Pipe dreams

World-class halfpipe being built on Big Mountain

In a few months, skiers and snowboarders will have an entirely new place to play on Big Mountain.

Heavy-equipment operators are busy moving dirt and blasting rock on Chair 3 on Big Mountain, making way for a "Super Pipe" halfpipe jump freestyle area.

The Super Pipe is 500 feet long and more than 80 feet wide.

When it's finished sometime in December or January, it will have all the bells and whistles to make it a world-class halfpipe and eligible for FIS (the international ski and snowboard governing body) events.

"We're pleased to be able to tackle that finally," Winter Sports Inc. CEO Fred Jones said. "We've always wanted to do it. It just moved up on our priority list."

Big Mountain once had a halfpipe, but it was replaced when the Northern Lights development began near Chair 3. Now, Jones said, "It's time to replace it."

Cost for the new Super Pipe is estimated at around $250,000, Big Mountain operations manager Chester Powell said.

The halfpipe will be located on the headwall of Ranger Trail, on the east side of Chair 3.

The Super Pipe is being built to FIS specifications, with a gradient of about 16 degrees from top to bottom and steep, curved sidewalls that will reach up more than 10 feet.

The crests or decks of the halfpipe will be 80 feet apart, giving skiers and snowboarders plenty of room to catch big air and perform the tricks and maneuvers that are popular with today's freestyle skiers and riders.

"It's what the new generation wants to have," Powell said.

Construction engineers are drilling down through 10 to 15 feet of tough bedrock to blast out the stubborn, blue-colored rock.

The fill is then used to construct a large,

tunnel-shaped ditch that will be filled with manmade snow throughout the season.

Additional snowmaking equipment is being installed. "It's going to take an unbelievable amount of snowmaking," Powell said. A specialized piece of equipment, called a Zaugg Pipe Grinder, attaches to the front of a groomer to smooth out the rounded transition in the halfpipe. The Zaugg costs $89,000 and will be delivered in January, Powell said.

Building a new halfpipe this year coincides with Big Mountain moving all of its freestyle snowboard and ski terrain to Chair 3. This year, the popular terrain park, formerly on Chair 7, will be on Chair 3. This helps consolidate the freestyle skiing and snowboarding activities, and having these activities on Chair 3 makes sense, Powell said, because there are lights for night skiing.

Construction of the halfpipe will require relocation of the public slalom ski course on Chair 3. Starting this year, this NASTAR course will be on Ed's Run on Chair 2.

Encouraging the freestyle skiers and snowboarders to use Chair 3 should also help alleviate congestion on the crowded "Fill Slope" near the summit of Big Mountain, because there won't be as many people going to the freestyle terrain park on Chair 7, Powell said.

Big Mountain is in the process of moving its instructional areas to Chair 6 near the Outpost, where a new "magic carpet ride" lift is being installed that will allow skiers or snowboarders to ski right up on the moving platform, rather than having to board a chairlift.

This lift is being installed on the east side of Chair 6. The lower terminal of Chair 6 was moved 50 feet this summer to accommodate the new lift and beginner ski areas.

Major construction also is under way at the Outpost. Crews are setting foundations for what will become a substantial addition to the facility next year.

"The Outpost will become truly a day lodge, where people they start their day, put their children into programs, day care, buy lift tickets or sign up for ski school," Jones said. "We're really trying to replace what we had up in the village."

Having a Super Pipe will put Big Mountain on a level with other regional destination ski areas such as Big Sky and Schweitzer.

"If you're going to compete in this market, you need to have these kinds of things," Powell said. "This has been requested for years, but we never had the resources to do it. I think this is going to be a really positive thing."

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