Kamp K2

By Andrew Clarke

Summer/Winter Sports Sales Manager

The winter had one more surprise for the year last week and while that was going on, we went to visit K2 Skis and Snowboards in Seattle, WA.  K2 has long been the American ski brand since 1962 and ushered in a new style and flair to the world of skiing and in 1987 did the same with snowboards.  Fresh off the plane, the folks from K2 welcomed us and ten more fellow campers spanning from New York, New Hampshire and all the way to Salt Lake City and K2’s home base of Stevens Pass.  As part of the welcome, The K2 marketing department gave us a grand tour of their facility including their lobby, sales floor, R&D facility, warehouse, and their marketing lab where as they say, the real work gets done.  From there we met K2’s ski boot line spokesman, DJ Mullet and camped down in Downtown Seattle for the night to get an early start for our first stop.

Day 2 started off with gearing up for Crystal Mountain.  Our Kamp Kounselors gave each of us the ski/board of our choice to test out.  We Kampers tried everything from the 2015 Rictor XTi, Shreditor, Potion skis to the Subculture and Turbo Dream snowboards.  The snow conditions were classic Washington spring… rain.  On the mountain we were able to put some good turns in on the mashed potato snow.  For the skiers, it was no problem but for us snowboarders, when the snow turned to water and we hit the brakes, it was a struggle to make it to the next lift.  After we were soaked through from all of the rain, the Kamp moved to their next stop in Leavenworth, WA.  For those t
hat have never been, Leavenworth is a proper German village nestled in the Wenatchee forest with good Bavarian food and drink.  We toured the town and made it back to the hotel to get some shut eye for the next day.

On Thursday we made our way to Stevens Pass for another day of “testing”.  The conditions were more of the same with occasional peeks of sun when we got high enough.  The pass was a mine field of moguls making navigation a bit harder in some spots and more mashed potato snow to keep things really interesting on the snow.  At the pass, we managed to get past the 10 trail miles for the day and ended up calling it quits when the skies properly opened up to a near downpour.  With every one tired, sore, wet and cold we packed the vans up and made our drive back to Seattle.  When we arrived, the Kounselors provided us a sushi feast.  Now as a Minnesotan, I have never tried sushi in part because there are not as many places here for it and mostly because we live about as far away from the coast (East and West, North AND South) and I don’t trust eating walleye raw.  We toured around Seattle afterwards taking in the night life and then went to the hotel to rest up for our last day. 

On our final day, a few of us woke up and made the hike from downtown Seattle to the Space Needle.  We took photos from the base and the glass sculpture garden and made our way from there to the famous Pike Place Fish Market.  The morning was still new and they were still setting up but the market had a few cool things along the way including throwing a sold fish to be wrapped.  The final send off we had wasn't from K2 but from the drivers at Stevens Pass Shuttle.  We linked up with them in the morning and headed to Alki Kayak Tours on Puget Sound and rented kayaks for a paddle before our departure.  On the water we saw a few river inlets, a lot of ferry and barge traffic and a fair amount of wildlife from harbor seals, to eagles.  After buying the guide’s lunch as a final thank you, we made our way to the airport and took off back to Minneapolis ending our time at Kamp K2.

After returning home and unpacking, I couldn't help but think how great the ski industry is and am staggered on some of the prices you can pay considering everything needed to make a ski, snowboard and especially the boots that get you from point A to point B in comfort and support. 

The next time you get a trip planned out west, east, local or wherever, use your time out there and make great memories.  After being thrown into a group of shop folk and not knowing a soul, we all parted ways friends and comrades in an industry we are all passionate about. 

Until next time, GET OUTDOORS!