Park Maintenance / Builds

[ScreamingNarwhal]

So I got hired as a member of the park crew at my local hill, and ended up being put into more of a design/ building roll as well as maintaining everything throughout the season.

I'm pretty stoked to be in charge of things, but I have to work with a guy who is senior to me at the hill, but has less experience with parks. He is interested in planning it all, but never actually rides the features.

The flow between features doesn't sit well with me, and in just the small amount of time we've had a park, takeoffs are rounding out/ shrinking, and the only jump we have set up right now is terrible.

(Short, sharp takeoff angle, to essentially a raised section of flat snow & ice)

Anyone have tips for maintaining nice square takeoffs, or changing a feature (angles?) without using a groomer?

 

[JichelMusten]

Shovel and rake?

 

[ScreamingNarwhal]

Shovel and rake?

Yep, have both of those, but I was hoping for tips to keep the takeoffs looking good and not shrinking, cause right now I shave snow off to make it clean and crisp.

Do most folks just pile more snow on and shape er after it settles?

 

[BianKarrett]

Yep, have both of those, but I was hoping for tips to keep the takeoffs looking good and not shrinking, cause right now I shave snow off to make it clean and crisp.

Do most folks just pile more snow on and shape er after it settles?

Yeah I'd pile snow on and let it harden overnight and shape it in the morning, that should keep it nice.

 

[DANETRON]

Keep things oversized abd shave them down. We always shortly for a little wider then one cat pass

 

[shin-bang]

Keep things oversized abd shave them down. We always shortly for a little wider then one cat pass

this^ make them almost oversized, then make them squeaky clean. sorry to hear you cant have a snow cat help. if i got a hold of one of those things i would turn my mountain top to bottom into a MASSIVE natural park

 

[broto]

this^ make them almost oversized, then make them squeaky clean. sorry to hear you cant have a snow cat help. if i got a hold of one of those things i would turn my mountain top to bottom into a MASSIVE natural park

i'm not sure you understand the meaning of "natural"

 

[shin-bang]

i'm not sure you understand the meaning of "natural"

Ehhh, yes and no. There's some good natural hits they just need to built up a bit. Bfish actually built up a good one for rod 5s and backies.

 

[theabortionator]

Yep, have both of those, but I was hoping for tips to keep the takeoffs looking good and not shrinking, cause right now I shave snow off to make it clean and crisp.

Do most folks just pile more snow on and shape er after it settles?

End of day maintenance is key. The primary reason being that it sets over night giving you a nice takeoff in the morning. Another good reason, is that you can build the corners back up, add more height, clean up the edges. If you keep up with your takeoffs they'll stay in good shape. Obviously if your park is getting hit a ton, you'll have some center ruts, sometimes some deep ones, but those are pretty easy to take care of.

Basically, just stay on top of things, so that it doesn't all pile up to a point where everything is fucked. When you close down at the end of the day, get each feature looking squeeky clean

 

[theabortionator]

That was more about rail takeoffs. For jumps you'll get some shrinkage. As dane tronz said, build them wide. Every once in a while you can shave it in a few inches to get it a perfect 90 again. When it melts the ice blocks and snow in between melt differently, holes will open up. You can slap some snow into the holes, or trim it back a bit.

For the deck, rake across the top everyday, and keep it flat.

IF there's a warm day, use that to fix your corners. If you have no cat assistance do a damn good job on end of the day maintenance. If your center is really fucked, shovel in some snow, then rake it in. Park it down.

Pretty much just moving snow from high spots to low spots, and filling in ruts, then letting it set over night.

In the spring salt can do a lot for keeping things from getting too fucked.

For some of the big contests, all the jump maintenance is done by hand during the comp to keep the jumps from changing in any way. Obviously a 4-6 day course is different than a park for the whole season, but just saying that you can maintain a quality product hand raking things.

What kind of rakes do you have? That makes a huge difference imo.

 

[TOAST.]

Get something that you can transport snow with by hand, that way you can take snow from the side of the trail and dump it where you need it. We use a plastic barrel cut in half with a steel Handel bolted to it so you can push/pull it. Usually takes about 6 barrel fulls to make a small lip.

 

[SkiBum.]

Find the park groomer. He will be the one with flat brim hat and sunglasses on at 3:00am.

Guessing your from a zit sized bump of a ski area and park specific dudes are not there. So good luck trying to get some old fart in a LMC to understand hitting metal things with skis. Bust out the shovel on those warm days and shape away.

 

[uturn]

Yep, have both of those, but I was hoping for tips to keep the takeoffs looking good and not shrinking, cause right now I shave snow off to make it clean and crisp.

Do most folks just pile more snow on and shape er after it settles?

Make a big pile, salt it, let it sit for a couple hours, then shape it

 

[skiP.E.I.]

Using a chainsaw to cut the edges of features makes them nice and crispy, and as others said, overbuild so you can shave bits out. Leave a flat top for a few feet just in front of the jump's lip. That way you can tune the angle and clean it up without having to make it smaller, i n addition to having a place to stand and rake down from the top.

 

[freestyler540]

No matter what you are going to build, people will still complain about it.

 

[TOAST.]

Find the park groomer. He will be the one with flat brim hat and sunglasses on at 3:00am.

Guessing your from a zit sized bump of a ski area and park specific dudes are not there. So good luck trying to get some old fart in a LMC to understand hitting metal things with skis. Bust out the shovel on those warm days and shape away.

Just have to explain stuff in farming terms.

 

[ScreamingNarwhal]

End of day maintenance is key. The primary reason being that it sets over night giving you a nice takeoff in the morning. Another good reason, is that you can build the corners back up, add more height, clean up the edges. If you keep up with your takeoffs they'll stay in good shape. Obviously if your park is getting hit a ton, you'll have some center ruts, sometimes some deep ones, but those are pretty easy to take care of.

Basically, just stay on top of things, so that it doesn't all pile up to a point where everything is fucked. When you close down at the end of the day, get each feature looking squeeky clean

That was more about rail takeoffs. For jumps you'll get some shrinkage. As dane tronz said, build them wide. Every once in a while you can shave it in a few inches to get it a perfect 90 again. When it melts the ice blocks and snow in between melt differently, holes will open up. You can slap some snow into the holes, or trim it back a bit.

For the deck, rake across the top everyday, and keep it flat.

IF there's a warm day, use that to fix your corners. If you have no cat assistance do a damn good job on end of the day maintenance. If your center is really fucked, shovel in some snow, then rake it in. Park it down.

Pretty much just moving snow from high spots to low spots, and filling in ruts, then letting it set over night.

In the spring salt can do a lot for keeping things from getting too fucked.

For some of the big contests, all the jump maintenance is done by hand during the comp to keep the jumps from changing in any way. Obviously a 4-6 day course is different than a park for the whole season, but just saying that you can maintain a quality product hand raking things.

What kind of rakes do you have? That makes a huge difference imo.

Get something that you can transport snow with by hand, that way you can take snow from the side of the trail and dump it where you need it. We use a plastic barrel cut in half with a steel Handel bolted to it so you can push/pull it. Usually takes about 6 barrel fulls to make a small lip.

Using a chainsaw to cut the edges of features makes them nice and crispy, and as others said, overbuild so you can shave bits out. Leave a flat top for a few feet just in front of the jump's lip. That way you can tune the angle and clean it up without having to make it smaller, i n addition to having a place to stand and rake down from the top.

Sick, all these little tips and tricks are what I'm kinda looking for. I've been putting a bit more emphasis on morning touch-ups after the groomer does his thing, but end of the day 100% makes sense, I am usually being rushed by my carpool to get out fast once they're done for the day.

I get to work pretty closely with the groomer for builds, he's actually quite good with most park concepts. For rakes, we have one that's a standard park rake, and one that doubles as a shovel kinda.

Any suggestions for making fun jumps with minimal snow conditions?

 

[theabortionator]

Find the park groomer. He will be the one with flat brim hat and sunglasses on at 3:00am.

Guessing your from a zit sized bump of a ski area and park specific dudes are not there. So good luck trying to get some old fart in a LMC to understand hitting metal things with skis. Bust out the shovel on those warm days and shape away.

I'm running an old piece of shit LMC at the moment. It's

No matter what you are going to build, people will still complain about it.

This is a good thing to remember. If you tripled your jib inventory, had the rails plated in gold with diamond inlays, free beer at the drop ins, etc, somebody would bitch that the flat down rail was so much better when it was an up flat, and therefore the park is garbage, etc.

You can build it all but if you don't have somebodies favorite feature in, or have the whole park built just the way they want it, it's horrible.

That said please the masses.

Figure out your demographic and market to them. Simplicity is as important as creativity imo. If you don't have the basics set up right, your park isn't that good imo. I would take a stock flat rail, down rail, and kink rail of sorts set up proper in a park over some 20+ jib parks where everything is questionable.

Creativity is great, but rideability is important too. If people at your mountain are bad, and you build a 60' jump, you're just wasting snow for something that very few people will hit, etc.

 

[theabortionator]

Sick, all these little tips and tricks are what I'm kinda looking for. I've been putting a bit more emphasis on morning touch-ups after the groomer does his thing, but end of the day 100% makes sense, I am usually being rushed by my carpool to get out fast once they're done for the day.

I get to work pretty closely with the groomer for builds, he's actually quite good with most park concepts. For rakes, we have one that's a standard park rake, and one that doubles as a shovel kinda.

Any suggestions for making fun jumps with minimal snow conditions?

Both are pretty good. If you get things nice at the end of the day, you'll have minimal raking to do the next day though unless the weather is crazy. Also if the snow sets overnight, you'll have a solid takeoff in that shape, versus doing it the day of, when somebody hits it, that snow is still soft, and won't hold up as long before it ruts.

If you can draw pictures of layouts, maybe print some pictures of features you want to replicate to give him an idea of things. Let's say you're building a jump, find a similar jump, print a picture, and he'll have something visual to reference off. A lot of groomers are pretty solid behind the sticks, they just might not understand what you're trying to tell them.

Personally I would go less jumps and better built jumps. It all depends on the terrain. One place I worked the park was in a gully. We had 2 nice hips back to back early season using the banks to take the place of most of the snow. IT worked out well. Honestly that was kind of lucky to be able to do that, but even if the terrain isn't making it that easy, placing things well can help save you a lot of snow.

Idk, I just got home from the bar and I'm super tired from work, so not sure if any of that makes sense.

 

[skiP.E.I.]

.

Any suggestions for making fun jumps with minimal snow conditions?

Build the take off on to the same pile of snow as the transition (make a teardrop shaped pile and place the kicker part way up it, or make a BMX style 'box jump'- really poppy with a flat top and steep transition on other side)