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 Congratulations to the 2023 Terrain Park Winners. Learn more here. 

Another year and another strong showing from park builders at resorts across North America. We had a record number of entries this year, which was incredible. But, unlike previous years, there was a notable void in international entries, with only one Canadian ski area joining the fun.  

Nonetheless, there’s a remarkable variety in the four categories—features, events, video edits, and park crews—for you to read about and view. They are creative and progressive in so many ways. One of the best parts about this year’s contest is the interesting, entertaining, and meaningful stories behind many of the entries. We hope you agree. 

Special thanks to Mt. Hood Meadows’ terrain park grooming lead Jess Goucher for her council and editing help. 

Scroll through the categories below to see all the entries. Voting ended December 1, 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Donkey Ding  
Kingvale Parks, CA

Kingvale Parks chief Day Franzen wanted to make something for “all the late tappers that want to show you they know exactly where the end of that feature is.” So, one afternoon last November, he welded a boxing bell that he bought online underneath the end of a 22-foot-long flat bar, and added a 6-inch flat-bar section on a lever, aka, the dinger. When riders tap down on the dinger, it pushes the lever that rings the bell. A compression spring resets it. “Everyone loves the satisfaction of ringing the bell,” he says. “Snowboarding needs more noises than squeaky bindings.”

           

Rope-tow Jibpipe
Mt. Hood Skibowl, OR 

Late-season park riders at Mt. Hood Skibowl got plenty of laps in on this rope-tow-served park with the main attraction being the mini-pipe lined with multiple jibs along each deck, including bonks, boxes, and tanks. The walls of the pipe were about 10 feet tall and more than 75 feet long. It took more than 12 hours over the course of two nights for the team of cat operator Jace Reitan, designer Hunter Bissler, terrain park manager Abby Shupp, and digger Andy Glader to build the multi-faceted feature in late March using Heine Snowtools, Arena Snowparks rakes, and a PistenBully Park Pro. “It was awesome,” says Shupp. “All riding levels and abilities were able to ride this feature.”

                     

Love Park
Bear Creek Mountain Resort, PA

Inspired by the original LOVE Park in Philadelphia—an iconic skateboard spot in the ‘80s and ‘90s that has since been overhauled and redesigned as a green space—the Bear Creek park crew created its own take on the once famous skate spot, in snow. They mimicked LOVE Park’s curved ledges across the trail, each one 14 inches tall and 4 feet wide/deep, allowing them to place rails at an appropriate down angle. The build took three nights using tape measures, string lines, several hand tools, a mini excavator, and a snowcat as the team referenced old photos of the original park to ensure the resemblance was accurate. It was first used for a Jah Railz event in March and was open to the public for three days after, enjoyed predominantly by expert riders.

 

Double Down Park
Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, NV

    

The Double Down Park was a longtime classic at Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, but it hadn’t been built since 2017—until making its comeback in February 2023 as the resort begins to refocus on the importance of terrain parks to the guest experience. Plus, a massive amount of natural snow provided plenty of material for operators Kyle Tessers, Tim Brown, and Jarron Martinez to build the Double Down jump line, which includes a 25-foot table, 30-foot table, 35-foot table, and finishes with a 40-foot table. It took about a week to complete the build using mostly PistenBully Par Pros, and it was worth every minute because guests were pumped. “Prayers answered,” said one Instagram commenter on Mt. Rose’s post teasing the build.

 

Euro Plaza 
Sugarbush, VT

Inspired by a classic skateboard park, the Euro Plaza offers skiers and riders plenty of options with large, medium, and small lines to hit a variety of features within a 48-foot-wide, 60-foot-long set up. The retaining wall creates the "Euro Gap" where the skier or rider jumps up, or uses any of the multitude of features—including a repurposed roll cage from a UTV—to get onto the flat pad. Or, they head straight to the down features or use the wall ride to redirect to the down rails. Designed and built by park manager Trevor Borrelli with assists from the entire park crew, it took about four hours of machine time with a PistenBully 600, five hand crew using Arena Snowparks and Snowboy rakes, “and a ton of patience,” says Borrelli.  

 

Trash Cans Not Tree Wells 2.0
Woodward Tahoe, CA

This is the second in a series of jibs in line with Powdr’s “Play Forever” commitment. The frame was built from 2”x2” recycled square bar steel and paneled with a clear polycarbonate slide surface, creating a “truth window” that provides guests with a glimpse at a sustainability issue the resort encounters each season—it’s filled with trash collected from around the resort. “These projects are always intended to create awareness around how we play forever,” says marketing director Tucker Norred. The 4’x5’x5’ cube took about two weeks for the Woodward welders to build in the beginning of the 2022-23 season. It’s a versatile feature and was set up in different ways for different users of all abilities, including as a wall ride for The Uninvited Invitational, an all-women's snowboard event.

 

Farside Wall Ride 
Chestnut Mountain Resort, IL

The Farside Park crew at Chestnut Mountain added this wall ride to the bottom of the two-tier rail garden it built for the annual Big Nut Open—a big air and rail jam event in March—because “we wanted to do something different,” says crewmember Nick Tassone. The wall ride is 15 feet high by 25 feet wide. The walls are made out of half-inch diamond aluminum mesh, .081-inches thick. The top is 8-inch steel pipe. It took more than four hours for one snowcat operator and five hand-crew using Planet Snow and Arena Snowpark rakes to set the feature for the Big Nut Open. A lot of younger skiers and riders hit it, and loved it, according to Tassone.

  

Z-Rail 
Mountain Creek, NJ

Prior to the 2022-23 season, the Mountain Creek Terrain Parks crew was approached by Matt Behre, a construction, facilities, and maintenance (CFM) instructor from Vernon Township High School, about collaborating on a project with his students. Utilizing the CAD and fabricating skills they were learning in the classroom, students designed a down-flat-down Z-rail, which was built in Mountain Creek’s Jib Lab in February 2023. Ninety-percent of the 28-foot-long, 36-inch-tall feature is made of recycled 4-inch snowmaking pipe from decommissioned features. It’s painted with the high school’s navy and gold colors. The challenging rail attracted skilled riders and yielded countless video clips and accolades throughout the park community—as well as within the classroom.

 

Milly with the Banks, aka, The Boat
Brighton Resort, UT

         

One of the traditional Brighton Milly tubes—repurposed, 18-inch diameter lift towers from the old Milly chair, which was removed in 2007—got beefed up by adding wooden banks as transition. In summer 2022, Treyson Allen, Thomas Graham, Tyler Slagle, and Makilu Arnold took a 32-foot Milly tube (12-foot up, 20-foot flat) and added 4-foot-tall wooden banks to the side at a 30-degree angle. The banks are made from ¾-inch plywood and framed with 2”x2” square steel. It took one PistenBully Park Pro nearly four hours to move and set the feature, and two diggers using rakes and shovels an hour to shape, test, and open it. The wooden transition makes all sides approachable and allows all skill levels to flex some creativity.

 

TTR Box
Trollhaugen, WI

Trollhaugen wanted the women who participated in year two of Take the Rake—an all-female park-building seminar held in November 2022—to have a lasting impact on the ski area. So, Arena Snowparks donated a kit including the steel, wood, and sliding surface for a 2-foot-wide, 8-foot-long, 1-foot-tall box to be welded, assembled, painted, put on hill, and ridden by the women of TTR. “A full ‘shop to park’ creation—like farm to table, but cooler,” said marketing director Marsha Hovey. Palisades Tahoe terrain park manager Jess Ritchitelli led the welding clinic that allowed all women to take part in creating the feature, learning a trade in the process. The signatures of all 18 female park builders adorn its sides. The TTR Box moved around in Troll’s small and large parks last winter.

           

Lucky Mini Pipe 
Mt. Bachelor, OR

In a nod to progression and taking terrain parks back to their roots, Mt. Bachelor built a 13-foot mini-pipe in February 2023. At 275 feet long, it wasn’t all that mini. But the approachable height of the walls made it less intimidating for the average skier or rider. “The awesome thing about this feature is that it can be used be anybody and any skill set,” says terrain park manager Alex Storjohann. It took about a week to build it from all natural snow using a 13-foot Zaugg.

 

The Channel  
Loon, NH 

Last Call is one of the East’s premier snowboarding events, and the park staff typically goes all-out on the build. For the March 2023 event, Loon built The Channel, which included two 20-foot step-down options with an elevated roller in between, followed by a 50-foot step-down between two 35-foot tabletop options. It took three days to build using snowcats, a Cat 303.5 mini excavator, 20-inch chainsaw, SPT vert shovels and Arena Snowparks rakes. The Channel was only open to Last Call riders.

 

The Castle QP
Eldora, CO

    

The Castle QP was built for the 2023 Trick Ditch Banked Slalom, held April 1, as the final hit at the bottom of the course. The front facing modified quarter pipe was 80 feet long and 18 feet tall with 4-foot tombstone features on each end and a 21-foot-long, 4-inch round hitch post in the middle channel cut. The right side had another 50-foot-long, 18-foot-tall quarter pipe with a 4-foot tombstone. On the left was a 50-foot-long, 13-foot-tall hip jump. Sheets of plywood and two-by-fours were used for tombstone framing. Over the course of a week, multiple PistenBully 400 Park Pros pushed the snow into shape. A PistenBully 400 winch with and 18-foot Zaugg cut the quarter pipe, and more than 10 diggers used rakes, shovels, launch rods, chainsaws, drills, and drivers to shape the snow and build the tombstone frames.   

 

Offset Double Spine  
Mountain High, CA

The Offset Double Spine is a large, challenging feature with creative riding on the forefront. Riders can hit the 6-foot and/or 20-foot tube from any direction to slide, stall, transfer, or bonk. Each is made from 10-inch recycled snowmaking pipe, because “sustainability is always at the forefront of our park feature fabrication,” said assistant marketing manager Zach Longacre. The takeoff is roughly 6 feet tall and, due to the grade of the slope, the drop from the landing is nearly 15 feet. It took head terrain park groomer Scott Speers about six hours to build the feature using a Prinoth Bison X, with four Mountain High and three Snowboy Productions crew members completing the handwork. It was used for Snowboy’s Pipelines 2 event in January, and open to the public for several weeks after.

 

Taylor Gold's Pipe Dream 
Steamboat Mountain, CO

Last spring, Steamboat native and Olympian Taylor Gold approached the resort about creating a unique halfpipe lined with features for a film he was working on. Gold gave the park crew some rough ideas to start, and they got to building during the week of April 9. The centerpiece was the 450-foot-long superpipe with 18-foot walls. To start, cat operators Alex Parker and Charlie Greenburg built two hips at the entrance with John Asta cutting with an 18-foot Zaugg and Matt Hartlep and the shape team—along with Gold and co.—running rakes and vert shovels. They added more as the week progressed, “working closely with Taylor and crew to let the features happen naturally and creatively,” says Steamboat’s Jake Ingle, including a channel gap-like "teacup”, a 10-foot wall ride, and a tube slide at the end. Spur of the moment ideas included jibbing an excavator scoop elevated above the pipe deck.

 

Big Floater   
Copper Mountain, CO

The Copper terrain park team had some old snowmaking pipe that fit perfectly inside some other old snowmaking pipe, so they decided to use the structural advantage this provided to build a big feature. It is difficult and costly to buy and ship extremely long sections of pipe, which is why rails longer than 20 or 30 feet are usually made of a couple sticks welded together. The team had two 30-foot sections of 8-inch pipe. A normal weld would not hold without support underneath, but an extra pipe fit inside the two sections fortified the joint and the weld, allowing for a full 60-foot-long floating rail with rounded elbows at each end. Copper’s Chris Cracraft built Big Floater in summer 2019 and it’s a favorite among pros, who often give the middle a good push mid-slide to get it bouncing for the next rider.

 

Teardrop Box
Summit at Snoqualmie, WA

A couple seasons ago, the Summit Parks crew set a combo feature of a rainbow box that connected into a long down box that was raved about by local riders. Ahead of the 2022-23 season, terrain park manager Jeff Cragin and head fabricator Jared Scholz decided to build the combo into a permanent feature—the Teardrop Box. They used a DIY pipe bender to roll the 2-inch round coping for the “rainbow,” used 2-inch square tube and 2-inch angle iron for the frame, 16-guage sheet metal for the sides, and half-inch HDPE for the sliding surface. The end result was a 35-foot-long, 7-foot-high versatile feature that can be set in multiple ways and adds new spice for riders hitting Summit’s Central Park.      

      

Table and Hips
Mammoth Mountain, CA        

It all started when three athletes from three different sports—mountain biker Carson Storch, snowboarder Ben Ferguson, and freestyle motocross rider Tyler Bereman—and park crew members were sitting at the bar with a pen and a napkin. The result was a 100-foot-long, 60-foot-wide, 45-foot-tall, double-sided hip with a table jump in the middle that the athletes all hit at the same time for a photo shoot in April 2023. The way it was built allowed Ferguson and Storch to use the steep pitch above to drop into the hips while Bereman had a gradual flat in-run for his table jump that put him above everyone else from the opposite direction. Storch had carpet for his in-run and landing for better traction. Mammoth snowcat operators spent five days winching and stacking snow, and the hand-crew spent two days chain sawing to cut the landing and takeoffs, and using SPT rakes for finish work. 

 

Skate Bowl     
Beaver Valley, ON

The skatepark-inspired Skate Bowl was “the most fun, most used, and most talked about feature at Beaver Valley Snow Parks in 2023,” says Beaver Valley’s Steve Jarrett. With a 10-foot-deep bowl in the middle and multiple features surrounding it—including a rainbow rail, incline rail, flat bar, transitions, side hits, and small pine trees(!) set in the snow—it offered fun options for all levels of park rider. Snow park manager Caleb Bosse came up with the concept and design. The Skate Bowl was constructed in the mid-section of Beaver Valley’s main park. It took two days with two operators using Prinoth Bison X cats along with five diggers to construct the Skate Bowl in the mid-section of Beaver Valley’s main park.

 

 

 

 

Back to the Banks
Saddleback, ME

The inaugural Back to the Banks snowboard-only banked slalom race was held March 18, 2023 on Saddleback's Grey Ghost trail as a fundraiser for B4BC (Boarding for Breast Cancer). The event drew 110 athletes—a number that "surpassed all expectations," says event manager Erika Roy—from ages 5 to 60-plus who raced in seven categories separated by age and gender, except 13-and-under boys and girls raced together. To build the 11-turn course, a PistenBully 600E+ did the pushing while a crew of six diggers performed 30 hours of hand work over three days. Back to the Banks brought Maine's snowboard community together and raised $550 for B4BC.

 

Lady Power Park Hour
Whitefish Mountain Resort, MT

Whitefish Mountain Resort brought the hype during its second annual Lady Power Park Hour on Jan. 14. This non-competitive, introductory-level slopestyle event welcomed all women—cis women, trans women, and nonbinary people—of all ages and abilities together in the terrain park to build confidence, create community, and have fun. The park was designed with inclusivity in mind, with smaller features that welcomed newcomers, while still allowing creativity for the more advanced ladies. Instead of the traditional podium-style prize format, this event kept it interesting by giving out prizes from sponsors and local women-owned businesses for best trick, biggest air, best wipeout, best costume, most attempts, and most improved.

 

Homesick
Stratton Mountain, VT

Homesick was a gathering of generational greats on historical snowboard-culture territory. Part reunion, part friendly competition, Homesick was a collaboration between Stratton Parks, Gary Land, and Barry Dugan at the original home of the Burton US Open. Over the course of three days, local riders both young and old showcased their skills against some of the biggest names in the sport such as Shaun White, Ross Powers, Johnny O’Connor, Tricia Burns, and Lucas Magoon. With registration open to everyone, even the groms got to taste the strong sense of family that the older generations were celebrating. Feature highlights included a retro-style, 13-foot-tall, 150-foot-long mini pipe, paying homage to days past. Meanwhile, Zeb Powell, Lane Knack, and Toby Malandrinos collaborated on the Powell Rail Jam, with three tiers of rails with small, medium, and large feature choices on each. The setup was complete with a custom Homesick Battleship that Powell designed and Knack fabricated. The rail jam build took three days using a Prinoth Bison X to shape the pads and landings and hand crew setting rails and boxes.

 

Dogfight: Battle of the Triple Kink
Woodward Park City, UT

Presented by The Bombhole and Woodward Park City, Dogfight paid tribute to the glory days of rail jams with a heavy hitting setup. Under the lights on Dec, 10, 2022, Chris Grenier and E-Stone bantered on the mic as 40 of the world’s top hand-selected rail riders competed in a gauntlet of spectators for equal cash prizes. The 20 men and 20 women started with an open rail jam qualifier, followed by a session on the gap-to-30-foot down rail. The event concluded on the triple kink: a 54-foot rail with stairs on both sides. The features were heavy and so were the heats. Judged by Mikey LeBlanc, Deadlung, Jess Kimura and Joe Sexton, Pat Fava and Iris Pham walked away with the win and Triple Kink Trophy for their respective categories and others got awards for best trick, best style, most chewed (best slam), and a Heart Award. The build took the Woodward Park Crew three days with two cats and 10 diggers.

 

A Grand in Your Hand Rail Jam
McIntyre Ski Area, NH

McIntyre Parks and Park Affair teamed up for a day of all-female* fun, learning, and riding on Jan. 16, 2023 at the inner-city hill in Manchester, N.H. Participants were broken up into three groups: groms under 15 years old, a group riding for fun and prizes, and a group competing for cash. One McIntyre snowcat operator prepared the zone using a Prinoth Bison X and a Prinoth Husky X for three days. On the morning of the event, four McIntyre Parks staff teamed up with six selected Park Affair riders to finish the build. These women had the opportunity to learn about cat operations, setting rails and boxes, prepping features, raking takeoffs, and the general do’s and don’ts of park builds. Then, finally: the jam. The setup had a variety of features ranging in size from extra small to large, both ride-on and urban. There was truly something for everyone including a plaza-style setup, various boxes and rails, tubes, barrel bonks, and so on.       

*Women specific, or anyone who identifies as her/she/they/them.

 

Leftovers Spring Jam
Wild Mountain, MN

When Wild Mountain closed in April, one operator spent two days pushing the abundance of snow from the Main Stage Terrain Park into a giant snow mound. Later in the spring, to capitalize on the insulated “leftovers,” the crew spent 10 hours spreading that snow out and putting together a post-season hike-to rail jam for the local community. The event was held on May 7, 2023 and welcomed anyone and everyone that was willing to hike a park on a warm spring day. Riders had six traditional terrain-park features to choose from, and some other one-of-a-kind add ins. There was a small pond that could be crossed in two ways: skim across or take the rainbow box up and over. Local pro snowboarder Benny Milam even contributed an ice fishing house previously used in a Red Bull video shoot to add to the creativity and excitement of the day.

 

Slash and Berm Banked Slalom    
Killington Resort, VT 

The annual Slash and Berm Banked Slalom at Killington raises funds and awareness for a different cause every year. This year, the proceeds from the event went to Burton rep Ryan Manning to help cover the costs of recovery following a life-changing injury. Snowboarders of all ages and abilities raced for three days, raising $9,000 to aid with Manning’s medical costs. On Friday, invited riders from snowboard shops around New England competed for the coveted Bear trophy (Darkside Snowboards in Killington took it home). Saturday was the main event. After Killington’s crew removed fresh powder from the course, riders snaked through the existing features in The Stash park, racing over jumps, drops, and berms built specifically for the race. The Stash is closed for a few days before the event so two cat operators and a number of hand crew can shape the venue, transforming the terrain park into a race course. The event concluded Sunday in the Lil’ Stash, where groms raced on smaller versions of the race features.

 

Methodology 
Gunstock Mountain Resort, NH

On Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, Methodology returned to Gunstock for its third consecutive year. New Hampshire native Pat Moore founded Methodology in 2017 to bring local snowboard communities together and fundraise for various causes. Proceeds from about 100 registered competitors benefited the Chill Foundation. The event is held on a banked slalom course that concludes with and a double-sided hip. Like any banked slalom, riders are scored on the time it takes to cross the finish line—but at Methodology, a stylish method on the hip can deduct time from the run. The day concludes with a best method competition on the hip, which was built by Gunstock’s park crew and the team from Effective Edge who cut and shaped the hip using SPT launch rods, chainsaws, rope lines, rakes, and a PistenBully Park Pro.

 

Samuel Adams Air & Après
Boyne Mountain Resort, MI

The traveling multi-media stunt show known as the Samuel Adams Air & Après took the stage at Boyne Mountain on Feb. 4, 2023. With other stops in venues such as Jackson Hole, Big Sky, and Sugarloaf, this free, one-day festival strives to provide an immersive 3-D visual experience to spectators. The concept is simple yet impressive: professional skiers and snowboarders throw down their best tricks on a 50-foot jump while animations are projected onto jump landing and other areas for a visually immersive experience. The event has a handful of athletes that travel with the tour and also invites local pros at each stop to participate. This huge party brings the crowd together to enjoy beers, music, fireworks, and an afterparty to cap things off. It took a small team of two operators and three hand crew just five days to complete the build for the event.

 

The Bomb Hole Cup
Brighton Resort, UT

More than 500 snowboarders ranging from ages 14 to 50-plus gathered at Brighton on the first weekend of April for The Bomb Hole Cup. This celebration offered two banked slalom courses with 8-10 berms on each course. There was also a park showdown offering riders a 25-foot step-down jump, a “challenge” rail (down rail to flat box to down-waterfall rail), the Bomb Hole wallride/pole jam, a plaza setup, and the infamous jump over a limo that was towed on hill with a snowcat. Michael Bennett spent five nights in a PistenBully Park Pro pushing snow, shaping the banked slaloms, building the jump, and establishing the rail tiers. Six Brighton diggers followed up the cat work with two days of shaping using powder shovels, rakes, and flat heads on the banked slaloms. The next day was spent setting the rail jam features and limo jump using rakes, shovels, transition cutters, and a chainsaw. The community came together with the Brighton diggers to help hike and slip the course of the three feet of fresh snow that fell the day before, bringing the berms back to life and allowing the race to charge on.

 

Burton Mystery Series   
Big SNOW American Dream, NJ

On April 15, 2023, Big SNOW American Dream welcomed the Burton Mystery Series to North America’s only real-snow indoor snowsports facility. More than 110 riders ranging in age from 10 to 60 navigated the eight-berm banked slalom course. It was the first time a banked slalom had been built on the Big SNOW slope. Riders like LJ Henriquez, Luke Winkelmann, and Zeb Powell brought the energy to ensure all felt like snowboard family at this event deeply rooted in accessibility and participation. It took one night to build the course, with one operator in a Prinoth Husky pushing snow and about 12 park crew hand shaping each berm. Due to the overwhelmingly positive response, the berms were left in place for the general public to enjoy days after the event.      

    

Twisted Kids
Mountain Creek, NJ

Mountain Creek is bringing the community together and starting the park-rats young in New Jersey. This year, the snowsports school teamed up with the terrain park department to relaunch the homegrown introductory freestyle program, “Twisted Kids.” For five weeks throughout January and February, skiers and snowboarders ages 6 and up were invited to practice and celebrate terrain park progression in a friendly, welcoming environment each Sunday from 1-3 p.m., at no cost. The crew built a progression-friendly setup with small, ride-on rails, boxes, and bonks. It was easily maintained by the crew and located adjacent to their Terrain-Based Learning area. The zone was also easily accessible for parents to watch their kids practice in the park.

 

Lord of the Ropes | Year VI
Trollhaugen, WI

Lord of the Ropes is a bracket-style snowboard battle held under the lights at Trollhaugen for the past six years. Troll invited 64 local riders to battle on a park that is never built to be the biggest, but rather to offer opportunity for creative interpretation. This gives competitors a chance to highlight their skills, creativity, and that sweet, sweet Midwest grit. The build takes place on Tomte, Trollhaugen’s smaller park, forcing the crew to work swiftly through the night on the eve of the event to keep the build secrets from the humans and maintain a level playing field for competitors. This year, a top tier "choose your own adventure"-style closeout got the wheels turning for riders, and kept the crowd entertained.

 

Big Wave Challenge
Mt. Bachelor, OR

On March 10, the Aloha spirit returned to Mt. Bachelor for a weekend of surf-inspired fun. This year, all the proceeds were donated to Pat Melendowski, a halfpipe and park building legend who was diagnosed with cancer. The contest is hosted by Bend’s own Gerry Lopez, who was a legendary big wave surfer in Maui before moving to Oregon in the ‘90s. The idea behind the contest is to bring flow to the mountains on wave-like features. Two PistenBully Park Pros and two Zauggs went to work for a week pushing and shaping snow into hips, waves, rollers, and basically any other shape the ocean inspires. The Big Wave Challenge was open to the first 300 riders that register and provides four division options to choose from: Kane (men’s open 17–39), Wahine (women’s open 17–39), Makule (adult co-ed 40 & up) and Keiki (groms 16 and under).

 

Eastern Boarder’s Last Call
Loon Mountain, NH

Loon Mountain teamed up with Eastern Boarder once again to put on the 21^st annual Last Call. With both professional and amateur divisions, the East Coast scene was left inspired after witnessing the best of the best on what is always one of the most creative builds of the season. The unique setup strives to prove who the best snowboarder is overall, not just who is the best rail rider or best in the air. The course is composed of three sections: jumps, rails, and transition. This year, the jump line offered multiple options: a roller with step-down take-offs on either side, allowing for transfers leading into a 50-foot step down with 35-foot tabletop options on either side and a channel in the middle. The rail section displayed various shapes, sizes, and dimensions; and there was a large hip with a set-back takeoff. The five-day build utilized two PistenBully Park Pros, one 303.5 mini excavator, 12 park crew on the ground, and heaps of hand tools.

 

Carinthia Classic Rail Jam
Mount Snow, VT

The Carinthia Classic Rail Jam began in 2018 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the inception of Carinthia Parks at Mount Snow. The jam-style format gives top local and regional athletes the chance to throw down and compete for a piece of the $20K prize purse. It’s open to skiers and snowboarders of all genders aged 16 and up. The Carinthia Parks crew constructs a one-of-a-kind, plaza-style set-up loaded with rails, boxes, and other fun features in The Junkyard, located near the base area for good spectating. This year, riders found a total of six feature options: two tiers that could be creatively linked in one run. This classic yet technical build took the team of six hand crew and two cat operators just one day complete.

 

Winter Fest Rail Jam
Blue Mountain, PA

On Jan. 28, 2023, Blue Mountain’s park crew teamed up with the mountain operations department to chase away the warm, winter blues the area was experiencing. They made snow when they could and salvaged enough of it to cheer up the community by holding the Winter Fest Rail Jam—an event with the sole purpose of keeping the winter spirit alive, despite frustrations with Mother Nature. Local skiers and snowboarders of all genders and ages competed on an urban-style setup for a chance at a season pass. The team offered two brand-new rails along with four other features. The build took one operator in a PistenBully Park Pro and eight hand crew one full day to complete.

 

Red Bull Heavy Metal
Detroit, MI

On Feb. 11, downtown Detroit hosted Red Bull Heavy Metal, where 40 invited rail riders had three different zones to show their skills: a 25-foot wall, a 45-foot down-flat-down rail, and a 52-foot down rail with a donkey kink at the end. The features were fabricated by Frankie Bird Inc., and the Pine Knob park crew provided the snow and rail setting skills. Pine Knob park manager Matt Dunn pushed 300 yards of snow off the ski area’s bunny hill and into the parking lot, where it was loaded into six dump trailers and hauled 45 minutes to downtown Detroit. Eleven Pine Knob hand crew moved every yard of snow into place, working through freezing rain for about 15 hours, fueled by nothing but grit, spotlights, and late-night pizza—and the event went off without a hitch. It was 50 degrees and sunny, and thousands of Detroiters came to watch the first professional snowboard contest held in their city.

 

Quiksilver’s Hit & Run
Mountain High, CA

Mountain High hosted Quiksilver's first-ever "Hit & Run" Banked Slalom on March 18, 2023 to capitalize on the increasing popularity of banked slaloms. The day brought together local SoCal riders of all abilities for hard-charging fun down a course designed for beginner riders to complete and advanced riders to get technical. The venue was essentially a race course with freestyle features added in, such as a 20-foot step-down, a spine, and a 30-foot tabletop jump. Riders were scored on a combination of time and style, with Griffin Siebert and Bryan Fox overseeing the judging. A total of three operators shared time in Prinoth Bison X snowcats to work as efficiently as possible, creating five banked turns, two jumps, two rollers, and a bonk feature. Four hand crew followed closely behind the cats, polishing the course with Arena rakes. This projected week-long build was stunted by rain, and the team pulled it off in just two days.

 

DitchFest 2023
Aspen Snowmass, CO

On the weekend of April 16, 2023, Aspen Snowmass and the local community celebrated snowboarding with an event in the new 13-foot halfpipe called DitchFest. Sign up was free, all were welcome, and the local turnout was impressive. DitchFest aimed to pay tribute to an earlier era of snowboarding, where the premium was placed on creativity and camaraderie rather than raw athletic prowess. The pipe was located near the race arena’s picnic deck, so it was the perfect location for spectators to hang-out and watch. Two cat operators cut the pipe and installed the bonus wallride and rail the night before the event. A few unexpected inches of snow fell the night before the event, but competitors stepped up and slipped the pipe so DitchFest could go down.

 

Woodward Peace Park Championships
Snowbird, UT

Snowbird, known for its deep powder and steep terrain, hosted the Woodward Peace Park Championships for the first time in its history, May 2-6. More than 50 of the world’s top snowboarders—including Olympians and X Game gold medalists—competed on a one-of-a-kind park in Mineral Basin. The giant build took more than 12 days to complete. Some notable features were a 25-foot-tall quarter pipe, 22-foot halfpipe with eight-foot tombstones, a hybrid 60-foot step-over jump, and a jib section with heavy hitters to match the magnitude of the snow features. All features were built to offer multiple options for creativity and innovation. The Woodward team brought in 12 operators and 13 hand crew from multiple Woodward locations. Additional support was provided by seven Snow Park Technology operators. The team utilized six snowcats, including three winches, as well as a 13-foot and a 22-foot Zaugg to cut the pipes. The week concluded with a Peace Park for the People sub-event, which invited the local snowboard and Woodward communities to ride the park.

 

Visa Big Air
Copper Mountain, CO

Fans and competitors flocked to the Rocky Mountains for an exciting weekend of big air at Copper Mountain, Dec. 13-16, 2022. The Visa Big Air is a FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Cup event held in conjunction with the U.S. Grand Prix. The four-day event included two days of qualifiers (a day for each discipline) followed by two days of finals. Spectators in the Center Village watched as the top names on the world cup circuit dropped in from three-stories above Lower Bouncer trail to hit the 70-foot big-air jump. As is expected for a build of this caliber, the planning began long before the event, along with the snow production, pushing, designing, and so on. Everyone in the Copper parks department touched the project at some point during the build—and that’s a lot of hands with a crew of 17 diggers and 10 cat operators. The Snow Park Technology team helped design and build the jump, as well as the scaffolding drop-in.

 

Boneyard Hike Park   
Summit at Snoqualmie, WA

Summit at Snoqualmie was blessed with a healthy early-season storm cycle that allowed for a big preseason rail jam. Over the years, the Boneyard Hike Park has become a staple for park riders looking to dust the cobwebs off before the season starts. The park opens the weekend before the official resort opening and is free for all to use. The Boneyard brings in skiers and snowboarders of all ages and abilities from around the PNW and Canada. From first-timers trying flat boxes to local pros sending mind-blowing tricks, the park is inclusive for all. The Summit Parks crew does a great job each season providing a very well-balanced setup with jib features ranging from extra-small to large. The build took two days with one PistenBully Park Pro and four hand shapers to perfect the setup that offers both variety and flow.

 

Slush Rush
Copper Mountain, CO

The inaugural Slush Rush was a unique new addition to Copper’s end of season celebration, Sunsation. On April 22, locals got into groups of three and raced through a relay course on snow. Teams were made of any mix of gender and discipline, divided into categories of youth, adult, and open/pro. The first team member started by navigating GS gates set within the 22-foot-tall, 550-foot-long superpipe. At the bottom, they hit a button that opened the gate for the next person to go down a cross-course with multiple banked turns while carrying a boot full of Gatorade (time was added based on how much was spilled). Once complete, that person opened the gate for the third team member, who worked their way through a rail section and finished by throwing an old-school trick off a jump (daffy, spread eagle, etc.) before skimming across a pond of icy water. The crowd was able to view the fun from Copper’s Center Village. Winners got a piece of the massive cash purse and prizes for best costume and best trick were awarded at the end.

 

Playgrounds Party
Sierra at Tahoe, CA 

The annual Playgrounds Party celebrates Sierra-at-Tahoe’s history and evolution of the Sierra Playgrounds, the overarching moniker for the resort’s eight terrain parks. The 2023 event, held April 8, marked the 30^th anniversary of the Sierra’s terrain park program, which debuted 1993. This year included a memorial ride through the halfpipe and tribute for Kyle Smaine, a Tahoe local and world champion skier who died in an avalanche in Japan at the end of January. The park celebration also featured a skatepark inspired halfpipe and seven different terrain parks of all levels, skillfully sculpted by the Sierra park crew, who battled record snowfall all season to keep the parks in shape. The event focuses on progression, and the parks welcome all with unique, playful designs ranging from small rails for groms to big, 50-foot kickers for pros like Maddie Bowman, Hannah Teter, and Jamie Anderson who joined the fun.

 

Red Bull Sessions 
Mammoth Mountain, CA

Red Bull athletes of all ages gathered at Mammoth for a few days of good times, progression, and creativity. The Mammoth crew built a whole variety of features for the occasion. There was an 80-foot jump for riders to push the limits of the amount of spins physically possible, a 22-foot halfpipe to demonstrate style, a three-pack jump line and more than 40 transition features offering plenty of opportunity for flow. And if that wasn’t enough, the course options continue with 22 rails, a snake run to 13-foot mini-pipe, and numerous 22-foot-high, Zaugg-cut quarter-pipes sprinkled throughout the build. The entire venue took the Mammoth Unbound team 18 days to build using with five snowcats and 10 hand crew on the project.

 

The Gong Show
Beaver Valley, ON

This past winter, Beaver Valley in Ontario, Canada, was looking for ideas to boost participation in the annual Men's Day celebration in March. This season, the resort aimed to attract and engage a younger demographic, so it turned to the Beaver Valley park team for inspiration—and the Gong Show was born. The event featured a dual banked slalom integrated with park features that was set within sight of the main lodge party deck, offering plenty of fun for spectators, too. The event was a huge success with tons of participation. There were friendly rivalries between friends, siblings, and even parents. Riders were encouraged to take as many laps as possible on the course, which featured dual kickers, jumpable pine trees, and of course, the gong that riders raced to bang. Park manager Caleb Bosse conceptualized the build, which took two days with two Prinoth snowcats and three diggers.

 

 

 

Tour of Main Stage
Wild Mountain, MN

Wild Mountain’s Main Stage Terrain Park takes millions of gallons of water to make the features as large as the crew wants them to get. It took Wild most of December and part of January to get it built. When Main Stage was finally dialed-in by February, Brad Larsen took advantage of some soft light coming from the southwest at sunset to film park-crew member Garon Sutherland taking a tour of the park. He used a Mavic Air 2 to nab slow motion shots and Adobe Premiere to create the edit.  

 

Friday Night Lights Rail Jam,
Whaleback, NH

Nonprofit Whaleback ski area has begun focusing more on bringing back its terrain park scene that was strong back in the 2000s, and the return of Friday Night Lights rails jams is part of that effort. “We have a huge grom scene and this mountain, with our new management and terrain park manager, Buddy [Teevans], has the potential to foster amazing freestyle athletes,” said Whaleback’s Alex Lahood. “This edit spotlights exactly what we want our parks to do.” Teevans filmed the Feb. 10 Friday Night Lights event, with several local legends and groms alike coming out to shred, and posted the edit to Whaleback’s social channels.

 

Red Bull Bonus Track
Trollhaugen, WI

Red Bull Bonus Track was held in June at Trollhaugen on snow the ski area farmed and saved from the winter season and spread out in the forest along an entirely wood-feature park. Inspired by Benny Milam's Enchanted Forest Project at Troll, Red Bull Bonus Track gathered 30 pro snowboarders who were challenged to make the best one-minute edit from their 5 hours of riding. A total of 15 edits were produced from the summer day of snowboarding in the woods on wood in June in Wisconsin.

 

21 Years of Last Call
Loon, NH        

Easter Boarder’s Last Call celebrated its 21^st anniversary at Loon in March, and is said to be the longest running event of its kind on the East Coast. The event attracts a long list of the top snowboarders from around the world, including Zeb Powell, Scotty Lago, Zach Normandin, Will Vear, Cole Michie, and Jake Aaronson. The build is always unique, and big, and is only open to Last Call competitors. The 2023 event enjoyed perfect weather. This edit of the event, filmed and edited by Tyler Franger of Loon marketing team, captures the level of building and riding that makes Last Call so special.   

 

Woodward Eldora Spring Edit 2023
Eldora, Colo.

This video took place in early March in the Sundance Terrain Park at Woodward Eldora. It was filmed by Jeff Urbahn, Cullen McHale, and Ryan DeCesari. It was produced, edited, and directed by Jeff Urbahn. The whole idea behind making it was to show off some behind-the-scenes work of the park crew and highlight all of Eldora’s parks that they worked so hard to build. The featured athletes include Alina Cospolich, Joshua Stock, Tajhvan Littlejohn, Austin Omelia, Asher Humphreys, Sy Moran, Leo McDonald, Ben Fuller, Seth Hill, Ian Osby, and Eliz Fulop. 

C Sessions 11.3
Mount Snow, VT

The classic C Sessions series from Carinthia Parks at Mount Snow returned in February 2022 after a couple-year hiatus, and continued last winter, showcasing the talented skiers and riders in the East that frequent Carinthia during the winter. This series allows local and regional riders to share their passion and talents for ski/ride culture. C Sessions 11.3 was filmed and edited by Chris DeJohn and features a handful of talented local skiers, including Ben Bodett, Kevin Merchant, Aaron Reynolds, Matt Miller, Cooper Daniels, and Mike DeJohn      

 

Chair 46 Rail Jam
McIntyre Parks, NH

The inaugural Chair 46 Rail Jam is cleverly named to signify the end of the season at New Hampshire’s McIntyre Ski Area, because with 46 total chairs on its lifts serving its 200 feet of vertical, chair 46 is the last, e.g., the end. McIntyre started doing rail jams only a couple years ago and has gone from 10 participants to now more than 200 at the Chair 46 event, held March 12. Athletes vied for nearly $5,000 in cash and about $4,000 in prizes. Filmed and edited by Jared Mancuso, it features Noah PD, Haven Kennedy, Connor Brooks, Erin Alexander, Athena Comeau, Dom, Kaleb Shumway, Willis, Noah Kunz, Jake Parker, Jake Fern, Dave Diesel, Jesse, Joey Leon, Will Vear, and Cole Mitchie.

 

Pipelines 2
Mountain High, CA

Pipelines 2 was filmed at Mountain High in late January 2023 by Andrew Percival, Trevor Slattery, Daniel Salazar, and Thomas Haraden. It was edited by Andrew Percival.     Featured riders include tons of up-and-coming talent from around the country including Irie Jefferson, Andrew Brewer, Casey Pflipsen, Myrie Metzger, J DeForge, Paul Romero, Michael McDaniel, Niall Noel, Tyler Aubrey, Melissa Evans-Gray, Laura Rogoski, Jesse Paul, Mike Gray, Johnny Hancheck, Hunter Butler, Nick Guin, Dilyn Tillie, Ian Sams, Levi Kaseroff, Ryan Pluche, and Kolman LeCroy. Snowboy Productions brought back, and improved upon, the surfy setup from Pipelines 2022 for this edit.       

 

Goon Jam Stop #3
Pine Knob, MI

What made this edit special was the partially organized chaos, according to Pine Knob’s Matt Dunn, that came about when nearly 300 people turned up to the ski area’s 800-foot rope tow for the Goon Jam event put on by pro snowboarder Lucas Magoon and family. “The amount of traffic the rope saw that day was enough to completely sheer the quarter-inch thick angle iron frame of the tow’s bullwheel. It was epic,” said Dunn.

 

Patti Zhou Prepares for Dew Tour
Copper Mountain, CO

This video was filmed in early February to help promote and introduce Copper athlete Patti Zhou as the youngest competitor in Winter Dew Tour history at 11 years old. It shows Zhou getting ready for the Dew Tour in the Copper superpipe, Woodward Barn, and Woodward Terrain Park, filmed by Woodward Copper marketing coordinator Jack Benziger, who also edited it. Zhou’s preparation worked: she took home second-place in the women’s halfpipe.

 

Dew After Dark with Danny Davis
Crotched Mountain, NH

The final Dew After Dark of the 2022-23 season at Crotched Mountain was held March 11, and pro snowboarder Danny Davis joined guests and team members to shred in CM Park. There was a DJ, Mountain Dew sampling and autograph signing in the base area. The evening concluded with a moment of silence for A Day for Jake followed by a torchlight parade. This edit was filmed and edited by Jack Loosmann and showcases two new features that debuted in CM Park including a new light-up box and the return of the monster of all boxes, Boxzilla, and also highlights the fun that everyone had meeting and riding with Danny Davis, and coming together at the end of the night to reflect on the legacy of Jake Burton Carpenter.      

 

February Flow ft. Phil Hansen
Summit at Snoqualmie, WA

Sunny park days are a rare occurrence in the midst of a Pacific Northwest winter. When high pressure sets in, the Summit Parks team is well aware based on the heavy use in their parks. Keeping takeoffs and features tight and fresh for riders is a 24-hour job during these cycles, but the effort is always rewarding. Especially when riders like Phil Hansen take advantage of a sunny February day to shred the creative build and smooth flow that the team has crafted, captured by Barrett Wills behind the camera.

 

Rusch Park Spring ‘23 Session
Jay Peak Resort, VT

To celebrate the spring rebuild of The Rusch terrain park and the tireless efforts of Jay Peak’s park crew to keep things fresh, digital marketing guru Andrew Lanoue went out with some friends and captured a typical afternoon, on a not-so-typical sunny spring day at Jay. They headed out with a camera, a few phones, and hopes of running into familiar faces. “As small towns go, what was a few became a crew, and the hype train left the station, until we derailed at the end of the day,” said Lanoue. “But at the end of the day, it's the people that make it special.”

Park crew includes Larry Mundhenk, Corey Provoncha, Kirk Borodaeff, Kwak Kris Cantos, Cooper Bonczar, and Ed Rosenberg. Athletes include Billy Cashin, Ian Boyle, Courtney Walton, Fynn K-H, Dylan McNerney, Ray Fasen, Peter Haddick, Matteo Lazar, and additional local skiers and riders. 

 

 

 

Summit Parks Team
Summit at Snoqualmie, WA

Building and maintaining terrain parks in the sometimes-rainy, sometimes-freezing Pacific Northwest is no easy feat, but the Summit Parks team at the 3,000-foot Snoqualmie powers through challenging conditions with grace, producing some of the most fun and creative parks in the state during a 125ish-day season. The crew that includes Jeff Cragin, Jared Scholz, Ben Baird, David Norris, Weston Angeles, Caleb Snobl, Tom Snobl, Connor Quinn, Danielle Amado, Johnny Haycock, Diddy, Raven, Tony, Ian, Kirean, and Fedya are given “Cascade Concrete” more often than perfect cold snow but manages to keep Snoqualmie’s parks open seven days and six nights a week. “From the day the resort opens until it closes, the Summit Parks crew is on the hill all hours of the day and night maintaining, shaping, and building parks in the PNW elements,” says Karter Riach, the resort’s director of marketing.

 

The Pine Knob Diggers
Pine Knob Ski Resort, MI

Pine Knob’s diggers consist of hungry and passionate riders who tend to find the job before the job finds them. The “brotherhood” that comes from working towards a common goal creates a chemistry that’s served the 11-member team well, including at February’s grueling Red Bull Heavy Metal street jam in Detroit’s Hart Plaza— “our most triumphant day as a team,” says park manager Matt Dunn. The crew, which hammers out a schedule using group chat and welcomes new additions each year, is made up of Roz Gosley, Ryan Vanhekken, Aiden Braxton, Luke Petty, Lane Garris, Chris Corona, Matt Dunn, Jack Harrop, Parker Gannon, Carter Chapman, and Luke Gannon. “It reminds me of a band,” says Dunn of the unique bond. “You can put a group of great musicians together and tell them to make great music, but if the chemistry isn't there, the music won't flow. But when a band of good friends with good chemistry gets together, even if they have different ideas of what ‘great music’ or in this case ‘great terrain park features’ are, the ideas flow freely, merge, shift, and evolve.”

 

Bush Parks Team
Sugarbush Resort, VT

The builders and groomers on the Bush Parks crew start with just a rake— “homegrown talent only,” says terrain park crew leader Trevor Borrelli—to create the resort’s four parks, including its six-acre, 50-feature Riemergasse. The team includes five builders (“salty war dogs”) who have been around for a decade. When one long-timer, TJ Thran, decided to retire this year, the crew, naturally, gathered for a going-away session and photo to bid adieu. Included are Phillip Parrish, Robbie Gilbertsen, Urris White Ryder Whitworth, Liam Deveroux, Jarrod Seavey, Nick Meerberg, Borrelli, Lacy Zelanski, Tiadgh Dennis George, Sean Dillon, Rich Pockets, Thran, Mitch Harpin, and Jackson Krushenick.

 
Woodward Killington Park Crew
Killington Resort, VT

The Woodward Killington team consists of 16 hand crew and six machine operators that create and maintain nearly 200 features each season throughout 10 parks at two mountains—Killington and Pico. All park features are fabricated in-house, with the goal to deliver fun and creative options for all ability levels to enjoy. The hard-working crew toils year-round, starting its winter as early as Halloween and spending summers maintaining Killington’s bike park. Here they pose in Red’s Backyard hike park, just one of many they maintained throughout the season. Included are day staff Taylor Zink, Chris Pierce, Collin Wolf, Jake Chiras, Anthony Szeliga, Kevin Dalglish, Tim Stangel, Ian Waye, Sander Macaulay, Evan Fineblit, Erin Alexander, Furious Roy, Phoenix Crager, Faith Robinett, Patrick Reidy, Kelsey Zaengle and operators Corey Tredtin, Mike Bouffard, Joe Kruglak, Stu Curry, Jacob Clark-Trapana, and Jeremy Lafleur. “There aren’t many park crews (especially in the East) that work year-round, but the team at Woodward Killington stays on that grind,” says the resort’s Brooke Geary. “Through diligent maintenance, this crew keeps every feature and every park dialed, day in and day out, regardless of unforgiving weather and conditions.”

Solitude Park Crew
Solitude Mountain, UT

Solitude’s inaugural park crew pioneered the resort’s first-ever terrain park program in 2022-23. The passionate team worked with limited resources and “busted their tails every day,” battling through the struggles of building a new program while managing 816” of snowfall and more than 20 complete rebuilds of the park. The crew consisted of terrain park manager Tyler Sites, snowcat operators Jack Rafferty and Alex Levine, and hand crew Jax Marrone, Kaden Johnson, Preston Carleton, Dane Poore, Alex Lucky, and Dillon Featherstone. “This team will be put down in Solitude's history books as the crew that pioneered the program,” says Sites. “We did not have access to the same resources as programs with decades of history behind them, but that did not stop this crew one bit. The team we have built is committed to making our program the best in the Wasatch, and we will not stop until the goal is achieved. I will put this team up against any of the best programs in the country.”

Troll Park Crew
Trollhaugen, WI

A group of “dedicated humans” from ages 16 to 40+ comprise the Troll Park Crew, where generations of creativity and passion keep the stoke high no matter the conditions, “be it a blizzard, sunny and 20 degrees, or negative 1,000—the smile is still frozen on your face,” says director of marketing Marsha Hovey. “The love for Valhalla and the parks at Troll runs deep, and we do our best to honor that love with every park set.” Hovey says the crew is a constantly rotating “bunch of helping hands” that roll through on park-building day, making a list of names difficult. “Still, everyone cares to a degree in which it’s hard to put into words. SKOL!”

Loon Mountain Park Staff
Loon Mountain, NH

Loon’s park crew consists of “completely dedicated members”, including three 15+-year veterans with superpark builds under their belts: lead builder and groomer Erik Partlow; parks manager Bryan Harper; and operator Tom Peplinski. The rest of the crew includes operators Matt Fiorentino and Rob Hallowell and park staff Mike Mondello, Will Vear, Mike Walsh, Pierce Fagan, Sam Robinson, Nick Durbano, Connor Grandell, AJ Colegate, Jake Kepner, Matt Pherson, and Ethan Ryan. The level of respect and friendship within the crew adds to making the park scene at Loon special. “They care about the product, they care about the reputation, they work hard and play hard,” says Harper.

Blue Mountain Park Crew
Blue Mountain, PA

The crew at Blue Mountain kicked off the 2022-23 season with an overnight build in its Come Around Park in 5-degree temps. The “family unit” works long—often cold—hours but rewards itself by taking laps together once the job is done. The crew consists of park manager Kris Hantz, park supervisor Evan Mann, cat operator Kristin Lenart, videographer Reece Lewis, and hand crew Corlan Wood, Aaron Greenholt, Alessandro Dibiase, Nick Randich, Chris Condly, and Matt Tretter. Long hours are spent building and maintaining the parks, and the team “truly lives by ‘work hard, play hard,’” says Ashley Seier, director of marketing. “The stoke that it shares throughout the season can be felt by other departments and guests of the mountain.”

 

Copper Terrain Park Crew
Copper Mountain, CO

Copper’s park crew consists of approximately 10 cat operators, 20 hand crew, and four managers—most who plan to return next year. Long-time members include Noah Schwander, Chase Davis, Phil Pereira, Jake Halvorsen, Steve Nicosia, Josh Probst, Chase Hodges, Art Lehmann, Will Crysler, Jay Scott, Conan Bradley, and Peter Schnarsky, just to name a few. This “hardest working crew in the land,” maintains 10+ parks and close to 300 features while putting on competitions for the smallest groms to the biggest names in the industry at events including the Dew Tour and USASA Nationals, says senior communications manager Loryn Roberson. “There is a reason the Woodward Express Lift is always popular,” says Roberson. “With the freedom to innovate and the desire to have the best parks in the world, our crew brings smiles to countless individuals every year.”

 

The Crew at Sierra-at-Tahoe
Sierra-at-Tahoe, CA

No matter the challenge, the park crew at Sierra at Tahoe finds a way to get it done, says resort spokesperson Shelby Dunlap. “It’s a small crew, but it brings experience and creative ideas to the table.” Last season, extreme conditions in the form of excessive wind speeds and massive snow load forced the team to go back to the drawing board. “We had to do something entirely different to be successful,” says Dunlap. “And as a result, we were able to create some really rad parks and features.” The 2022-23 crew consisted of Tyson Terpening, Chris Spellman, Chloe Butel, Ralph Castillo, Garrett Agost, Evan Aker, Edric Alvarez, Andrew Aquino, Charles Banks, Angelo Ferriera, Rob Giustina, Adam Grube, Tanner Hart, Connor Jurich, Austin Kienzle, Travis Leikness, Dustin Orr, Wiatt Peters, Matt Stuck, Leo Trebotich, Alex Wetherhold, Mack Young, John White, and Tre Wallace.