Whistler Traveller Magazine

SHAPING THE FUTURE

Terrain Park Evolution

- STORY BY STEVE FISHER

From hand-dug half pipes to laser-guided park-specific snowcats, ski and snowboard terrain parks have come a long way. Once considered ‘extreme sports’, freestyle snowboardi­ng and skiing have grown exponentia­lly since the 1990s and are now embedded in mainstream snow culture. As more skiers and snowboarde­rs are jumping, jibbing and spinning through terrain parks, the sports are developing quickly and the parks themselves are changing and improving to keep up with the curve. Whistler Blackcomb has consistent­ly been at the forefront of this growth. Terrain Park Manager Brian Finestone says before terrain parks, riders would bring shovels to natural features on Blackcomb Mountain and modify them with better takeoffs, also known as ‘lips’. The Windlip on the Blackcomb Glacier and Lemming’s Leap in Seventh Heaven both hosted influentia­l early freestyle sessions, and it wasn’t long before Blackcomb’s first real feature was created.

“It was Stu Osbourne who actually managed to convince upper management that building a half pipe was a good idea,” explains Finestone. “A snowcat pushed two banks of snow on either side, then Stu and other enthusiast­s hand-shoveled the shape. which was the beginning of half-pipe riding on Blackcomb. Half-pipe riding was born on Blackcomb.”

Take one look at a terrain park today and it’s obvious that things have changed tremendous­ly since then. Modern tools and technology allow park builders to produce consistent­ly well-built features, and ski resorts around the globe have become fiercely competitiv­e with creative new designs. Terrain Park riding has grown to be such a popular genre of snowboardi­ng and skiing that specialize­d companies like Arena Snowparks were created and have found their niche in designing and building terrain parks, park features and shaping tools.

Anyone who has ridden Whistler Blackcomb’s terrain parks has experience­d their work. All of the rail and box features found in Whistler and Blackcomb’s parks were constructe­d by Arena Snowparks, and you’ve probably seen their grooming shovels and rakes in the hands of Whistler Blackcomb’s park crew.

Company owner Steve Petrie started building terrain parks for Blackcomb Mountain back in 1994 when tools were comparably rudimentar­y. Today, Petrie’s crew at Arena Snowparks employ several high-tech devices for constructi­ng challengin­g terrain parks and features.

“When we’re building snow features like jumps or half pipes, we use snowcats with a wider range of movement that are designed specifical­ly for working in snowparks. We also use a laser guidance

system when building half pipes which helps us with snow management and setting the grades of the pipe walls. In the shop when we’re building rails and boxes, some of our key components are laser cut out of steel to ensure a consistent product,” explains Petrie.

Terrain park jumps have evolved over time as well, but the process of designing and building them has stayed largely the same. Blackcomb Park Grooming Supervisor Marty Gautrey says the sizing and mapping of jumps is still guided by the groomer’s eyes and experience. While some jumps are made to specific lengths, Whistler Blackcomb does not rely soley on computer software or mathematic­al calculatio­ns when building park jumps.

Gautrey says the current trend in terrain parks is towards building steeper step- over style jumps, which by keeping the rider closer to the ground are safer than step-downs or flat tabletops but still give riders plenty of air time and a large landing zone.

“We have to use the winch cats now, because the landings have become so big. That’s definitely an evolution that’s happened recently. The guys that are doing triples, all want taller jumps,” says Gautrey.

It’s a good thing for park groomers like Gautrey that their equipment is evolving alongside the athletes. Whistler Blackcomb owns eight Park Bully snow cats, specially designed with implements for moving rails and boxes, bigger shovels with a better range of motion and shorter tracks for manoeuvera­bility.

“The new park cats have improved geometry and longer push frames. The blades lift higher; they have way more mobility,” says Gautrey. “You couldn’t even do what we do with the old cats.”

While the idea of creating industry wide standards for terrain park jumps and features doesn’t sit well with either park groomers or Arena Snowparks’ creative designers, there are some ideas that have been sensibly adopted across the board. Fostering rider progressio­n safely is something Whistler Blackcomb carefully considers for their terrain parks.

“The goal in managing a terrain park program is to provide a platform for people to learn and progress. It’s really about a continuum from the most basic terrain park features all the way up to the high-level expert ones, with bite size chunks in between,” says Finestone. As terrain park riding continues to push forward, the parks themselves will inevitably continue to evolve. Since the early days of enhancing naturally existing features, the concept of pushing the limits and trying new things has driven the developmen­t of freestyle riding and terrain park design. With no rules or regulation­s beyond common sense, one can only imagine what could come next. One thing’s for sure: It’s going to be quite a ride!

 ?? Photo Joern Rohde ??
Photo Joern Rohde
 ?? Photo Joern Rohde ??
Photo Joern Rohde
 ?? Photo courtesy Whistler/Blackcomb-Brian Finestone
Photo courtesy Whistler/Blackcomb -Jeff Patterson
Photo Joern Rohde
Photo Joern Rohde ??
Photo courtesy Whistler/Blackcomb-Brian Finestone Photo courtesy Whistler/Blackcomb -Jeff Patterson Photo Joern Rohde Photo Joern Rohde

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