This was my proposal i gave to our hill. Also, with this letter i gave them a petition with 20 names on it, liability options, costs of the park, and a general design...
A terrain park would be a great addition to Whitewater for many different reasons.
Over the last few years my friends and I have going out into the backcountry to build jumps and are capable with dealing with situations that arise. Avalanche danger, rocks in landings, poor jumping spots and other important observations. We have been noticing that more and more younger kids are heading out also with very little skill or knowledge about the terrain that they are in and totally surrounded by. The reason they are headed out there is to build jumps. I know this as a fact. They are going to get hurt because they do not have the experience or the air sense that a park would allow kids to improve on. My friends and I go out to build jumps all the time with the knowledge about the dangers of skiing out of bounds, but this year alone we have had 4 injuries between us, because out there the stakes are much higher. Imagine what might happen with younger kids. A park would keep kids in bounds and away from danger.
Another thing is that we get bored at the mountain. Yes, we do get great snow most of the year but there are those times where all we do is ski the same runs for weeks on end. It would add much enjoyment to our ski season and bring tourists all the way up to the last weekend. A park would attract so many more people, especially kids, to come to Whitewater. I know a lot of kids who do not buy passes because of the lack of a park. A Park would also attract a lot of tourists here. Great snow, great terrain, and a great park, this is a winning combination. If you have not noticed, most mountains that are a decent size have parks. Parks bring people to the mountains.
Tending to the park on a daily basis is not mandatory. I know you are saying that with all the snow that we get, grooming the park would take a lot of effort and money. Well then, during the time that it snows a lot groom every few days. It does not really matter that much. We will all be just skiing on those days. Possibly even groom twice a week. Fridays would be good so the park for the weekend would be well set up. Tuesday is another prime day because not too many people come during the week so grooming it for one day would probably be fine for the rest of the week.
I have heard from many reliable sources that you are dead against parks. Why is this? I know liability is a big thing but a great way to get money is to charge for the park. When people buy a seasons pass, have an extra charge to be allowed in the park. I guarantee that all of the kids I know why ski and board would pay that extra money to have full admission into a park.
Kids are wanting to do more jumps because of the recent explosion of twin tip skis. For kids that are under seventeen, this is all that we have known since we have been seriously into skiing. All of the big name movies have terrain parks and jumps. This is the direction that skiing is heading and you should embrace it. If you are worried about kids hurting themselves all you have to worry about is the design of a park. If a park is designed well then accidents are down to a minimum. I have visited many other mountains in the past two years and gone out of my way to ask patrols how many accidents that they have in the park. It is shocking that it is not that many. It is mostly people that have no experience at all in skiing that do not know how handle the park.
The only enemy agaist progression is FEAR!
