Why you will need a snow park?
Today you should look at your ski resort more as an amusement park than just a ski resort. Your guests will be activated and a snow park is an important part of your activities.
Most of the times it is the kids that decide where the family will go on vacation. Can you attract the kids to return to your ski resort, the parents (that have the money) will follow…
With a good snow park you can take control over the riding and make it safe for your guests.
Do you already have a snow park?
But you have too many rider injuries?
Are you spending too many snow cat hours in the park?
Let us guess, have you listened too much to that local dude that wants to have all the latest cool features in your park? Thought so…
Don´t take us wrong, off course you should listen to the riders and keep them involved. But what we are saying is that all riders know how a good jump should look like…
But a snow park is when you put features together and then you have to bring more variables in to the calculation.
Not many riders know how much 1 m3 of snow costs you?
Or 1 snowcat hour?
Or how much space you need between all features to pass with the snow cat?
Or how you should put the features in your park to get an efficient maintenance? Or what kind of features suits different target markets?
We are talking money, Yes it always comes down to money
It is endless how much money you can spend in a snow park.
Therefor is our most important Question to you; -What is your target market?
We help you find your level that suits your target market and financial resources.
Have this in mind before you´re going bananas in your creativity.
1 snow cat hour more/day in maintenance in your park will over the winter cost you about 10 000€ extra. This means you need to sell about 300 day passes more.
-Is it worth it for your target market?
A well planned park, will save snow cat hours and daily maintenance…which means saving money at the end.
Relax, contact us and we will help you with all the planning.
Sit back, put your feet up,
We got you covered!
The most convenient for you is to let us run your snow park.
Our park crew will take care of everything from start to finish,
even social media and events.
Second best option (but still not bad) would be if you pick the parts from our
concept you would need help with and we customize the deal for you.
The most convenient for you is to let us run your snow park. Our park crew will take care of everything from start to finish, even social media and events.
Second best option (but still not bad) would be if you pick the parts from our concept you would need help with and we customize the deal for you.
Pre-season planning
We will help you look at the infrastructure, terrain, the snow making system etc. at your ski resort to help you find a good spot for your park. We also plan how to optimize the terrain with inground work already in the summer. That will save you snow and guarantee an early opening of your park.
Design
Together with you we design a park that suits your specific target market and your financial resources. You will be involved during the whole process.
Snow planning
We plan your snowmaking, where and how to make the snow to avoid unnecessary push work for your snow cats. Will save you money.
Park construction
Out from the design we agreed on together with you, we build the park for your target market. All features will fit your customers and everybody will have fun instead of 5 riders are riding the park and 150 are watching.
Maintenance
As many times you want during the winter, we make re-shapes in your park. Especially for school holidays or just before special events.
With our experience we know some tips and tricks how to get a good flow for your daily maintenance in your park as well.
Operator training
We offer you customized practical training for your grooming operators and shaping staff in how to maintain a snow park. We also have a power point presentation that theoretically will cover most of what to know about how to run a snow park.
With some tricks and tips we learned over the years…
Events/photo shoots
Do you have a competition, photo shoot or any other event at your ski resort? Small or big, we build the arena for you. We have done projects in over 15 countries that have given us a long experience of arena constructions and how to plan big push works. Ask us for a quotation.
Park Signs
We design and customize info and safety signs for your snow park or your entire ski resort. Contact us and we will send you some examples how you can make your park look more professional.
3D Drawings/Animations
We provide you 3D plans and Animations to make a professional promotion of your snow park.
(knapp till email)
Send us your request here.
We don’t know everything,
but we do know something.
We have created a Snow park introduction based on what we have learned in the past 20 years in the business around the globe with several world championships and an Olympic Slopestyle.
We have an operator training program for you that includes theoretical and practical education.
We will take 2 days in mind;
½ day of a Power Point presentation that will cover most of what to know about how to run a snow park.
1 ½ days of practical training how to build and maintain a snow park.
With some tricks and tips we learned over the years…
Sweden is not only meatballs.
Other stuff comes from Sweden too…us for example…
Snowpark Consulting AB have over the years done projects in more than 15 countries all over the globe.
See our projects.
(Länk till projekts)
We have faced different cultures, conditions, snow types etc. and met a lot of interesting people. All of this has given us a lot of experience and knowledge which we want to share with you and help you take your snow park to a higher level or make your event more successful.
Our philosophy is simple.
We have a passion for what we are doing.
We are all riders and we all have long experience of snow cat driving and shaping, so we see the business from two sides.
We design and build not only from the riders needs when it comes to angles and shape on the features, but also from the catdrivers/shapers claims on passable, timesaving maintenance etc.
We believe we can save you time and money in your snow park.
Contact us and we will tell you what we have in mind…
If you have ever landed on the knoll
Ufffff Yes it hurts, here below you will find some basic info that might help you reach the sweet spot.
A general inclination of 14-16 degrees is a good slope for your park.
And if there are some natural ridges that you can use to extend landings than it will help a lot.
Best solution would be to make some in-ground work in the slope and make decks for your jumps to save snow and to guarantee an early opening of your park, especially for your bigger jumps that requires a lot of snow.
Do have in mind that in-ground measurements are totally different compare to the ones on the snow.
For an example:
15m table jump in snow needs a 30m deck in-ground.
15m table + 10m take off + 5m flat before the transition to avoid compression
Snow
We use probably twice as much snow for a jump today than for 10 years ago, the reason is that the whole geometrics for a jump has changed, the ”new” type of jumps as roller-/step-over jumps are much safer, but requires more snow. More snow in the jumps are also gentler to your snowcat and it gives you more space that makes it easier for you to work in the park.
We prefer to work with artificial snow because this snow is more solid and compact compared to the natural snow. Natural snow is also often to dry, especially if you build features with steep transitions such as Hip Jumps etc.
DID YOU KNOW THAT 20cm OF ARTIFICIAL SNOW IS EQUIVALENT TO 80cm OF NATURAL SNOW?
When making snow you are always talking about the wet bulb temperature, which is the air temperature together with the air humidity. High air temperature in low humidity gives you still a low wet bulb good for snowmaking.
1 m3 of water gives you 2,3 m3 of snow. 2,1 m3 is a more accurate number (wind lost etc.)
Don’t make the mistake to calculate snow volume on the outgoing water. It is the Cubic’s on the ground that counts (not the ones blown in to the trees).
HERE BELOW YOU CAN SEE ENLARGED PICTURES OF NATURAL SNOW COMPARE TO ARTIFICIAL SNOW.
Tips:
Take advantage of the weather forecast and plan your work after it, if warm weather is coming make sure to push for your landings first so when the warm weather hits, you can use the wet snow for building take offs or steep trannies such as hip jumps etc.
WHEN CALCULATING HOW MUCH SNOW YOUR PARK NEEDS, ON TOP OF THE NORMAL BASE. THESE NUMBERS ARE A GOOD GUIDANCE.
A 20m jump = 3500 m3
A 15m jump = 1600 m3
A 10m jump = 1000 m3
A 5m jump = 600 m3
A roller with 2 rails = 400 m3
Stand-alone take off = 270 m3 (then you cut it down to about 120 m3)
Maintenance
It´s not what you build in your park, it is how you maintain the park that will make the difference. A well-maintained park is a safe park.
Lets say you have 500 runs in your park/day this means 500 impacts in about 4 m2 in your landings (sweet spots) which will lead to cavity’s at the end of the day.
Now, If we put it this way:
You know how many complains you have from the public skiers when alpine training groups have trained in the gates and don´t clean up the deep cuts in the slope afterwards. It´s the same in your snow park, no rider today will accept a non-maintained snow park….
Economy
Either you like it or not it will always come down to money in the end.
This is 3 key points where you can save money.
-Snow planning
-Build for your most expensive item in the park. Your snow cat
-The teamwork between shapers & drivers
Have this in mind.
1 snow cat hour more/day in maintenance in your park will over the winter cost you about 10 000€ extra. This means you need to sell about 300 day passes more.
-Is it worth it for your target market?
A well planned park, will save snow cat hours and daily maintenance…which means saving money at the end
So, let us help you plan your snow park!
Crew
Anders Forsell
Founder of Snowpark Consulting AB
He started to ride snowboard in the beginning of the 90th, already then you often found him with a shovel in his hand, trying to make the jumps better. Today, after thousands of hours in the snowcat, and with an extreme purposefulness and passion for the task, we are now creating unlikely features around the world. Head builder and designer of the Olympic Slopestyle in Sochi.
On Snowboard.
Based in Östersund
Wilhelm Broman
Wilhelm Broman more known as ”Wille” is a Stockholm dude that got sick of the concrete and found his passion on the snow. Even though if he nowadays again have Stockholm as a base, his passion is on the snow. He is our snowpark consultant on international basis, with an extreme feeling for details. Member of the Olympic Slopestyle crew in Sochi.
On Snowboard.
Based in Stockholm
Jacob Palm
Our new young gun. He is a great shaper with a accurate mind and a very talent full cat driver. We see a lot of potential in this Dude. Jacob is also a Stockholm dude that went via Arvidsjaur far up north to Sälen working for us. We feel more than confident to have him as the snow park Manager in Stöten (SWE). IF you have any inputs regarding the park in Stöten, he is the man to talk to.
On skis.
Based in Stockholm