partyandBSjumps were pretty on point per usual.
how big would you estimate each jump to be? hyped to get in there
Slugger66Trying to wrap my head around VR's overall attitude toward parks. They've killed some parks (Breck, Key) and revived others (Carinthia). Maybe it's a mountain-by-mountain thing? I would've thought the Carinthia revival reflected a strategic change back to parks for all Vail mountains.
idk i think parks just really aren't in vail's business model for western mountains. they want to sell epic passes to families who will come out on a vacation for a week or two and stay in vail owned real estate. they know denver (or whichever major city is near the epic resort in question) will buy an epic (or ikon, its a toss up year by year) pass instead of a smaller mountain's pass due to price. i think vail both doesn't care about park skiing and doesnt particularly want a freestyle scene at their mountains anyways. they are in the business of casting the widest net for customers and creating a safe, beginner friendly environment for them that doesn't scare anyone off. they make more money off their real estate holdings than they do off the operation of the resorts.
now for eastern mountains it might be different because vail knows nobody in the west is booking trips out east to ski. i'd imagine that they recognize a good park is a draw for the teenage kid in the wealthy nuclear family that they are trying to attract from new jersey. while the parents of this family might just decide where to take their 'out west' trip, they might consider their kids' opinions more if they are going to be driving 7 hours every weekend and the kids are gonna be skiing this resort every weekend. but idk. i worked park crew at stowe for a few years and vail was absolutely killing the park scene by disallowing larger features, regimenting the number of beginner features that MUST be present in a park, etc. maybe they have determined that carinthia is one of the biggest draws to mount snow and that otherwise the mountain risks not having enough ridership.