Ride Park City

Final stop of the Olympic Grand Prix tour just announced: Park City Mountain Resort January 22–23, 2010. The US Olympic Team will be announced!

Olympic dreams will be made and broken during the 2010 U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix as the tour makes three stops in its 14th season.  A total of five Olympic qualifications will take place at Copper Mountain, Mammoth Mountain and the final stop at Park City Mountain Resort.   The announcement of the 2010 Olympic halfpipe team will be made right here at PCMR!

 

The competition will heat up as Olympic gold medalists Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter and Shawn White, along with fellow Olympic medalists Gretchen Bleiler, JJ Thomas and Danny Kass all look for another shot at Olympic glory.  Joining them in the hunt will be Grand Prix overall champions Steve Fisher and Louie Vito as well as Grand Prix podium performers Ellery Hollingsworth, Clair Bidez, Greg Bretz and Olympian Elena Hight.

 

NBC, the Olympic network, and Versus will broadcast the competition.  Go211.com will webcast the Grand Prix live from each stop. 

 

Park City's Historic Pipe Rides Again

The historic pipe where U.S. athletes swept the men's podium and won gold in the women's event during the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 will entertain the masses with Olympians again.  The Grand Prix makes its final stop at Park City Mountain Resort for back to back night competitions, after which the winners will be crowned and the 2010 Olympic halfpipe team will be named. 

 

Among the athletes stoked to hit the Park City pipe is White who, after having dinner wiht PCMR owner John Cumming, took to his Twitter page to spread the good news. 

 

"Had dinner with John Cumming,"  White wrote.  "Super nice guy, he told me Park City is having Olympic qualis mid Jan!  booyeah!"

 

A reduced field comprised of the highest scoring athletes from previous tour stops will throw down the best tricks in their bag in an attempt to be one of the few named to the Olympic halfpipe team when the event is over.

 

"It's the perfect place to close the story of the Olympic team selection," said USSA Vice President of Events Calum Clark.  "The pipe has the tradition of being one of the best in North America.  They put a tremendous amount of pride and energy into their venue.  They are very excited to have this here."

 

Clark is right!  We are very excited to host this historic event.  NBC, the Olympic network, and Versus will broadcast the competitions.  Go211.com will webcast the Grand Prix live from each stop.  We'll have more details in the coming months.  Fortunately, January is still a few months away!

 

 

 

 

Extended Season - New Closing Date April 19, 2009

 

Thanks to more than eight feet of snow in the past two weeks, and a 97 inch settled depth base, we have decided to extend our season by one week with closing day on Sunday, April 19. Beginning Monday, April 13 we will continue to operate the following lifts:
- PayDay
- Bonanza
- Silverlode
- Thaynes
- Jupiter
- First Time
- Three Kings

 

All four parks and the Eagle Superpipe will remain open for the additional week.
 
Park City Mountain Rentals, Legacy Cafe, Summit House, and Kristi's Coffee Cafe will also remain open through Sunday, April 19. Hours of operation will be the same.
Full-Day Lift Ticket Pricing will be as follows:
Adult: $50
Youth: $30
Senior: $35

During our additional week of winter operations, we are extending a special single day 'locals' lift ticket rate of only $20 to all Deer Valley and The Canyons season passholders and employees (please present your pass or ID at the ticket windows)

Thanks to more than eight feet of snow in the past two weeks, and a 97 inch settled depth base, we have decided to extend our season by one week with closing day on Sunday, April 19. Beginning Monday, April 13 we will continue to operate the following lifts:
- PayDay
- Bonanza
- Silverlode
- Thaynes
- Jupiter
- First Time
- Three Kings

 

All four parks and the Eagle Superpipe will remain open for the additional week.
 
Park City Mountain Rentals, Legacy Cafe, Summit House, and Kristi's Coffee Cafe will also remain open through Sunday, April 19. Hours of operation will be the same.
Full-Day Lift Ticket Pricing will be as follows:
Adult: $50
Youth: $30
Senior: $35

During our additional week of winter operations, we are extending a special single day 'locals' lift ticket rate of only $20 to all Deer Valley and The Canyons season passholders and employees (please present your pass or ID at the ticket windows)

4th Annual Queens Cup Open

Starting next week, you may notice an increase of lady shredders around Park City!  That's because we will be hosting the 4th Annual Queens Cup Open presented by K2. 

This year's event will consist of a slopestyle competition in Pick on Saturday, March 28 and we've included something special.... My Super Sweet Park, Monday and Tuesday, March 30 and 31! An all women's super park for invited pros AND you can qualify by winning QCO slopestyle!

Think you have what it takes to be invited? We're looking for some FRESH ladies that kill it, have a good attitude and would be STOKED to shred along side the top athletes in the world! For more information on how you can receive an invite, check out www.queenscupopen.com

We also have an exciting t-shirt design contest and the winner will receive some sweet goodies and free entrance into QCO.

The official Queens Cup Open after party will be held at Harry O's on Saturday (3/28) night with a "Little Black Dress" theme. 

REGISTRATION IS OPEN at www.queenscupopen.com.  SPACE IS LIMITED!

The Intelligent Design

Hopefully, by now you've heard a thing or two about the Intelligent Design.  If you've been at the resort, you've probably noticed the transformation taking place in Pick'n Shovel.  This Saturday, March 7, 2009 Park City Mountain Resort is taking the next step in terrain park design and competition evolution.  We are combining all elements of competitive snowboarding into one competiton course.  The couse is being "intelligently designed" by Jim Mangan and will be ready for training by Thursday morning.  We've invited the top 20 male snowboarders in the world and are giving away a total of $50,000 to the top 10 riders.  All of the action takes place on Saturday, one day of fun, extremeness and never before seen action.  Saturday night the event moves to Harry O's for the after party with DJ Crooked.  Harry O's is a private club for members and of course you must be 21 to enter.  Be sure to visit www.theidpc.com for additional details as well as final results once they are official. 

After the event Pick'n Shovel and the superpipe will reopen to the public once we can build them for public use. 

Spring Time Riding

It looks like Spring is finally in the air and that brought out tons of riders to the mountain.  I went up to Jonsey's terrrain park today and was amazed at how many riders were hitting up the park.  One of my fellow resort employees actually took a count and at one point said over 1000 people had rolled through the park in an hour's time. 

  Aside from the fact that it was a Saturday, and it was warm and sunny, it was obvious that another reason Jonsey's was so crowded is the fact that the Pick 'N Shovel park is closed.  RIght now the groomers are out rebuilding Pick N Shovel for the Intelligent Design Competition taking place next Saturday, March 7th. 

Hang tight everyone, this event is going to be awesome and afterwards the park will be tweaked again and open shortly afterward.  Check out www.theidpc.com for all the details on The Intelligent Design.  While you're out riding in Jonsey's over the next couple of days, remember that everyone is there to have fun.  Respect Gets Respect.  And watch where you're hanging out, out of the way of landing zones and drop-in zones too.  Jibb it up!

Welcome Back Winter

After several event weekends in a row, I'm happy to report that we are done for a few weeks.  Hopefully, all of you had a chance to demo the lastest Burton gear this last weekend as well as stock up on Nature Valley bars and Emergen-C.  I'm pretty sure that the combination of those two could keep you riding strong for at least a couple of days! The Burton Am series took am competitions to a whole new level with both the event set up,  the riders competiting and the purse wasn't too bad either!  The weather was a bit challenging toward the end of the day on Saturday, but a small format change kept things rolling.  Sunday, we were fortunate enough to finish the competition before it started DUMPING!

Speaking of snow, welcome back winter!  It was nice to have a little spring to break things up, but I'm pretty psyched about the current weather pattern!  It's amazing what a good storm does for the natural features on the mountain.  Everywhere is pretty epic right now!  Last week, we put out a few mini features on the First Time run, even "minier" than the features that were already spread out in the parks.  If you've been checking out our parks, but not really sure how to step up these features minimize the fear factor! 

Enjoy the next couple of weeks.  We're excited to start building something you've never seen before for "The Intelligent Design" starting around February 22.  Check out www.theidpc.com for more details on the ID. 

BYE

I RIDE PARK CITY (the movie)

Last fall many of you may have come up to Park City for the premiere of I Ride Park City.  I was there, it was an awesome time.  The film is unique in the sense that it was filmed entirely at one mountain...Park City Mountain Resort.  The movie was created and produced by Jim Mangan, who is our director of Action Sports Marketing, he's the guy who also manages our team of athletes and builds the terrain parks.  When he came up with the idea he created more than just a film, but also an anthem that many of our riders and guests can actually say "I RIDE PARK CITY".  Here's the film's trailer-

 

The film was also an official selection of the 2009 X-Dance film festival and was nominated for best soundtrack.  We've actually been asked time and time again "What is the name of the song in the trailer"  well, it's called "All In It" by British Sea Power.  The film's soundtrack is awesome and the riding is sick too, local rider Bode Merrill's part is amazing along with Torstein Horgmo's, Shaun White's and Erin Comstock's.  There were plenty of riders that all appear in the film too.

If you haven't seen I RIDE PARK CITY yet, you can purchase your own copy online at pcride.com.  It is now $9.95.  So, check out the film and the come RIDE PARK CITY yourself.

Hey, don't forget to come up this weekend for the Burton Super Demo Tour too.  Here's your chance to check out the lastest and greatest from Burton.  Check out the new Hero deck over in Pick 'N Shovel or up at Jonsey's, or if we get some fresh snow take out a Malolo or Fish.  There's going to be a lot going on during the Demo tour along with testing new gear including giveaways and SCHWAG! SCHWAG! SCHWAG! GALORE!

One more event weekend!

It seems as if all I've been talking about lately is events.  I guess it's safe to say that they have taken over my world, just a little!  This upcoming weekend is the last weekend (for a while) that we have park competitions. 

Starting Friday, we will be hosting the Burton Super Demo Tour and Am Series!  We've been a Burton Super Demo Tour host for several years, but this is the first time for us to host the Am Series.  Be sure to check out the latest Burton gear, Friday - Sunday and if you are so inclined sign up for the Am Series at Burton.com!  The Am Series gets you a chance to compete at the US Open in March and there is $7,000 given away at each stop!    

Last weekend, at the Visa Freestyle International World Cup the skiers slayed it in the pipe!  The French men have stepped on the scene lately with Kevin Rolland and Xavier Bertoni taking 1st and 2nd respectively.  Colorado local Walter Wood represented the US with 3rd place.  On the ladies side of things, American Angeli Vanlaanen took top honors, Canadian Megan Gunning took 2nd and Anais Caradeux of France took 3rd.  Thanks to all of the skiers who came out to support the first skier halfpipe held in the US.  The ultimate goal is to have halfpipe skiers represented in the 2014 Olympics.  Check out coverage from the event on NBC Sunday, February 8th at 3 p.m. EST and on Versus Sunday, February 8th, at 4 and 5 p.m. EST and Sunday, February 15th at 4 p.m. EST.

Park City welcomes recent X Games Skier Halfpipe Finalists

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, next week we are excited to welcome the Visa Freestlye International World Cup to Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort.  After watching the skiers go big in the X Games the last few days, I can say I am now even more excited.  Here is a comparision on how the X Games Skier Halfpipe ended up and who we will be expecting here at the Eagle Superpipe next week.   I'll start with ladies, because ladies first, right?

XGAMES - SKI SuperPipe Ladies Final

1 Sarah Burke, CAN – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

2 Jen Hudak, USA – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

3 Jess Cumming, USA – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

4 Roz Groenewoud, CAN – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

5 Virginie Faivre, SUI – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

6 Angeli VanLaanen, USA – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

7 Grete Eliassen        

8 Mirjam Jaeger, SUI – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International 

 XGAMES - SKI SuperPipe Men's Final

1 Xavier Bertoni , FRA - Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

2 Tanner Hall     

3 Simon Dumont, USA – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

4 Justin Dorey, CAN – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

5 Colby West, USA – Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

6 Duncan Adams             

7 AJ Kemppainen, FIN– Confirmed for Visa Freesyle International

8 Kevin Rolland

If you were unable to watch these athletes, live and in person at the X Games be sure and check them out right here at Park City Mountain Resort next Saturday (1/31).  The competition is scheduled to kick off at 9:30 a.m.

Thursday, the event kicks off with a free concert from Michael Franti and Spearhead on Lower Main Street in Park City.  The entertainment goes from 7:00 - 9:00 and will be followed by fireworks! 

Deer Valley will moguls, aerials and dual moguls Thursday - Saturday.  It is a freestyle skier extravaganza!

Inaugurating Jonesy's , King of the Wasatch and World Cup action

Yesterday was a big day at Park City Mountain Resort!  Upper Jonesy's opened to the public with 17 jib and jump features.  Our terrain parks are now completely open for the season!  This season Jim and the rest of the park crew have done an awesome job getting tons of features open for all ability levels.  If you haven't checked out the parks yet this season now is a great time to get jibby. 

Here's JP from our park crew making sure the features are working correctly!   Thanks for your hard work JP.

Now that the crew has opened all the parks it's time to kick off our event scheudule.  This Friday and Saturday (1/23 and 1/24) we'll be hosting the King of the Wasatch with the Park City Snowboard Team and the Intermountain Snowboard Series.  The King of the Wasatch is a pipe and slopestyle competition open to USASA members.  Check out our events calendar (www.pcride.com)  for details on the competition and how to sign up!  There is a cash prize for winners of the open divisions! 

Immediately following the King of the Wasatch we kick into Visa Freestyle International World Cup gear.  Skier halfpipe World Cup that is!  We are hosting this event in partnership with Deer Valley Resort and the Visa Freestyle International World Cup that also includes Moguls, Dual Moguls and Aerials.  This is the first skier halfpipe World Cup in the states!  The confirmed (subject to change) athlete list that we've received at this point includes some of the top name skiers out there including Simon Dumont, Colby West, JP Solberg, Jen Hudak, etc!  The halfpipe competition takes place on Saturday, 1/31 beginning at 9:30 a.m. More details are available at pcride.com including info on the Free Michael Franti and Spearhead concert on Lower Main Street Thursday evening.

The weekend following the World Cup weekend we will be hosting the Burton Super Demo Tour and Am Series.  I'll get more details on that in the coming weeks.  Seeing as how I'm the events manager here, I think I need a nap....and this hasn't even started!