More Expansion for Camp Woodward
August 5, 2011 at 4:46 pm Lori Shontz 1 comment
If you’re into extreme sports, you’ve heard of Camp Woodward. It’s about 30 miles outside of State College, nestled into the hills along probably the most picturesque section of Route 45, and it’s become a top training ground for BMX racers, skateboarders, inline skaters, and the like.
Gary Ream ’76 transformed the camp from a gymnastics training center to its current incarnation, as we recounted in our Sept./Oct. 2008 issue. (See our opening spread, above.) And now, it seems, the camp is getting even bigger. According to this story in the Centre Daily Times, it was purchased by Powdr Corp., an investment company that owns nine U.S. ski resorts and is looking to expand internationally.
The CDT reports that Powdr CEO Jennifer Botter got interested in Woodward when the company purchased Colorado’s Copper Mountain ski resort, which includes a Camp Woodward-licensed facility. “We became quite enamored of the people — Gary Ream in particular — and really became aware of what the camp was doing for the action sports industry,” Botter told the newspaper, adding that Ream would be retained as president.
Camp Woodward is already among the biggest names in extreme sports. It’ll be interesting to see how much bigger it can get.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Entry filed under: Penn State alumni. Tags: Camp Woodward, Centre Daily Times, extreme sports, Gary Ream, Jennifer Botter, Powdr.
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