1. WHO'S THE ANGEL
This is the brainchild of Tom Lyons at Bear Creek, Pa. This 10-foot adjustable pole jam doesn’t need to be dug out to change the angle. By simply undoing some bolts with a ratchet, two people can adjust the angle, replace the bolts, and reset the new hit in under five minutes.
2. A SOLID BOX
The Hot Dawgz and Hand Rails event at Bear Mountain, Calif., now in its sixth year, drew 5,000 attendees and was the area’s most successful event. Entrants played on 110 tons of ice on a course designed by Clayton Shoemaker, which featured the nation’s first marble ledge down box.
3. MORE THAN A PIPE DREAM
Pictured to the right is a custom-built hip cutter, brought to you by Eric Rosenwald and his crew at Boreal, Calif. Using a HPGR17 as a starting point, the tranny is completely redesigned to allow consistent nightly grooming of hip and spine features with landings of 45 to 75 degrees—even vertical walls will be possible. Track the development of this new machine via the park blog at www.borealterrainpark.com/2008/09/taking-matters-in-to-our-own-hands.html.
4. GOING DOWN
This set-up from Big Boulder, Pa., features, from left to right, a 20-foot-long granite-top ledge, a 25-foot-long flat down hybrid rail and an end-kinked concrete ledge.
5. A SUMMER FLING
This turf terrain park at Camelback, Pa., was a hit among summer guests. CBK Turf can be constantly tuned and adjusted and was open every Saturday for $10, or free for season passholders. Check out www.cbkactionsports for more info.
6. SWINGING THROUGH
The park crew at The Canyons, Utah, created this log swing. The swing is a big stall feature on top of a quarterpipe that adds the element of moving parts. This one-of-a-kind jib cost just $20.
7. HANGING OUT
The Heavenly park crew in California continued their recycled- feature line with the Gallo, a 15-foot-tall monster made from 99 percent recycled materials. Down to the left is the Mary-Go-Round, which spins, and is also made from 99 percent recycled materials. The two features join around 20 recycled features on the hill, easily identified by their signature neon green logos.
8. CATCH A RIDE
Holimont, N.Y., debuted a Volkswagen Beetle in 2008-09. The Beetle lends itself to most ability levels and was one of the park favorites.
9. OFF THE MENU
At Hotham Alpine Resort in Australia, a 10-part series debuted this past season called “A La Carte in the Park.” The series had five rail jams, two big airs, a ridercross, a banked slalom and a slopestyle contest. Over 50 competitors signed up for each event, and all attendees enjoyed after parties, BBQs and even a gelato tasting. From this event, the top performers were invited to join Hotham’s first park team, which will compete away and at home through the 2010 season.
10. LIL SIS GETS CREATIVE
June Mountain, sister resort of Mammoth Mountain, gets a lot of hand-me-downs, including Pipe Dragons. At the start of the summer, the area had five sitting out back. So, the park crew took out a torch and welder and removed the transition to make it straight, in order to build bigger hips much faster and to maintain them more easily. The new hip cutter will be able to cut flat banks and walls as well.
11. OPTIONS, OPTIONS, OPTIONS
Loon, N.H., calls this the Aggro-Crag. The multi-option feature was built for the Eastern Boarder’s Last Call event and entrants were invited to hit it any way they wanted. And they did--at least 10 different ways.
12. LOW IMPACT, BIG FUN
In the Moon Park at Méribel, France, all rails and boxes will be HO5 Biorails, eco-friendly rails built by HO5. Their goal: reduction of 80 percent in Co2 emissions; reduction of the impact on natural resources of 90 percent; a reduced impact on the ecosystem of 80 percent; and the weight is divided in half. To achieve this, most of the steel was replaced by wood, and construction had to take place within three miles of the resort.
13. A SNEAK PEAK
This is the second annual Peace Pipe Jam held at Mount Snow, Vt., over Memorial Day weekend. The area unveiled its new staircase to debut this coming season. Over 300 people attended the event.
14. THE ULTIMATE ALL-IN-ONE
This submission from Northstar, Calif., is a collaboration between the area, Snow Park Technologies and Burton. This multi-option puppy contains the following: 22-foot quarterpipe; two 18-foot quarterpipes; a table top; a cannon box to step up to pond skim; a step up to pond skim; a hip jump; a staircase with two single-barrel rails; a stair case with a down flat box and down flat rail; a Hobbit door within the B for a rider hang-out zone; a log stall; a bench stall; and a snow wall ride. Whew!
15. CELEBRATING THE JOEY
Okemo, Vt., hosted its first Joey Jam, an event that celebrates, well, the Joey. Contestants were encouraged to don their rear-entry boots, their best neon, and rock out to Bon Jovi over a rail and a jump. An interview was also part of the scoring, and contestants had to remain in their Joey mode. Okemo even set up a mullet-styling station. The winner received this 1992 Chevy Camaro RS 25th Anniversary edition. To see some of the hilarious highlights, go to www.okemo.com/parksandpipes/pics.asp.
16. BARREL OF LAUGHS
As the entry said, “Welcome to Sammy Carlson’s brain.” This feature from Stevens Pass, Wash., was made by welding together four oil barrels, attaching a 100-foot rope and then suspending the entire thing from a haul rope. The jib was set up for a TGR film shoot for “Re:Session.” The barrel column was hoisted into the air by snowmobile.
17. SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
Perfect North Slopes, Ind., hosted its second annual Photo Annual Big Air. The premise behind the contest is to make it feel like a magazine photo shoot. The area hires photographers, rents large flash systems and lets contestants do their things.
18. SUCH A SQUARE
Summit-at-Snoqualmie, Wash., created three elements for a photo shoot based on a cubed theme. This picture shows an 8-foot step-up to a snow box, to a 20-foot flat box, to a snow box with a 10-foot drop step-down landing.
19. ON ITS HEAD
Snow Valley, Calif., built a quarterpipe a few years back that was not very popular. At the suggestion of a team rider, the area set the element on it side in order to use it as a skate-style bowl. Guests loved it.
20. GETTING A LIFT
Jamie McCourt, the terrain park manager at Snowshoe Mountain, W.V., needed a better way to move rails and boxes. So, he built these forks, with the help of Dave irvine and Roger Welch, out of an old quick-attach MP 275 blade and 36-inch forklift forks and 72-inch extensions. Now they can move larger rails and several smaller ones at once.
21. A SMART JIB
At Sol Vista, Colo., the terrain park team took an old 1,000-pound propane tank, torched everything that stuck out, and then welded patches over the holes. Add some paint, and it’s a great jib and safety message in one.
22. FROM ANY SIDE
Squaw Valley, Calif., created this Monster Energy Khaos feature for its terrain park sponsor, Monster Energy. Debuted at a rail jam series called “Jibbing for Jacksons,” this feature lights up at night to highlight the area’s night riding. Otherwise, the feature has a 26-foot-long up-flat-down box with a three-sided pyramid.
23. STAND GUARD
Kurt Crouse at Stowe Mountain, Vt., found two sections of roadside guardrail and created this rail out of it. Guests loved it.
24. ON THE BUS
Straight Line Rails built this bus jib for a contest at Okemo, Vt., which was sponsored by Sobe. First, they stripped the bus of unneeded parts and made the rear axle into a set of massive skis for transportation. A bowl corner and banked C-box was built into the side, and a banked flat box was built across the hood. The front bumper became a flat bar rail slide. The entire element is covered in Lexan, and guests can watch from inside.
25. AT YOUR REQUEST
Sugar Bowl, Calif., hosted a Working Man Wednesday contest this past winter, where contestants essentially played a game of PIG. Celebrity judges called out a trick, which the contestant had to land, making it fun for all ages and ability levels.
26. STACKING UP
Nick Roma, Jay Scambio, and the crew at Sunday River, Maine, recycled the lifting frames from an old chairlift to construct a rail and box organization system. The rack is 36 feet long and holds approximately 30 rails/boxes. The posts are removable to allow crew to pick up the features.
27. A LOT OF LAUGHS
Ski Sundown, Conn., built this Laugh Pipe for www.magicalgogo.com and the U.S. GOpen of snowboarding (www.vimeo.com/3797241). They did it all with their Park Bully and an army of lifties and terrain park crew for shaping.
28. A SPOOL SAMPLE
What better way to promote a gondola linking two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb, than by highlighting it with a jib or two? The cable for the Peak 2 Peak gondola was delivered on one-ton spools, so each mountain turned a spool into a very cool element. In addition, a stepover style jump with a 75-foot gap on Whistler uses the Peak 2 Peak gondola as a backdrop, creating unique photo and film opportunities.
30. LIFT OFF
At Moonlight Basin, Mont., the entrance to the area’s Zero Gravity Terrain Park is graced with this rocket. For one day, though, Moonlight piled snow against and let guests have at it.
31. ULTIMATE DIY
“My name is Laura Stebe and I am submitting this picture on behalf of the city of Charlevoix, Mich., for the Traing Grounds” terrain park at Mt. McSauba. In 2008, my son, Brennan, did his Eagle Project and built all of the elements for the terrain park. By the end of the 08-09 season, our park was competing with Boyne Mt. and Nubs Nob for creativity.
32. DANGEROUS SEAS
At Nordic Mountain, Wisc., the terrain park crew aimed this torpedo (inset) straight at their capsized yacht, for a nice flowing line.
33. A DIRTY JOB
For 2009-10, Waterville Valley, N.H., and terrain park manager Luke Mathison have done some extra dirty work for a greener tomorrow. Using clean fill, Luke filled in and leveled out the huge void in the uphill side of the park’s popular Oakley Hubba Stair feature. The result is a feature that needs a lot less snow, is easier to maintain, and can be opened a lot sooner.
34. COLOR ME HAPPY
This Terrain park contest entry came to us from Isabelle falardeau at aspen/snowmass. This feature was built for a transworld photo shoot and incorporates two quarterpipes, a step-down and a pond skim. Riders are Natascza Zurek in red; Gabi Viteri in blue; and Spencer O’Brien in yellow
CUTTER'S CAMP