49 Degrees North offers two terrain parks, including Silver Ridge Park— a jib style park—and the Main Park, which runs 1,200 vertical feet from the top of Chair 2. They also have their Flow Track that is a boarder/skier cross-park set to appeal to a variety of abilities. On Feb. 23 they run Hips and Hot Dogs, a snowboard-specific event focused on big air and best method.  They will also host a Rail Jam and an end-of-the-season, non-competitive Park Party.

Look Out Pass offer two terrain parks. Huckleberry Jam is their progression park, and Rolling Thunder is an all-natural terrain park with a 1,111 foot long quarter pipe. Rolling Thunder used trees harvested to improve forest health to create rails and jibs.

Mt. Spokane offers four different parks. The Progression Park is located at the top of Chair 3. Half Hitch Terrain Park features intermediate and expert jumps and hard features.  Gnarwood Forest is a natural terrain park featuring natural features and man-made logs and rails.  Lamonga Park prioritizes flow, where you can pick a line and hit a sequence of features.

Along with the Main Terrain Park at Silver Mountain, Silver also offers Noah’s Progression Park with a new 40-foot double-barrel waterfall rail and a rebuilt pyramid box. Silver will be hosting the USASA Boardercross and Skiercross Feb. 2 and 3.  They will also have the Doug E Fresh Banked Slalom on March 23.

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Many snowboarders were deemed “punk teenagers,” bringing their street skills, bravado, and a little chaos to the mountain. This contrasted with the orderly air and somewhat country-club feel of many resorts at the time. 

Snowboarders took elements from their summer skateboard days to a new winter playground. When on the streets and skate parks, skaters where grinding curbs, riding rails, and carving pools. This eagerness to ride features, try new tricks, and push what could be done with this new technology translated into terrain parks that quickly improved and evolved.

This new style of riding was believed to be a danger.  Many patrol directors refused to allow snowboarders, citing safety concerns. For example, snowboarders have blind spots thanks to their sideways stance, and they had the wiliness to the get air or pull a trick on any natural feature. This lead to the “unpredictable nature” of their riding. They were perceived as hooligans who can pop out of any place on the trail, wreak havoc for hordes of Midwestern family vacationers, break femurs, and scrape all the snow off the mountain.

Most of this turned out to be false. Board on ski accidents where no more prevalent than ski on ski accidents.  All beginners—skiers and snowboarders— and a few gapers scrape the snow off the mountain.  Boarders also adopted the safety code expected at most resorts since being out riding was way better than recovering from an injury.

Some snowboarders didn’t always help their cause, however, when they mocked the stuffiness of skiers. They would also grind parking lot barriers and picnic tables, and build kickers in the middle of trails.

Fortunately, the boarder vs. skier sentiment changed most drastically with the revolution of freestyle skiing and the advent of the terrain park. The first Freestyle Skiing World Cup was in 1980, and it became an Olympic event in 1992. This event showcased tricks skiers were taking from snowboarders at the terrain park such as riding switch, grinding rails, and combining huge aerials.

Terrain parks started popping up at many resorts in 1989/90 season. Mountains initially designed terrain parks with snowboarders in mind, taking features found in skate parks such as rollers, boxes, table tops, pipes, and rails and putting them on the snow.  It was soon realized that skiers also wanted to test their skills in the park.

The love of competition and camaraderie brought the two worlds together.  If a boarder can do it, a skier can, too. Soon skiers and boarders were tearing up terrain parks and pushing each other to progress their sports.

Having the frontier notion of expansion, mountains of the Inland Northwest adopted this new way of moving down the mountain. But initially it wasn’t fast to catch on, and snowboarding filtered to the area through the mid 80’s.

Silverhorn, precursor to Silver Mountain, was one of the first to allow snowboarding, according to long time snowboarder and multiple trophy winner Darrin “DD” Dillon. Having only been around in its current configuration since 1990, Silver Mountain has always allowed snowboarding.

49 Degrees North officially allowed snowboarding starting with the 85-86 season. Gary Deaver, who was a patroller that season and is now the current ski patrol director, would test snowboarders’ competence twice a day.  Patrollers would take snowboarders to the top of Chair 3. If they passed some skill trials, they were taken to the summit and given a pass.  After this initial trial season, snowboarders were allowed to buy lift ticket like everyone else and permitted to wreak havoc—or not—just like skiers.

Both Lookout Pass and Mt. Spokane had no set policy and let people ride how they wanted. Matt Sawyer of Lookout Pass says, “they have been on the mountain since the first one showed up around 1982.”

Although much of the historic feuding is long gone, there are a few resorts out there that still don’t allow snowboarding.  In 2016 a group of snowboarders sued Alta Mountain in Utah to allow boards, but the mountain’s right to operate on their own terms won out legally. But here in the Inland Northwest, we welcome all styles of riders, and have for a long time.

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This season both Schweitzer and Mt. Spokane are stoked to get new park-specific PistenBully snow cats.  The addition of the PistenBully to these resorts should help in the production of snow features. Efficiency is key for keeping things lively by changing features on a weekly basis. Dan Nylund has been Schweitzer’s terrain park manager for the past 12 years and says they plan to build more creative and original features thanks to the geometry and range of the PistenBully blade.

With the extremely early season snowfall this year, a limited number of features were up for opening day, sparking some early-season terrain park sessions. As the season progresses and the snowpack increases, so will the total number of available features at the local resort parks covered in this guide.

Silver Mountain Resort

Silver’s park manager Terry Gosline says they are shooting for at least 30 features in their Chair 2 Basin Park. They are also expecting to have 10 plus features in Noah’s Progression Park. Be aware that the access to the Chair 2 basin park has changed this year due to the new Klondike Express run. Gosline says there are plans to build a banked slalom course that will snake down to the bottom of the basin park. Also, they are looking to add a couple new rainbow boxes this season, along with a tower pole feature. Gosline says there are a few young shredders to watch this season—especially Clayton Jerome, who helps out part-time and is very involved in the terrain parks.

Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area

Lookout will again be offering at least two parks this season: Rolling Thunder and Huckleberry Jam. Both parks are geared for fun with 30 plus features. Huckleberry Jam is their progression park and is designed to help beginners hone their skills and build confidence on smaller features. Rolling Thunder is mostly an all-natural terrain park featuring a 1,111-foot-long quarter pipe and is designed for riders with multiple skill sets. Lookout’s general manager Brian Bressel describes it as a “natural flow park set up [that] features a little something for everyone.”

49 Degrees North Mountain Resort

49 will be pushing this season to have 30 or more features, and they have plans to build several new rails. Gavin Wachtel, who is part of the park crew, says they are happy to have core members of the park crew back this season. The park crew is looking to bring back to life a battleship box and a flat down box that have been sitting in the rail and box bone yard. Wachtel mentioned a signature piece they have had for two years now—a rail that was painted by Northwest snowboard icon and legend Jamie Lynn, who is a sponsored Lib-Tech rider. Local standout riders to watch this season at 49 include Chaz Riddler and Cameron Fryman, who is sponsored by Pistole Boardshop.

Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park

Mt. Spokane’s park manager Zach “Grandpa” Lingo says he’s excited about many things this season— especially his new and returning crew and their hard work fabricating new rails. Grandpa is also thankful for the continued support of Mt. Spokane towards its terrain park. “There will be lots of new stuff this year,” says Lingo, but he wants to keep much of his plans a secret at this time. He does share that they plan to offer something for all age levels, with more than 25 features. Mt. Spokane has a total of four terrain parks, and they are all accessible from Chair 3 (or what some are calling the Parkway Express). Lingo says he’s looking to “keep it fresh and hesh all season.”

Schweitzer Mountain Resort

Schweitzer has three parks and is known for their large jump features. Nylund, the park manager, explains: “We focus a great deal on jump design and safety… and we put a lot of time and energy into building our jumps.” The first is the Terrain Garden, which is designed for beginners and generally contains a wide fun box, a couple of small jumps, and a few rollers. South Park is usually the most popular park on the mountain and has at least two medium size jumps and a wide variety of jib features with multiple line options. The third park—Stomping Grounds— is the largest park. Unique to Schweitzer, a Terrain Park Pass is needed to access the Stomping Grounds. Here, the largest jump features are found, and it’s also where the park crew gets to be creative with its own signature jib set-ups.

For more information, visit resort websites and follow the local terrain parks on social media. Also, be sure to thank the park crews when you see them. // (T. Ghezzi)

T. Ghezzi is Pacific-Northwest raised and believes we should respect the land, spend time in nature, explore, adventure, hike, and never stop the pursuit to ride powder. This is his first article for Out There.

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New issue now online. Check out Brad Naccarato’s great piece on local terrain parks. Just click the thumbnail above.

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