Squaw Valley ski resort adds to its terrain park

If you like terrain parks and big superpipes, Squaw Valley is giving skiers and snowboarders more reasons to hit the famed North Lake Tahoe ski resort.

Squaw opened the resort's 22-foot superpipe in Mainline on Feb. 15. It is located on the resort's upper mountain. The superpipe is the latest addition to Squaw's terrain parks, which now include two Start Parks and four terrain parks spread across the mountain.

The terrain parks currently include a 13-foot mini-pipe and a snowcross-course under Big Blue Express, a five-pack jumpline and wide variety of jibs on Gold Coast, and the 22-foot superpipe in Maineline off Siberia.

The park crew at Squaw Valley has been working with Snow Park Technologies (SPT) to develop and maintain top-level terrain parks for skiers and riders of all ability levels.

Start Parks located at SnoVentures and in the High Camp beginner areas offer the cutting-edge concept of terrain based learning. These snow-sculpted features help first time skiers and snowboarders make their first turns, ultimately reducing the time that it takes to learn how to link turns. (See video below).

For skiers and riders who just starting out in terrain parks, Squaw's Belmont Terrain Park offers small to medium features in various shapes and sizes. The Belmont Terrain Park is now easier to access than ever before with high-speed access from mid-mountain via the resort's new Big Blue Express and The Pulley - a modern rope-tow that helps skiers and riders make it across the flats. Squaw Valley's new high-speed lift,

Big Blue Express, also provides access to the resort's new 13-foot mini-pipe and a new snowcross-course that winds through the terrain underneath Big Blue.

"Many of the small and medium features located in Belmont are actually "mini me" versions of some of the bigger features in Gold Coast," said Jess Richitelli, terrain park manager at Squaw Valley. "We set it up that way so skiers and riders can get comfortable on the smaller features before they step it up to hitting the larger features in Gold Coast."

One of the biggest improvement's for Squaw's terrain parks this year is the recently-expanded Gold Coast Terrain Park. The Gold Coast Terrain Park now features a five-pack jump line featuring step-over and step down jumps, with each jump getting progressively larger.

The expanded Gold Coast Terrain Park also offers a large assortment of jibs and the new custom GoPro feature consisting of three boxes on one ride-able elevated platform.