How do I properly rake a jump?

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Do you have an actual park rake or something else? It sorta depends on conditions really, chunky snow is basically impossible to make look nice so just do your best and tell people to squint at it from a distance. You want to focus on filling in any ruts/trenches, figure out where you have extra snow and move it up/down/sideways/diagonal wherever it needs to go to fill the spots where you have less snow then you need, dont feel like you have to push the snow up the takeoff and then drag it back, its way faster to work sideways across the takeoff sometimes. Once ruts are filled in you can use the back of the rake to smooth it all out, then what I find works best is instead of dragging the rake back to leave lines, lean the handle up and "push" lines into the snow with the downward facing side of the teeth. It takes some practice to leave straight lines, but that way your pressing the soft snow into the jump so it doesn't just blow away or get skied off.

Remember the golden rule, pretty lines always come second to making sure the jump itself has the right shape and isn't all bumpy and weird

a_burgerDo you have an actual park rake or something else? It sorta depends on conditions really, chunky snow is basically impossible to make look nice so just do your best and tell people to squint at it from a distance. You want to focus on filling in any ruts/trenches, figure out where you have extra snow and move it up/down/sideways/diagonal wherever it needs to go to fill the spots where you have less snow then you need, dont feel like you have to push the snow up the takeoff and then drag it back, its way faster to work sideways across the takeoff sometimes. Once ruts are filled in you can use the back of the rake to smooth it all out, then what I find works best is instead of dragging the rake back to leave lines, lean the handle up and "push" lines into the snow with the downward facing side of the teeth. It takes some practice to leave straight lines, but that way your pressing the soft snow into the jump so it doesn't just blow away or get skied off.

Remember the golden rule, pretty lines always come second to making sure the jump itself has the right shape and isn't all bumpy and weird

thanks man, this really helps

Push snow into the center rut. Push snow up to the corners. Get a nice crisp line across the deck if it has a deck.

Using the back of the rake is under rated and will keep you from digging in too much while giving smooth lines. Especially useful in chundery conditions. Those ice balls want to drag.

Pull lines down to the flat before the take off, rake excess snow out to the sides.


*if mtn doesn't cut sides with the cat. Nice to give the sides a flat shave especially on warm days its like butter. Just aesthetics but if it looks good it rides good.

If jump us good try to put snow back where it came from and maintain shape.


Watch out for leaving rake bumps. If lip is already bumpy try raking at 45s to go across the bumps and smooth it out. Then can lay a crisp back rake down.

Keep lines straight as much as possible and with the direction of the festures.


Good luck!

**This post was edited on Jan 31st 2022 at 8:53:27pm

Here’s a vid of “pushing” lines in with the back of the rake instead of pulling them, def an underrated technique that’s super useful in most snow especially chunks
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1029816/trim-35949491-D995-4A70-8CC8-1DB91A7DDF96-MOV