Snow Grooming - November 2016

NORTH AMERICA’S ONLY PUBLICATION CONNECTING THE ENTIRE SNOW GROOMING COMMUNITY

November 2016 | Volume 3 | No. 5

THE TERRAIN PARKS AT WHISTLER BLACKCOMB

What makes a world-class resort

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November 2016 | Vol 3. | No. 5

Letter from the Editor This is the Last-Ever Issue of Snow Grooming

Whistler Blackcomb’s Terrain Parks They’re not just a big part of what makes this British Columbia snow sports destination a world-class resort. They’re a reflection of the passion that the snowcat drivers who build and groom them.

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The U.S. Terrain Park Council

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Fit for Snow

Does America need to look closer at terrain park safety? One organization believes so.

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Instill your operations with a culture of snow safety

Engineering Awesome Terrain parks offer one of the best ways for resort operators to attract a new range of patrons. Does your hill stand up to the excitement test?

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Tapping into the Freestyle Spirit

29

Snow Jobs

The man behind unique features maker 4 Pine Design is inspired by a drive to be different

Arena Snowpark Construction Ltd. is building better terrain parks, one site at a time

31 33

Big Things in this Package

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Meet Mike Thomas

The PistenBully 100 4F is a step up from its predecessors

Meet Arlo Pouliot Talking to the lead terrain park groomer at Smugglers’ Notch Vermont

Get to know the terrain park manager at Stevens Pass Washington Ski Resort

On the Cover Whistler and Blackcomb had separate ski operations until 1997, when they merged to form the biggest ski area in North America. Martin Gautrey, a snow grooming fixture on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains since 1998, says most of the 16 snow grooming operators on his terrain park team have been with the resort eight or 10 years, and the jobs do not come up often. Please see the feature story, which starts on page 6.

SNOW GROOMING

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Cover photo courtesy of Paul Morrision / Whistler Blackcomb

5 6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

November 2016 | Vol 3. | No. 5 www.snowgroomingmag.com

Published by

140 Broadway, 46th Floor New York, NY 10005 Toll-free Phone: 866-953-2189 Toll-free Fax: 877-565-8557 www.lesterpublications.com President, Jeff Lester Publisher, Jill Harris EDITORIAL Editor, Andrew Harris ADVERTISING Senior Account Executive, Quinn Bogusky Account Executive, Brian Saunders DESIGN & LAYOUT Art Director, Myles O’Reilly Senior Graphic Designer, John Lyttle DIGITAL MEDIA Digital Media Manager, Gayl Punzalan Social Media Coordinator, Jenina Bondoc DISTRIBUTION Office Manager, Nikki Manalo © 2016 Lester Publications, LLC All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Publication Mail Agreement #40606022.

Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 701 Henry Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3E 1T9

This is the Last-Ever Issue of Snow Grooming

F

irst things first, I have to mention how much fun this issue of Snow Grooming was to put together. In speaking with so many terrain park builders, groomers, managers and more while planning the articles, I learned a lot about terrain parks and how integral they can be to a snow resort. One thing definitely stood out: the people involved in building, maintaining and operating terrain parks love what they do. It’s amazing to speak to so many people with such a high level of passion for their jobs.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in this issue.

Secondly, if you didn’t catch my last editor’s message in the September issue of Snow Grooming, the headline for this letter may come across as a little alarming. Fear not, however, as we’re simply making some changes to the magazine’s format and frequency for 2017.

The biggest change is a brand new name: while this issue marks the last time you’ll read Snow Grooming magazine, in January 2017 you’ll receive the all-new SnowOps magazine.

SnowOps will still bring you the needto-know news in the North American Snow Grooming community, but we’re

expanding the scope of the publication to also include more general snow operations coverage. If you have ideas for articles or topics that you’d like us to cover, send me an email any time.

We’re also changing the frequency of the magazine, reducing from five issues per year to three. This will allow us to be more selective and impactful in our content for readers, maximize our advertisers’ marketing dollars and leave you to spend more time doing what you love most – being out in the snow.

Enjoy this final issue of Snow Grooming, and I know that you’re on board with us as we launch the all-new SnowOps in January. Make sure to follow our social media accounts for the latest updates!

I hope that your snow season gets off to a great start!

Happy reading,

Jill Harris 866-953-2182 jharris@lesterpublications.com

Editor’s note: This is not me

Lizard / Shutterstock.com

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the authors and/or editorial sources contained in Snow Grooming magazine are those of the respective parties and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the publisher.

Printed in Canada.

Please recycle where facilities exist.

SNOW GROOMING

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WHISTLER BLACKCOMB’S Scott Serfas/ Whistler Blackcomb

TERRAIN PARKS

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November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

COVER STORY

They’re not just a big part of what makes this British Columbia snow sports destination a world-class resort. They’re a reflection of the passion that the snowcat drivers who build and groom them.

By Mark Halsall

T

he terrain parks at renowned Whistler Blackcomb resort in British Columbia, Canada are among the busiest in North America, drawing up to 1,400 riders per hour at peak times. According to park officials, that translates to 22,000 drops through the gates on sunny days.

But Whistler Blackcomb’s 99 acres of terrain parks aren’t just a favorite destination for freestyle skiers and snowboarders, they’re also a huge draw for snow grooming operators.

Just ask Martin Gautrey, a snow grooming fixture on Whistler and

Blackcomb mountains since 1998 (he’s been a grooming supervisor since 2002). Most of the 16 snow grooming operators on his terrain park team have been with the resort eight or 10 years, and the jobs do not come up often.

“It’s a great job, people love it. It’s definitely sought after,” said Gautrey, acknowledging that a key perk is being able to ride world-class terrain parks in a stunning mountain setting. “For people who do this, it’s their passion. They don’t want to leave, that’s for sure.

“I love skiing, and I like building the jumps,” said Gautrey, who’s been snow

grooming since 1990. “It’s interesting, three-dimensional work and it’s constantly evolving. I’m lucky enough to be working with a great group of people.

They’re younger and have a lot of energy, and it’s a really fun place to be and work.”

Mountain merger Whistler and Blackcomb had separate ski operations until 1997, when they merged to form the biggest ski area in North America. Completed in 2008, the Peak 2 Peak gondola links the side-byside mountains and provides guests

SNOW GROOMING

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Blake Jorgenson/ Whistler Blackcomb

COVER STORY

with a spectacular view of the Coast Mountains rimming Whistler Valley.

The resort boasts five terrain parks – two on Whistler and three on Blackcomb. Part of what makes Whistler Blackcomb so popular is that there’s something for everyone, from first-time freestylers to pro riders and even Olympic champions.

On Whistler, the Nintendo Habitat Terrain Park has beginner to advanced sections and contains a host of features inspired by nature, including tree jibs and bonks as well as rails and jumps. There’s also the School Yard, designed to help kids and those new to the sport learn the needed skills for terrain park riding.

Over on Blackcomb, the Big Easy Terrain Garden offers smaller rails, rollers and mini-hits aimed for beginners who want to get some air but want to stick close to the ground in the process. The Nintendo Terrain Park on Blackcomb is packed with intermediate and advanced features that are mixed together to provide all kinds of options. This park is a stepping-stone to the Highest Level Park on Blackcomb, which features massive jumps, spines, rails and jibs designed with the expert rider in mind.

The numerous X Games and Olympic sized features at the resort include the Superpipe, a massive halfpipe (18 feet or 22 feet wide, depending on the snow year) on Blackcomb. Also on Blackcomb is the Snow Cross Track, a permanent course incorporating a thrilling blend of banked turns, jumps, whoops

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and rollers. Like most of Whistler Blackcomb’s high-end facilities, the track is utilized by Canadian nationallevel athletes, but still accommodates riders who want to try this Olympic sport.

The terrain parks at Whistler Blackcomb have become an established training ground for numerous medalling events at the Olympic Games, including snow cross, halfpipe and slopestyle competitions for skiers and snowboarders.

“Whistler Blackcomb’s vision for the future continues to involve athlete development as slope, pipe, big air and cross continue to infiltrate the Olympics. We are the training ground for ski and snowboard athletes working their way to podiums of the future,” said Brian Finestone, terrain park manager at Whistler Blackcomb.

“We are also intent on keeping noncompete as a focus, creating the most versatile setups we can for creative expression by skiers and riders who want to showcase their talent via media content production,” he said.

Constant change After an initial build to set up each park in early November, the parks continue to evolve as the season progresses.

“As we get more snow, we can put more features in,” said Gautrey.

“We design in progression throughout the season so the jumps grow and setups get more technical as people

November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

develop their skills,” said Finestone. “We change an average of six-eight setups daily so there is always something fresh.”

Rider feedback, some of it coming through social media, helps drive the changes. Whistler Blackcomb’s team of terrain park rangers – who ride the parks ensuring the safety of users and are also counted on to hand-tool features and help maintain them during operating hours – are also key contributors.

“The rangers are on the snow all day riding and talking to all the riders,” said Gautrey. “We’ll get suggestions from them and we’ll implement those. So things are constantly changing.”

Gautrey adds that some friendly rivalry between the terrain parks at Whistler Blackcomb is also at play.

“It’s quite a contest between all the parks, trying to be the best and stay ahead of everyone else,” he said.

According to Finestone, the parks have improved significantly over the years despite space restrictions.

“Whistler Blackcomb parks have had to evolve without necessarily growing.

Our allotment of terrain has not grown significantly and the steepness challenges will always remain,” he said.

“The result is a very strong team of rangers and drivers who ride at a high level and interact with national level athletes in order to provide the best possible feature mix for them to develop while keeping the creative flow going for riders who want top to bottom action for film edits.”

COVER STORY

“ It’s a great job, people love it. It’s definitely sought after. For people who do this, it’s their passion. They don’t want to leave, that’s for sure.”

— Martin Gautrey, Whistler Blackcomb The snow grooming fleet for Whistler Blackcomb’s terrain parks is comprised of a dozen PistenBully Park Pros, along with a winch cat equipped with a 22-foot global pipe cutter used to create and maintain the massive Superpipe feature.

Each day, the bulk of the grooming and feature work is completed during

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the 2:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. shift. A single operator will usually work the midnight to 10 a.m. shift on each mountain, dealing with any new snow and packing and finishing up features when needed.

“We’ll basically have everything done by midnight,” said Finestone. “The

[night] shift will be removing the new snow back down to the harder layer so we can offer a quality [product] all day long.”

Snow challenges Whistler Blackcomb is situated not far from Canada’s “wet” coast, so

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Paul Morrison/Whistler Blackcomb

COVER STORY

major snowstorms are not an infrequent phenomena.

“We get so much snow sometimes that the whole park gets completely buried. Everything has to be dug out or rebuilt and put on top of that new snow if we go through a really big snow cycle,” said Gautrey. “We can get a couple

of metres (6.5 feet) of snow in a month and basically the whole park would have to get rebuilt on top of that snow.

You can’t always be pushing it away because sometimes it’s just too much.”

In some recent years, however, it’s been lack of snow that’s provided the bigger challenge.

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“The snowmakers are essential to our crew and man-made snow is required to perfect these features, which keep getting bigger and bigger,” said Gautrey.

“We’re always trying to make snow.”

The Superpipe, for example, requires months of snowmaking before it becomes operational.

“We generally don’t get the halfpipe going until early January because of the amount of snow we need to make just for that,” said Gautrey. “Typically, we’ll start grooming here the first week of November. First, we have to prepare the slope, get some grading in there, and then put the features in. It’s a twoweek process, probably, just to get the park going, and everything’s ready by Christmas, except for the halfpipe due to snow restrictions. It’s a building process all the way through, right to the last day, because we’re always changing and building new features.”

The grooming demands of the Superpipe and other high-end features at Whistler Blackcomb requires the snowcat drivers to really step up their game, according to Gautrey. It also means they’re doing a lot more winching than they used to.

“We need a winch cat to groom the landings for some of the jumps now because they have gotten so big that the machines can’t go down those landings without sliding,” he said.

A key thing Gautrey and his team of terrain park groomers always strive for is consistency.

“The jumps and rail features need to be the same day in and day out, because the park rider doesn’t want to hit a jump that was one way one day, and different the next,” he said.

Attention to detail is equally important.

“It matters because if what we’re building isn’t perfect, you end up with injuries and we don’t want that. We want perfect jumps,” said Gautrey. “Our guests are number one and their safety is definitely the priority, for sure. If the quality is not up to our standards, then we don’t want to offer that to the public. We really just want the best product possible, and I think we do a pretty good job.”

After all, Gautrey said, “You can’t be a world-class ski resort and not have a world-class terrain park.”

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U THE TERRAIN PA RK COUNCIL

Does America need to look closer at terrain park safety?

One organization believes so.

By Jim Chliboyko

I

njuries and winter sports have been linked since the invention of the first ski, snowshoe or skate. Some injuries, of course, are more preventable than others. But in 2008, a man with a particular set of skills – as well as some genuine skin in the game – decided to try to address the occurrence of snowboarding injuries caused by problematic jumps. Thus, the United States Terrain Park Council (USTPC) was created.

The USTPC initially started out as a father-son project and ended up becoming a national organization. Dr. James McNeil, a Colorado-based physicist, is the father in this collaboration, a physics professor with a snowboarding son. The USTPC is based in Boulder, Colo., has a board but no staff and the only expenses so far are for maintaining their website and attending conferences.

“My son was a professional snowboarder for many years,” said McNeil of Brodie McNeil, his son. “So he would often come home and tell me about how this jump was a good jump or this jump was a bad jump. So I looked at him and asked what made it a good jump or what made it a bad jump.

We talked about it and I tried to articulate, in a physics sense,

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November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

INDUSTRY PROFILE

cting with the ra te in of s ar ye l ra ve “ My view after se reluctance on nt ca ifi gn si is e er th industry is that hazards might be at e th t ha w n ar le ] [… their part to their resort.”

Brian Finestone/Shutterstock.com

S. Terrain Park Council — Dr. James McNeil, U.

SNOW GROOMING

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what it was that made it a good jump or a bad jump – what the issues were.”

With Brodie’s hands-on experience and McNeil’s aforementioned skills, they decided to address, head on, the problem of snowboard jump injuries.

“We tried to articulate in our first paper, 2008, which was published in Sports Engineering, how to make a landing that would be designed to have a given impact: the energy that would be dissipated or needed to be dissipated when you landed would need to be, in some sense, controlled,” said McNeil. “And that was our first jump into this.”

McNeil may have been taking a cue from Newton’s First Law of Motion – “A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it” – with the outside force being, of course, the USTPC. The “body” did not remain at rest.

“The next thing I know, I’m getting calls from lawyers wanting me to be an expert witness in lawsuits,” said McNeil. “And my son, who’s very close to the ski industry, said ‘Don’t do that, we mustn’t do that.’ So we talked about it. Well, what can we do? And one of the things we thought of doing would be to start what we hoped would be a litigation-neutral forum for the community, meaning the patrons, users, academic community, engineers and so forth, as well as the industry – the terrain park builders and designers – get together and articulate what would be the best practices that would give rise to a safer terrain park jump environment.”

To cite Newton’s Third Law of Motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

“My view after several years of interacting with the industry is that there is significant reluctance on their part to […] learn what the hazards might be at their resort. Their defensive strategy in the United States, not everywhere and not everyone – but predominantly – is to build a feature and have the user sign a liability waiver, and then say the feature is here, you are free to use it or not use it, but if you use it, you bear the risk.

They try to create a legal strategy where the responsibility for any negative outcomes lies with the user. This may be a wise defensive strategy from the point of view of minimizing the liability exposure of the resort. I don’t think it’s a very moral position in that there are certain things that a resort has special knowledge of; it has special abilities to mitigate hazards, and so, in my view, they have a duty to do that.”

This resistance took dramatic forms, according to McNeil, who says at times he has literally been escorted out of certain meetings.

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“I’m not allowed to go onto [certain] hills; I’m escorted off of hills if I attempt to measure something,” he said. “They are very active about making sure that they do not know if their jumps are dangerous are not.

“This is all new to me. Being an academic person, [this belief that] knowing is better than not knowing is kind of a fundamental philosophy in the academic world. I naively went into this game thinking that all I had to do was present where the hazards were. [The resorts] would be happy to know that and happy to have someone help them, assist them in mitigating those hazards and I was wrong. It’s turned out to be far more political than scientific, so I’m kind of at a loss. Politics are really not my expertise.”

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

INDUSTRY PROFILE

–D r. James McNeil, U.S. Terrain Park Council

However, the somewhat good news is that the resistance is mostly consolidated in America. McNeil said dealing with Europeans is quite different. In fact, he’s been invited to the winter school of the International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) to work with some of the people studying the same issue. He finds Europe more open in other ways, too.

“Europe has a much friendlier litigation environment,” said McNeil. “In the United States, if anyone gets hurt, the fight is who pays for it. And in Europe, there is no fight because the government will pay for it.”

But McNeil is still actively looking for a way to make an impact. He has joined the American Society for the Testing of Materials (ASTM); the organization has a committee, F27, specifically regarding snow skiing. After several years of attempts, McNeil says the ASTM has adopted terrain park jumps as under their purview.

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“We’ve been working on the first standards for jumps, which is the definition of terms; what is a jump, what is a takeoff, what is a landing, what is a deck – all these terms that are used in jump design,” said McNeil. Even the definition has yet to be agreed upon, but McNeil suspects this is coming soon. “This is two years to define terms. This is a glacial process but I believe it is necessary because that is where the industry’s invested in that process.”

There’s currently a bit of a standstill while the definitions wait to be approved, but McNeil is ready to be called upon.

The measuring devices and the analysis software tools are ready to go. McNeil doesn’t envision resorts hiring physicists anytime in the future; rather, resort personnel would be trained to use the tools.

The council would also like to further establish its Smart Parks Certification, based on a series of best practices for terrain park management developed by the USTPC. “I’m hoping that when ASTM adopts the quantitative approach, then the quantitative techniques that we’ve already developed are on the shelf, ready to go, the industry will be more receptive to them,” said McNeil.

More simply put, McNeil said, “We’ve built it, but we’re waiting for them to come.”

Editor’s note: This article reflects certain opinions on the U.S. terrain park industry and is presented to readers of Snow Grooming for information. If you have any thoughts on the opinions expressed, please send a letter to the editor by email to jharris@lesterpublications.com.

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“ One of the things we thought of doing would be to start what we hoped would be a litigationneutral forum for the community.”

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SNOW SAFETY

Fit for Snow

Instill your operations with a culture of snow safety

By Dr. Delia Roberts, Fit For Snow, Selkirk College do things “according to procedure.” What makes a person decide to cut corners one day? What distracts them in that one moment? What allows them to ignore the risk? And what about all the incidents that can’t be controlled by rules? The skier collision, the guest who falls while loading the chair, catching an edge or lifting an injured guest?

What we are talking about is the culture of safety. This is the culture of how your employees view their personal responsibility for their own and their co-workers’ safety and wellbeing. It’s this need for an intrinsic approach that is addressed by a unique safety program that works within the culture of snowsport resort employees. Based on sound sports science principles¹, and tested at 15 resorts, Fit for Snow has never failed to lower injury incidents.

There are two main components to the program. The first is based on a large body of work showing that the nervous system is dependent on blood glucose for peak function. If you want your reflexes to be sharp, your assessments to be accurate, your decisions to be well made and your mood to be stable, a surefire way to ensure that you perform at your best is to stabilize your blood sugar. Staying hydrated and voiding both highs and lows of blood sugar will improve the way your mind and reflexes work by the equivalent of 10 years². Seems like a simple solution, but how do you get your crew to eat breakfast, bypass the fries and cola for lunch or skip the drinks and pizza at the end of the day?

The second component of the program centers around movement strategies. We all develop bad habits, whether sitting at a desk, driving a vehicle or carrying a backpack. Our

Leonid Ikan/Shutterstock.com

I

t’s closing time on a snowy day mid-season, and you are counting on your groomers to prep the hill for the upcoming weekend’s onslaught. As they wander into the dressing room, the talk is loud and excited about the great riding conditions. The energy level is high, but it’s pretty obvious that your crew is short on sleep, fatigued from a full day of charging and woefully underprepared for a shift riding a large piece of machinery. How can you help both veterans and rookies alike stay focused and safe through their grooming season?

While the actual number of injury claims amongst cat operators is pretty low, it is worth taking a minute to consider the costs of injury claims to your operation. Typically, the number of incidents in outdoor employees (patrol, lift ops, instructors, outdoor guest services, snowmaking, maintenance) is quite high. In fact, workers at snowsport resorts have more than twice the risk of being injured than the national average. And these claims are expensive. You can consider the average annual insurance costs, the number of injuries within a department at your resort, the average cost of a claim or even add up the indirect costs, like the time it takes you to investigate and do the paperwork on the incident, but any which way you look at it, injuries are expensive.

Especially if you consider the profit margin at your resort, it can take more than 15,000 lift tickets to recover the costs of just one knee injury.

Consider also the safety regulations. They work to keep people safe. However, they add paperwork and rules, and your crew might decide that it just takes so much longer to

SNOW GROOMING

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SNOW SAFETY ability to sense where our body is in space is confused by the external influences of everything from the steering wheel in your car to the pressure of your boots on the back of your calves. Periodically, resetting these postural messages allows us to recruit the right muscle at the right time with a near instantaneous relief from back, knee, shoulder and neck pain, and an improvement in motor control. That means you’ll be far less likely to put out your back, catch an edge, pop a shoulder or stress a knee.

Fit for Snow works within the culture of snowsport resorts to encourage staff to take personal action to ensure their level of work preparedness is high. They come in wanting to perform, and take action so that they will be able to do so. Not only are injuries reduced, but staff are also happier and have a higher level of self actualization, and that translates directly into providing a better service for your guests.

There is no question that improving health and wellness and safety gives a good return on investment. According to the Harvard Business Review,³ the return is approximately $2.50 to $6 for every dollar spent on an effective program. But how do you ensure it’s effective?

Here’s what the experts say: 1. The program must address the needs of the population. Fit for Snow was designed based on a research study that examined employees at five snowsport resorts in Western Canada.

2. The program must provide an effective solution. Fit for Snow uses the latest methods from sport nutrition and functional movement training.

3. The program must address the culture of the organization.

Fit for Snow talks to snowsport resort employees in their own language; the solutions fit within their budget and lifestyle.

4. There must be support for the program from all levels of management, from the top to the group supervisor level. If upper levels of management are not engaged, the culture of the organization will not move towards health and wellness, and if there is no resource allocation at the supervisor level, the workers will blow it off.

5. Evaluate and readjust. It takes about four cycles for the program to become intrinsic to the organization. Let people know what’s working and what isn’t. Reward success and make people accountable.

References 1. www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/121832/ 2. www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/10/241 3. www.bit.ly/hbr-hard-return

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November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

COMPANY PROFILE

Engineering Awesome

Terrain parks offer one of the best ways for resort operators to attract a new range of patrons. Does your hill stand up to the excitement test?

D

arrin Schmitz and his team from Snow Park Solutions are bringing the fun.

Schmitz is the owner of the Aldergrove, B.C.-based company that specializes in creating unique terrain attractions to resorts around the globe. From rails to boxes to wall rides, and everything in between, Snow Park Solutions has earned its reputation by developing a wide range of terrain challenges since 1994. Today, the company is leading the way in the installation of “awesome” that has given new life to snow resorts looking to differentiate in a tough business climate.

According to Schmitz, a hill design pro who cut his teeth as terrain park manager at Hemlock Valley Resort, a popular snow resort about 100 miles east of Vancouver, terrain parks got their start with simple snow features and then moved up to include things

like rails and boxes. Today, he suggests that on more than 75 percent of hills, the terrain park is a secondary feature and afterthought. He sees this as a failure to properly execute a facility that can see more traffic if guests get more value. And, terrain parks are key to delivering more ski value than almost any other facet on the hill.

“Our questions have always been – ‘Where’s the fun?’ and ‘How do we innovate?’” he said, pointing to Snow Park Solutions’ unique addition of “street scenes” to the terrain park environment.

Here, the company offers elements typically found in the urban landscape.

These might include staircases, walls and fun “jibs” like electrical boxes, road barriers or dumpsters that have been transformed to better suit the terrain park environment.

“What’s the next trend?” said Schmitz. “We always have to be asking

ourselves to go beyond to create something special. In this area, there is no room for mediocre. We really have to go for the sky to make each park stand out as unique destinations.”

He says that the snow sports scene is very competitive.

“Terrain parks give you an edge if they are executed properly,” he said.

“This means everybody has to have fun and parks have to be properly maintained and planned. Why have a terrain park where usage is limited to only top tier users?”

He notes the growing popularity of snow cross, where families can race each other in settings that are exciting but available to all skill levels.

“There is no point in designing jumps that the majority of people can’t hit.

Our opinion is that resorts should start with smaller, downsized parks that everyone can use and expand from there if manpower, equipment and snow

SNOW GROOMING

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Photos courtesy of Snow Park Solutions Snowboarder photo: Dennis van de Water/Shutterstock

By Kelly Gray

COMPANY PROFILE

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permits. Operators should be prepared to gear their site to use. This means more people per hour on the hill and this is good for sponsorship opportunities, not to mention general revenues.”

His advice is to get advice. Then make a commitment.

“Don’t go into this half-hearted,” said Schmitz. “Resort customers will become disillusioned with the facility if there are sporadically maintained or half-finished terrain areas.”

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Schmitz and his team like to examine the hill before the snow flies and the snowcats get fired up for the season.

“How much snow do we have to work with? What kind of room do we have to place the elements desired? What is the resort’s key demographic we are creating the area for? What is the resort’s equipment and manpower capabilities? These are some of the questions we consider before we come up with our designs and start making features.”

Snow Park Solutions builds everything from scratch. The company operates a facility in Aldergrove dubbed “the Farm.” Here, crews experiment with designs and build all the obstacles like rails and boxes. One of the projects currently on the go at Snow Park Solutions is creating a complete terrain park program from scratch for Kinosoo Ridge Resort in Cold Lake, Alta. to celebrate their 35th anniversary. The project will see the creation of 28 new rail, box and wall ride features and includes a complete start to finish revamping of their terrain park program, making Kinosoo Ridge the place to go for a bit of terrain park madness.

“We also take weather and equipment availability into account when we build,” said Schmitz. “Our advice to resort operators is to create a grooming schedule that incorporates the terrain park to ensure the terrain parks are maintained to the same standards and consistency as the slopes. If your terrain parks cannot be maintained at this level, it may be time to reevaluate your terrain park program to better coincide with your equipment and staff capabilities“

COMPANY PROFILE One thing Snow Park Solutions won’t do is leave resorts hanging.

“We don’t just show up, build and leave. We lead. We educate. We follow up,” said Schmitz, adding that they talk to people who use the site and find out what excites them and then deliver the goods. “You have to know your customers. We suggest resort operators get right to the heart of their business by visiting local board and ski shops to speak to the people who will use the park.”

Schmitz has also teamed with organizations, such as the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA), where he currently is a member of their terrain park committee.

“This gives us an inside edge on factors such as safety and best practices.

It also allows us to share our knowledge with other terrain park managers to create consistency among resorts,” he said. “Through our involvement with the CWSAA terrain park committee, we have helped create an everevolving manual for terrain park development with the hopes of creating ideas and best practices that will iron out the rough edges where operators

create their own parks without prior knowledge. This can be dangerous, time consuming for resort operators and result in fewer guests on the operator’s slopes.”

Schmitz says that, for the most part, groomers are a pretty professional bunch. However, groomers need to understand the terrain park’s objectives and be able to conceptualize the layout

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COMPANY PROFILE before they get the cats running. And, while Snow Park Solutions can come in to create the initial designs, layouts and even monthly checkups and rebuilds, it’s the resort’s groomers who have to maintain the product nightly to its intended standards.

“You’ve got to know what you are trying to build before you push snow,” said Schmitz. “Once you have this down, you can get onto the schedule and keep the terrain parks as the resort’s main attraction. People come to snow resorts for fun. Give it to them.”

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” What’s the next trend? We always have to be asking ourselves to go beyond to create something special.

In this area, there is no room for mediocre.“ — Darrin Schmitz, Snow Park Solutions

COMPANY PROFILE

The man behind unique features maker 4 Pine Design is inspired by a drive to be different

By Mark Halsall

Stephen Laterra

SNOW GROOMING

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Photos courtesy of of Sean Boggs

I

t’s been a long and varied career for Stephen Laterra, the former pro snowboarder turned terrain park designer who now crafts his own distinctive brand of freestyle snow features through his company, 4 Pine Design.

“I’ve been involved in the snowboarding industry in one form or another since 1992,” said Laterra. “All of that experience helped me build 4 Pine Design. Without having that background, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing.”

Since founding 4 Pine Design seven years ago, Laterra has been busy working on terrain park layouts and creating innovative rails, boxes, box tops and jumps at his facility in Eagle, Colo., using steel and plastic to create unique products that are designed to fit perfectly with each terrain park they’re built for.

His clients are primarily in the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions and they currently include Jackson Hole

COMPANY PROFILE

“The terrain park now gets as much attention as any snow surface on the resort. It’s no longer neglected or seen as a side project as far as grooming and maintenance is concerned.”

– Stephen Laterra, 4 Pine Design Twenty-foot keel rail

Mountain Resort in Wyoming, Ski Cooper resort in Colorado and Welch Village resort in Minnesota.

Laterra says his drive to be different is what led him to create 4 Pine Design.

“It’s really who I am; I’m never complacent with anything. I just always think that something that’s freestyle really doesn’t have any boundaries,” he said. “To allow for the evolution of freestyle sports, things just constantly need to keep changing to keep it fresh. People get bored if they keep riding the same this and that – you need to change it up.”

Laterra describes his company’s offerings as a new generation of snow products that not only offer freestylers something exciting and different, but also are easier for terrain park crews to work with.

“The resort has to spend less time maintaining it and worrying about product damage,” he said.

A great example is Laterra’s rails, which feature a keel along their base rather than supporting legs or feet. This unique design feature means much less snow is required to support them. Because the end of the keel is located

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November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

further back from the end of the rail and is deep below the snow surface, it also means groomer operators can get closer to the feature without worrying about damaging it or their equipment.

Another of Laterra’s original designs was inspired by his experiences as a pro snowboarder. 4 Pine Design box tops have a floating panel top sheet with no through fasteners, resulting in a smoother ride for users.

“There’s a smooth surface and no bolts or screws that can come loose and damage equipment or injure a rider,” said Laterra. “And the panels allow for expansion and contraction with heat, so they never ripple or warp.”

In addition, Laterra’s freestyle features are designed to be durable but also lightweight, meaning fewer people are required to install them.

4 Pine Design has a new product, an artificial snow ramp that’s designed for use by snow schools.

“It’s basically taking all of the main 4 Pine technology, scaling it down to a small feature, and then creating these ramps,” said Laterra.

COMPANY PROFILE

The 4 Pine team working on the 20-foot flat rail with patent-pending keel system and floating plastic side panels

The ramps can be moved around easily by instructors and the artificial snow surface provides consistency for students.

It also means less snow shovelling.

“A lot of the lower level and teaching features get a lot of heavy use and the snow ramps are really worked throughout the day. [To avoid] large ruts, they need constant attention

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COMPANY PROFILE

The 4 Pine C-box with patent-pending floating panel top sheet

“ To allow for the evolution of freestyle sports, things just constantly need to keep changing to keep it fresh. People get bored if they keep riding the same this and that – you need to change it up.”

— Stephen Laterra, 4 Pine Design

with rakes and shovels so by using the artificial snow surface ramps, there’s no need for that anymore,” said Laterra, adding that the ramps have been tested at a number of resorts with great results.

Better grooming and maintenance Laterra has seen a lot of changes in freestyle snow sports over the course of his career. One that he’s very glad to see is better care going into the upkeep and grooming of terrain parks.

“The terrain park now gets as much attention as any snow surface on the resort. It’s no longer neglected or seen as a side

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November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

project as far as grooming and maintenance is concerned,” he said.

Laterra maintains proper grooming is particularly important to ensure the safety of terrain park users. If the lines between features aren’t take care of properly with snow grooming machines, he says, dangerous ruts can form, which, when hit at high speeds or at critical spots in takeoff ramps, can throw riders off balance and increase the chance of injury.

“The park needs to be maintained daily, not just with a tiller but with a blade as well,” he said. “Blades have to be used constantly to clear ruts, not just to knock them out of the

COMPANY PROFILE way or drive over them with the tiller – they have to be blade worked and track packed to make sure that ice is broken up.

Otherwise, what looks like fresh corduroy in the morning could – within an hour or so of that park opening – reveal icy ruts from the day before.

“The key to a solid product, any kind of pile, a jump or halfpipe or quarter-pipe or any kind of elevated snow pad is being able to work that snow. That means breaking it up with the blade and the tracks and then pushing it where you need it and having even compaction and snow quality so you don’t have any rapid settlings, you don’t have any collapses, you don’t have any ice chunks in your pipe wall,” he said. “Things that weren’t visible in November and December can become visible in March and April and you want to avoid that.”

According to Laterra, a great tiller pass is equally important.

“You can’t just drop the tiller and go through the park.

When you’re grooming an in-run to a jump or to a rail or to a quarter-pipe, you want to make sure that that tiller pass is following the line of the rider,” he said.

“It’s very rare that it’ll be a perfect straight line between landings and takeoffs and from rail to rail, so that’s one thing that has to be kept in mind,” he said. “The tiller and the blade have to follow that line to make sure that the surface is uniform.”

Laterra says terrain parks evolve through the season with usage and differing snow conditions, so “it’s critical to keep any eye on that and make sure every day, every shift that you’re trying to keep that original shape as best as possible.”

Stephen Laterra

SNOW GROOMING

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COMPANY PROFILE

Snow Jobs

Arena Snowpark Construction Ltd. is building better terrain parks, one site at a time

By Mike Stimpson

S

Photos courtesy of Arena Snowpark Construcion

teve Petrie and his staff at Arena Snowpark Construction Ltd. make snowboarding extra fun and extra challenging for competitors. They’ve been doing it for years, at resorts and championship courses around the world.

Petrie started improving the snowboarding experience back in the mid-1990s, when he built his first jumps while part of the snow grooming crew at the world-famous Whistler Blackcomb resort in British Columbia.

“I moved to Whistler in 1994,” he said. “I was basically just looking for a job that would let me snowboard every day, so I took a snow grooming job. That just happened to be the first year

Arena Snowpark Construction prepares terrain for the annual Camp of Champions summer ski and snowboard camp at Whistler Blackcomb, not far from ASP’s headquarters in B.C. SNOW GROOMING

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COMPANY PROFILE

ASP founder Steve Petrie says that it’s imperative terrain parks be groomed nightly

Snow cross competitors in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics enjoyed the benefit of ASP work

they had a terrain park at Blackcomb. I sort of stumbled into it and it worked out from there.”

Without the benefit of manuals and designs to draw from, making snowboard jumps back then was a trial-and-error process. Petrie says he and co-workers “would just kind of get together and say, ‘This would be cool,’ and then build it and see if people liked it. If it wasn’t so good, we’d change it.”

The Ottawa native honed his skills in shaping snowboard terrains for a decade as a Blackcomb employee before founding Arena Snowpark Construction, which he refers to as Arena Snowparks or ASP, as a solo operation in the fall of 2004.

ASP designs and builds pipes, halfpipes and other components of snowboard and ski terrain. As (in the company’s own words according to its website) “true leaders in the snowsports industry,” the people at ASP also fabricate rails, boxes and snow tools.

“I just decided it was time to make a move from Whistler Blackcomb,” said Petrie of his decision to start ASP. Now the business has five full-time staff dividing their time between fabrication of rails and boxes and the design, shaping and building of jumps, pipes and other outdoor features, and employs up to 20 at a time depending on the current project.

Terrain park design has changed quite a bit to include 3D drafting and ever more elaborate courses, says Petrie. Plus, there are many more quality courses to be found.

“Now there are so many good parks, and expectations are getting higher and higher,” he said. “Most resorts have a

terrain park, not like in 1994 when only a few did. The terrain park business has evolved in various different ways. The emphasis now is on progression in skill levels.”

He says that the snowboard terrain park he and co-workers built for Blackcomb a little more than 20 years ago had two or three jumps; now, it has dozens, as well as numerous rails.

He says there are rather few low-quality terrain parks in the market because the bar has been raised – boarders won’t settle for mediocrity. Competition for customers is a key factor driving improvements, along with designers’ passion to do their best.

ASP’s passion for excellence has shone through so well that the company has received inquiries, offers and contracts from operators as far afield as New Zealand and Argentina, and from Winter Olympic Games organizers.

Snowboarders at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics worked an ASP halfpipe. The snowboard cross competitions of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were on ASP-shaped features. (“We were part of the build team,” is how Petrie describes the Sochi work.)

And the company will be working with another B.C.-based business, White Industries, on snow cross and ski cross courses for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea.

Other world-class events that have benefited from the ASP touch include several editions of the FIS Snowboard World Cup in Quebec, the 2015 FIS World Junior Championships in China, several editions of Whistler’s annual World Ski and Snowboard Festival and the 2012 TTR World Snowboard Championships in Norway.

As a terrain park expert and veteran of snow grooming, Petrie’s advice to snow groomers is straightforward: remember that your courses need to be maintained every night after the boarders and skiers leave. If you’re not grooming on a regular basis, course quality will suffer with potholes and other problems that detract from a user’s experience, and potentially be hazardous.

Looking ahead, Petrie says his long-term goals involve “designing better snowparks and helping resorts develop their terrain park programs.”

When asked what motivates him in his work, he said, “I do it because this is what I love to do. I think about building stuff out of snow constantly. It’s not really a job in a way for me, it’s what I like to do.”

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EQUIPMENT UPDATE The 100 4F

Big Things in this Package The PistenBully 100 4F is a step up from its predecessors

By Jim Timlick

engine temperature, the new screen allows an operator to perform a variety of tasks simply by touching the tablet’s surface.

Glockhamer says the beauty of the new cab is that it can be easily adjusted to provide maximum comfort and usability for each operator.

“You’re never going to be perfect at it, but what we’ve tried to do is make it so the operator can adjust it to where he wants to be,” he said.

Another noteworthy change to the PistenBully 100 is under the hood. In addition to meeting all current Tier 4 Final emission standards, the new 100 4F’s Cummins QSB 6.7 six-cylinder engine is far more powerful than any of its predecessors. It provides 253 horsepower (HP) compared to 197 HP available in the previous model. And because it operates at a lower RPM rate than previous models, Glockhamer says it can provide a significant cost savings in terms of fuel usage.

The new engine also provides significantly more torque than any of its forerunners. The torque on the new model is 730 pounds when operating at 1,500 RPM compared to 520 RPM in the previous model.

“Everyone throws out your horsepower as a baseline, but it’s really the torque that gets the work done. It’s a very important part of any vehicle, whether it’s a truck or a snowcat,” said Glockhamer.

SNOW GROOMING

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Photos courtesy of Kässbohrer All Terrain Vehicles

T

he PistenBully 100 series snow groomer has long been a fixture at Nordic facilities and ski slopes in North America and across Europe. That isn’t likely to change any time soon, but the multi-talented vehicle itself has recently undergone a major overhaul.

Kässbohrer All Terrain Vehicles introduced the new PistenBully 100 4F to the European market last winter and plans to roll it out in North America this season. While it retains the same quality and versatility that have made it so popular, the new model features a number of technical and ergonomic upgrades, including an intuitive operating system with a patented iTerminal.

Marketing manager John Glockhamer says the 100 4F is the result of several years of design and development work and followed consultations with many of the company’s international clients.

One of the most notable changes that resulted from those discussions is a user-friendlier cockpit area.

“Everyone always likes more horsepower – that’s sort of a given. But the operating controls and the ergonomics, those are always the bigger challenge,” said Glockhammer. “The goal of our engineers was to make it intuitive…[where] you don’t have to think about things [and] it’s really more of a natural movement. Everything needs to be integrated so it’s comfortable and ergonomic.”

To that end, the 100 4F features a newly redesigned armrest for fatigue-free handling and a new double-jointed joystick that moves freely in all directions and allows the operator to easily to lift or lower the blade or change its angle in one movement.

The joystick resembles a video game controller and its buttons can be programmed to the personalized requirements of each operator through a key, meaning each button is capable of multiple functions.

Another addition to the cab’s interior is an iTerminal touch screen located right behind the joystick, which features colour labelling of the active areas of the vehicle.

While it still provides information such as fuel level and

EQUIPMENT UPDATE “And what’s neat about [this machine] is that it grew a little bit in size, not so much in width but more in length. We’ve added a little bit of track so you have a better tractive effort.”

As a result of the additional horsepower provided by the new engine, the 100 4F also features a larger tiller pump.

Glockhamer says that means designers were able to incorporate a wider tiller with more teeth on the cutter bar that can process snow much more efficiently.

SNOWsat ready The new 100 4F also comes SNOWsat ready. The satellitebased system allows Nordic centres and other ski areas to track each vehicle in their snow grooming fleet and provides a detailed analysis on everything from how much fuel a vehicle consumes to where it travelled and even snow depth for a particular area.

“If you have a big fleet and are doing a lot of snowmaking, it makes a whole lot of sense to have it,” said Glockhamer.

Platform of the future Glockhamer says the 100 4F is the way of the future. All of the technology featured in the new model will serve as a platform for all future snowcats the company manufactures, including its 400 and 600 series.

While he declines to talk specifics about price because of market variances, Glockhamer says the 100 4F provides full value when you factor in everything it offers.

The control joystick and new iTerminal touchscreen

“It’s definitely going to cost more than a 100 that is Tier 3 … but your production capability will go up, too. You are more comfortable, things are easier to do, there are more tools at your disposal and the blade and tiller react better with the new joystick.”

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REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE

MEET ARLO POULIOT Talking to the lead terrain park groomer at Smugglers’ Notch Vermont

By Lisa Gordon

A

sk Arlo Pouliot what he loves most about winter, and he’ll tell you it’s playing in the snow.

Pouliot gets his fill of the white stuff each season.

An 11-year veteran of the snow grooming industry, he’s been busy for the last three years building and maintaining the terrain parks at Smugglers’ Notch, a popular ski and snowboard resort located in the Green Mountains about 30 miles east of Burlington, Vermont.

In a normal winter season, “Smuggs” welcomes anywhere from 300,000 to 350,000 visitors. It’s Pouliot’s job to make sure the resort’s six different terrain parks, totaling about 20 acres in all, are ready for riding.

Snow Grooming caught up with Pouliot in early October, when he was looking forward to a snowy season.

How did you get into working on terrain parks? What kind of training did you receive?

Arlo Pouliot: I started my grooming career doing trail maintenance at night. I did that for about eight years and thought I had a pretty good skill set. I wanted to do something different, so I moved over to terrain parks in the hopes of learning more. I had many of the skills I needed, but there were quite a few hours of ride observation time with a trainer to check my proficiency. There was a lot of hands-on, monkeysee monkey-do kind of stuff. I was working with an industry veteran who helped me get started.

How do you keep terrain park setup interesting each year?

AP: The industry is always changing and what people want is always changing, so it seems like every year throws new challenges at us. It’s basically about reaching out to the people who like to ride. Usually, we build a couple of new rails every year. We’ll get an idea from someone and we’ll try it, to keep things fresh and interesting. It shows people we’re constantly innovating.

How many different terrain parks are there at Smugglers’ Notch? Which is the most popular?

AP: We have six different terrain parks. The most popular is probably Knight’s Revenge. It’s a woods stash and there are a lot of natural features. There are about 20 features in that park, all of them maintained by hand.

What does it take to build the terrain parks at Smugglers’ Notch?

AP: There are two to three people doing the work. We collaborate a lot with instructors, ski patrol and locals, so really

“ I am a machine guy, so the PRINOTH BR350 is my favorite tool. The shoveling and raking is humbling work, but I can’t help but love my grooming machine.”

– Arlo Pouliot

SNOW GROOMING

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REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE there are quite a few heads involved in putting the parks together. It takes up to 20 hours of work to get it set up for the season but it’s constantly changing through the year, so there is work to be done in between. We change something every two to three weeks.

What type of equipment and tools do you use to build and groom the terrain?

AP: We use a PRINOTH BR350 to groom and we have a smaller PistenBully to build ramps and get into smaller spaces. We also have shovels, rakes, chainsaws, a good level and plenty of measuring tools. There is a lot of science in it, and a lot of art.

But there’s definitely ways to build these that allow people to have a good time but still make them safe.

How many hours of grooming are required to maintain the terrain parks?

AP: Day to day, two people are running [a combined total] anywhere between six to eight hours per day to do the maintenance on the terrain parks. The crew comes in around 4 a.m. and the parks need to be ready to go by about 8 a.m. when the lifts start turning.

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How do you stay alert during long grooming sessions on the mountain?

AP: I’m not necessarily a morning person; but honestly, I love what I do. Coffee or tea always makes the situation better, and a good night’s rest is important.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

AP: The best part of the job is when you come in that morning and it’s just dumping snow. You’re all alone on the hill – and it’s snowing and quiet as can be outside, and I’m out there playing in the snow like I was a kid. It’s great!

Courtesy of PRINOTH

What is your favorite equipment to operate?

AP: I am a machine guy, so the BR350 is my favorite tool. The shoveling and raking is humbling work, but I can’t help but love my grooming machine.

REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE

MEET MIKE THOMAS Get to know the terrain park manager at Stevens Pass Washington Ski Resort

By Lisa Gordon

T

Courtesy of Mike Thomas

he first autumn snow landed in Stevens Pass, Wash. on Oct. 10 this year, and Mike Thomas and his crew were ready for it.

As the manager of the four terrain parks at Stevens Pass – a 1,125-acre winter sports park at the peak of Washington state’s Cascade Range – Thomas works 10 months per year getting ready to meet winter head on.

A 20-year industry veteran who has been at Stevens Pass for a total of six years, Thomas is a former professional snowboarder, coach and terrain park expert who is in the business to give back to the sport he loves.

Snow Grooming sat down with him in October, at the conclusion of a busy summer that saw 15 new snowboarding rails built and an expansion of the popular Rail Garden terrain park – work that Thomas says is necessary to stay ahead of the curve and deliver the next best thing to the snowboarders at Stevens Pass.

How do you keep terrain park setup interesting each year?

MT: It’s really about making sure you have a good ear to the industry. I’m not somebody who just sits behind a desk. I test everything we build; I help weld and manufacture the features we build, and I’m in a cat as often as I can be. I talk to guests and oversee our social media, so it’s about listening to the industry. If you’re not doing that, you’re going to get left behind.

How many different terrain parks are there at Stevens Pass? Which is the most popular?

MT: There are four terrain parks here. I would say our main park, Top Phlight, is our most popular. It is full top to bottom; it caters to everybody so it’s small through extra-large as far

Courtesy of PRINOTH

How did you get into working on terrain parks? What kind of training did you receive?

Mike Thomas: When I was about 18, I was doing the sponsored snowboard thing. I was a professional rider for a few companies and semi-pro for others. The local mountain I grew up riding didn’t have a terrain park and we were constantly getting into trouble by the ski patrol for building jumps. One day, we got in trouble and had to plead our case with the mountain manager. He agreed to give us a location on the mountain to go and build some features. That was how I first got into building parks. I’ve also taken different workshops; like any skilled trade, a lot of this is hands-on learning. as feature sizes and skill sets, and it dumps down into one of our other parks called the Rail Garden.

What does it take to build the terrain parks at Stevens Pass?

MT: Staffing varies from year to year. I would say that, including groomers, we have about 22 staff, including all our parttimers, full-timers and cat operators.

What type of equipment and tools do you use to build and groom the terrain?

MT: We have a PRINOTH BR350 that has park geometry on it and we’re getting a Bison X this season, but our main builders are using PistenBully PB400s – that’s their weapon SNOW GROOMING

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REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE

“ I’m not somebody who just sits behind a desk.

I test everything we build; I help weld and manufacture the features we build, and I’m in a cat as often as I can be.”

— Mike Thomas of choice. Eighty to 90 percent of the work can be done with the equipment at night, and the hand crew can polish it up in the morning.

What is your favorite equipment to operate?

MT: I’m most familiar with a PRINOTH Bison X; we have one of those. I used it at my previous park.

How many hours of grooming are required to maintain the terrain parks?

MT: I would say it takes about 4,500 hours of grooming per season, with an average of about 25 hours of grooming per day. Plus, we put in about 72 hours per day of day labor.

How do you stay alert during long grooming sessions on the mountain?

MT: Obviously, some days are better than others and it depends on workload and conditions. But we’re all very passionate

about what we do. You get to be creative out there in nature doing your thing, and you’re not trapped in a cubicle doing something you hate. There are definitely days where all your hard work isn’t coming out the way you want it, but all you can do is put your best foot forward and go at it again the next night.

And coffee, energy drinks, good music – they all help.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

MT: I was a head coach at a snowboard camp for seven years.

I thought I could either help a small handful of people achieve their goals and get better; or, I could manage and design good terrain parks and see thousands of people having fun and loving the features we built. Seeing people progress is why I really do it. Also, I’m a very visual person and I like coming up with an idea in my head and being able to sketch it out, and then building it and riding it. It’s a pretty cool thing to keep you motivated.

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November 2016 | snowgroomingmag.com

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