Terrain Park Safety

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SMART Style

Terrain parks are where we go to get rad: from the extra small to large, our freestyle terrain offers features for beginners through advanced riders.  

Designated by orange ovals on the trail map, our parks can include any combination of jumps, boxes, jibs, rails, quarter pipes, half pipes, and other constructed or natural terrain features—and knowing how to use each feature safely means you’re not just progressing as a rider, but also that you’re sticking your tricks more often! 

SMART Style, developed by a collaboration between the National Ski Area Association (NSAA), Burton Snowboards, and the Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors (PSIA-AASI), lays the foundation for safety on freestyle terrain at resorts. The program established general standards for terrain parks across North America including “Park SMART,” a five-point summary of things to know for the use of freestyle terrain.

 

Understanding

Park Smart

Skier wearing a helmet who understands SMART style rides a small feature in the Terrain Park in Vail, Colorado
Work Your Way Up. Build Your Skills.

Start Small

Welcome to the park!  If this is one of your first few visits (or if you’re a veteran warming up for the day) always start small. The skills you learn and refine on small features will translate to larger ones. 

Look for areas where you can practice your skill progressions. Taking off in control? Feeling balanced in the air? Landing cleanly? When you feel comfortable on these small features and are ready for a new challenge, it’s time to move on to a park that offers the next size up.

EVERY FEATURE. EVERY TIME.

MAKE A PLAN

Always use the Terrain Park Mantra: Pre-ride, Re-ride, Free-ride

Things happen fast in this sport. Stack the deck in your favor with a plan—envisioning everything you need to do—and visualize yourself doing it successfully. 

  • Preview terrain before you attempt it, as it can often be difficult to see the entire story from upslope. Take a warm up lap and scope the features (i.e. go around the jumps first, not over them).
  • Your speed, approach, and takeoff directly affect both your tricks and your landing. If someone else hits the feature before you, see what speed works for them. Be aware that features constantly change throughout the day due to weather, usage, grooming, and time of day.
  • Take the time to read signs and heed hazard markers and flags.
  • Use a spotter. They can see new hazards (like an unaware skier entering the feature incorrectly). If you crash, they can signal to those above you to wait.
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Always Look

...Before You Leap

Gather what information you can from signage, warnings, and other park riders. A closed sign, roped-off features, a pair of crossed skis or poles, bamboo, or any object blocking the entrance can all indicate that a feature is closed.

Before you drop into a feature, take a cruiser warm-up lap through the park. Because features evolve due to weather, usage, and time of day, something you hit yesterday or even a few minutes ago may look (or ride) totally different than it does at this moment. 

Skiing at Vail, CO
Features and the other Users

Respect Gets Respect

So there’s a line? We get it— paradise would be a private halfpipe for only you and your  friends—but use this time to your advantage. Watch others’ speed and tricks to see what you can learn. Be positive, and watch the stoke spread.
  • Respect others: give those who were waiting before you a chance to drop. When it’s your turn, call your drop, making a clear verbal call or signal (read on for more info below). 
  • Respect Park Crew: stay off closed features. Park Crew works hard to sculpt features for you to ride, and features that are currently closed are shut down for a reason: they’re only going to get better!
Know Your Limits. Land On Your Feet.

Take it Easy

Ready for a few hot laps through the park? To make the most of your time, keep these points in mind:
  • Practice the tricks you can already nail before moving on to bigger variations.
  • Try new variations of your tricks on small features before moving to large features. 
  • Start on (or close to) the ground, and move up from there. For example, working on your backside 360? Try spinning on the ground, and then a smaller jump before you move onto a big tabletop.
Remember that freestyle skills are all about control, whether you’re on the ground or in the air. Your abilities and experience dictate your ability to land a trick. And please note, because inverted aerials increase your risk of injury, we don’t recommend them.

Make this lap one more of many, and take it easy. Trust us: you won’t regret it.

 

On the Jump
Call Your Drop

It’s almost go time! Just as respect is key in all aspects of park riding, so too is calling your drop. You’ve seen it in ski and snowboard movies: what is it that every pro does before launching?

They call it.

Signal you’re going next by raising one arm in the air and calling out that you’re going as you slowly move forward towards the feature.

How to Close a Feature
Sometimes the best efforts still end in a crash:  help others out by signaling when someone has fallen. Close the jump by doing the following:
  • Stand your skis in the snow vertically (so they are sticking up out of the snow) in an X shape. If you have a snowboard, do the same (but you’ll make just a capital I). Position your gear so that riders coming from above can clearly see that the jump is closed (i.e. at the highest point of the takeoff).
  • Physically block the feature if someone else is attending to the injured skier/rider.
  • Call Ski Patrol if necessary.

New to the Park?

Exploring the mountain via the trail map, in-person, or with My Epic, you’ll find Freestyle Terrain denoted by signage displaying an orange oval. With a range of features including jumps, boxes, rails, pipes, rollers, and drops (just to name a few!), our Freestyle Terrain comes in Extra Small, Small, Medium, or Large. These designations are based upon a size and difficulty comparison  amongst our Freestyle Terrain, and are relative just to Vail.  

In short? Start small, and don’t forget to pre-ride and re-ride when you freeride! 

Because our Park Crew works hard to create a variety of Freestyle Terrain offerings for every skill level, note the terrain and trail signage that designates size. Most often, the larger features correlate with increased skills to ride them . 

Check out all park signage before you enter, and get ready for a great ride!
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Parents and Parks
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Our Freestyle Terrain is a great place to introduce kids to the rules of the mountain: SMART Style teaches them the basics they need to have fun every day, regardless of whether or not they are riding in the terrain park. 

When riding with your kids (or giving them time to roam free), keep the following tips in mind: 
  • Terrain Parks, half pipes, quarter pipes, and other Freestyle Terrain is intended only for freestyle skiing and snowboarding. This means you (and others around you) will be focused on honing skills and tricks.  
  • Please do not ski over, around, or on the sides of terrain features if you are not attempting a freestyle maneuver. This is dangerous for your children and other guests. 
  • Always wear a helmet! 
  • Ride with a buddy.
  • Review SMART Style above! 

Observe park usage and flow before choosing a location to the side of the trail or feature if you are going to watch someone in your party hit a feature, or take a photo or video.

Learning and respecting terrain park etiquette won’t just help your kids learn to freestyle ski faster; it will likely also earn them brownie points (and new friends) so they can continue to excel. Want to help them accelerate freestyle skill-learning? Our skilled ski and snowboard instructors can tailor a private lesson (for up to 6) to not just any skill level but also to any terrain, so what better way to treat your children and their friends?

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