Government Camp, OR – The U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Pro Team has been throwing it down for the past week at its first summer on-snow camp at Windell’s at Timberline Ski Area on Mt. Hood. Riders at the camp included 2010 Olympians Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Louie Vito (Sandy, Utah), Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, Colo.) Elena Hight (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) and Kelly Clark (West Dover, Vt.), among others.nThe Mt. Hood session has been a new experience to both the attending riders and the coaches. For the first time, U.S. Snowboarding is using a new feature, an airbag, at the end of the halfpipe, allowing riders to try new tricks in a safe environment.

“This is our first time setting any training like this, as far as having an airbag or any kind of feature that enables riders to try tricks that they have never tried before in a safe and padded environment,” explained U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Coach Rick Bower.

“This is the first opportunity that U.S. Snowboarding has had to train with an airbag, but a lot of people have definitely used them before,” said Bretz. “We took full advantage of it.”

The riders have been on snow for more than a week, focusing on adding new tricks to their list. With the added airbag feature, riders can practice going big with a minimized risk of injury.

“The goal of this camp is just for these riders to have an opportunity to try tricks that they’ve never tried on snow in a relatively safe environment,” said Bower. “The airbag makes it so there’s room for error. By any means you can still get hurt on it, but it’s way safer for trying these double inverted tricks that a lot of the guys are doing.”

Some of the tricks that are in the works in Hood are a double Michaelchuck, consisting of a back flip with 180 off the heel side edge, and a double McTwist made up of a double front flip off the heel side edge for the men and a backside 720 and a backside 900 for the women. Riders like Bleiler and Bretz are working hard on nailing the tricks down during the summer so they are competition ready this winter.

“Right now I’m just trying to get back on my feet,” said Bretz. “And hopefully learn a double mctwist and a double backside alley-oop rodeos, a double back flip off you toe side edge.”

The Pro Team is scheduled to be in New Zealand at the end of August for camps and competitions following the Mt. Hood sessions.

“This has been a great experience so far,” said Bower. “It’s gone really well and something I think we’re going to incorporate more into the future.”