I emailed Spirit Mountain about their park and this is what i got back:
Thank you for your interest in the Terrain Park, I agree with your
comments. Let me make a few points ... the bottom jump does give us some
concerns, this summer we rented a big excavator with plans of making some
grading improvements. As I'm sure you know, you can't see the jump till your
50 yards away and drop over that last whoop. With no snow there is actually
two whoops. If we took those out as planned ...it would make it smoother
coming in, plenty of time for set-up, etc. Plus it would save $ in snow.
But we ran out of time and never got the job done. This year we will have
the same set-up but maybe not as big, at least till the grading issue is
solved, maybe it will launch more instead of boot?? But with that big
landing, boot is almost necessary. So it could be more boot with less of a
gap. So many ideas are always running through our minds. What if the
smaller jump there was a bit bigger. Give me your thoughts. And the other
tables could have been a bit bigger. But opinions are that they were much
better last year with some jumps having only one big lip. See the difficult
thing is that we don't have the natural landscape for ideal jumps. There is
always a sacrifice somewhere. Which tends to be landing. Some people want
more pop, some don't, most everyone would like bigger landings, It's a
matter of trying to please everyone, while staying within our operating
budget. The park alone has near a million $ in snow. 50,000 grand for the
big halfpipe .. not including labor, wear and tear on equipment, etc. It's
a balancing act. That's why your input is very important to us. Myself and
another sit down every year a plan layout, features, and additions. Then we
sit with some industry outsiders (riders) and get additional input, then
tweak and adjust as needed, all the while keeping in mind the comments we
here out on the hill, through e-mail, etc. Last year we found a general
layout that worked well and most everyone was happy. This year we will
stick to the same plan ... but move some features around. I plan to build a
35' flatbar, a DFD flatbar (15,10,15)?? Super mellow though. Wallride of
decent size, and a C-box is still in the talks. I just found some plastic
that doesn't cost 400.00 a sheet!
Give me your thoughts, We do listen
to all opinions, and try to make everyone happy. Our goal is to make our
park the biggest, the best, the most varied in features, so everyone can
enjoy. Plus we may be getting a super dragon. This wasn't planned till
next year, but I talked with Rick and said we need to get one even if it
mean a reg. pipe with super transitions. But this isn't set in stone yet.
Regards,
Joe Germann
Lift Maintenance Manager
Park Designer/builder/fabricator. (with the help of many others)
__________________________________________________________________
Skiing the Midwest
Representing Spirit Mountain, Powder Ridge, and Buck Hill
