Look for major changes in terrain parks

Look for major changes in terrain parks By FLETCHER DOYLE News Sports Reporter 11/29/2006
	Click to view larger picture Special to the News Freestylers can enjoy the new terrain park at Peek'n Peak, which features progressive levels of difficulty. Eric Langman has worked at Vail in Colorado and at Mount Hood in Oregon. Now he's using what he's learned to make the first big changes in years to the terrain park at Kissing Bridge. The word these days is progressive. It has two meanings, and both apply at Kissing Bridge. The first is that there is a progression of skill levels, a concept that is embraced by resorts throughout the region. At Kissing Bridge, that means starting with a new mini park that will be well maintained and well stocked with rails and boxes. It will be adjacent to the Coal Chute Chair. "There will be so much to do in the mini park [beginners] won't have to go in the big park," said Rachel Fanelli of the marketing department. It also includes intermediate areas and then advanced areas with bigger jumps. "Our mission with the terrain parks is to provide the customer with features that cater to all levels of freestyle riding in order to help the transition from beginner to intermediate to the expert ability while also making the experience fun, safe, creative and progressive," Langman said in a written statement. "We want our parks to flow from one feature to the next so the rider is able to maximize time on hill per run." Parks that flow is the second meaning of progressive. One of the trends in the business is to lay out progressively harder hits and jumps so that a rider can go from one to the next, hitting four or five in each run. To do this, Langman planted 25 rail features at the top of the park, an increase of five from last year, and moved tons of dirt, some of which he fashioned into jumps. Kissing Bridge also bought six new tower guns to assist with its plan to open more terrain on opening day. Langman said the new dirt piles and the snowguns will allow the terrain park to open with less snow, within three to five days of the rest of the area. Parks with progressive levels of difficulty were added at Bristol Mountain and at Peek'n Peak. "We are finally making the right steps to make sure freestylers have a good time," said Billy Bacon, multi-media manager at Peek'n Peak. "We're going to be as progressive as we can." Holiday Valley is even putting entry level features in a designated "rail garden" in the area serviced by the ski school tow. Terrain park manager Chris Perks and Jimmy Curtis, who will drive Holiday Valley's new halfpipe groomer, attended the Cutter's Camp at Mount Hood (Ore.) last summer. There they learned the latest in safety design as well as tips in how to lay out a progressive park. Perks calls boarding into the increasingly harder features "hitting the rhythm section." Holiday Valley did make two terrain park changes. The Slope Style course has been moved to Moon Shadow, and the entrance to the halfpipe is now at the top of Cindy's. This means boarders will no longer cut through the NASTAR course to get to the pipe. Kissing Bridge added a WiFi zone at Central and at Willie's Smokehouse, and bought kid-sized boards for its rental fleet. It has also added two events. The Smith Limo Rail Jam is Dec. 26. The limo has a rail on the top, and it will be put in the snow so people can ride it. There will also be a banked turn race against the clock on Crazy Eights. Peek'n Peak has cut 11 to 14 new trails and is putting in three fixed-grip quads that will be ready next year. This will increase terrain by 40 percent. It bought a Zaugg halfpipe groomer and spent $2 million to expand snowmaking. It has spent $8 million to upgrade facilities this year. Bristol added a trail, Lower Galaxy, and bought 13 tower mounted guns, which will bring its snowmaking capacity to 97 percent of the area. It also bought all new Elan rental equipment, paved the parking lot and added the outdoor Summit Grill next to the Summit Demo Center at the top of the hill. The grill will be equipped with heaters. Holiday Valley spent $4.3 million on improvements, finishing its 62 million gallon lake for snowmaking, expanding its Junior Team Training Center, roughing in a few slopes in the area near the lake (it will eventually be served by a lift that will originate near the bottom of Tannenbaum), and making renovations to the golf course and the Inn guest rooms.

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