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Park Etiquette

124K views 150 replies 76 participants last post by  ridethecliche 
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#1 ·
I looked to see if I could find a thread dedicated to this but could not find one so I wanted to ask. As a newcomer to snowboarding and as one who ultimately hopes to spend a lot of time in the park, what are some things I should know so as not to piss people off or worse yet, hurt someone or myself? What is considered basic park etiquette?
 
#107 ·
1) Dont spectate or lounge on the knuckles.

2)a) If you fall, then get the fuck out of the way. Probablilty is that you didnt break anything off that mini rail.
2)b) If you fall on a large feature, be sure to be visible or note someone that you are hurt so that nobody rides over you in the landing

3) I will snake you if you take far too long to drop
4) Don't be stupid and obnoxious. Everyone in the park just wants to chill out and focus on having a fun day.
 
#120 ·
what about on the knuckles beside the jump so you're not in anyones way and you get a better view of the jumps if someones ripping it in the park?
 
#109 ·
Good in theory but if there is something seriously wrong moving could screw it up that much more.If you are seriously injured, get someone's attention and have them block the feature and get the patrol.No sense making a bad situation even worse just so someone else can hit the feature.
 
#113 · (Edited)
Geeeez, haven't spent one second in a terrain park yet and I'm in awe of the stupidity I'm reading about. Unfortunately the park is not like the rest of the mountain where you can avoid all the noobs getting in your way by going down a sketchy line that they won't attempt. I do notice that many of you are from the US, so I guess your issues are compounded likely because more people park ride down there than in the Canadian Rockies. More pow days generally means less time in the park - at least that's what a friend or two has mentioned.

Just bought a 2011 Machete and stoked to get into the terrain park this season and try not to look like such a noob, or at least stay the fack out of the way of the expert freestyle riders. Gonna attempt to hook up a mentorship with some sick riders because that's how you really progress. In less than one season I went from sitting on my ass on a green run to hitting up triple blacks that'll make the billy goats get vertigo :p All because I rode with a very good skier who forced me down double blacks like my third time out, haha.
I'm curious, do many of the resorts you guys go to have more than just one terrain park for example? My local hill, Castle Mountain is setup in such a way that it has three different terrain parks, obviously for different skill levels. Some do this, some don't. I think this is huge for beginner and expert freestyle riders. Noobs aren't getting in the way of the dudes hitting 50ft gaps and the experts aren't overrunning the stunts that the new guys are hitting up. Unfortunately Castle doesn't have a half pipe - just the steepest/longest fall line in Canada :p

P.s. Castle Mountain sucks... Don't go there!!!!! It's super windy and cold and the lifts were used back in Nam.
 
#114 ·
most of the major resorts like keystone, breck, copper, winter park have 3-6+parks. places like loveland are known for their 1 shit park.
not to say loveland doesnt get alot of love, cuz it does, especially locally, just not for park.
 
#119 · (Edited)
how is that even possible? if they can kill the park, i'm assuming they can at the least throw 3's maybe even 5's on 25 foot + kickers? in order to throw a nice spin off a big jump, you can't just huck it. you have to have a nice approach which requires some nice carving to set up your platform. most parks where I'm from (east coast/ontario, canada) have the same steepness as a blue level slope. also add in the balance these park rats have and their superior edge control when they do butters because most park rats also love to butter... i'd say any skilled bark rider can shred down your blue run with lots of skill.

I understand that there are many other aspects of riding (ie, backcountry or glades) and i agree, the terrain park isn't the gold standard for measuring skill. if you can kill the park, it doesn't mean you can make it on back country riding or kill it through the glades, but to say that a lot of skilled park riders can't do blues seems rather ludacris to me.

i agree with taos, learn to make it down blues and blacks (not including glades/moguls/slackcountry) before you head to the park and don't fuck up my jumps by cutting up the lip/landing... i mean just this weekend i saw someone speed check so much approaching a jump, he ended up stopping and crawling up the lip and hopping off. it didn't even cross his mind that he should probably ride around. i would have yelled at him had i not been busy trying to find my camera to film him... unfortunately it was out of batteries lol
 
#123 ·
how is that even possible?
Well, look at it this way. If you just freeride, it will take time to become good at it. That means that skills must be learned, otherwise you'd be good right away. If you just do park, it will also take time to become good for the same reason. If they were the same skills for both, then having learned freeride for years I should be able to just step into the park and kill it. I've already proven that this isn't the case, believe me :laugh: . There's no logical reason to believe that it would be any easier in the other direction. Different skills, different reflexes.

Now mind you, if a park rat decided to take up freeriding, they'd catch on a lot faster than an all-around newb, but there'd still be a learning curve. Park snow tends to be sculpted and predictable (otherwise the park crew aren't doing their job) and in most parks you have very controlled and short approaches to things. If you stick to groomers when freeriding you probably won't feel too different, but you'd be missing most of the fun. But it's the rough and 'natural' parts of the run that are the most fun. Those are also the parts that freeriders take longest to become good with, because they're rough and natural, and the tossing about that you get takes some getting used to.
 
#126 ·
the 10 bucks is dumb, 10 bucks in itself isnt a big deal, just the principle of using part of the mountain after you have already bought a pass is stupid. but last year bogus made you watch a video, but they never checked passes, now i havent seen them check once this year
 
#130 ·
I hate how people who see and know someone is down but do nothing to warn the next person coming down the feature.

I was down at the bottom of a box line at Seven Springs when this skier ate shit and had to collect himself and his stuff, I was too far down to warn anybody. His friends come right up to him and keep going not bothering to warn anybody. So what happens... a snowboarder plows into him.

It would have taken 2 seconds for one of his friends to signal not to go but they didn't bother. That just pissed me off.

Earlier in the day I went off of this little snow pile jump and ate shit. So what does the first passerby do? Ask if I am okay? Nope, he made a smart ass remark.

How hard is it to not be a dick and actually be concerned for other people?
 
#132 ·
park etiquette... watch out for yourself and never depend on anyone to help you out.

Back in the day, people would help each other. But then some loser would make his way in and really cripple someone.

nowadays no one helps and no one cares. The etiquette has changed and so have the features.

there always tomorrow to hit it, and theres always next year. 90% of the shit that has happened to me has been caused by other riders/skiers.

(alright, i take it back, 100% of what has happened to me has happened because of skiiers)
 
#133 ·
Park passes don't do shit, you still have clueless fucks all over the place. Mountain Creek requires them to ride South Peak but 1) No one checks for them 2) You can ride over to South Peak from other trails and 3) The rules aren't enforced.

You'll see gaper families on the weekends weaving and stopping on features at the last second, snaking without look and side airing approaches. There is even a question you have to answer on the multiple choice test about what to do when realizing a feature is beyond your ability level with the correct answer being "ride around it and do not get in other riders' way."

Even more gay are the mountain that have the gall to charge for their park passes. That's insult on top of injury, a punch in the nuts and a poke in the eyes.
 
#134 ·
today my friend ate shit hard on a jump and couldn't get up. i unstrapped and yelled at everyone waiting to not come down, and they definitely heard me because a few gestured to show that they'd wait. So i started walking up the MIDDLE of the jump with my board. next thing i knew there was a swish behind me, and i saw a kid skiier who had been waiting head down towards the jump. i yelled at him to stop 3-4 times, but instead of turning away he headed straight towards the jump, around me and off of it, missing landing my friend by a foot or less and spraying her.
the things i wanted to do to that kid..
 
#137 ·
So I'm watching my snowboardaddiction videos (sitting here waiting for the damned snow to fall) and partway through the Nev Park Lap I realize he buzzes some 10 year old skier who is shuffling slowly right across the park line. :laugh: Dunno how many times I've watched that and didn't notice it.
 
#142 ·
Park Yoboy!

Wear boarder pants so low and baggy of the loudest colour you can find that no one can see where your knees begin.

A jacket so baggy and low it drags in the snow. (also no matter how hot the bar is at night you can't take it off!!)

Spray anyone who's standing or sitting right next to a feature or in your way!

Do one park run then spend the rest of the day at the side chilling with your mates jeering anything slightly S**t.

shout horrible bad things at any bladers that use the park!

any of your mates hurt themselves check to see if they're ok then if they are laugh in their face!

Put your headphones on so loud you can't hear anything!
hmmmm have I left anything out?
 
#145 ·
I just had some mild irritation yesterday at my favorite mountain. No place around here actually has real "parks" - simply a select few swells in natural terrain that form well-recognized jumps that people go off. These stand out starkly from the even terrain surrounding them, however, so there is no excuse for not being aware of them. And yet this happened:

1. An adult was "guiding" a VERY young, tiny snowboarder (seemed like first day) down the mountain from the top, and this kid was allowed to veer over directly onto the path of and over the jump going about 1 mph and falling down every 5 seconds. Around five minutes later the jump was clear again.

2. A beginner adult snowboarder was clumsily navigating down from the top with about the same speed and falling frequency as that little kid, chatting with her nearby friends as they tried to coach her (horribly, by the way). This beginner ended up falling very much and parking her ass squarely in the landing zone of that same jump for several minutes, unable to stay upright long enough to get out the way.

3. A boisterous group of guys sat on there asses uphill of the jump, blocking the path to it in a nice little row, talking obnoxiously about the black diamonds they were about to head to. Blocked the jump for a good 5-10 minutes.

Have some damn tact. No one should have to tell you to stay outta the path of jumps, either uphill or downhill. This shouldn't even require learning park etiquette (though park etiquette obviously applies), but simply a tiny application of common sense and the desire to preserve one's body from terrible collisions with others. So... screw you... you thoughtless douches.

I still had the best day of snowboarding ever, by catching the most air yet off that jump and landing stably, once these fools removed themselves. Nothing can truly dampen the insuppressible fun and joy I have when boarding. But you can make that fun easier to have by not being dumb.

That's all.
 
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