Terrain parks have evolved since the early 90’s. They are now at nearly every resort, and some communities even set them up in local parks come winter. The four Ski the Northwest Rockies association resorts here in the Inland Northwest have beginner parks to hone your skills on lower elements before hucking yourself off of bigger and badder jumps and rails. These parks have a variety of hard features including single and double barrels, kink rails, boxes, and tower tubes— as well as snow features including table tops, quarter pipes, and stall features.
49 Degrees North offers two terrain parks, including Silver Ridge Park— a jib style park—and the Main Park, which runs 1,200 vertical feet from the top of Chair 2. They also have their Flow Track that is a boarder/skier cross-park set to appeal to a variety of abilities. On Feb. 23 they run Hips and Hot Dogs, a snowboard-specific event focused on big air and best method. They will also host a Rail Jam and an end-of-the-season, non-competitive Park Party.
Look Out Pass offer two terrain parks. Huckleberry Jam is their progression park, and Rolling Thunder is an all-natural terrain park with a 1,111 foot long quarter pipe. Rolling Thunder used trees harvested to improve forest health to create rails and jibs.
Mt. Spokane offers four different parks. The Progression Park is located at the top of Chair 3. Half Hitch Terrain Park features intermediate and expert jumps and hard features. Gnarwood Forest is a natural terrain park featuring natural features and man-made logs and rails. Lamonga Park prioritizes flow, where you can pick a line and hit a sequence of features.
Along with the Main Terrain Park at Silver Mountain, Silver also offers Noah’s Progression Park with a new 40-foot double-barrel waterfall rail and a rebuilt pyramid box. Silver will be hosting the USASA Boardercross and Skiercross Feb. 2 and 3. They will also have the Doug E Fresh Banked Slalom on March 23.
[Sponsored by Ski the NW Rockies]
