Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Best Snowboard Parks...

...In North America?

On my way back from America I picked up a copy of Transworld Snowboarding at the Airport. Sure it's a snowboard mag and therefore interesting, but I was attracted by their poll of the best parks, pipes and resorts in North America.

So it turns out that from the 1700+ readers that voted, the best park in North America is Buttermilk, CO. Interesting. I'm not disputing it (how could I?), I'd just naively assumed that Whistler and Mammoth took the top spots. Maybe that's the impression we have from over here?

I've only been to one North-American resort, and whilst I probably wouldn't swap those two weeks in Fernie for any others I've had on snow, I didn't get the chance to sample a park from across the pond. Something I'd like to do.

Here's the top 10 from the Transworld poll:

  1. Buttermilk, CO
  2. Keystone, CO
  3. Mammoth Mountain, CA
  4. Snowmass, CO
  5. June Mountain, CA
  6. Bear Mountain, CA
  7. Whistler/Blackcomb, B.C.
  8. Northstar-at-Tahoe, CA
  9. Sierra-at-Tahoe, CA
  10. Park City, UT

Anyone been to any of these parks? Got a different idea of which is the best? (Incidently, Buttermilk was also voted as having the best pipe, and Snowmass is considered the best overall resort).

And what about Europe? It's not like I've been to a good selection of the best parks, but recently I've been really impressed with the freestyle options that Avoriaz, France provides. They've got a bunch of parks for different abilities and the Stash is pretty sick...

6 comments:

Sam said...

Hey I really like your blog and what you have to say! You have some really cool pictures and I enjoy the topics you picked to talk about in your posts. Your blog entries are very easy to understand and entertaining to read.

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Dan said...

No parks from the east coast made that list? booooo! We don't need your fancy west coast parks anyways.. :)

Andrea said...

Cool article, now I need to go pick up a copy of Transworld :) I'm surprised Bear beat Whistler, but then again I was really surprised when I rode Bear's park (they don't have much terrain to ride, but their jibs and hits are legit).

Gavin Hope said...

Thanks Sam :)

Dan, I was just looking at your site, is that you and your friends skating in that bowl? It looks awesome!

Hi Andrea, have you ridden the park(s) at Whistler too? Again, it's just what I've heard and read - but one of the things I'm interested in is how good they are for non-pros :)

patty said...

Yes I am surprised Bear beat Whistler. I have been to both but, Bear really only has the park to offer. The mountain is really small so you are forced to ride in the park. So they put a lot of effort into the park to keep us happy.