Ride Park City

Happy Holidays

Hello, Happy Holidays!  I wanted to pass along the parks update we received from Jeremy last Friday.

"I just wanted to give everyone an update on the Terrain Parks. Middle Jonesy's, Pick n' Shovel, and the Eagle Superpipe are now open. The Middle Jonesy's Park is our beginner park. It has 5 jumps and 5 jibs. Pick n' Shovel has 5 jumps and 8 jibs. It is an intermediate to advanced park. The Eagle Superpipe has 22' foot walls and is 550 feet long. This pipe is one of six in North America and is the standard for the 2010 Olympics. Pay Day is open as well and has 9 jibs in it at this time. We do plan to make a few change ups in there soon.  Homerun is no longer a Terrain Park."

Mountain Update:  We are currently  operating 15 of 16 lifts.  Patrol announced yesterday that they are hoping to open Jupiter Lift on Friday, Merry Christmas!  Check out this link for the details http://parkcity.typepad.com/ from one of our patrollers. 

Here are a few photos from 12 year old Jacob and Coach Nate Sheehan with the Park City Chapter of Team Utah in Pick'n Shovel last week. Thanks for the photos Team Utah. 

 

New Skier Vid

Thanks Saga Outerwear for this vid!

Update - Jumps will stay on Homerun for tomorrow, but will be gone on Saturday. Homerun jibs will be gone tomorrow! Have fun in Pick, Jonesy's and the Eagle Superpipe. Jeremy, Tyson and the crew haven't slept much the last couple days. If you see them around be sure the thank them for their hard work!

Latest and Greatest Terrain Updates

SUPERPIPE UPDATE:  THE EAGLE SUPERPIPE WILL OPEN FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009.  THE PIPE NEEDS ONE MORE FULL DAY OF PREPARATION IN ORDER TO MEET OUR QUALITY STANDARDS.

 

Pick ‘N Shovel and Jonesy’s terrain parks will open today, Thursday, December 17, 2009.  Pick ‘N Shovel  will have intermediate to advanced features including five jumps ranging from 30’ to 50’ and up to ten jib features. Jonesy’s will have ten beginner to intermediate features.

 

Along with the new parks opening this week, the PayDay terrain park will remain open with jib features for the remainder of the season. Beginning, December 25, 2009 the PayDay jib park will be lit for night skiing. By this weekend, the resort is scheduled to have 13 of 15 lifts open, with the other two lifts following closely behind.

 

Park City Mountain Resort’s Eagle Superpipe will be the first and largest Superpipe to open in Utah for the 2009-2010 season. 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 US Snowboarding Grand Prix makes its final stop at Park City Mountain Resort for back to back night competitions, January 22-23, 2010, after which the winners will be crowned and the 2010 US Snowboarding Olympic halfpipe team will be named. More information on the US Snowboarding Grand Prix is available at www.pcride.com. 

Winter Storm Dumps Over Two Feet of Snow at Park City Mountain Resort

Winter Storm Dumps Over Two Feet of Snow at Park City Mountain Resort

Ok, first...snow!  We received over two feet from the big winter storm that buried the Wasatch Mountains the last couple of days.  Yesterday, the snow safety crew was able to get some new runs off Silverlode open.  Today, we are opening Crescent, Thaynes and Pio lifts!  McConkey's is on the schedule for tomorrow (but no guarantees just yet).  The snow safety team is psyched to be working after watching the snow making team get all the glory so far this season. The crew will be opening terrain off Crescent, Thaynes, Pio and McConkey's as quickly as they can!  Here is a quick video from Brent Giles, our Director of Mountain Operations showing what it takes to get terrain open.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5SY22OXy3s

Jeremy and the park crew have also been working on some new things for you guys.  I haven't been given the official "go" on announcements, but if you've parked in the First Time lot lately you've probably noticed some action on that side of the mountain.  Maybe an official announcement tomorrow?

In the meantime, check out this recent video from Pat Fenelon.

I must say, what our guys have done with early season conditions is pretty sweet. Get out and enjoy the pow!

2 1/2 Weeks In

Is it just me or does it seem like we've been open for longer than 2 1/2 weeks? We have 4 lifts turning and 7 runs open. We've been pretty consistent with getting new runs open as well as committed to giving the park crew lots of snow to work with.  Tyson and the cat crew started working on the pipe about a week ago.  It is amazing how much snow is over there and how much work actually goes in to building a 22' pipe.  We've had about 8" of natural snow the last few days, so it is starting to look like winter around here! 

There is lots of filming going on out there.  Here are a few of the videos we've received.

Thanks 4bi9 Media

PC Opening Week v2 from 4BI9 Media on Vimeo.

Here is one from Evan Heath - Thanks Evan!

Late November/Early December at PCMR from Evan Heath on Vimeo.

And from Eddie Grams - Thanks

One Run w/Cam @ Park City from Eddie Grams on Vimeo.

PC News - Vids, New Terrain, PayDay Park Revamp

Early season brings constant change to the mountain.  While our snowfall so far this season has been what we're calling "localized" thanks to our snowguns and snowmakers, there is a storm in the forecast.  Check out some of our localized snowstorm vids here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEG1ERDsezU)  The localized storms at the resort have allowed us to continue to get new terrain open, switch up park features and provide a super fun early season sliding experience.  That being said, here are the most recent updates from the resort (from an e-mail sent to our staff yesterday afternoon).

Terrain Park Updates
Upper Homerun includes a triple jump line with  25', 35' and 45' jumps and 4 jib features
Lower Homerun has two smaller jumps and 6 jib features
Payday Jib Park has 8 jib features

Friday, December 4 
Bonanza lift with access to Upper Homerun and Bonanza run
First Time run 
The Summit House will open at 9 a.m. and serve beverages and snacks until 10:30 a.m.  Lunch will be served from 10:30 a.m.  to 3 p.m.

Saturday, December 5 
Town Lift will open for uploading and downloading only
Gorgoza Park will open for the season

Superpipe Update - while the pipe opening is still a ways in the future, I did get a call from Tyson Goodrich (our pipe builder) on Tuesday morning letting me know that he was starting to do some initial prep work on the pipe.

Check out this video from Pat Fenelon featuring PC All Star Drew Fuller and pros Heikki Sorsa, Dan Brisse, Caleb Flowers and Jonas Carlson.  Thanks for the video!

60 seconds at Park City from pat fenelon on Vimeo.

Rumor Confirmed!!!

Park City Mountain Resort is pleased to welcome Jeremy Cooper to the team as our new Terrain Park Manager. Jeremy started as a park builder at Mammoth Mountain in 2002 and became park manager at June Mountain in 2005.  Under Jeremy's direction, June's parks have risen to be ranked among the top resorts in the country by several industry publications. 

Park City Mountain Resort is committed to maintaining our position as a leader in action sports and continuing to push the progression of the industry.  We feel that Jeremy's experience and passion will allow us to continue to be an industry leader.  Jeremy is excited for the level of support he's already seen from the resort and is looking forward to bringing some fresh new ideas to the resort.  Once Jeremy gets on board we'll get him to write an official blog post giving you guys his ideas, plans and hopes for the upcoming season.

Jeremy has some big shoes to fill with the departure of Jim Mangan. Jim has done amazing things for the resort including putting together a world-class team of athletes and building terrain parks that have been named the best parks in the country by several industry publications.  He was very successful in positioning PCMR as one of the most recognizedsnowboarding resorts in the world.  Jim is moving on to pursue a career in film.  We wish him the best in his new endeavors. 

*Side note - just heard our snow makers are hoping to start making snow maybe as early as tomorrow!!!

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!

 

 

 

 

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!

Eagle Superpipe Opens Saturday

The Eagle Superpipe opens tomorrow, Saturday December 22