Arena Snowparks News

Men's Olympic halfpipe in Transworld Snowboarding and NY Times

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:32:00 -0700

Well, the men's is over, Shaun White was victorious again with Olympic gold as you all have to know by now. We're onto the women's today, conditions are great again for the pipe and the ASP crew are happy with the way the pipe shaped up last night. Read the full story on the Men's at Transworld Snowboarding and here's what they had to say about Arena Snowparks.

'The biggest miracle of the night was something that you might have taken for granted—the pipe itself. Arena Snowparks led by Steve Petrie and his staff had easily the hardest job at these Olympic games, and it was nothing but experience, perseverance, (a lot of money and trucked and flown in snow), and hard work that made an Olympic quality pipe a reality tonight.'

There's also a story on Steve and ASP in the New York Times about the challenging weather conditions that were faced by the crew and just how they got the pipe built in time for the Games.

Transworld Snowboarding say that the Cypress Halfpipe came through and so did these guys Shaun White Gold (center), Peetu Piiroinen Silver (left), Scotty Lago Bronze (Right)

Photo credit: Nick Hamilton - Transworld Snowboarding

Challenging snow conditions

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:17:00 -0700

Mother nature has a sense of humor. After battling for weeks in the rain to the build the pipe at Cypress Bowl, drier but not that cold weather conditions have turned the flat bottom of the pipe into sugar for the first two days of training.

Luckily, and I can’t believe I’m saying it, rain Monday night before the final day of training helped us get the flat bottom under control and the Tuesday night training session went off. The pipe is setting up quite nicely for the big show. Good luck to all the riders in the Men’s Olympic halfpipe event tonight.

Flat bottom was better on the 2nd day of training

Good conditions in the pipe

The latest...

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:00:00 -0700

Training in the Olympic pipe starts today at 4:30pm.

The ASP crew have been busy prepping the halfpipe surface to withstand the latest deluge of rain –50mm expected overnight with clearing expected late in the day on Sunday. The trend is for the weather to improve in the lead up to the event which will be great –we may actually have a chance at creating a solid riding surface.

Cypress pipe under lights

Finishing touches to the start ramp

Fine tuning the pipe

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:42:00 -0700

With three days to go until the start of halfpipe training at Cypress Bowl the ASP crew continues to shape the walls and dial in the start platform.

This week saw the installation of the lights and all the cabling. There are 14 light towers on the pipe –two at the start, two in the finish area and nine on each roll out deck. We had a bit of new snow yesterday which helped freshen things up a bit but the forecast looks warm and wet for the next the few days with a return to cooler temperatures by Monday. The crew will be ready to do whatever it takes to protect our precious pile of snow.

Squaring up the start

Uphill pass

Arena Snowparks Halfpipe crew

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:52:00 -0700

ASP has assembled an elite team of pipe builders and shapers for the Winter Games. These guys have been working in some of the most challenging conditions possible to make the pipe at Cypress happen.

Special thanks to 686, Electric Visual, Da Kine and POW Gloves for all the support. Only four days until the start of the Olympics.

Arena Snowparks Olympic halfpipe crew

From left to right: Ken Marler, Tyler Nichol, David Melancon, Tyler Weed, Josh Duncan, Steve Petrie, Oleksander Iskat, Mathieu Forcier, John Melville and Greg Desjardins. Missing from photo -Lucas Ouellette, Bailey Mitchell, David Ny and Chris Addario

Foam boarding the start

Half pipe shaping up and nearly finished

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:35:00 -0700

The Arena Snowparks crew has been putting in some long days to get the halfpipe ready for Olympic competition. Snow conditions have been soft which made for some good cutting on Friday and saw shaping crews cutting the vert line and re-setting form boards to contain the snow.

The start of the Winter Olympic Games is 6 days away. The men’s pipe competition takes place on February 17th and the women’s is on the 18th.

98% straw free half pipe

Half pipe shaping up

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:53:00 -0700

Despite some mild conditions the pipe build at Cypress Bowl is progressing along.

ASP crews have been doing a lot of form boarding and snow blowing to maximize the available snow and began shaping the walls on Tuesday. Work will continue through the week in the lead up to the start of the Games. The goal will be to maintain the current snow pack at the venue and continue with pipe shaping during what is expect to be mild conditions for the next few days.

Shaper dropping in

Starting to shape

New snow at the Cypress Bowl

Straw is the new snow

Pipe build moving forward

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:09:00 -0700

Conditions have improved somewhat at Cypress Bowl with a few days of clear weather followed by a bit of natural snow. ASP crews have finished roughing in the right wall of the halfpipe and plan to use some of the new snow to widen out the roll out decks. Shaping of the pipe walls with the cutter will start later this week.

ASP hand shaping crews are beginning to arrive this week to assist the pipe builders with fine tuning the snow surface and help prepare for what ever the mother nature throws our way. The forecast for the next few days is for cooling and a chance of snowmaking conditions at the snowboard venue.

Laser guided left wall push

Stacking snow on left wall

The view from the grandstand

Cutting the vert line

Cypress Halfpipe Build Underway

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:41:00 -0700

ASP crews have started construction on the halfpipe at Cypress Mountain, site of the Olympic snowboard events. Despite some challenging weather conditions in Vancouver area the pipe is starting to take shape with the right wall pushed and step out and the left wall currently being pushed. Construction on the pipe will continue throughout the next two weeks as crews ensure that every available flake of snow sees it’s way into the pipe.

Installation of the lights and jumbo screen will begin during the first week of February and cabling and TV platforms will go in closer to the event. Arena Snowparks will continue on with the pipe build and maintenance through this period in an effort to create an ideal riding surface. The Winter Olympic Games start in 21 days. Check back for more pipe build updates.

Dialing in the laser grading system

Laser level and receiver set up on winch

Stepping right wall of pipe

Grading pipe deck with winch

Combi Box new addition to Whistler Blackcomb terrain parks

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:20:00 -0700

Whistler Blackcomb gave park riders something new to get stoked about. A new Combi Box is set up on Chipmonk run in the Whistler terrain park and has been getting rave reviews from local park riders.

Currently set up as a 50 foot down flat down box the Combi system will allow WB's park rangers to create up to 18 different setups with the same Combi pieces. Look for the new box at the next King of the Rails competition on Blackcomb Mountain.

www.whistlerblackcomb.com/parks

Snowmaking conditions ideal at Olympic venues and in full swing

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:00:00 -0700

It’s been cold on the west coast of Canada. Snowmakers on Cypress Mountain in Vancouver have been working around the clock to produce as much snow as possible for the Olympic snowboard venues.

For the last two weeks conditions have been ideal for making snow with temperatures going down to around –10c on the mountain and crews have be able to make huge piles of snow at the top of halfpipe and it looks like the cold snap will last for a few more days. Some more natural snow is in the forecast after that. The Arena Snowpark crew will arrive at the beginning of January to begin construction on the halfpipe and it looks like they will have plenty of snow to work with. Arena Snowparks will be bringing in some top halfpipe builders for this project including Steve Petrie, John Melville, Ken Marler and Alex Iskat. The Olympic Games in Vancouver is only two months away.