Thursday, February 20, 2014

Terrain Parks

Over the last couple months there have been a few questions about the park, specifically jumps. A-Basin is in a different position than many of the parks and ski areas around us. Obviously, snowmaking water available for park building during 2012-13 season really limited park building. The areas around us have a much greater capacity for park building than we do. As a result those areas have bigger parks and a much greater park following. Our intention is to provide a good park within our snowmaking means and one that people have a chance to have some fun riding and sliding. Different than other seasons, this year we chose to build out the parks at a different pace. We chose a pace that more closely matched our park usage. Typically, our park usage is very high the first couple of weeks of the season, is relatively light for several mid-season months, and picks up again late season. So we started with the little Banana Park, by Christmas we added the bigger High Divide Terrain Park, and more recently we added several bigger rail and box features in the Treeline Park. As we roll into spring and park usage increases, we plan on adding more features. We have not yet decided just what those features will be. Do we have a policy of "No Jump Building". Absolutely not. Simply, for now we have tried to build a park that matches usage and is within our snowmaking means. We are constantly keeping an eye on the parks and, like everything we do, we will try and make the best decisions that provide the best experiences for the most people. I look forward to hearing your comments and please be constructive.