snowboard

July 02, 2009

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!

 
 
 
 

March 21, 2009

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!

January 13, 2009

What is up!!!

Today's bluebird day reminded me more of March than January, the temperatures were pretty mild.  It was one of those perfect park days, the ones you usually dream about until March or early April.  As you know, King's Crown opened last week.  I know all of you read Matt's post on how to Smart Style it, if you didn't read it yet, do it now.  The only thing left at this point is upper Jonesy's.  Thanks park crew for all of your hard work so far!  Now that the mountain and parks are open it's time to get your shred on!  Well, your shred on and of course checking out of the events we have planned for the next few weeks.

In Sundance fashion, we are very excited for our own film, "I Ride Park City" to be one of 30 films chosen to be a part of the X-Dance Film Festival.  There will be an "I Ride Park City" screening Friday, January 16 at 6:00 p.m.  The screening will be at Off Broadway Theatre in SLC (272 S. Main St).  Tickets can be purchased at www.x-dance.com and are between $5 and $7.  Athletes from the film will be in attendance.  If you haven't seen "I Ride Park City" yet, here is your chance.  You can also purchase the film at www.pcride.com or at the resort.

Lucky 13 - Jonsing to ski or ride PC, but short on the $$$.  $13 Lift Ticket, $13 Equipment Rental, 13 Days - Night Ski or Snowboard at Park City Mountain Resort for only $13, January 19–31, 2009. Enjoy great terrain located off of the PayDay and First Time chairlifts from 3:30 to 7:30 pm. Plus, rent the latest in equipment from Park City Mountain Rentals for only $13 (good for night rentals after 3:30 pm). Utah residents only: Proof of Utah residency to be shown at time of purchase. Tickets may be purchased at any ticket window located in the Resort's Base Area or in Park City Mountain Rentals.  This great offer is only available for the last 13 days in January!  Bring your friends.

Are you an awesome photographer or a rad rider looking for your chance to show the world your skillz?  Send me some photos and I'll post them here (and even give you photo/rider credit)!  I reserve the right to deny your shots based on radness, skillness and just plain smartness.  meishal@pcmr.com

I'm thinking this is enough for this blog post, but I haven't even gotten to the events we're hosting at the resort in the next few weeks....I guess you'll have to stay tuned!  If you absolutely can't wait and must know more RIGHT NOW check out our events calendar at www.pcride.com

BYE!

November 21, 2007

Opening Day Right Around The Corner

Opening day is just around the corner, Friday November 23rd.  The gates open to the masses at 9am. Due to recent warm temperatures, there will not be any Terrain Park features on opening day as there isn't enough snow to facilitate park operations at this point.  Over the weekend, as long as temperatures stay cold, snow will continue to be made while the resort is closed to the public and we will see more snow depth in our area of Homerun and we will be allowed to start building once the ok is handed down.

Thank you for your patience and see you on the slopes:)

Hours of Operation:

PayDay Lift: 9 am to 4 pm

Legends Bar & Grill: 11am to 6 pm

Legacy Café: 10:30 am to 3 pm

Alpine Coaster: noon to 4 pm

Kristi’s Coffee Café: 7:30 am to 5 pm

Legacy Sports: 8 am to 6 pm

November 13, 2007

Be Safe This Season

The season is almost here, we are chomping at the bit for temps that are low enough to make snow.  While we are all waiting I want to address our safety initiative for you all.  We use the NSAA ( http://www.nsaa.org ) Smart Style freestyle terrain safety initiative.  On top of Your Responsibility Code ( http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/safety/heads_up/know_the_code.asp ), the Smart Style is "a cooperative effort to continue the proper use and progression of freestyle terrain at mountain resorts, while also delivering a unified message that is clear, concise, and effective."  I wanted to make this post so that everyone would take a couple minutes out of their day to read and watch the video, so that everyone is on the same page as we are coming into the early season.

We want you to enjoy yourself here at the resort and we want to be able to enjoy our workday here at the resort,  but we also hold the safety of our guests to the highest regard.  If you are creating an unsafe situation for yourself or for our other guests in one of our parks, one of my Park Crew guys will ask you to stop and take you aside to explain why you were stopped.  If what you are doing is posing a threat to guests and/or employees, we may give you a warning and or take your pass.  The length of us pulling a pass is not set in stone and varies on each individual instance.  We only pulled a few passes last year, we aren't here to be the police, but please think about what you are doing before you do it so we don't have to stop you and chat :)

Smart Style

TERRAIN PARK SAFETY

Freestyle Terrain is becoming more popular at resorts and proper use is important . The National Ski Areas Association and Burton Snowboards have developed the "Smart Style" Freestyle Terrain Safety initiative, a cooperative effort to continue the proper use and progression of freestyle terrain at mountain resorts, while also delivering a unified message that is clear, concise, and effective.

The 3 main points of Smart Style include:

  • Look Before You Leap
    • Before getting into freestyle terrain observe all signage and warnings
    • Scope around the jumps first not over them
    • Use your first run as a warm up run and to familiarize yourself with the terrain
    • Be aware that the features change constantly due to weather, usage, grooming and time of day.
    • Do not jump blindly and use a spotter when necessary
  • Easy Style It
    • Know your limits and ski/ride within your ability level
    • Look for small progression parks or features to begin with and work your way up.
    • Freestyle skills require maintaining control on the ground and in the air
    • Do not attempt any features unless you have sufficient ability and experience to do so safely
    • Inverted aerials increase your risk of injury and are not recommended.
  • Respect Gets Respect
    • Respect the terrain and others (Freestyle terrain is for everyone regardless of equipment or ability)
    • One person on a feature at a time
    • Wait your turn and call your start
    • Always clear the landing area quickly
    • Respect all signs and stay off closed terrain and feature

Remember that ducking a rope into a closed area of the mountain is against Summit County Ordinance 110, which states that violating a closure put in place is against the law and is a prosecutable offense.  We close the parks for good reasons, not just to keep you guys from having fun.  A few various examples could be that we have snowcats in there building or maintaining the park.  If you were to come across a winch cat fully extended, you would not hear the cat or see the winch line.  That winch line can do alot of damage to a person if you ride into a closed park.  Or riding into the closed park when we have cats in there building the park or maintaining the park,  you wouldn't be able to hear them or see them, and when you ride over the knuckle of the jump and the cat is right there grooming a landing, it isn't a good thing. 

If the skies open up and dump upon us, we may shut down a park for a few hours in the morning.  It gives my guys time to dig out features without the public on the run.  There were many instances last year where we were almost taken out by people not paying attention, or paying attention and tried to hit the feature on purpose while we were working on it.  That isn't acceptable.

Also, if we close a park due to a good amount of snow, like we did a few times for jonesys last year, beyond reason number two, it is because we deem that the conditions have made the park features impossible to ride. 

When we close down the parks at night, we generally go this route.  Upper Jonesys is closed by 3:45pm, Lower Jonesys by 4pm. Kings Crown is closed by 3:45pm and Pick N Shovel is closed at 4pm.  We may or may not close down payday some days anytime between 3pm and 4pm for up to 45 minutes if it is deemed necessary. 

When we close the parks, my guys go through and rake all the non jump features, things the snowcats can't generally groom.  At night when we do our final rake, we rake snow up onto said feature.  This snow needs time to set up and become hard.  If you were to duck the rope and ride those features you would create ruts because the snow hasn't had enough time to set up and is still very soft.  That ruins the feature for the next day because when the snow does set up overnight it sets up with ruts in it and those will take time to rake out in the morning.  That may mean closing the feature down for an unspecified amount of time to fix the feature.

Now that I have been rambling on for quite some time, I'll end this by saying we enjoy having you guys on the hill riding our features and giving us feedback.  (riding by at high speed yelling "you guys suck" is not acceptable feedback though) Stop and chat with us or ride with us.  We want you to have a good time up here,  so think a little about what you are doing so we can all have a good day.  And BE SAFE!

November 01, 2007

Welcome to the new blog!

  Dsc00355_2

Aaaand i'm back.  Welcome to the 07-08 season here at Park City Mountain Resort.  We bribed the web guy and ended up with our own blog this season, dedicated to yours truly, the Terrain Park.  As the season approaches myself and Chucky have been up on the hill making the usual rounds repairing, building and cleaning.  There is always something to do to keep busy this time of year.  You can go through every foot of rope to make sure it's on the up and up, adding new pieces of banner tape where they should be and replacing the faded worn out ones.  You can clean out the park shack and build shelving and racks to hold the rakes and shovels.  There is always the fun task of going through the remaining sticks of bamboo and pulling the two for me, one for the dumpster deal with the broken sticks of boo.  There was the walking of the Parks picking up garbage which mostly happened at the beginning of the summer after the snow melt.  It's amazing how many truckloads of garbage I hauled out of there this summer.  Please throw your stuff in the garbage cans at the bottom and top of the lifts, don't throw them on the snow.  It's not a forgotten red bull can just tossed off to the side of the run when the snow melts and there are over a hundred of them.

We took the two built in features at the bottom of the Crown out this summer so there was the task of sorting through the garbage, the items we could keep and getting everything to the storage building or the dumpster. 

There is so much to ramble about, but I told myself I would keep it short and sweet.

So here are some photos of randomness around the resort this summer and fall, I will try to keep with the weekly posts but sometimes I may get too busy and sidetracked and you may get a delayed post.  It is now thursday, I will put together a post by friday of next week so keep checking back next week and for the rest of the season.  :)

Dsc00356_2 Chucky working on the long list of little things to fix in the boneyard.

Dsc00362  It's always nice to have company on a long day up in the hills. She even has her own seat in the truck.

Dsc00370  And the wildlife along the way, the moose eating lunch on the side of the road, this morning we saw a herd of elk probably 20 strong meandering down dynamite run.

Newschoolers4  Stopping for a drink of water... (this was taken with a zoom lens,  never get close to the wildlife.  They like to be left alone, and you might not  like their response if you bug them...)

Newschoolers5 The hiking this summer was great, make sure you get up to explore around the mountain.  This is DB with marley and kaya in chase on the top of Jupiter during the sunset.  It's very peaceful on the mountain, away from the city and the daily grind.

That's all for today,  keep checking back for more and welcome to another season!