The following article by Adrien Gallo appeared in Eastern Edge Snowboarding Magazine along with an artist's rendition of a "dream" terrain park designed by Dave Van Houten of SnowPark Management Unlimited. Click here to see the Dream Park drawing (at 160kb it may take a minute to load).

Snow Transitions
By: Adrien Gallo

I decided to go to class today and now it looks like I wont get another powder day for quite some time, and its all due to the fact that my friends and I couldn't decide where to go riding. We didn't have enough information about which mountains have the best transitions, so we just came to class. Every resort boasts the best terrain, but so many time we've picked a mountain to ride and driven there, only to find out that the pipe and park were good yesterday or last week. The bottom line... good marketing doesn't guarantee good terrain. Some forward thinking resorts have put their money where their mouth is by hiring professional snowboard consultants. In the East, parks and pipes are features that make or break snowboarder visits. Resorts that have invested in well designed parks and pipes are building credibility and loyalty with the riders.

These resorts have hired individuals whose passion for the sport has led them to dedicate their talent and time to make snowboarding better. In the West Chris Gunnerson has been blowing minds creating custom parks and pipes of all shapes and sizes at Snow Summit and the X-games. Contest guru Pat Melandowski (Planet Design & Consulting) is pipe specialist who some call "king of the superpipe." Here in the East where the pipe and parks rule the day, two guys have founded companies to ensure that the big contest kickers have perfect takeoff, pitch and landing. The leading company in the East is Stimilon International Inc. founded by Dave Olcott. Now there is a new start up with SnowPark Management Unlimited (SPM) founded by David Van Houten. SPM (www.snowparkbuilder.com), thrives on the knowledge of Van Houten. He worked with Stratton Mountain Resort since 1993, and his pipe and park shapes and ideas helped many riders fine tune their skills in their pursuit of professional snowboarding. Riders such as Ross Powers, Ron Chiodi, Tricia Byrnes, Amy Johnson, Luke Omond and Lane Knaack are just a few. Now Van Houten is offering his services to resorts all across the USA. The company's goal is to educate the mountain resorts in the overall development of their snowboard facilities.

But this does not come easy. Not only does his company have to design and construct the facilities, they must also interact with snowmaking systems, and of course, maintenance. Maintaining these gigantic structures is challenging and time consuming. Therefore, after initial design and construction, SPM creates an educated park team to keep the terrain features consistent throughout the season. SPM is also excited as is everyone else with the development of new grooming equipment such as the Superpipe Dragon, which they will use not exclusively for the pipe, but also for different hips and transitions in the park itself. Dave Van Houten knows how to build jumps and he and his company are dedicated to this task. The bottom line is Dave Hooter Van Houten knows how to build jumps better than you.

Click here to see the accompanying Dream Park drawing (at 160kb it may take a minute to load).