May is a big month for the small town of government camp. Skiers and snowboarders come from all over the world to crash on couches, party and ride. Lots of kids too, kids with ambition and kids running from places with none.
And every town has its good, bad and ugly scenes. Government camp is no different, here you can find any drug you can name and dodge accountability like theres no tomorrow or become a world class athlete in a mere matter of decades. Kids ages 18-27 love it here, its heaven on earth for athletes, ski bums and bums too.
There is a core group in every ski town and in govy, the ski season is 12 months if you make the most of conditions. A seasonal worker can easily extend their stay.
The core groups that prioritize partying and drugs have a lot of influence over the less motivated kids during the “mud season”(august-october for mt hood, may-january everywhere else). And with blurred lines of when your season can start and end, its easy to let the off-season become your year round night life, sucking all the early morning pow turn energy away.
From timberline freestyle closing day in august to reopening in December, one has exactly 4 months and some change to ruin their life. And boy oh boy does one have the resources to do so if they get sucked into the wrong scene.
this summer I met some of the most relaxed, down to earth people I ever met. 3 months later, some are unrecognizable, their minds completely overpowered by their immediate desires and temptations.
Winter is here and some have gained a literal 15 years on their age and can’t sleep, eat or socialize without the aid of (somehow decriminalized) dangerous drugs.
Being in the scene is half the problem. Kids smart enough to see trends in health and moderate themselves are a threat to the validity of the core group’s drug habits. And the second these good kids try to give their “”””””””friends””””””””””” any actual love or concern for their health, they get exiled. Drug addicts are not your friends, and if you were friends before their addiction you are now enemies, really, really serious enemies sometimes. The only emotions an addict can feel for you at that point are hate, envy and jealousy of your superior discipline and maturity. They can drag you down but you can’t bring them back up.
government camp has a massive wealth of positivity and knowledge and one has to go out of their way to even find anything other than that.
Be warned, you are not experimenting with the heavy drug scene by partying on the off season, you are signing up to a literal gang, once you sober up or stop partying to go ride, you get harrased and seen as a potential snitch, the scene then tries to start a feud as it works great against potential snitches, everyone knows cops prefer to see feuds play out in entertaining ways
so take my advice, practice settling conflicts while you can, practice being extremely rational, practice assertiveness and most importantly, practice not taking shit from anyone.
Don’t get involved in the first place, just don't do drugs, don't hang out with resentful people. They may be edgy and entertaining at first but how they talk about other people when you are around is exactly how you will talk about you when you are not.