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October, 2024

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Park Gabber (enter if you dare)

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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
A Place To Chat About All Things Park

Did your mountain build something sweet?

Did they build something ultra sketch?

Did you crash into a moose on the inrun to a rail?

How many beers have you chugged at the top of the park today?

Is the park crew disrespecting you by not putting your favorite feature in?


So many questions, to little time, and the season is already here!!!
Oct 10 2017 9:53PM
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BigPurpleSkiSuit
Posts: 9362 - Karma: 68,403
Reasons I'm scared of park:
1.Getting paralyzed on a massive overshoot
2.Breaking my kneecaps on a rail
3. Nutting myself on a rail
4.Going to slide a rail and finding out my skis won't slide on it so i just do a faceplant into the rail
5.Undershooting a big park jump
6.I wear a big purple ski suit, so I look kind of doofusy for park riding, but maybe it's just in general
7. Some snowboarders wanting to pick a fight with me for no reason
Jan 14 2018 9:17PM
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SkierPT
Posts: 2177 - Karma: 4,720
BigPurpleSkiSuitReasons I'm scared of park:
1.Getting paralyzed on a massive overshoot
2.Breaking my kneecaps on a rail
3. Nutting myself on a rail
4.Going to slide a rail and finding out my skis won't slide on it so i just do a faceplant into the rail
5.Undershooting a big park jump
6.I wear a big purple ski suit, so I look kind of doofusy for park riding, but maybe it's just in general
7. Some snowboarders wanting to pick a fight with me for no reason


Soft af kid. Fall a few times and have fun. Most of us have had a lot of that happen and we still love skiing.
Jan 15 2018 1:00AM
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strayln_Skier
Posts: 451 - Karma: 1,182
BigPurpleSkiSuitReasons I'm scared of park:
1.Getting paralyzed on a massive overshoot
2.Breaking my kneecaps on a rail
3. Nutting myself on a rail
4.Going to slide a rail and finding out my skis won't slide on it so i just do a faceplant into the rail
5.Undershooting a big park jump
6.I wear a big purple ski suit, so I look kind of doofusy for park riding, but maybe it's just in general
7. Some snowboarders wanting to pick a fight with me for no reason

lel
Jan 15 2018 4:25AM
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TrashNamedNolan
Posts: 47 - Karma: 138
Falls are the best part! Start small and work you way up buddy.
Jan 15 2018 7:27PM
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iced
Posts: 3070 - Karma: 17,965
BigPurpleSkiSuitReasons I'm scared of park:
1.Getting paralyzed on a massive overshoot
2.Breaking my kneecaps on a rail
3. Nutting myself on a rail
4.Going to slide a rail and finding out my skis won't slide on it so i just do a faceplant into the rail
5.Undershooting a big park jump
6.I wear a big purple ski suit, so I look kind of doofusy for park riding, but maybe it's just in general
7. Some snowboarders wanting to pick a fight with me for no reason


this guy needs his own gender
Jan 15 2018 9:57PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
TrashNamedNolanI feel like every park crew is either really damn good and loves their job, or doesn’t put in any effort. No inbetween. Thoughts?


True enough. Another thing is that employees are looked at as expendable. Most people don't stick around more than 2 seasons. If you've worked in parks for more than 3 it's wild. Especially on day staff.

It's true to an extent. You can teach the basics to anyone and get a functional park. But to have people maintaining things properly, fixing takeoffs beyond just pulling lines, making sure everything looks and rides nice. A crop of randoms that barely even ride park aren't going to do that, at least not in one season for the most part.

And the people that have other skills eventually dip to do that. Welding jobs, running equipment, pretty much anything and everything pays better. I don't thin mtns should/could pay a competing wage to those jobs, but going beyond "fuck em, there will be somebody else" would be cool.

Especially in an area with so much scrutiny in terms of liability, and just in general creativity and clean builds from the people riding them.

I def don't blame any of my friends who have dipped to other jobs. In all honesty it really is the smart move. I'm just hopelessly addicted to parks/ ski industry and even if I can't afford to eat and am living in some cardboard shack, I'm still going to keep doing it.

I'm going to get PARK LYFE tattooed on my chest
Jan 16 2018 2:37PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
We just had to plow our jump last night for snow. The struggle is real. Still got some baby jumps though. Hopefully this storm comes through for us tomorrow.
Jan 17 2018 1:19PM
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WIZBANG
Posts: 408 - Karma: 318
theabortionatorWord. Def pipes dropping everywhere. But with the Dew Tour and other events, it being a generally sick pipe, being VR in summit, and having good temps for snowmaking/snowfall I can't see breck ditching their ditch.

I remember when everyone that had a park had a pipe. Everyone's got an old rusted to shit 14' ish pipe dragon in their boneyard. I kinda miss them times.

Rails have definitely gotten way more legit/plentiful, and jumps are less likely to kill you, but all the mini ghetto pipes at every mountain.

Those were the days...

ill take a picture of our "pipe" at baker, its probably the most jank thing ever groomed
Jan 17 2018 2:06PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
WIZBANGill take a picture of our "pipe" at baker, its probably the most jank thing ever groomed



Oh god, please do!

The one at Jhole was pretty bad a few years ago. But their park was surprisingly on point which made up for it.
Jan 17 2018 2:19PM
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WIZBANG
Posts: 408 - Karma: 318
theabortionatorOh god, please do!

The one at Jhole was pretty bad a few years ago. But their park was surprisingly on point which made up for it.


We don't even have a park anymore. All are old rails and boxes are just sitting in a grave yard full of old cats and machines. Such a sad sight when driving up and down from the mountain.
Jan 17 2018 2:22PM
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T.L.
Posts: 4729 - Karma: 3,008
WIZBANGWe don't even have a park anymore. All are old rails and boxes are just sitting in a grave yard full of old cats and machines. Such a sad sight when driving up and down from the mountain.


What resort is that?
Jan 17 2018 2:23PM
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WIZBANG
Posts: 408 - Karma: 318
T.L.What resort is that?


Mt. Baker. Washington.
Jan 17 2018 2:23PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
WIZBANGWe don't even have a park anymore. All are old rails and boxes are just sitting in a grave yard full of old cats and machines. Such a sad sight when driving up and down from the mountain.



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!


RIP


No park is the worst park
Jan 17 2018 2:25PM
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T.L.
Posts: 4729 - Karma: 3,008
WIZBANGMt. Baker. Washington.


Damn. Whens the last time a park was up?
Jan 17 2018 2:27PM
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WIZBANG
Posts: 408 - Karma: 318
T.L.Damn. Whens the last time a park was up?


Like 4-5 years ago maybe more.
Jan 17 2018 2:28PM
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BigPurpleSkiSuit
Posts: 9362 - Karma: 68,403
icedthis guy needs his own gender


I just never rode park growing up. I have no issues sending the wave 50 feet at snowbird or skiing over 10-20 foot cliffs, rails just scare me a bit cause I never slid them. My post was a bit of an exaggeration just for shits and giggles, the stuff about jumps mainly.
Jan 19 2018 5:59PM
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Iratebeggar
Posts: 143 - Karma: 150
Threads for when the southern summer is coming to an end and we start building shit!
Jan 21 2018 4:54AM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
We've been CRANKING out the snowmaking finally. Probably the coldest temp we've had all season. Haven't had a real window in over a month. When I left thursday morning and tonight it was night and day. Thursday I was scraping thin spots to fill bare spots, and just batching enough than it wasn't dirt. Tonight there were snowmaking piles everywhere. Just blasting water. Getting some nice heavy snow. Was a pain to move around and stuck to everything but we need a base right now. Was stoke to doze out some piles and come back a couple hours later and they were getting big again. I hope we have these temps for a while.

Rebuilt our rollers that we in the noob area that we had to push out for snow a couple weeks ago. Really hoping to get a good base down. Thursday morning things looked sad out there.
Jan 21 2018 1:13PM
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WeepsAmong
Posts: 1 - Karma: 11
BigPurpleSkiSuitI just never rode park growing up. I have no issues sending the wave 50 feet at snowbird or skiing over 10-20 foot cliffs, rails just scare me a bit cause I never slid them. My post was a bit of an exaggeration just for shits and giggles, the stuff about jumps mainly.


But how do you do on the boxes? I wanna see some purple people eaters on the boxes.
Jan 21 2018 2:55PM
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Chubz.
Posts: 13918 - Karma: 25,661
just finished building an all snow park at our mountain and its so much fun. Quartered out turns and spines galore, even cut out a mini pipe at the bottom. Really happy we ended up doing it this year as its been in talk for a while.
Jan 21 2018 3:15PM
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st.vanski
Posts: 60 - Karma: 74
I wish my park would have some lights, shining on the kicker, so you could actually see the takeoff of the jumps, when it's snowing or foggy as fuck
Jan 21 2018 3:27PM
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a_burger
Posts: 5235 - Karma: 20,715
We opened the park at Black yessterday, came out really well and I'm pretty proud of it. The two new rails we made (the flat tube and down rail) slid great and the JP style quaterpipe is fun as fuck


























Still got some things to clean up later this week but its probably the best park the mountain has ever had, it was cool to see so many stoked local kids.
Jan 21 2018 7:10PM
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corndogGoon
Posts: 84 - Karma: 306
ItsAustinJust went to loon yesterday... I mean I was bummed that the big park wasn’t opened yet, and they didn’t have the lift that goes up to the top of springboard open so you had to take the gondola up every time you wanted to go to springboard. Other than that springboard was pretty decent, they had a few skinny boxes, a tube, and 6 jumps ( 3 in each jump line, one side smaller jumps, the other side bigger)

It sucks rn they still haven’t flipped aroukd features heat in springboard, LMP is finally open. There’s some fun features but they’re really sticky. There’s a rollercoaster rail tho which is pretty fine
Jan 22 2018 12:23PM
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hi_vis360
Posts: 5034 - Karma: 51,146
a_burgerWe opened the park at Black yessterday, came out really well and I'm pretty proud of it. The two new rails we made (the flat tube and down rail) slid great and the JP style quaterpipe is fun as fuck


























Still got some things to clean up later this week but its probably the best park the mountain has ever had, it was cool to see so many stoked local kids.


you rule dude, Black Mt has so much potential
Jan 22 2018 12:52PM
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TrashNamedNolan
Posts: 47 - Karma: 138
Log jam coming up at my local hill, any specific tips on logs? I can comfortably hit a rail normally but never tried a wooden one.
Jan 22 2018 5:35PM
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iced
Posts: 3070 - Karma: 17,965
TrashNamedNolanLog jam coming up at my local hill, any specific tips on logs? I can comfortably hit a rail normally but never tried a wooden one.


pretty much the same imo
hit it fast and keep your edge up though
Jan 22 2018 5:45PM
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TrashNamedNolan
Posts: 47 - Karma: 138
icedpretty much the same imo
hit it fast and keep your edge up though


Havent waxed my skis in a while, will that make a difference, should i?
Jan 22 2018 5:58PM
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a_burger
Posts: 5235 - Karma: 20,715
BASEDJAHyou rule dude, Black Mt has so much potential


its crazy. When they put in the ropetow to the the top of the Sidecountry trails the amount of skiable terrain is going to almost triple. Its cool that they're letting us build this park, really rounds out the mountain. Hopefully we will be spinning the T-bar soon for hot laps in the park.
Jan 22 2018 9:06PM
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Rjeverts
Posts: 13 - Karma: 13
A shitter place in Wisconsin can’t build a decent jump to save there mom or make a rail right they got fat sticky ass bar transfer to down rail
Jan 22 2018 9:14PM
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seanahue.
Posts: 2142 - Karma: 3,375
thread is long so somebody may have posted this already, but kudos to the mt hood meadows crew for building the best park i've seen at meadows in my 10yrs riding there. bringing back memories of the old cascade/vista superpark days :')
Jan 22 2018 11:36PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
Schneestern doing work on the Olympic slope course. Wish I was there but stoked to watch from a far!



Also spun 3 or 4 laps with the day crew today. Helped them open because some people didn't show up.Only my 3rd day in 3 weeks. Not so good. Felt kinda sketch but got a few solid tricks with decent style.
Jan 23 2018 3:06PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
I'm still hoping we can get our pipe open soon. Probably won't be another 2 weeks at the earliest as warm temps. The pipe is covered in natural, but lol at even being close to buildable right now. Sucks, we had guns on the walls ready a month ago but then we had warm temps and shit and ended up having to reblow all our main runs.

I feel like if it gets too far into into feb we might just abandon it because that's a huge investment for that late. Idk though. We do have a good pipe cutter working here and the manager is super keen, so hopefully we can build it.
Jan 29 2018 3:26PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
We did just open another partial park trail at least though. So we have some options finally. I was going to ride this morning but was too tired, and hate riding park if I'm that beat.

I honestly haven't even seen the newer park yet. Got built on swing a few days ago. I've been stuck in our beginner area doing our adventure park, riglet park and all the carpets mostly. Not bad but I do like getting farther up in the more legit parks when I can. Also sometimes it's nice to make a pass longer that 2 feet.
Jan 29 2018 3:30PM
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C0ster
Posts: 101 - Karma: 190
Haven’t posted in a while but the parks at northstar were super fun this weekend so I just wanted to say thanks to you and the whole park crew for killing it with the limited snow
Jan 29 2018 10:28PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
doctor.steezeHaven’t posted in a while but the parks at northstar were super fun this weekend so I just wanted to say thanks to you and the whole park crew for killing it with the limited snow


I will pass it along! Appreciated. It's been a tough season. 2 weeks ago we had to plow our only jump to cover dirt and rocks.

I'm pretty impressed with how well the parks been doing compared to the severe lack of snow. Hoping we get some cold temps, but looking like we gotta wait a while. I'm pretty keen to get some guns in the pipe. Also some natural snow to fill in sidewinder and moonshine would be much appreciated.

Glad you enjoyed it! Also thanks for not being like "FUCK YOU WHY ISN'T THE PIPE OPEN, WHY AREN'T THE STRAIGHTS JUMPS UP, WHERE THE FUCK IS MY FAVORITE FEATURE"
Jan 31 2018 12:56PM
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C0ster
Posts: 101 - Karma: 190
Yeah no problem! The only complaint would be the lift lines and no one has control over that. The parks have been dialed all season with the mixture of features and the straights weren’t even open last year til February so that sucks people are complaining
Jan 31 2018 8:38PM
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Melanie_
Posts: 25 - Karma: 47
My mountain built a sketchy kicker onto a flat surface which then if you get enough air to land on the flat surface you barely have enough time to transition onto a drop to the sketchiest pipe/box made out of snow which is half melted and bumpy. However, if you fall short due to lack of time to gain speed, then you end up going off two kickers and flailing in the air off the ledge. Generally they’re great with features. This one is so bad I can’t help but laugh when I tried it out.. think it’s just from this non existent winter we’ve had this season :(
Feb 1 2018 2:06AM
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Melanie_
Posts: 25 - Karma: 47
BigPurpleSkiSuitReasons I'm scared of park:
1.Getting paralyzed on a massive overshoot
2.Breaking my kneecaps on a rail
3. Nutting myself on a rail
4.Going to slide a rail and finding out my skis won't slide on it so i just do a faceplant into the rail
5.Undershooting a big park jump
6.I wear a big purple ski suit, so I look kind of doofusy for park riding, but maybe it's just in general
7. Some snowboarders wanting to pick a fight with me for no reason


Sometimes you have to fall in order to improve. It just means you’re trying new stuff
Feb 1 2018 2:11AM
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arnie_grape
Posts: 3451 - Karma: 11,683
Feb 1 2018 9:39PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
Well we've started blowing snow for our pipe. It'll be a week into march before it opens at least but stoked we're doing it. Also some good snow in the forecast. We're going to try and add 3 more parks plus the pipe. Shit should be lit. I hope the snow comes through.

We haven't had snowmaking temps at all and all our parks but 1 really on natural so it's been super fucking thin. Stump city if you blade too much.

Also since these are closed runs we might be able to move into those zones to push during the day and take another vehicle or the lift down. Would be down for some more hours.
Feb 25 2018 7:24PM
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Snowgoner
Posts: 5047 - Karma: 964
More general discussion topic:

What reason is there for mountains to not have a decent park? Sure, weather can be an inhibitor but there's no reason why a resort can't set up some nice rails. My home mountain has the poorest excuse of a park and it makes no fucking sense. It's a small mountain in MA with mediocre terrain. It just seems like such bad business, considering plenty of local kids would buy season passes just to hike rails all season.
Feb 25 2018 9:13PM
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Chubz.
Posts: 13918 - Karma: 25,661
Shewlur...More general discussion topic:

What reason is there for mountains to not have a decent park? Sure, weather can be an inhibitor but there's no reason why a resort can't set up some nice rails. My home mountain has the poorest excuse of a park and it makes no fucking sense. It's a small mountain in MA with mediocre terrain. It just seems like such bad business, considering plenty of local kids would buy season passes just to hike rails all season.


lack of understanding
Feb 25 2018 9:14PM
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Snowgoner
Posts: 5047 - Karma: 964
Seems like it would be pretty evident to the owner, considering how much business another mountain in the area gets solely because of its park.
Feb 25 2018 9:14PM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15951 - Karma: 9,451
a_burgerWe opened the park at Black yessterday, came out really well and I'm pretty proud of it. The two new rails we made (the flat tube and down rail) slid great and the JP style quaterpipe is fun as fuck


























Still got some things to clean up later this week but its probably the best park the mountain has ever had, it was cool to see so many stoked local kids.

That looks like so much fun
Feb 25 2018 9:31PM
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arnie_grape
Posts: 3451 - Karma: 11,683
theabortionatorWell we've started blowing snow for our pipe.


Feb 28 2018 6:58PM
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Rparr
Posts: 5564 - Karma: 45,592
I am happy to report that my tiny hill stepped it up and did a good job this year. I've been a happy park rat this season
Feb 28 2018 9:11PM
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obi_juan
Posts: 43 - Karma: 325
Chubz.just finished building an all snow park at our mountain and its so much fun. Quartered out turns and spines galore, even cut out a mini pipe at the bottom. Really happy we ended up doing it this year as its been in talk for a while.


I'm a huge fan of these. I think there's tons of room for creativity and nobody seems to take advantage of it.
I'd love to see more bowls and craters
Mar 1 2018 1:22PM
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obi_juan
Posts: 43 - Karma: 325
Is this Black Mtn of Maine? If so it looks like the parks come a long way from the past years
a_burgerWe opened the park at Black yessterday, came out really well and I'm pretty proud of it. The two new rails we made (the flat tube and down rail) slid great and the JP style quaterpipe is fun as fuck
Mar 1 2018 1:25PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51664 - Karma: 162,532
GORILLAWALLACE


Hey, I'm not going to complain. would be sick if the natural drifting around filled up the pipe decently. Probably won't but would be cool.

Also we have 2 - 3 jump lines now in pinballs. No takeoffs but knuckles are pretty big. Seems like the bottom one will be at least 40-45.

Also groomed sidewinder and moonshine to the bottom today. Was kind of bony, but we got more snow since then, hopefuly will be able to build them out top to bottom. maybe start pushing on the straights etc as well.

Fuck it'll be sweet to have made stuff open finally.
Mar 1 2018 5:42PM
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TOAST.
Posts: 7485 - Karma: 36,073
obi_juanI'm a huge fan of these. I think there's tons of room for creativity and nobody seems to take advantage of it.
I'd love to see more bowls and craters


They are super hard to maintain especially if weather fluctuates a lot. Also it helps to have a park cat, which many mountains do not.
Mar 1 2018 7:09PM
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