• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

To Park or Not?

BenedictGomez

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
12,119
Points
113
Location
Wasatch Back
Having parks is like having racing: Most people don't/can't participate in it, it takes up valuable slope space, it takes up other resources (snowmaking, equipment, staff, etc). Both racing and park events are a huge part of the identity of skiing. World tours, Olympics, etc are the outward expression of skiing to most of the world. If resorts want to be a part of that they need to offer parks and racing.

Agree with the low participation rate and "outward expression", but not the slope management/resources bit. Race courses can be "here one morning" and an on-map groomer that same afternoon. They also dont gobble up nearly the same manner of resources. Parks, however, stay in place the entire season and are pretty expensive.

FYI highway star....a counterpoint might help your case (whatever the hell that is)......just sayin'

Yeah, when you make a negative one sentence "say nothing" reply to a giant post it's tough to even understand what it is he (apparently) emphatically disagrees with.
 

Abubob

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
3,531
Points
63
Location
Alexandria, NH
Website
tee.pub
I will say this about parks: they are situated in terrain I could care less about... Race courses on the other hand eat up valuable real estate!

Oh! Oh! That too! Always training on the most fun slopes. Usually blue squares that almost qualify as black diamonds. Parks are lower mountain blue squares that border on green circles.
 

Abubob

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
3,531
Points
63
Location
Alexandria, NH
Website
tee.pub
Parks, however, .... are pretty expensive.

Everyone keeps saying this but nobody has any data to back this assertion up. All I've been able to find is how expensive half pipes are. So how much more expensive it to form huge whales (which tends to be how many places make snow) into jumps as opposed to grooming it flat?

This photo taken at the top of Short Fuse at Cannon Feb 2014
Unreal whales by Bob Misu, on Flickr

Exhibition at Ragged Dec 2009
Whale backs by Bob Misu, on Flickr

Wild Side Park at Ragged Dec 2010 - later formed into jumps
Whale Backs by Bob Misu, on Flickr
 
Top