanks to everyone at K2 (Winkel, Mechura, Powell, Meghan) and of course the Euro crew who brought everyone together and pulled off another banger Kamp K2. The shop kids truly appreciate what you do and were overly stoked to be there. Check the web site for further info on next year’s enlistment, www.kampk2.com, gather your shop troops and save up a few hundred bucks for one of the best shred parties you will ever attend. www.k2snowboarding.com to catch up on all the team news and sick products K2 has to offer. Here’s the blog from Kamp K2 2008 as well: Kamp K2 Baker 2008