its so frustrating to see a mountain that actually has park potential waste it because they are incompetent. Here in washington, we have about 10ft of snow. Not too shabby by any means, and we have been open for over2 and a half months. However, when the mountain opened, we had about 20 inches in the park, but there were almost just as many features as there are now. Almost nothing has been done. The park crew rides all day. They basically don't do a lick of shit, and they actually complain about how bad some of the features are!! They are cool people, but their park managing abilities are not there. Almost all are rails are buried under snow, jumps are small with weird pop, landings are flat, nothing is really maintained, and so on and so on. We havent had any new rails in three years almost. All the ones we have are either small (longest is 15ft!), recycled, terrible (a 15ft double kink! its nasty!)It is aggrevating and frustrating. There are over 3 million people in the vicinity!!! There is no money problem, but everything continues to suck. To add to things, the mountain promises and claims so much, especially on their website. But thats right, nothing changes. So many of us who ride the mountain have been filling out these "comment cards," emailing all types of management, writing letters, and talking to those in charge. Although the going has been very slow, hopefully those who have the power will see what can be done. If we kept our mouthes shut, nothing would change. So right on man!
Sorry for the length, I was just stoked on how relevant it was.
Im sick of ppl talkin shit. The truth is DOUG BISHOP wanted a job. He did not get it so he decided to make it his mission to get ppl against Blue Mountains Park. The truth is Doug Bishop is a pussy, he might be a great park tech and skier but his argument is fueled by his personal beef with his old employers. For everyone this site dont belive all the shit u read online because it is exactly that SHIT. THis is for Doug...Doug u come across as a person in the industry who is yrying to promote and build the sport, but since u have left blue and been all pissed all u have done is bring the sport down with your negativity. Blue Mountains park is awsome right now doug just wishes he was here.
wow, how can you talk shit on doug like that? when doug was there, shit got done, and it was sick. he was clearly the man for the job, but things didnt turn out. fair enough, but the park HAS gotten worse. it's true. you can't argue it. this is the first season i've seen that they didnt even have at least a medium sized jump built before the end of the holidays. if doug was so against blue mountain why would he buy a superpass this season? that's a pretty big investment considering he lives in montreal. and doug's in colorado right now, and it's raining in collingwood, so i don't think doug is unnhappy where he is. I think it's unfair to shit on the majority of the park staff, its more to do with the people in runnign the show who think they know what they're doing.
Good article man, and i know how it is to have that urge to have everything PERFECT! at my hill, we have a sweet manager who has a bit of a history on building a park, and was from Whistler, but he doesn't have the help of ppl like me, who know what they want! i do what i can to fix up rail features, but i feel i slack off in that departement. i get one day a week to ski cause of work this year, but i like to see a feature and look at it and say "Yeah, I fixed that, look how nice it feels, that's right! No need to thank me." It's an awsome feeling to stand back and see the outcome of a feature...IF u did it properly. cause u know if u screw up there's no turning back, so u do ur best to make it work. Good article Doug
The real problem here is that Pete is bitter that the last time I was down I told him I didn't like the park that had been built.
Pete, I'm sorry I pissed you off, but you've got to realise that you guys WERE taking way too long to build the park. I mean come on it took you 2.5 weeks from the time you built the two big decks until you had jumps there. High north's park with 22 features only took us 11 days to build. I did most of it alone with one cat. We had no forks, and couldn't use too much cat time as it cost my boss $200/hour. Hell we had to make the whole park flat, as when I got there it was simply a side incline on a glacier. The temperature was 0 to + 10 everyday. You're telling me that with 10 hours of cat time every night, access to winch cats in addition to a normal cat, and a staff of 13 guys it takes 2.5 weeks to build TWO jumps?
You have got to start listening to people. You and Gary freak out when anyone tries to tell you that things need to be changed in the terrain park. Seriously, the people on this site who are telling you Blue is bad are your CUSTOMERS. If they have a problem you should be approachable and listen to what they have to say. You do not... as you did with me and everyone else you just shoot into a blind rage and go crazy. Look at what you wrote about me...
You're sadly mistaken if you think that I'm pissed that I don't have a job in Badlands anymore. I'm pissed that you guys are throwing everything Jake and I worked so hard to build up away.
Jake and I put our entire lives into making sure that park was good. I've seen you at the bar after a night of "building" however I KNOW that the cats don't get there until 11, and a proper build isn't even in full swing until at least 2. Jake and I used to stay until at LEAST 4. Hell, we'd stay until 8 if that was what it took to get the job done. Only problem we ever had was YOU leaving early because you were too tired/too lazy to finish the job.
You and Gary need to stop being so pissy about what I am saying, and spend your time focusing on being the best park in the East again. I am coming to blue mountain to use the Super pass that I BOUGHT with my own money. Please don't bitch at me, just grow up and let it go. I will be fine riding alone without the verbal harassment.
I love Blue more than anything else in the world. It is my home, and I always want to see it excel.
If the park is great, then everything is perfect for me! I simply said to you that it took to long to get everything up in December. Which was true for me because I bout my superpass so I could ride for 3 weeks around christmas. However, if anyone remembers, there really wasn't much and I could have put that $700 to better use.
I agree with Doug. You can't harass your customers who don’t agree with what you’re doing. The biggest and most successful businesses value customer input over a lot of things, hell, some pay for it (ever heard of a focus group?). All you’re doing is turning people off.
Calling Doug a "pussy" is way out of line. If anything, he is one of the few people with the balls to stand up for himself against you and Gary's aggressive crap.
The truth is, the park was and is terrible and nothing gets done. All I ever hear is excuses.. blah blah.. blue is in an anti snow belt region.. blah blah. You have the most extensive snowmaking system in the area and have more snow than anyone else most of the year, so don’t even try it. You had two giant piles of snow which could have been turned into jumps overnight, but instead, were left there for ¾ of a month cause nobody saw it fit to get off their ass. I used to be so excited about blue, and its all gone to waste. You guys have flushed the hard work of others down the toilet. I don't understand how you are a park tech if you don't care about what you are doing. There are so many people out there that would love to work all night building a perfect pipe or jump because they are so passionate about it. What a waste.
If I ever come to blue again, I’d appreciate it if you or Gary don’t approach me about any bullshit. It's called being mature, give it a try. Also, id like to recommend you spend a day at moonstone, hell, maybe even dagmar, if your interested in what a decent park looks like.
Seems like everyones with a year or two of riding/skiing terrain is a park expert these days. Give the boys at Badlands a chance there only doing what a lot of the self apointed park experts out there would like to do, something different from last year. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't and hind-site is always twenty twenty. It is starting to come together though, so get over the no hits at x-mass issues, that time is gone, and just get the park up to it's potential.
Oh, and just going to Mammoth does not a park builder make.
Pete, I think you know in your heart Doug's made some good points. Doug, how was the 1/2 pipe? opened by the second week of Dec. (I don't think any Zaug Resorts accomplished that). K
And keep the feed back constructive, thats when "customer communication" starts to works.
Mauii i have not even seen u at blue this year. The park staff are all passionate about skiing and snowboarding and if u actually talked to any of us then maybe u would agree. we are all riders just like u, most of us have been riding longer than u and are better so respect your elders mauii waui.
Lol Spiezz... I think that it's a pretty common thing that pretty much everbody who's ever SEEN a park thinks that they're an expert. It's the hardest thing I find when working in that environment... trying to please everyone. It's like being a DJ at a bar...no matter what you play at LEAST 25% of the crowd is going to hate you.
Pete... I'm really excited to see what you guys have done with the park. I'm going to be down there real soon, and I really do want to ride it.
Blue Mountain is may favorite place in the world to ski. The badlands chair, and the area of BL is perfect for a park. The rails that you guys have are the best ever, and when everything is in the ground... man.... there's no better place to ride.
Is someone going to beat me up when I get to blue? I hope not... that would suck!!!
If shit is super pimp, make sure to tell the world about it! Have contact with the people who ride your park... there's zillions of kids on this site who would love to chat with you. Don't just hate the internet... get involved... put your email address in the park updates. People care what you have to say!
My elders? I'm not some highschool kid and your maybe 3 years older than me. I don't see your point. I know some of the staff care, and that fantastic, but if the whole team isn't in it together, then there is a problem.
i love working on stuff in the park, like grooming and shaping just with a rake and a shovel. it feels so good when you turn a chunk of snow into true art. i kind of wish i didn't have to do it though. if you buy a dog you don't just not feed it or make it sleep outside in the cold and snow. you would never neglect your pet, mans best friend, so if a mountain commits to building a park why should they get to neglect it. a park is a jibbers best fried, so skiers everywhere need to become the animal rights activists of the terrain park world and stop letting ski areas get away with terrain park neglect.
My old hill had no park builders. If people wanted jibbing platforms or jumps we built them, no cats, just shovels and rakes. luckly they suplied the rails, benched, and boxes. It was the best park I had ever been in.(only been to 3 at that time)