This terrain park begins with three jumps.S-box at the bottom of the same terrain park at Timberline Lodge ski area
A terrain park or snow park is an outdoor recreation area containing terrain that allows skiers, snowboarders and snowbikers to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in skateparks and many of the features are common to both.
From their inception to as recently as the 1980s, ski areas generally banned jumping and any kind of aerial maneuvers, usually under penalty of revoking the offender's lift ticket. By the 1990s, most areas provided snow features specifically catering to aerial snowsports. One of the first in-bounds terrain parks was the snowboard park built in 1990 at Vail's (Colorado) resort.[1] The park was copied soon in other resorts. Today most resorts have terrain parks, with many having multiple parks of various difficulty. Some resorts are almost exclusively terrain parks such as Echo Mountain Park in Evergreen, Colorado and Snow Park in Wanaka, New Zealand. In Colorado there has been a recent trend for defunct resorts such as Squaw Pass (now Echo Mountain Park) to be reopened, catering to terrain park users.
History
The first known terrain park (then called a ‘snowboard park’) was built at Bear Valley Ski Area (California) in the 1989-90 season. It was the brainchild of Bear Valley's Marketing Director Sean McMahon and California snowboarder and contest organizer Mike McDaniel.
McMahon's idea was to create an area of the mountain specifically for snowboarders—modeled after the skateparks of the 1970s, featuring jumps, jibs, and a halfpipe—that would bring new customers to the small, family operated ski area in the Central Sierra. He enlisted the help of McDaniel, who had experience building snowboard-specific terrain features such as halfpipes and jumps, through his work organizing early snowboard events. McDaniel in turn, brought in snowboard pioneers Mike Chantry and Keith Kimmel to consult on the design and construction of the park, to be located on the front side of Bear Valley's upper mountain.
A surface lift was installed to bring snowboarders from the bottom of the area back to the top, without having to take a chair lift to the top of the mountain. Kim Krause, who had run lifts in other areas of the resort, was brought on as the park's first lift operator.
It became apparent that the park would need ongoing construction, grooming, and maintenance, and McDaniel was hired by Bear Valley in the fall of 1989 to be Snowboard Park Manager. The new mountain attraction was dubbed the “Polar Park.” Opening day in late November 1989 featured a demonstration by professional snowboarders Damian Sanders, Terry Kidwell, Noah Salasnek, Mike and Tina Basich and others. The event was covered by Thrasher Magazine, International Snowboard Magazine and local media.
Difficulty
Terrain parks (in the United States and Canada) have designations with respect to safety similar to standard alpine slopes. They differ in their designation and degrees of difficulty. They are identified with orange ovals to differentiate them from standard slopes, and are further distinguished by large, medium, or small features. While features vary between resorts, commonly small features are short jumps and rails that are at the slope surface, Medium features are 10-to-30-foot (3.0 to 9.1m) high jumps along with jibs requiring small jumps to mount. Large features include 30-to-90-foot (9.1 to 27.4m) jumps along with complex jibs and large vertical pipes.
"Progression parks" are easier terrain parks, meant for those just starting to ride these features.
Jibs are any type of fixture which can be ridden with the board/skis either parallel or perpendicular to the snow surface, ridden while spinning around on, or ridden and jumped or tricked from. Many jib features resemble outdoor items used when snowboarding in urban areas, such as stair handrails, benches, tables, etc. In the park these feature consist of:
Rail
A metal feature, either rounded or with a flat surface, which a skier or snowboarder can slide across (called "jibbing"). Many people confuse rails with wider surfaces with boxes, however these are not, and are just rails with a little UHMWPE on top.
Similar to a box, but much wider. Commonly used by beginners who want to become comfortable with box type surfaces before moving on to real boxes. Table Tops are very wide and therefore allow a skier or snowboarder to slide across the surface and is difficult to fall on.
Trees
used as natural surfaces and can be found either on or off the trails.
Rails and boxes have many different shapes and sizes: straight, sloped, curved (often called a "Rainbow"), or kinked. Rails, especially rainbow, will also be seen curving over obstacles or vehicles.
Park Bench and Picnic Table
A funbox type feature that resembles a park bench or picnic table. The edges are made of metal rails and the surfaces of UHMWPE. These features provide multiple sliding surfaces.
Mail Box
A large diameter metal pipe of varying lengths with a cross-section resembling a mail box.
Wall ride
A vertical, or near-vertical, wall-like surface. Most wall rides have another similar surface at the top that is angled down towards the wall, but more perpendicular to the ground (like a sideways funbox attached to the top of the wall ride)
Barrels
A more recent addition to terrain parks, barrels are features usually shaped like garbage cans or vertical cylinders with a small jump leading up to it. This feature is jibbed by going off the jump and tapping it in various ways with your skis or snowboard. Variations include spinning to and from the barrel, tapping with different parts of the skis or stalling on top of the barrel.
Rainbow
A box or rail that has a hump like a "rainbow."
Kink
A box or rail that has one or more "kinks". A kink is a sudden change in angle of a sliding surface. An example of a kinked feature is a F-D-F (flat-down-flat).
Pole Jam
A rail that is stuck into a jump at an upward angle
Tap Feature
A feature that comes in many shapes and sizes and is meant to be tapped with either the tail or tip end of skis or snowboards.
Jumps
Jumps in terrain parks can range from five feet to 100 feet & above, and will vary park to park and resort to resort. In contrast to jibs, typically being manufactured off-site of steel and plastic, jumps are most commonly constructed entirely of snow or snow with a base of dirt. Tricks such as grabs, twists, spins and flips are often performed while in the air from a jump. Types of jumps in a park may consist of:
Tabletop
A jump that looks somewhat like a table or trapezoid in which one takes off from an incline (the lip), clear a flat part (the table), and lands on a downslope (the landing)
Step-down
A jump in which the landing is lower than the takeoff
Step-up
A jump in which the landing is higher than the takeoff
Gap
A jump that has a gap in between the take off and landing, instead of a table
Hip
A jump with one landing, which is perpendicular to the take off
Spine
A jump with two landings, which are perpendicular to the take off. Similar to a hip, but with a landing on both sides.
Channel gap
Looks like a wide jump cut at the middle, so it becomes a gap between the two jumps
Half-pipe: a downhill trough with vertical lips on each side, resembling half of a cylinder.
Quarter-pipe: a vertical lip with the intention that the user launch straight into the air, then land on the same lip.
Terrain park only areas
Terrain park only areas which are similar to regular resorts are becoming more common and are increasing in popularity. These areas typically have jumps and features on all trails and are generally smaller than most resorts. While their size may be less than that of larger resorts these areas are more appealing to terrain park riders as they are typically cheaper, have more extreme or uncommon features, and have music played over loud speakers throughout the area. These areas are generally rider owned and operated. Carinthia Parks at Mount Snow, Vermont is the only all terrain park mountain face in New England with two lifts accessing nine different parks.[2]
Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow. Snowboards widths are between 6 and 12 inches or 15 to 30 centimeters. Snowboards are differentiated from monoskis by the stance of the user. In monoskiing, the user stands with feet inline with direction of travel, whereas in snowboarding, users stand with feet transverse to the longitude of the board. Users of such equipment may be referred to as snowboarders. Commercial snowboards generally require extra equipment such as bindings and special boots which help secure both feet of a snowboarder, who generally ride in an upright position. These types of boards are commonly used by people at ski hills, mountains, backcountry, or resorts for leisure, entertainment, and competitive purposes in the activity called snowboarding.
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games.
Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and boxes on their skis. Known as "hot-dogging" in the early 1970s, it is also commonly referred to as freeskiing, jibbing, as well as many other names, around the world.
Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of Sydney, accessible by the Alpine Way via Cooma, Berridale, and Jindabyne. The village is built in the valley of the Thredbo River, also known as the Crackenback River, at the foot of the Ramshead Range.
Ski and winter sports in Slovakia are very prominent and popular given the mountainous topography of the region and the fact that much of the country is covered by snow for a long part of the year.
Tryvann is a small lake in Nordmarka, the forest area just north of Oslo city, near the Holmenkollen ski jump. By the water lies a cabin called Tryvannstua, in which there is a café open regularly during both summer and winter. On a hill above the lake looms the television tower Tryvannstårnet, visible from most of Oslo. Tryvann is the entry and beginning of Nordmarka. It is used all year around. The key purposes of this area in the winter are skiing and cross-country skiing, whereas in the summer it is more commonly used for walks in the forest and biking. When referring to Tryvann, it is mostly referred to as the Tryvann vinterpark.
Freeriding is a style of snowboarding or skiing performed on natural, un-groomed terrain, without a set course, goals or rules. It evolved throughout the sport's formative early years as a contrary response to the highly regimented style of ski competition prevalent at the time. Snowboarders primarily refer to freeriding as backcountry, sidecountry, or off-piste snowboarding, and sometimes big mountain or extreme riding.
Big White Ski Resort, simply known as Big White, is a ski resort located 56 km (35 mi) southeast of Kelowna in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. It is located on Big White Mountain, the highest summit in the Okanagan Highland, an upland area between the Monashee Mountains and the Okanagan Valley. Big White is the third largest resort in British Columbia, after Whistler-Blackcomb and Sun Peaks. In 2019, Big White was nominated as the third-best ski resort in Canada by Snowpak.
Freeskiing, or new school skiing, is a specific type of alpine skiing, which involves tricks, jumps, and terrain park features, such as rails, boxes, jibs, or other obstacles. This form of skiing resulted from the growth of snowboarding combined with the progression of freestyle skiing. "Newschoolers", or those who specifically ski in this style, as opposed to traditional freestylers, freeriders, big mountain skiers, and racers, are often found in terrain parks, which are designed specifically for tricks.
Mount Bachelor ski resort is a ski resort located in Central Oregon, approximately 22 miles (35 km) west of Bend, along Century Drive Highway. The ski area is on the northern side of Mount Bachelor, a stratovolcano rising atop a volcanic shield in the Cascade Range.
Mountain High resort is a winter resort in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County in California. Mountain High is one of the most-visited resorts in Southern California. The resort is located along State Route 2 west of Wrightwood, California. The elevation of the resort is 6,600 feet (2,000 m) to 8,200 feet (2,500 m) for the Mountain High East Resort, 7,000 feet (2,100 m) to 8,000 feet (2,400 m) for the West Resort and 7,200 feet (2,200 m) to 7,800 ft (2,400 m) for the North Resort.
Wilmot Mountain is a ski area in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. It is located in the community of Wilmot and lies in both the Town of Randall and the village of Salem Lakes, just north of the Illinois border. Located in the southern region of Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine, Wilmot Mountain is the result of glaciation. The self-proclaimed "Matterhorn of the Midwest" was founded by Walter Stopa in 1938 after a thorough research of the area’s topography. It has a vertical drop of about 200 feet (60 m). It is also one of the few hills where the mountain is wide open, with few trees or barriers to crossing the hill. A skier can transverse several runs while skiing downhill. Night skiing is available on the entire hill.
Mt. Brighton is a ski and snowboard area in Brighton, Michigan, that opened in 1961. As no hills large enough for commercial skiing or snowboarding exist naturally in Brighton, Mt. Brighton's slopes are man-made and reach a maximum height of 230 vertical feet. Contrary to urban legend, Mt. Brighton was never a landfill. Mt. Brighton has 5 chairlifts and 7 surface lifts. Silver is the longest and newest of the 25 runs, running 1,350 feet. A terrain park, featuring rails, boxes, and jumps, is available to freestyle skiers and snowboarders. Almost all of the snow on Mt. Brighton is created artificially using water stored in an on-site reservoir and industry standard snowmaking equipment.
Boreal Mountain California is a ski area in Soda Springs, near the Lake Tahoe area of California. It has six chairlifts and two surface lifts, and offers the only night skiing in Tahoe, until 8 pm. It is owned by Powdr Corporation.
Seven Springs Mountain Resort is an all-season resort located in the borough of Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. It has a relatively high elevation for a Pennsylvania ski area, at 3,001 feet (915 m) above sea level. Activities include biking, canopy touring, ziplining, sporting clays, fishing, hiking and golfing in the summer and skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing in the winter. The ski season at Seven Springs typically begins on the day after Thanksgiving and continues to mid-April, weather permitting.
Perfect North Slopes, is an alpine skiing resort in Southeastern Indiana. It consists of 5 magic carpets, 2 rope tows, and 5 chairlifts. The area has 23 trails, 1 of which is expert, 3 of which are most difficult, 2 of which are advanced intermediate, 12 of which are intermediate, and 5 of which are beginner. Lessons at this resort are available.
Shawn Orecchio is a retired professional snowboarder He is also the founder of the US Open of Mountain Biking, the Diablo Mountain Bike Park, Status Snowboard Company USA, and several notable ski resort terrain parks.
Some Snowboard binding rotating devices are designed to minimize the torque force that occurs when a snowboarder has one foot out of the binding and one locked on the board. The rotating device allows the snowboarder to turn the locked foot straight into the direction of the tip of the snowboard without removing their boot from the boot binding. Like this they can push themselves forward like a skateboarder. Others are designed to be free rotating the entire time you ride. Both feet are free to turn and adjust to the optimal position for a certain terrain. These subtle changes in foot position help keep stress off of ones knees as well as help ones control down the slopes.
Kreischberg is an Austrian ski resort in Styria, Austria.
This glossary of skiing and snowboarding terms is a list of definitions of terms and jargon used in skiing, snowboarding, and related winter sports.
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