D Damra, ahlivv Team Rider

I would like to talk about my recent obsession with Breck’s Park Lane terrain park. With 3,500 feet of hits, jumps, rails and jibs, all hand-crafted by Breckenridge’s award winning park crew!  But first, if you are not familiar with Breckenridge, here is the scoop on how the parks flow.
Many people don’t know that Breck was one of the first resorts to allow snowboarders on its slopes. Today, with more than 20 years in developing cutting edge freestyle terrain, Breck offers four world-class parks and half pipes with features ranging from beginner to expert level. The resort is recognized around the world for its advanced park system and consistently earns top 3 rankings from all of the major ski and snowboard mags every year.

Peak 8

Peak 9

Three words for experts: Freeway Terrain Park. Basically the biggest and best park around – and it’s reserved for the big kids. This expert level park features one of the country’s largest triple jump lines. Freeway’s superpipe and terrain park have become legendary among snowboarders and freeskiers. Breck was the first mountain in the country to build a superpipe – 400 feet long with 18-foot walls – and the local talent shows it. The monster park is packed with rails, and up to massive 90 ft jumps. On any given day, show up at the park and you’ll quickly realize why you’re not a pro rider.

< ! v:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} –>

Aaron Dodds/Breckenridge

If you’re not ready for Freeway, then head to one of Breck’s three other smaller parks and start practicing. The resort’s smallest park and pipe (best for learning) are on Eldorado on Peak 9. The next step up is the park and pipe on Peak 8 – Trygves (near Freeway), with small and medium-sized features and a small pipe. New this year in Trygves is a quarterpipe 

The next step is Park Lane And this is where my obsession starts. It’s an intermediate park on Peak 8, with 6 medium-sized jumps including a double and triple line. (Intermediate parks cater to a larger group of skiers and riders than advanced parks). Jumps range from 20 feet and go over 40 feet. There is a plethora of rails, boxes and wall rides for your jibbing pleasure. You can literally hit 15-20 features in one run through Park lane with a vast assortment of jibs. Then you get back on the lift and do it all over again. Seriously, what more could you ask for? I ride Park Lane as much as possible these days. And when I’m not riding park lane, I’m daydreaming about riding Park Lane. If this is not an obsession I don’t know what is!

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.