Development Snowparks News

Cutters' Camp West round up

Sat, 22 May 2010 16:01:00 +1200

Well its been a trip for sure, now that I think of it back at home. It was 6 weeks of demos to Whistler Blackcomb and the SAM Cutters Camp west at Timberline, Mt Hood.

The response about the Global Cutter's shape and finish has been really positive and gives me some confidence about the future it has in North America. Thanks to the Timberline workshop staff for helping me unload and load the shaper into the container and getting it packed up for heading back to NZ.

Staying at Timberline Lodge for the Cutters Camp was something else, waking up to a cooked breakfast everyday in the super nice lodge, then walking outside and jumping in the cats demo-ing for the day, and the weather was pretty much perfect as well. The 3 days of camp broke down into 1 inside classroom style day and 2 outside days on snow with cats and shapers etc. For the demo area of the shaper I built a 22ft quarter pipe and set up the laser guidance system on the deck. I'd then demo it to each operator as they came around from demo-ing other machinery and they also had a turn trying it out. Lots of the operators commented on it being really good performance in the spring snow and that it was pretty easy to use. Thanks to all the SAM crew for eveything and I'm sure everyone liked the last night that the Global Cutter sponsored, it sure was a good one as my head told me the next day.

I'll be back for another Cutters next year, so until then you can catch me back in the southern lakes in NZ for the southern hemisphere winter.

Arriving at Timberline with the truck, trailer and shaper after I drove it all down from Whistler.

I was able to keep the shaper together for the drive down rather than pulling it apart into several pieces, it just needed a lot of strops.

The 22' quarter with me on the deck

Laser guidance tripod set up with the receiver on the boom

Perfect corduroy finish

Demo-ing the shaper

Parked up and waiting for the next demo

Demo Global Cutter in Whistler

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:13:00 +1200

The 22' Global Cutter has been really well received during its recent demo at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival during April.

Steve from Arena Snowparks and I rebuilt the existing 18' pipe at Blackcomb into a 22' pipe for the World Skiing Invitational and the Grenade Games. I put in some long days but managed to get the pipe open early so the public was able to ride it before the competitions started. We received some great feedback from both the skiers and snowboarders at both comps. They immediately recongnised the difference in shape to previous pipes they'd ridden and that it's shape was definitely superior. There were also lots of encouraging comments about the wall to wall corduroy that the Global Cutter produces and that the riders were really into it.

So overall it was a pretty successful demo for the Global Cutter's first time in North America. I'm packing up the shaper in the next few days and making the trip down to Mt. Hood, Oregon for the SAM magazine Cutters' Camp West where I'll be joined by Steve again and we'll be holding another demo for all the park and pipe operators at the Camp. Then it's back to New Zealand at the end of May to finish off the new 22' shaper for Snowpark, NZ and straight back into the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Thanks to the staff at Whislter Blackcomb for hosting the Global Cutter and myself and I look forward to working with them all again.

Heres some photos from during the pipe rebuild process as well as some from the comps.

The Global Cutter all ready to go for start of the Blackcomb pipe rebuild

Rough cutting and things are going smoothly

Demo shaper in action in Whistler

Close up of the shaper in action and John in the cab

More rough cutting

World Skiing Invitational

World Skiing Invitational again

Grenade Games practice

Photo: Paul Atwood

Grenade Games pipe - not cold, not warm, just spring

Super huge, smooth transitions produced by the 22' Global Cutter

22' Global Cutter sale to Snow Park NZ

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:09:00 +1300

It's confirmed, we've recently completed a sale of a 22' Global Cutter to Snow Park NZ with delivery in less than 12 weeks. Snow Park have big plans for their pipe this season and are going to have it open on 26th June so it's all go with getting the new shaper underway for them.

Sam Lee, the General Manager of Snow Park said "John's knowledge and experience in the industry is extremely admirable and we are really looking forward to putting his cutter into action for the 2010 season." That's a pretty flattering comment about my work so I'm really pleased that Development Snowparks is going to be a part of Snow Park's upgrade to a 22' pipe. I'm getting Steve of Arena Snowparks down here from Canada to work with me on providing the half pipe commissioning to Snow Park once the shaper is delivered. Steve and I last worked together at the Olympics as head contractor and sub-contractor respectively to build and shape the pipe at Cypress.

Well I'm off to Canada in a week to meet the demo shaper in Vancouver and get it up to Whistler for the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival in mid April.

Snow Park's current 18' pipe

Demo Global Cutter shipped to Vancouver

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:12:00 +1300

I'm stoked to say we've just packed and shipped the demo 22' shaper into a 20' container bound by ship for Vancouver. It'll arrive in 3 weeks and then will be transported to Whistler where I'll use it to build and shape the pipe for the Grenade Games and the World Skiing Invitational at the end of April. The Grenade Games (21 - 24 April) and the WSI (World Skiing Invitational 19 - 20 April) are both part of the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival (16 - 25 April)

It was a tight fit getting the 3 broken down parts of the machine into the container but it's all in; cutters and laser guidance gear included. The frame of the shaper is constructed in 3 parts so it allows it to break down and fit into a container. The base plate is one and the boom frame breaks down to the 2nd and 3rd parts. Steve Petrie from Arena Snowparks and me will be the next to see it again when it arrives at Whistler Blackcomb. See all you Vancouver and Whistler people again soon.

The demo Global Cutter slides into place in the container

Making the final adjustments to the strops. It's a tight fit but it fits!

Vancouver 2010 Olympics: the full story

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:01:00 +1300

It's been 2 weeks since the hecticness of the pipe contest and I've been back home in NZ for just over a week now, it's good to be home again catching whats left of summer. It hasn't been all about catching up on sleep since I've been back though, I've been getting the demo Global Cutter ready and packed up for shipping to Vancouver. I'll blog about that soon but for now heres the story about our how me and the ASP crew got the pipe built for the Olympics.

The gear involved:
2 Piston Bully 600 stick winches
2 Piston bully 400 park bullys
1 pisten bully 400 active winch
Global Cutter laser guidance system
2 Zaugg 22fters
2 chain saws
4 park monkey fertiliser spreaders
6 dye packs
4 scandinavian shaper vert shovels
15 scandinavian shaper rakes

Vancouver and the west coast weather didn't hold back on us and delivered some difficult and trying snow conditions right from the start.

After the initial 120cm base in late november, the snow was turning to rain. The first days of work were quickly called off. These days saw massive rain falls and waterfalls down into the carparks. This kept up for a week. The common call from some was "just like NZ eh" and my reply, "ah,.. not really . This is the hardest rain I've ever seen on a ski resort"

During the down time, the use off hay bales was brought up and soon used. The end of the earth structure finished very steep, and would use considereable snow to extend the walls, so 30 bales were included in the end. After we eventually had a clearance in the weather the pushing began. The man made pile of snow at the top of the pipe had shrunk quite a substantual amount but holding off before cutting into it had payed off.
Panorama, the adjacent run was also stripped clean of snow and we added to the man made as the walls were pushed. 600 winches proved there weight in gold as the climbing without a winch was impossible. The laser guidance system was also heavily used during the initial stages with setting bench marks on grade, straight line pushing from inside the pipe and cross slope checks to ensure both walls were the correct height and grade.

As the huge pile got pushed into place we were pleasently surprised with the snow consumption, making out the rough shape on both walls. Not a single blade of snow had come out the bottom yet. We were truely working inside our clean snow island where no other contaminated brown snow cats could enter. The final grading of the decks together showed that the last days of warmth and rain had made the decks sag, meaning the walls would be shorter, so we adopted the snow blower by blowing snow on the decks. While this was happening the shovel crew were getting started so the boys stayed busy with 200 sheets of ply for the form boarding of the outside of the decks. This saved any snow being lost outside the decks, as we knew the decks needed width.

The zaugging was a relatively simple procedure with the saw line at 19.5m wide and the rough shape being consistant from top to bottom. The snow conditions being soft allowed to rough shape quickly. We completed the decks and a day later the lighting guys moved in with the light placement. At this stage snow was getting very hard to come by, so again the hay bales were used in the drop in from the scaffold start podium. The remaining snow was used to cover the hay but more was needed for the drop in transition.This is where the sky crane comes in, 7 tons in one drop, 16 drops in a 45 min "cycle". This chopper was one of the special things I think I will only see at an event like the olympics.

The helied snow was soon used up as the floor was also leveled up and the finish area pushed out. With the final shaping the weather was starting to improve, but this was a mixed blessing. The floor didn't set up for the first day of training and the back side wall was set up about 2cms only. The left over sugar after training was cleaned out, meaning the remaining wall was deeper and wider. The clearing weather created the perfect conditions for pipe finishing and last day of training.

The show began with a monster double shift that night with another cutting and grooming straght after training that allowed the pipe to sit and set up for the next afternoon riding schedule. We couldnt believe our luck after battling with the weather for so long that it was a perfect bluebird and a clear calm night for the mens contest. The qualifers showed a particular pattern of riders going huge and technical so it was fitting to see these guys in finals. And finals didnt disappoint with a display that was pure jaw dropping. This was definitely the most excited I have been in a competition. I really did not want to see anyone get hurt, as the tricks were so serious that crashing would be huge.

After the excitement was over, we swung straight into another preparation for the womens. The shaping and riding in the dry, cool evening created a large build up of sugar, so the remaining result was again to cut down into the floor and wider . The following day was clear and warm so having a tighter field of riders was a bonus. Again during the day we added fertiliser from the park monkeys to create a firm colder base. The womans showed a great competition as the #1 spot shuffled from riders. Congrats to all the riders and coaches, on and off the podiums for the great show.
Thanks to Steve and all the Arena Snowparks crew that stepped up and allowed the show to go on in the most challenging conditions. And of course Steve for getting me out there to help. It was now over and time to have a beer and get some sleep!

See more photos of the build process in photos

Vancouver 2010 Olympic half pipe ready for 1st day of training