Terrain park
A terrain park is an outdoor area that contains terrain that allows skiers and snowboarders to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in skateparks and many of the features are common to both. One of the first in-bounds terrain parks was the "Snowboard Park" built in 1990 at the Vail resort.[1] The park was copied soon in other resorts. Today most resorts have terrain parks, with many having multiple parks of varying difficulty. Some resorts are almost exclusively terrain parks such as Echo Mountain Park in Idaho Springs, Colorado, USA 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.
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[edit] 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 will be short jumps and rails that are even with the slopes surface, Medium will be 10 – 30 foot jumps along with jibs requiring small jumps to get on top of, and Large will include 30 – 90 foot jumps along with complex jibs and large vertical pipes.
[edit] Jibs
Jibs are any type of fixture which can be ridden with the board/skis either parallel or perpendicular to (ground), ridden while spinning around on (buttered), or ridden and jumped or tricked from. Many jib features resemble outdoor items used when snowboarding in urban areas (stair rails, benches, tables, etc.). In the park these consist of:
- Rail: A metal bar, either rounded or with a small flat surface, which a skier or snowboarder can slide across (called "jibbing"). Rails are defined as anything too thin for a skier to place both skis on without turning. Many people confuse rails with wider surfaces with boxes, however these are not, and are just rails with a little UHMWPE on top.
- Box: Similar to a rail, but wider with an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) surface. May or may not have metal edges. Compare Funbox, for skateboarding.
- Table 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 made of UHMWPE. 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)
- Bonks: A more recent addition to terrain parks, bonks 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 bonk, tapping with different parts of the skis or stalling on top of the bonk.
- Rainbow: A box or rail that has a hump like a "rainbow."
[edit] Jumps
Jumps in terrain parks can range from five feet to ninety feet 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 and twists or spins 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
- Super kicker: A large jump used for air, spins, and or flips. Also called "Kickers."
- Mini kicker: A large jump (smaller than a Super Kicker) use for the same tricks as a Super kicker.
- Channel gap: Looks like a wide jump cut at the middle, so it becomes a gap between the two jumps
[edit] Vertical
- Half-pipe: A downhill trough with vertical lips on each side, resembling half of a cylinder. See also: Superpipe
- Quarter-pipe: A vertical lip with the intention that the user launch straight into the air, then land on the same lip.
[edit] 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. Some examples can be seen from Echo mountain park (www.echomtnpark.com) and 540 central board park (www.540Central.com). Mount Snow, Vermont has the only all mountain park face on a mountain called Carinthia. With three other faces of the mountain, Carinthia attracts thousands of riders to this destination in Southern Vermont to throw down their tricks.
