Hello Freeskiing world!
I know that it’s been a while since you’ve heard from us.
It feels not too long ago that I was sitting on the floor of my apartment, eagerly writing an article about our first season building a DIY hike park in the mountains after receiving funding from the NS stimulus project.
Well, that apartment flooded, and that hike park in the mountains no longer exists.
It’s been a wild couple of years since then, a lot of ups and downs, hard turns, and switch up’s. But now we've finally reached a point where I can feel confident to share an update. I hope you forgive me for not giving an update sooner, I wanted to wait until we had a legit, final product that I would be comfortable sharing with you all. And sometimes, that takes a couple of ski seasons.
I promise it’s worth a read, we’ve come a long way since that first article and PVC hike park in the mountains. We have some exciting updates to share, and an explanation with what we did between that first article and now.
First and foremost:
As some of you have probably heard: we are now a legitimate, permanent, and insured hike park, right in Bozeman city limits. Yup, you heard me right, our new location is:
- 5 minutes from Downtown,
- 10 minutes from MSU campus,
- and conveniently only a few hundred yards from the Bozeman Deaconess hospital!
The park is free to the public, and is entirely built and maintained by local skiers and snowboarders, down to the snowmaking itself. You can check out our opening weekend edit here, shot and edited by the one and only @Jems .
We just completed our first trial season with the city, and I won't lie, it was a big change for us. Going from a DIY hike park in the mountains, furnished with PVC tubes, to a public hike park with steel rails and HDPE boxes was a big leap for us. But we've finally made it, through careful planning, merchandise sales, and hundreds of hours of hard work, we were able to take that initial $600 and turn it into a sanctioned public hike park.
![](https://images.newschoolers.com/images/17/01/09/50/66/1095066_926w_640h.jpeg)
(Average view at the HQ, all of our rails still are made by hand in that garage. And yes, that's a piece of Bridger Bowl Lift cable in the pile- still trying to figure out a feature we can make with it. Photo shot by me.)
Now that we got the big news out of the way,
I'm sure you might be curious about what happened between that first article and now. So ironically, a couple months after the first article in 2022, our spot was shut down by the Forest Service.
It was a problem we had never even thought to plan for: too many people were showing up and there wasn’t enough parking, which caused some traffic jams in the canyon.
We were told to get out, and that we were prohibited from building any more parks on forest service land. We tried looking everywhere for a new spot: more remote parcels of public land, an abandoned ski resort owned by a private school, and even a couple public parks in Bozeman. No luck, nobody liked the liability that rails brought, or the ruckus that came with them.
We were crushed, to say the least. We had spent so much time preparing for a great season, and it suddenly looked like we wouldn’t have one at all. But we knew we couldn't just give up, especially since we had already spent the money Newschoolers gave us. So we brainstormed, and got down to the core issue: we couldn't build a park and leave it set up without it getting torn down, or us in legal trouble. Luckily however, we quickly found a loophole: temporary parks. As long as our rails never stayed around too long, and we changed up the spot occasionally, then we wouldn't really be violating any laws or rules laid down by the forest service. So we did a hard pivot and came up with a new plan: if we couldn’t provide our community with an accessible, free hike park, then we would bring the hike park directly to the people.
![](https://images.newschoolers.com/images/17/01/09/50/67/1095067_926w_640h.jpeg)
(One of our many pop-up jams at Bridger Bowl. I think I got heat stroke at this one, totally worth it. Photo shot by me.)
So in a Red Dawn-like fashion, we began to wage skiing guerilla warfare. The process was simple: we chose a local spot for attack, and then spread the word through social media and word of mouth. We would then show up, build a hike park, and host our own pop up sessions, often accompanied with free prizes, hotdogs, and beverages for everyone who showed up.
![](https://images.newschoolers.com/images/17/01/09/50/43/1095043_926w_640h.jpeg)
( @ReturnToMonkey operate the grill- hotdogs taste much better off an ON3P, The big tube is carried away after the sesh, out by 10pm promptly, and no issues, Photo's shot by Frazer Hillard.)
So for the rest of the 2022/23 season we focused solely on spontaneous public events, and building local support in Bozeman. We did pop events at local parks, and even on Montana State's campus. Since our new model also hinged on public events, we helped host regular free events, ranging from challenge rails and jam sessions, to women's exclusive jams and park clinics. Plus, because we stuck to public property and always left before 10:00 pm, we always avoided any trouble with authorities, not even a single ticket.
Eventually our efforts were noticed, and by some miracle, we were contacted by Cody Ling, from the Bridger Ski Foundations freeskiing skiing program. Cody saw the value that a public hike park would bring to Bozeman and growing the park skiing community, so he offered to help us with our mission. Cody and the BSF had the lawyers, resources, and connections to make something happen. So after weeks of meeting in coffee shops between our busy schedules, and coming up with a proposal, we were ready to make our move. Cody presented our plan to the BSF, as well as the city of Bozeman parks and trails division, and they agreed to do a trial run of the hike park during the 2023/24 season.
Our dream had come true: park skiing was now within a 10 minute reach for most people in Bozeman proper. For the rest of the winter, until the snow melted out, afternoons and evenings were spent hiking rails after work and watching sunsets from the drop in. It finally felt like we had given Bozeman a proper third space for skiers and snowboarders. A place where people could meet friends, get in a quick session with their free time, or just hangout and enjoy being outside, free of charge.
![](https://images.newschoolers.com/images/17/01/09/50/44/1095044_926w_640h.jpeg)
(This fencing was one of the most expensive parts of the park, seriously. There’s only like one factory in the world that makes it, and it’s in Italy. But thanks to BSF and World Boards generosity, we were able to get some super sick, super official fencing for the park. And the cross-country skiers love that it keeps people from flying into their trail. Photo shot by me.)
![](https://images.newschoolers.com/images/17/01/09/50/46/1095046_926w_640h.jpeg)
(The crew sets up the park before opening weekend, the 22 foot Arsenic A-Frame went in the middle as our flagship feature. Fun fact: the park is built on top of a graveyard used by some of the first settlers in Bozeman. Not sure if it’s haunted, but it’s covered under the waiver just in case. Photo shot by me.)
Fast forward to right now:
Now that you’re all caught up on where we’ve been, I figured I’d share some more good news, arguably the biggest update of this article: our trial with the city was deemed a success!
We were renewed for the next season. The local community loved the park, they gave us great reviews and feedback about what they liked, and what we can improve on. Best of all, we didn’t receive a single legal problem or complaint from nearby residents, and the trails manager thought it was so cool he made a jump line for the cross country skiers- so they could throw down too! So thank you to all our friends and the locals who helped keep the park clean, maintain the rails, and were courteous to others in and out of the park. It really paid off. We are thrilled to announce that we will be working with the BSF and city parks/trails division to bring Zero Zone back for another season at our permanent location.
Additionally going into our 2024/2025 season we will be receiving:
- Increased space
- Increased snow making budget and time
- And increased resources for park shaping and maintenance
For our opening year we had to play it safe, and while I do regret that we only did a fraction of the events compared to years past, we have new features and events in the works as we speak, and we plan to make this our best year yet.
Additionally, we now have the ability to host more rail jams, clinics, and other local events as we desire, while still maintaining full creative control of building and maintaining the park. We have new rails and features in the works to fill out the extra space, and a whole bunch of fun events we’re cooking up.
So stick around, it’s going to be a fun season.
You can follow us on Instagram @zerozone.mt to stay up to date on park updates and video content.
But locals of Bozeman, or anyone that plans to go to the park should download our free team app, and join the message board for all updates regarding operations and events. The team app is the most up to date spot for park conditions, events, and updates.
Team Group Name: Sunset Hills Jib Park
Group Code: Jibbing
I hope you enjoyed reading about our journey, and I do hope you'll forgive me for taking so long to update everyone. After the Forest Service dilemma, I wanted to ensure I had concrete results before giving an update.
But before I wrap this article up, I’ll answer some of the most common questions we got all season:
“What's up with the name?” Yeah yeah, we know, there’s already a Bone Zone, a Love Zone, and now a Zero Zone. Our name comes from the vest you see on our Instagram. When we first started building DIY parks, we used to rock neon work vests to deter people passing by from questioning what we were doing. The vests came from a friend who worked at a distribution center for a large company, and the center was called “zero zone”. Thus when we first established our first hike park, we referred to it as the zero zone simply because that’s what our work vests said. The name stuck, and the rest is history.
“How do I get to the park?” Simple, we’re right behind the hospital (convenient, we know). Just park your car somewhere legal, and walk on over. Scan the QR code at the entrance and sign a quick waiver- then boom- you’re ready to ride.
“I’m not good at park skiing, is Zero Zone right for me?” Duh, we were all there once. Regulars in the park range from groms learning their first rail slides to sponsored athletes dialing in their tricks. We don’t care how good you are, or if you ski, snowboard, or snow skate. If you’re there to ride and have a good time, then you’re in the right place.
“When is the park accessible?” Currently we operate 7 days a week from sun up to sun down, whenever there’s snow at the spot. This year we’ll be blowing snow as soon as the temps get cold enough, and will stay open until it melts away.
“I’d love to get involved! Where do I begin?” We love working with local skiers, snowboarders, snow skaters, and clubs. If you have an idea for an event, want to volunteer your time to help build and maintain the park, or are a company that wants to support our park or host an event, simply DM us on our Instagram page- zerozone.mt
If those don’t answer your questions then you can always join our team app and ask, or simply DM us on Instagram.
See you at the Zero Zone,
-Young_Patty
Comments