Holiday Report
Hey Park riders, Finestone here with a Holiday Park update. It has been a stellar week with a perfect temperature inversion keeping the valley snow cold for after hour urban sessions while the Parks are all warm and sunny with ideal snow conditions. Even though I always ask for face shots of cold POW for Christmas, this would have to be my second choice. Crews have been out filming in the Parks and all over town, and it amazes me that even after all these years, people can find new things to jib around town.
In the Parks we have been building away with fresh new set-ups for all riding levels. The Garden is back on Blackcomb and with the creative input from the snowboard school’s Ratty we have designed a better intro to Park experience. This year the Garden will have XS features for little jibbers and jumpers to cut their teeth, it won’t be a good warm-up run for the rest of you, so don’t even bother, that is what Choker and Chipmunk are for.
Whistler has been growing at a steady rate with a fun S-Line down the left side into Cougar. This will continue to develop with more things being added in some of the gaps until it has flow all the way from top to bottom. This week on Chipmunk the crew added at brand new Arena Snowparks combo box set-up which is getting solid reviews. Also new on Chippy is a bonk log set-up at the bottom. Bobcat now has two big jumps in a row that is step-over to step-up style which will lead nicely into the top of the Green Acres jump line being planned and prepped this week.
Choker Park has some great flow now with hips, jumps and jib set-ups in the Medium range. The Snowcross course is next for construction and once the temps drop we will back into snowmaking production for that job. The HL Park saw a refit this week for the Park Rider Slopestyle so the right side offers up a nice mix of jumps and jibs. The HL Left line is big with XL jumps that are well over 50’.
This week also sees the first King of the Rail of the season, taking place at the base of Blackcomb beside the bottom of Magic Chair. Wednesday December 30th is the day and we won’t be doing as many of them this year due to Olympic blackouts so be there to snatch the crown and win some rent money!
-BF
