One of my favorite ads asked a simple question: “Will you be heading up to Alaska to do some heli-shredding this weekend? If not, come visit us.” Many people dream big, but ride locally. That’s a key fact for your park.


The media love to use untracked locations, as well as mega-structures in terrain parks, to impress their customers. And it works! Kids flock to websites, social media, and video channels, all of which bring life to the glossy photos in the magazines. All these media influence the fast food generation. And who often decides where the family skis and rides? That’s right: the kids.


Is it in your freestyle terrain strategic plan to regularly have media-worthy features in your park? As a park manager, are your goals and design philosophy in line with your management’s mental image of the park? Do you have a plan in place that will support going after a big-jump crowd?


If not, you can’t expect to reach that level overnight. You need to build a brand base and be able to identify it. Start with a layout that will serve a large number of paying customers; that base will eventually subsidize building the big features, and with them, your image. A park, just like a house, needs a foundation. Get ready for two to three years of hard work to build it.


Blueprint for Success
Build a foundation. Parks cost more than building a flat run. The goal is to work with your freestyle terrain committee, choose some prime real estate, and make it worth more by putting features on it. Don’t hide it in an out-of-the-way area, don’t put it on steep terrain. Do use a run with flexible snowmaking options. Favor quality over quantity.


Track your freestyle terrain users. Website polls and hand clickers are a start. Do you ask season pass holders on their applications if they are freestyle terrain users? Do you ask at retail and rental? Ski school? All these departments can put tracking programs in place.


Use what you have. Your resort marketing team has already done the legwork of getting users to the hill. Build the right size features on a run that they can enjoy and you will create memories. Freestyle terrain can be more than a line of squares running fall-line top to bottom. Half-banks (halfpipes done with a cat), banked turns and rollers will get the whole family into your freestyle area.


Don’t have a dedicated park-building cat? Start with the machines you have, do a great job, and you will be on your way to justifying the next cat getting park feature grooming implements. Small resorts can save on grooming staff by shifting flat-tracking duties to the park crew. This also creates an opportunity for a training program for up-and-coming park groomers. You can teach a park user to operate and build transitions. You can’t teach a farmer to put rollers in his field.


Market aggressively. Get the word out. Create branding that alters perceptions. You must create a sense of belonging in a new group of customers who are just getting started creating their mountain experiences. Branded stickers,T-shirts, and hats that look more like apparel, not billboards, will become favorites. Find an intern that needs a semester project, and give her a marketing plan outline. Have her craft it in conjunction with the park manager. Create park-specific social media sites, and link them to your freestyle terrain/park etiquette page. Youth brand marketing is tough terrain; don’t waste all the money and time spent putting a great product on the hill with an ill-conceived or non-existent advertising campaign.


Managers, study the sample strategic plan in the NSAA freestyle resource book. Really. Tailor it to your resort and the financial goals you project. Freestyle terrain needs to be undertaken with a commitment from the top down. Freestyle terrain can make a measurable contribution to the bottom line. Start with fun, friendly features, and your program will grow.


Freestyle terrain: do it right, or don’t do it at all.