At the start of the 2007-08 season, terrain park safety was red-hot news. A major guest injury court case involving Summit at Snoqualmie, Wash., had reached a verdict that awarded $14 million to the plaintiff-the now-famous Salvini case-and the resort industry was abuzz in self-reflection. What are we doing right in our parks? What are we doing wrong?

It was clear that people were galvanized, but how did all that hype translate to the hill? Did park operations make changes that reflected some of the issues that arose in the case?

SAM spoke with four resort operations that developed new initiatives this season to find out how their new programs worked in the field. Not all made changes directly because of the case, but most agreed that the discussion it generated was a good thing. From reduced accident rates to more polite park users, these are some of the new initiatives resorts implemented in their terrain parks.

TAKING A MEETING AT TIMBERLINE

The management at Timberline knew that its decision to start a weekly cross-departmental terrain park meeting might not be a popular one at first-who needs another staff meeting? But heading into the final leg of the season, Timberline general manager of mountain operations Steve Kruse found that the program has been a resounding success for the terrain park and a hit with the staff.

The goal of the meetings, says Kruse, was to formalize communication between departments in regard to the parks. In the Salvini case, lack of communication at the ski area was a key issue, and in light of that, the idea to start a weekly series of meetings took root.

Timberline now schedules two types of park-related meetings. The first is a formal, daily meeting in which the director or supervisor of ski patrol and the terrain park manager meet and discuss anything of note. While the ski patrol and terrain park staff had always worked closely together, their communication had never been so structured.

The second is a weekly version of that meeting, involving all stakeholders in the terrain park: mountain operations manager Logan Stewart, Kruse, the head of marketing, the head of terrain park grooming, the snowcat operators, ski patrol, and the events team. "What we do at those meetings is kind of a combination of things, but the main thing is that we're communicating and everyone knows what's going on," says Kruse. Everything from events to injuries is discussed, and ideas and solutions are exchanged.

The results? Less friction between departments and improved on-hill products. Instead of developing ideas independently and telling the other department what to do, departments now work together.

"I've seen a dramatic improvement in the product that's coming out. There are no surprises for either departments or people when they show up, it's just smooth, it's great," says Kruse. "[Before,] the biggest gripe was, 'I didn't know you were doing that and no one told me anything.' Now, at least everyone's clued-in to what's going on. They may not agree 100 percent with what's being done, but at least they know about it and they can try and compromise."

AN 'OBSESSION' BEGINS AT JIMINY PEAK

Terrain park safety was nothing new to Jiminy Peak. Three years ago, it started a terrain park pass program, restricting entry to the park to those who purchased a $3 pass, watched a video and signed a waiver. But when resort president Brian Fairbank sat down to rewrite the resort's mission statement and core values last year, he upped the safety ante with a new slogan: "Obsessed with safety."

They may just be words, but it definitely isn't a gimmick, says park manager Jason Griffen. When Fairbank redefines the core values of the resort, every decision he makes, "whether it's a $10 decision or a $1,000 decision," is based on that statement, Griffen notes.

In the terrain park, he says, it meant considering safety first in all park planning. "We were never just like, 'let's go build a park,' and we always tried to be safe, but we've made it the central focus on everything we do," says Griffen. "For instance, we're now building the jumps as step-ups rather than step-downs-I'm a big fan of step-up jumps. The kids still go big in our park, but it's in a more controlled way. You are better off letting the kids hit jumps in a controlled manner because they are going to do it anyway, and you don't want them going off and building their own."

Other initiatives Griffen pursued include:

• more space between park features, and more carefully constructed lines

• a greater focus on fencing, both for visibility and reducing opportunities for people to "duck the ropes"

• longer, wider run-outs for the jumps, more room between them, and more opportunity for people to opt out

• a good mix of rails and boxes, but a reduction in large-size rails. That decision wasn't based solely on safety, says Griffen, but rather reflected the athlete-driven trend toward more complicated tricks on simpler rails. Therefore, the boxes and rails are longer rather than higher, which allows for a greater variety of maneuvers.

The results? A major decrease in freestyle-terrain-related injuries, and guest-survey scores for the park "way up." Business overall was even up five percent over their best season ever-a fact that Griffen thinks is reflective of the enhanced guest experience.

GOING BIGGER, DARKER AT WINTER PARK

In a season where panic seized some operators and parks were reduced or dismantled entirely, Winter Park did the exact opposite, expanding the size of its advanced level terrain park, Dark Territory. Why? The safety-focused park-pass program for Dark Territory has been so successful, it has changed the freestyle culture at the whole resort-and when something like that works, it deserves attention.

"The educational piece of the program was doing a lot for the entire park system," explains youth marketing and terrain park manager Bob Holme. "Basically, the opinion leaders, those guys that want access to the bigger and more technical features, those guys ended up being the role models for the rest of the parks.

"So what we've seen when we expanded the area [this year] is that there were more people that wanted to be included in that area. The safety throughout the rest of the parks has improved, and so has the etiquette. It's been a cool evolution."

Dark Territory's park-pass program features the standard attributes, including a 15-minute video (with Winter Park-specific content), a waiver and a fee. But what makes it unique is its execution. Dark Territory pass holders, Holme says, are held to a higher standard of conduct. For instance, if you're a park pass holder and you get caught doing something dumb somewhere else on the mountain, they'll clip your park pass.

The difference is that safety is not just a by-product of the pass program, but the focus, says Holme, and it's reflected in everything associated with the park. "The goal of Dark Territory is to offer the largest features of our park to those who are willing to take an extra step to increase their awareness of terrain park safety and etiquette," the website states. "The result is a section for the best freeriders on the mountain, and an area free of flow-poachers and looky-loos."

In addition to expanding the Dark Territory's acreage to include some of the more popular features from their main park, The Rail Yard, the price was also reduced, to attract more guests into going through the program. There was no haggling with upper management to expand the park, says Holme, because "everybody was on board."

Another successful initiative this year was more comprehensive and direct communication between patrol and park staff thanks to a formal relationship between the two (i.e., having dedicated patrollers for the park). "It's really paid off," says Holme. "With ski patrol and us being able to communicate directly and regularly, it allows them to understand what choices we're making, and gives us an idea of what they're seeing from a non-terrain park staff viewpoint. It's worked out really well."

A PASS AT STEVENS PASS

Even before the Summit at Snoqualmie verdict rocked Washington ski areas last year, Stevens Pass had been doing the legwork on implementing a park pass program for its advanced-level park. Staff visited other resorts with successful pass programs, spent the spring planning, and then launched the program at the start of the 2007-08 season. The goals? To reduce terrain park accidents through guest education and give guests a better experience at the same time.

The program is simple, but effective. Stevens erected a tent at the top of the park run for the requisite video session (eight minutes, Smart Style content) and drafted waivers for all users to sign. The fee structure, though, is innovative. Guests who complete the safety session receive a free park voucher for the first day. If they like their day in the park, they can then sign up for a season's pass, priced at a reasonable $5. This achieves the dual objectives of getting all park users to go through the safety program, without bumming them out about having to buy a season's pass for just one day.

The results have been pleasantly surprising, says Stanford. Not only have terrain park-related accidents been reduced, from 282 in 2006-07 to 95 through early March, they've even had parents call and thank them for the program.

"There are so many things that have come out of this that we didn't even see coming that are just amazing," says Stanford. Etiquette is way up, accidents are way down, and the park is staying in better shape throughout the day because proper use of features is taught in the safety sessions (i.e., don't use rail takeoffs as jumps!). "It's worked so well," he says. "Statistically, the park is now one of the safest places on the mountain."

LOOKING AHEAD

Staff communication and successful guest education-these are the new goals many operators are focusing on in their terrain park programs. As you look forward to the 2008-09 season and the terrain park program at your own resort, these are areas you might want to consider reviewing. Is everyone in the loop? Do different departments understand the goals and responsibilities of the others? What about the guests-do they understand how etiquette and safety go hand in hand?

Simple questions, yes, but by going back to these kind of basics, Winter Park, Stevens Pass, Jiminy Peak and Timberline all report greater success in their terrain park programs, and happier guests and staff as a result.