VAIL Like nothing on earth.™

Golden Peak Terrain Park opens

This weekend not only marks the opening of Golden Peak Terrain Park and the 22′ Superpipe but the kickoff to Vail Safety Month.

A Golden Peak Terrain Park experience will be available to skiers and riders starting this Friday with a full setup expected in the coming week. We are also happy to announce that Bwana Terrain Park in Lionshead is now fully open with 100% of its boxes, rails and jumps now available.

The Terrain Park Crew has been working with Snow Park Technologies (SPT) to carve out the 22′ Superpipe in anticipation of this year’s Burton US Open March 3-8 in Vail. Snowmakers blew snow for 32 nights in order to build up enough of a base to carve out this giant, visible from Vail Village, Golden Peak and even from I-70. Insider’s tip: with America’s top tour for freeskiing and snowboarding and Olympic Qualifier, the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix, coming to Breckenridge next week, you’re likely to see some world-class skiers and riders practicing on the pipe this weekend.

In honor of Golden Peak Terrain Park opening, Vail’s January Safety Month kicks off this weekend by focusing on terrain park etiquette. Terrain Park staff will be rewarding up to 5 skiers & riders a day Jan. 3-5 with $20 in Vail Mountain Money for modeling safe park behavior.

So what does skiing and riding safely in the Terrain Park mean? Every day can look a little different in the park with conditions and feature setups changing. If you ever have any questions about what’s been modified in the park on any given day, feel free to ask any member of the Terrain Park Crew.

That said, taking the initiative to “Look Before You Leap” is going to make for the best Terrain Park experience. Ride around a feature to make sure there are no surprises – like a rail or stair setup below a jump that may not be visible from above. This is a also a good time to observe how other riders are approaching each jump or feature to gauge the kind of speed you need in order to avoid knuckling or overshooting it.

If you see a group of skiers and riders waiting above a feature, be sure to join the group and wait your turn rather than just blasting through to hit the feature. The people in front of you have the right of way. When it is your turn, give a quick glance up the mountain to be sure no one is coming down and then call your drop.

Never stop where other riders can’t see you. This also applies if you fall after a jump – try to clear the area as quickly as possible to the left or right so that skiers and riders behind you don’t accidentally go off the feature and land on you. If you see that someone has fallen in an area not visible from above, stay on the top of the jump to warn others not to use the feature until the person has cleared the landing area.

Another tip for those new to the park: it’s seen as poor etiquette to use the small lips on the sides of features like rails and boxes as jumps. Save your air time for the jumps built for that purpose.

And, of course, while helmets are not required on our mountain, helmets are highly encouraged.

See these tips and more in action in this Vail Terrain Parks safety video: