AIS/OWIA Head Snowboard Coach Ben Wordsworth reports from the halfpipe team camp at Mt Hood:

The HP team is back training after a three break in Australia. We started our 2009-2010 season three weeks ago in Mammoth Mountain (Califormia) where both Holly Crawford and Nathan Johhntone progressed well to get a head start on their goals and trick progression for next year's Olympics.

Holly has been throwing down some of the best back-to-back 7s that I have seen from a female, and is looking forward to taking this progression into a 7,7,9 combo over the coming weeks in Mt Hood.

Nathan has been continuing his trick progression from the 2008-2009 season, where he is really focusing on riding out of his backside 1080 into a switch backside spin. This combination will earn him high points next season and is one of the goals for the Games.

The training camp at Mt Hood is one of our key camps and an opportunity for the athletes to ride alongside some of the premier halfpipe riders in the world. The US team has also set their training camp up here for the coming weeks, bringing their top riders including 2002 gold medalist Kelly Clark, Steve Fisher and Greg Bretz,to name a few.

Having this level of riding going on in the pipe for our camp will only push and improve our athletes at a faster rate. It is a great opportunity for us to make huge gains in trick progression before the start of the season.

Stay tuned for more camp updates.