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If you've been inspired by the amazing Jenny Jones and her fellow Olympians, below is a list of the ski resorts with great snow parks. These are the world's best resorts for snow parks, featuring resorts in Europe and North America. First timers in the park will be pleased to hear that "slopestyle" is perhaps the most accessible of disciplines to start with, because most snowparks have at least one relatively undaunting line that you can take right through with slower/smaller/less technical features. This lets you take your first faltering runs down jumps, rails and the like, without attempting big air.
Glossary of Terrain Park features:
• Jumps
Tabletop, Step-down, Step-up, Gap, Hip, Spine, Channel gap.
• Jibs
Rail, Box, Table Top, Trees, Park Bench, Mail Box, Picnic Table, Wall ride, Barrels, Rainbow, Kink
• Vertical or "Vert"
Quarter-pipe, Half-pipe
A "progression park" is a park or sub-section of a larger terrain park whcih is designed to help "newbies" to learn more safely while "hucking" their way down less daunting features.
Holidays in the Top Ten best snow park resorts
Not all of us can do a backside 360 – even fewer have done one over a Fiat G 91 Fighter Jet. If a resort’s held the Burton European Open, you can be sure the snowpark’s going to be awesome. Reigning supreme as Italy’s best for over a decade, the Mottolino Snowpark has 5 lines of varied difficulties, ending with a row of enormous jumps up to 25m. Features include the usual kickers, rails and boxes (this is also where airtime over an aeroplane becomes a reality). On the other side of the valley, the American Park has slightly smaller jumps and rails. The list goes on: The Carosello and Mottolino gondolas take you to a Bag Jump, you’ll find a Natural Pipe on the Tailgate slopes and a Wood Park with 10 handmade jibs in the forest. To top it off, there are 5 Mini Snow Parks: Cassana, Del Sole and Doss, Tagliede and San Rocco.
In the winter months, Zermatt’s Gravity Park is on the Theodul Glacier, with a halfpipe, kickers, rails and boxes. If you don’t get your fill of freestyle before the season ends, come back in the summer when the park relocates to Plateau Rosa and becomes the highest snowpark in Europe. The Burton Summer Camp and national teams ride here and the resort throws a party just for the snowpark opening – so it must be doing something right. Whatever time of the year you shred, keep your eyes on the features and save gazing at the Matterhorn for when you’re on terra firma
Don’t take our word for it - we asked Tammy Esten (founder of top boarding school Mint Snowboarding and brand ambassador for Roxy) to sum up Avoriaz’ wonders for freestyle: “We’ve got 6 parks in Avoriaz alone, including a half pipe, the Burton stash, kids parks and huge kickers on Arare. As a result we have the most amazing community of freestyler riders in resort! It’s a great place to be”. Of the six, Avoriaz has two main parks: La Chapelle’s the easier one (beginner-intermediate), while the Arare’s features go up to pro standard. You’ll also find a boardercross but the claim to freestyle fame here is the aforementioned Stash. Europe’s very first Eco park, it was designed by godfather of snowboarding Jake Burton and created from the forest it sits in - with tree trunk obstacles, jumps from rocks and modules hidden amongst the pines.
Breck’s in many ways the motherland of US freestyle. Snowboarding megastar Shaun White has a house here and SNO Expert, Olympian and 4 x British Halfpipe champion Dom Harrington is another fan: “Breckenridge definitely has one of the best snow parks in the world. The high altitude of the resort means they can use snow cannons to create monster piles of snow and get the park going as early in November and their dedicated park team keeps it well shaped every day until the end of April”. The Winter Dew Tour – which acted as qualifier for the 2014 Winter Olympics – is held here annually, giving an inkling of the standard here. There are four terrain parks in total, from the beginner-friendly Bonanza to the gigantic jumps of Freeway, as well as a massive 22 foot superpipe that isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Les 2’ isn’t idly boasting when it calls itself the “Land of Freestyle” - hold on to your hats for the list of features: for newbies and families, the Easy Park half pipe, boxes and tables join with the Boardercross’ banked turns, whoops and bumps. Up a level, the Progress Park has a table and rails and there’s Park Avenue’s 20 urban-themed modules (including bus shelters and phone boxes…). For seasoned pros, the IF standard halfpipe is served by its own lift, while the slopestyle’s kitted out with 4 transitions, a massive wall and a big air. Take a breather with the Cool Zone’s deckchairs, BBQ and music while you watch the action. If that wasn’t enough, everything’s moved up to 3600m at the end of the season to allow for summer shredding. Look out for big-time events like the Burton Big Air Battle and Roxy’s, girls-only, Queen of the Park.
Rumour has it Jenny Jones loves it here – need we say more? As well as being a playground for professionals, Mayrhofen’s a famously good place to learn the basics: mini park rats will love the Kids Park. Over in the fully-fledged Vans Penken Park (served by the SunJet chairlift) you’ll find medium, advanced (jib + kicker) and pro areas as well as a fun zone. In total, there’s a whopping 10 kickers, around 35 boxes and rails and a couple of hips– highlights include the huge rainbow box and multijib Beastbox
It seems the STANTON Snowpark got the memo about the dress-to-impress code – like everything else in St Anton it’s vast and superior. With an arena-like feel and the mammoth Rendl terrace for chilling out and watching the experts, this is the place to be heading if you feel your shredding deserves an audience. The biggest kickers, rails and boxes are found in the Proline, but there’s also the Medium Kickerline and Jibline for a flurry of creative opportunities.
Host of the European X Games, expect to follow the lines of the pros at Tignes’ Swatch Park, where the tables and rails have been ridden by some of the best freestylers in the world. Besides its hall of fame, there are easier features for beginners and intermediates. Once you’re cocky enough, try the ‘shoot-my ride’ feature, to video your jumps from the top of the park to the bottom. There are also 2 boardercross courses, for adrenaline rushes at the Goodyear and “family-friendly” at the Jeep.
At a lofty 2600m, Saas Fee’s freestyle park reaches out to all levels with kicker lines, rails, boxes, a halfpipe and a quarterpipe. It doesn’t end here – there’s also a beginners park at Stafelwald near the nursery slopes. While other snowparks hibernate for the summer, Saas’ glacier park (at 3600m) is in full swing, drawing riders from all over the planet with its superpipe, kickers, rails and boxes as well as more forgiving beginner features (and a chill out zone if you prefer spectating to spinning).
Whistler has a staggering 6 snow parks, with around 200 features, all maintained by a dedicated army of ‘park buffers’. Don’t worry about a case of quantity over quality – these are world-class offerings. After two beginner parks and an intermediate park, the star of the show’s the advanced park. It’s the site of monster kickers averaging 40-60ft, rails, wallrides, a gap jump, a huge boardercross and even a resident DJ. You have to spring for a pass to get in- but it’s a handy form of crowd control and ensures people don’t end up out of their depth.
Best ski resorts for snow parks
| Resort | Best features |
|---|---|
| Livigno | Hosts Burton European Open, 2 snow parks, bag jump, natural pipe |
| Zermatt | Glacier Gravity snow park, hosts Burton Summer Camp |
| Avoriaz | 6 terrain parks including Burton’s eco Stash |
| Breckenridge | 22 ft superpipe, 4 award-winning parks |
| Les 2 Alpes | Freestyle Land with areas for different levels, BBQ zone, hosts Burton & Roxy competitions |
| Mayrhofen | Vans Penken Park with different lines & a fun zone |
| St Anton | STANTON snowpark with various lines and terrace for spectators |
| Tignes | European X Games host, Swatch Park, filming feature, boardercrosses |
| Saas Fee | High altitude freestyle park with superpipe |
| Whistler | 6 terrain parks, boardercross, advanced park with DJ |
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