It’s 35 years since the first terrain parks for snowboarders began to appear in California, modelled on skateboard parks, and they’ve developed in leaps and bounds ever since, with ski areas (almost) everywhere now offering them – in fact it’s unusual for a resort not to have one. But which is the world’s best terrain park ? It’s a big question and one of the more difficult ones to answer in the wonderful world of skiing.
For one thing, parks are always changing – they’re usually redesigned each winter and are often affected by snow conditions through the season – so good snow and good maintenance are big factors.
Next is the question of what really makes a good park ? Some argue that size isn’t everything and a park with its own lift wins every time because you get back to the top faster than when you have a huge park but then have to ski/board a mile down the mountain afterwards and ride a long, slow lift to get to do it again.
Then you have the question of who votes on which are best ? The most dedicated park users tend to be younger boarders and skiers, who haven’t yet had the time to check out a huge selection of parks and just want to have fun, so they’re going to vote for where they have been and where they had the best time, however good it is really on the global scale.
So for our LoveTheMountains top ten, we asked some of the longest-established names in boarding (because however many freeskiers are in there now, boarders have had decades longer in the parks), we analysed the various park-user votes on which are best you can find online and we factored in our own knowledge of parks that consistently appear year after year, to come up with our list of the best.
Laax, Switzerland
A possible claimant to the title of top freestyle resort in Europe, Laax has promoted itself as the cool young boarder-culture-friendly reincarnation of staid old Flims, its larger, conservative neighbour with which it shares a ski area. Host to the Burton European Open for many years, one of the biggest boarding events on the continent each season, its terrain parks are popularly regarded as simply the biggest and best.
Breckenridge, Colorado, USA
We found Breckenridge, which was one of the earliest mainstream adopters of snowboarding, more than 30 years ago, on pretty well every “world top ten snow parks” list, and not just in American publications (for which all ten would always be in North America).
In fact Breck these days has four terrain parks with the aim of comprehensively catering for every taste and ability.
Avoriaz, France
Avoriaz hit the terrain park design headlines in 2008 when it imported the first “Stash” terrain park concept from the US resort of Northstar. The simple “less is more” concept from one of boarding’s pioneers and most successful entrepreneurs, Jake Burton, meant using natural features mixed with jumps made from natural materials to create park features. The concept was designed to hark back to the roots of boarding and answer criticisms that all the energy used to create and groom terrain parks was bad for the environment and in some ways contrary to the spirit of boarding (although Avoriaz also has some of the world’s best regular terrain parks too!).
Whatever the ethics, the Stash was a huge success with riders and continues to be so.
Tignes, France
Former host to the European Winter X Games and current host of contests such as The Brits – the annual British freestyle ski and board competition – Tignes has several beginner parks where you can learn your craft before moving up to the main park where the international pros train and compete.
Tignes has a big airbag for safe landings when you’re trying big jumps and also has a summer park open on its glacier in July and August if you need to get a fix outside of the main season.
Livigno, Italy
A good snow record, a laid-back atmosphere and a lot of effort put into creating its state-of-the-art terrain parks all work in favour of Livigno, which also organises and hosts some of the biggest events in the European boarding calendar.
Niseko, Japan
Niseko is of course most famous for its snorkel-deep, feather-light powder for freeriders, not freestylers, but it’s less well known internationally that all the snow can be compacted and shaped into some great park terrain, and indeed it is.
There are four terrain parks to choose from, suited for all ability levels, and this being Japan, all meticulously maintained.
Kaunertal, Austria
There’d intense competition between the top 20 or 30 Austrian ski areas to create the best park, and it’s difficult (OK, impossible) to call the best. The country has eight glacier ski areas open in October each year (that’s as much as the rest of Europe combined in early autumn), and they all stage “park opening” celebrations. Several keep their parks open for eight or more months each year. WorldSnowboardGuide.com rates the Kaunertal glacier’s park as one of the two best in Austria (along with Mayrhofen’s), and who are we to argue?
Mammoth, California, USA
Snowboarding and California surf culture are natural partners and nowhere more so than at the huge southern ski area of Mammoth, which is also famed for its big snow that often stretches the season to late spring (although not last winter) leading to sunny days in the park in May and June.
Few areas can compete with “Mammoth Unbound”, which offers an incredible nine parks, the biggest with 10 huge jumps, up to 15 massive jibs and 30 or so rails.
Ruka, Finland
A bit off-the-beaten track for most boarders, Scandinavian ski areas have actually created some of the biggest and best parks. Their smaller verts and many lifts mean that it’s easy to build a top-to-bottom park with all the bells and whistles where it is more difficult for them to compete against the Alps for long, steep runs. Ruka, arguably Finland’s most cutting-edge resort, has done just that, and with a season running from October to May, low temperatures for consistent snow quality and the surreal half-light caused by its northerly latitude mid-winter, it’s a different and special park experience.
Whistler Blackcomb, BC, Canada
Another of the big players in terrain parks that tends to get mentioned again and again by fans, Whistler Blackcomb is in fact home to five terrain parks and has a summer park on its Blackcomb glacier each July. Its highest-level terrain park offers lines used in World Championship competitions and universally acknowledged as among the planet’s best.
By Sally Brookes
Credits – Laax
