2019 Terrain Park Contest

Our terrain park contest drew entries from around the world. As the entries arrived, it didn’t take much analysis to land on two major themes in this year’s 15th annual contest.

The first theme was derived using simple math: We received more than twice as many entries in the Events category as we did in either the Features or Bread and Butter categories. A little analysis revealed why: Terrain parks have always been a place where friends gather, encourage each other to dial in new tricks, and generally enjoy time on snow together in a welcoming environment. A majority of the events in this year’s contest reflect these traits, only on custom-built parks, and mostly in a competitive format.

The other theme is that park builders are constructing a lot of features out of reused stuff. This isn’t a new thing in the world of terrain parks, of course. Since the early days of terrain parks, most features were something else before they were stuck in the snow and ridden by skiers and snowboarders. Back then it was more out of necessity, because management didn’t want to spend money on parks. Now, though, there seems to be a realization that recycling old stuff that was bound for the scrap yard or landfill is actually a responsible thing to do. Way to be green, everybody.

But enough about themes. Last year, we added the Bread and Butter category to learn more about the most popular features in your park, or the most popular park in your system. Entries poured in, so we kept the category this year. However, we’re planning a few tweaks for next year’s contest to showcase park builders’ hard work and creativity in some different ways. Stay tuned for that.

The winners of the 2019 SAM Terrain Park Contest are:

Feature: "Murray's Dance Floor," Blue Mountain, Ont.

Bread and Butter: "Fat Boxes," Mt. Hood Meadows, Ore.

Event: FRZN Rail Jam, Blue Mountain, Ont.

Category winners receive a prize pack provided by: