Cornice/cliff drop in the park

[Skidawg]

Yes, it's a good idea for a midwest or east coast park, where skiable cliff areas are few and far between.

The problem is no one in these areas knows any better. I know Devil's Head in WI cleared a run with a perfectly formed 6-10' cliff band and runout in the run. It only lasted 2 weekends because of the mortality rate associated with the feature. I believe even Tyrol Basin had a cleared run with a nice rock and landing zone combo. That too got flattened.

I like the idea, and with the current trend toward more self-responsibility on the hills and in terrain areas especially, I assume it's feasable in the liability sense. Maybe someone will try it and the rest follow suit. That's basically how it works anyways...

[glademaster]

Originally posted by Skidawg
Yes, it's a good idea for a midwest or east coast park, where skiable cliff areas are few and far between.

There are plenty of skiable cliffs on the EC, its just that most of them require a backslap landing or lightning quick reflexes so you don't end up eating bark. With that in mind, if you look hard enough on the EC, there are cliffs with landings that you can ski out of, its just that the conditions are rarely good enough to go any bigger than 8 or 10 feet. Stupid rain.

[FNG]

The insurance hike for building a terrain park is costly enough. Premiums almost doubled last year at my small, hometown hill in Michigan after they put a dragon rail in the park...sure made for some good lift entertainment though. If they were to put a cliff drop in there too, they'd go bankrupt.

Personally, I think the best part about cliff hucking is that it's sketchy and unmanaged. Don't screw it up by putting it in the park.

And nice work Tyrone. Just read your letter.

[boarderline]

Originally posted by Dexter Rutecki
I agree it'd be a death trap, but every single feature (except hips, I guess) in the park is pretty much blind. I know I can't see what's on the other side of any table or big kicker until I'm almost off the jump. The reason this idea is more dangerous than most, though, is that anyone coming into it with any speed at all would probably overshoot, possibly by a long, long way. Terrain parks aren't usually built on steep trails, and a very long steep runout (like below a real cornice) is what you'd need to make this 'safe'.

True about the potential for overshooting the landing. I think the way to overcome this is to provide enough length of tabletop to allow you to haul ass into the takeoff.

How about the design below? It's kind of like a big stepdown, but it's all drop.

This would allow you to take off from the lip with some speed and give you the distance you'd need to not overshoot the landing. Coming up short would *hurt*, but so does coming up short on any big park kicker.

I think it's doable. Calling/emailing the Snowbird/Park City/Brighton park managers this week.

[Blurred]

^^^^^^

First time I saw that it was called a table.






I love your first idea, lots of weightless freefall to a super-steep landing. Stick with the first idea.