Skiers and snowboarders heading into Whistler-Blackcomb terrain parks this year will see a few changes in the way the parks are labelled. Gone are the green, blue and black difficulty markers on the features, which are being replaced with a collection of orange signs.
"It’s all about the colour orange this year," explained Stu Osborne, the terrain park supervisor for Whistler-Blackcomb.
"This year all parks and features associated with parks – halfpipes, quarterpipes, snowcross tracks, rails, jumps, you name it – are now labelled as freestyle terrain and it’s signified by the orange oval, or what we call the orange pill. That’s the new icon for freestyle terrain."
All freestyle areas will be marked with the orange pills, as well as some idea of what kind of features can be found in different parks.
After some debate on different options, Osborne and other members of a Canada West Ski Areas Association’s (CWSAA) terrain park panel, decided to express the terrain park progression through the Small (S), Medium (M), Large (L) and Extra Large (XL) labelling system. According to the posted rating system, each label applies to specific sizes and difficulty levels of jumps and rails. More importantly, the signage makes it clear that every feature is difficult – but some features are more difficult than others.
"We used to have a sign at the entrance to terrain parks that advanced skills were required, but now the sign makes it clear that freestyle skills are required," said Osborne. "Again, we’re trying to educate people and say, ‘hey, you need to know a little about jumping before you go jumping in the terrain park. Maybe get a lesson and understand what air time is like’.
"We’ve always built and marked our parks progressively, but this way the signs will be similar and totally easy to understand. Our instructors and staff are familiar with it, and it’s pretty straight forward for the public to understand. Everybody knows the small, medium, large, extra large labels, and probably has an idea of what that means when you apply it to a terrain park."
According to Osborne, it was important to get away from the previous colour-coded system for marking stunts. For example, people who can ski and snowboard blue level runs are not necessarily ready to take on blue level terrain park features.
So far the new standards have been adopted by the CWSAA, and have the approval of the National Ski Areas Association as well. This winter Whistler-Blackcomb, Big White and Seymour, Grouse and Cypress in the Lower Mainland will open using the new signs. Other resorts in B.C., Alberta and the Yukon will follow this season or in the near future.
Intrawest will also export the standards to eastern resorts like Mont Tremblant and Blue Mountain in the future, and Osborne hopes they will evolve into national standards to make things easier for terrain park users.
The orange designation is not particular to Western Canada, but has been used in Europe, Asia and parts of the U.S. for three years. The colour scheme and the slogan that goes with the orange signs – "Know it. Respect it. Ride it." – was borrowed from Burton Snowboard’s Smart Style program. The decision to further mark the difficulty of features within the orange signs was conceived by the CWSAA’s terrain park panel.
It’s been a long process to get the standards accepted, but Osborne is happy with the outcome.
"I’m totally stoked. It’s what we wanted and then some," said Osborne, who said it took more than a year to come to an agreement.
"There were lots of people involved, a lot of legalities, a lot of conflict between governing bodies in the U.S. and Canada. There were lawyers… insurance people, you name it, everyone sat at the table. I think on one conference call there were 16 people on the line.
"Terrain parks are an important part of the business, but ensuring we have well-marked, progressive parks and some kind of education system is key as well."
Although the new signs will be universal and can give park builders some direction on building features, the ski industry does not have a set standard for the construction of park features. In other words, a Medium rating for a Whistler feature could be rated as a Small or Large feature at another resort.
According to Jimmy Spencer, the president and CEO of the CWSAA, those standards are still being developed.
"We’ve actually taken a hard look at that and we’re trying to get something out with full diagrams and schematics," said Spencer. "We have run quite a few seminars where we’ve advocated how (features) should be constructed, and we’re working towards a best practices manual, which will be a strong guide for everybody. Bigger and better is not always the right way to go."
There’s nothing definitive yet, but the information is coming together.
"We’ve talked about this at risk management seminars, and we’re very interested in putting forward the philosophy of safe (terrain park) construction, getting the angles right and so on."
The terrain parks on Whistler and Blackcomb will function as they have in the past. The Big Easy Terrain Garden on Blackcomb will be the Small park, and the Nintendo Terrain Park will contain Medium and Large features. The highest level park in the Terrain Park will still require a special pass, and will contain Large and Extra Large features. "It’s probably the only Extra Large park in all of Canada," said Osborne.
The snowcross track and halfpipe will also be marked with the orange according to their difficulty level.
On Whistler, the Bobcat and Chipmunk parks will feature Small, Medium and Large features under the name of the Habitat Park. Because the area includes three runs, it will be easy to divide the sections for different difficulty levels. The Whistler halfpipe will also be marked.
All of the freestyle skills areas on Whistler and Blackcomb are marked with orange on the new trail maps.
