Big Sky's Park

shredstar

Member
How can it be so shitty... again.
I figured that the main park would get better after last season, but so far the first few rail hits are almost the same as last year (except they are on the other side of the run). There are rocks in the landings of the jumps that are built....again. The landings have been up since the beginning of the season with no progress since. The middle jump looks like its going to be smaller than the first and third jump... and the hip/wall ride was fun last year but get creative and build something new this season!
I like 2.0 but is it ever going to change? It's almost the same as last year, granted I still think it's fun, but do some rebuilds every once and a while.
But to top it all off, the park crew just rides around all day instead of adding more hits.... the park scene is a joke.
 
Their park crew is very lazy and unmotivated it seems like. Great Divide switches their set up almost every weekend, dealing with upwards of 20 features every weekend. It would take them three or four hours (rough estimate) to change everything and get a COMPLETELY new set up going in a matter of hours. It just seems absurd how they can't switch it up a bit. Quit being lazy, and do your job! I know lots of people who would kill for that job to set up jibs every weekend and get paid for it. What could be better? I am not a Big Sky local and even i can feel the frustration growing. I rode over 20 dollar day, and the set up is still the same.

 
what's set up in the main park?

also, i havn't been skiing there for over a week, but the last couple times i went they had some huge ass red metal cylinder jib thing on the side of the park run that looked real sick. anyone know what the deal with that is?

 
The swifty park right now has a short down rail, longer down rail and then the down flat rail...the 3 exact same features that were set up all of last year, in that exact same order, just on the other side of the lift towers..very original. Below that is a banked wide box that is set in the same level as the snow, super lame. Then there is the big cylinder thing you mentioned, it's set up sideways with a lip to jump over and bonk it, it's a pretty fun hit. Below the jibs there are 3 knuckles built for landings but with no jumps. They look pretty flat to be good landings and the middle one is the smallest, which makes absoultely no sense to me at all.

Moonlight's park is looking very legit so far from what I have heard, with 20 - 30 hits set up already, which is why I am buying a pass over there next week.

 
I agree completely and I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the park scene on the Big Sky side of the mountain is a joke. Pretty sick to hear Divide changes it up so often, I'll have to use an MSA pass and visit there soon.
 
The Big Sky park issues are at the corporate level, not the resort level. They killed the big park and will never have it again due to liability, and are moving away from big hits for "liability" reasons. I would not be surprised if that is the reason for the static nature of the park.
 
So what if theres a liability issue on the size of jumps they can build? Theres a dozen or so jibs just laying on their side and our sad excuse for a park crew did some small worthless revamps of the swifty 2.0 park rather than doing some real work to the swifty park.

Also, middle jump the smallest (from what it looks like from the pre-built knuckles) Come on man, christ.

Big sky park is worthless, i'm glad the snows been good so far this year or else i'd be bored out of my mind.
 
Well if its that bad, send a letter to the park crew, the general manager, and some other people. Get a bunch of people to do it, then something will get done.
 
doubt it. Everybody knows that big sky's park is garbage and nobodys done anything about it so far. Theres been a fair amount of complaints said by myself and my friends as well. Who's going to listen to a handfull of season pass holders anyways when the vast majority of big sky's income comes from ticket sales to weekend warriors?
 
I don't think thats true because if you look at other mountains owned by Boyne they have sick parks; examples Brighton and Loon. I'm not sure about the mountains in Washington or Michigan but I know Brighton builds decent sized jumps and a killer park and I've never been to Loon but I hear their park is one of the best in the Northeast. I think it has a lot to do with the resort level management as well as the laziness of the park crew. I have seen the park crew coming off the southern side of Big Sky.... why would park crew be taking laps off the tram/sheddy or dakota when they should be digging.
Also I'm glad that I'm not the only one confused about the middle knuckle being smaller than the other two... especially because they are already very mellow landings and too close together....
All in all the park is a joke, the park crew needs to go to Moonlight and see just how shitty Big Sky's park is, maybe that will motivate them to do something.
 
We take laps because theres not enough snow to be digging, however, now that there is snow, we wont be taking much if any laps for a while. In the next week or two (snow permitting) the whole park should be up, we are also in charge of building snow bar which sets us back a bit. Im sorry it comes of as laziness, we really are trying to make the park the best we can. We are limited by the fact that we dont have snowmaking in swifty. Theres also a lot more than that though.. I cant answer why other boyne resorts have awesome parks and we dont... we dont ever seem to get a straight answer on that one. Big Sky seems to be boynes cash cow. Big Sky makes tons of money but other boyne resorts dont so a lot of money made at big sky doesnt go back into its own departments, it goes out to support other resorts.
As for the landings, what you see is only the dirt work, once we push on them they will be much steeper. the dirt work cant be the exact shape of the knuckle because you want some room for meltout/ bomb out etc without seeing any dirt or rocks.Im really sorry the park hasnt come together as quickly as other mountains have but we are doing the best we can. We want an awesome park just as badly as you do. I hope this answers at least a couple questions and feel free to stop by and ask us anything else. We can give you more answers than you will get on a new schoolers forum. My boss is also open to suggestions. so feel free to say what up and give us some ideas
 
The rails are on the other side of the run because that side holds snow better and in the long run will be less rocky. We also have gained the run to the left as you come out of swifty. we will have a new rail park in there and hopefully hold railjams/ slopestyles up there.
 
Ok, that makes sense. Less rocks on landings is always a good thing. And I'm stoked to hear you guys gained that other run and will be setting up more features in there, thanks for the info. My main issue with swifty this year is the top three features are the exact same as they were all of last season. Short down, longer down, down flat in the same order. Will you guys be switching that up at all this year, or will it be that set up for the rest of the season?
 
We might change it, its kind of tough to say until we see how the rest of the park comes together, but those are good spots for those particular features, and once all the rails are in, you should be able to hit almost every rail we have and the jumps in one line. We are getting a big dump tonight so hopefully we can have a few new features in by the end of the week.
 
I hope you can change it up cause the same lines can get kind of boring if it's the same all season. Although it would be cool to hit all the features if that ends up bein true.

 
Dont blame the crew. Those guys work with what theyve got. BS could care less about park, its a management issue not a crew motivation issue. Keep in mind that from what i hear, this is the same management that turned down snowboard superpark a few years ago.

And to the kid recommending a lone peak pass. HA. right. because i have over a grand lying around to pay for a pass. please, big skys pass is already expensive enough.
 
OK one more question. I know you guys pushed dirt over the summer for the landings of the jumps; and they have been reshaped since I last posted in this thread and are looking a better. But why is the middle one the smallest? It doesn't make sense to have a good size park jump, then a smaller one, and then another bigger one, bc you'll have to scrub speed coming off the first one that you'll need to clear the third one. You know what I mean?
 
I dunno, I think if the wedge shapes are nice, you can keep speed up through all three. The middle one might just be a lower angle jump.
 
that's too bad...moonlight's rail set-up is prime right now, jumps are supposed to start showin up soon as well.
 
I talked to a couple of the boys today. It sounds like they are just going to pile snow on the rollers till the jumps are more or less even. Also a stepup for the middle jump is rumored. But nothing definite yet.

Jumps are gonna start getting pushed tonight, and it should take a week or so to get them dialed.
 
I should quit bitching, big sky's park looks funner now than it did last year anyways. I'm stoked on this snow tho! I've only taken out the old park skis 2 days this year, so whats the point in whining about park. Anyways...

What if big sky decided to do the park pass idea? The thing where kids pay like 20 bucks for a season, sign liability forms, watch a 12 minute video, and then ski park? It would be a good way to keep gapers out and then better features could be built and such. Saw a thread in SG about stevens having it, or at least i think it was stevens
 
my point about being able to hit all the features in one line is that it doesnt really matter what order they are in. Since the natural rolls in the run are good for those three rails, moving them would be kind of counter productive. Instead we are focusing on getting all our features up (as many as possible in one line) and keeping all features very well maintained (leveling out bomb holes and ruts at least once a day on all features)
 
after riding 205 feet of midwest frozen dirtmound again today. i vow to never complain about big skys park again.
 
Yeah, I worked there last season. It is a great idea, it works, and they had huge features. Not just huge jumps either, barrel stacks, cannon rails, and a superpipe. They also have one of the safest parks. Since a park pass gives the resort another layer of liability protection, and can be taken away, it makes sense. And its another way to fund the park!

"hint, hint"
 
At the end of the season last year I heard rumors that big sky was going to do this this year, but I guess it ended up just being rumors. I really wish they would implement some kind of program like this though.
 
dear big sky park crew, make a gate to swifty 2.0 on looker's left so i wouldnt have to duck the rope and get yelled at if i were to hit swifty 2.0 after stump farm, ambush, etc. That'd be sick, theres already a side-step path so put in a gate :)
 
I'll ask. The higher up folk prefer one entrance, but since so many people are ducking the rope there is a good argument for a second entrance.
 
and its not like its a traffic problem or unsafe at all because you have to side step up the side anyways to get up the mound for the inrun
 
Aren't there usually two spots to get in, just not a side entrance? One for the jump line and one for the rail line.
 
The jumps are looking good, kinda close together but they look really fun. Saw that shotgun rail was set up today too, didn't cruise through the park though...I just wish they didn't have that rope seperating that rail and the barrel bonk. Once you hit it you have to traverse all the way to the left to go around the end of the rope which kinda kills the flow. I understand it's management's idea and not the park crew, I just wish it wasn't set up like that.
 
No that rope line needs to be there. If you cruise over the barrel with ANY speed, you deck out 10 feet past the barrrel. Its actually difficult to go slow enough.
 
I know that is the reason for it, but it's not like you have to point into it, you can scrub speed on your own without having to traverse that far to the left. Just my opinion though.
 
If anyone is still complaining about the park. Please keep it to yourself. It's very fun and is the best now then It has been in five years.
 
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