A decade or more ago, ski bums would scribble sketches for jumps on bar napkins. Now, professional terrain parks, such as the one used at the X Games in Aspen this past weekend, go through months of planning, 3D renderings, and are shaped using lasers.
Technology has vastly reduced the risk of failure at the X Games, where the slightest edge or imperfection could lead to a major wipeout and serious injury in sports such as big air skiing and the snowboard superpipe. It has also aided in performance by allowing athletes to safely push limits and encouraging them to be creative.
The crew that set up the Winter X Games this year used tools such as Google Earth, which enabled them to produce a 3D recreation of the mountain with satellite imagery, and Google SketchUp, a 3D modeling program that allowed them to make to-scale renderings.
Builders arrived in Aspen in December so they could get the half pipe up and running in time for the general public visiting Buttermilk Mountain, an Aspen ski area, before Christmas. Two operators worked around the clock during a 12-day period leading up to the Holidays.
The rest of the 20-person crew arrived Jan. 4 and worked on building the other parts of the course through the first day of practice on Jan. 22 before the X Games officially kicked off last Thursday. Altogether, the organizers deployed 14 PistenBully snow groomers to move snow and measure pitches. Other hardware used were winches, two Zaugg halfpipe cutters (a 13 foot one for slopestyle and a 22 foot one for the half pipe), as well as an excavator to carve out rail designs.
The slopestyle jumps at the X Games ranged from 55 to 70 feet high, while the big air jump clocked in at a huge 72 feet long—though riders must overshoot the distance to land safely. The 3D renderings mixed with Google Earth enabled the builders to figure out exactly where to place those enormous jumps. While no one can guarantee perfection, the technology most certainly leads to “less chance of error,” said Chris Castaneda, director of operations for Snow Park Technologies, which built the X Games park at Buttermilk.
“For designing, technology comes into play when working with Google Earth and Google Sketchup to understand the terrain a lot better,” he said. “And all the technology we have in our snowcats: that’s telling us where we’re at with our grades, and what the cat is doing because it helps us shape and gives us the information we need as builders. We also use a lot of self-leveling lasers at night to make things square and make sure we’re where we need to be, especially with fine cuts like the half pipe. It’s very much precision to make sure our lips are where we need to be.”
Tom Wallisch, a gold medalist in slopestyle at X Games Aspen 2012, said using renderings has enabled builders to experiment with increasingly steeper pitches and longer rails. In 2016, he worked with SPT to build a 440-foot rail that would clinch him the world record for the longest rail grind on skis. The rail was so long—three football fields—they had to use self-leveling lasers and 3D renderings while walking around the resort just to try to find a place with a steady grade, a certain pitch, and enough distance where it would fit.
“It’s pretty cool from a rider’s standpoint too,” he said. “The ability to create these rails and jumps in a program is so different than when we were first doing it. It was drawing and hand drawing and you were like ‘Eh, it’s not really to scale but I think it will work.’ It’s crazy to see what they can now do in the program—and know that it’s going to work and know it’s going to work on the hill. Instead of drawing it, you’re creating these in a real-life kind of environment and that makes for less failure when you’re out there.”
The X Games also used the renderings as a way for TV broadcasters—ESPN has the rights to the X Games—and sponsors create digital flyovers of the park to figure out camera and ad placements.
Despite all the technology now at their disposal, Castaneda said keeping everyone happy is still difficult. Nothing can replace the real-life feedback they get from the athletes who ride their courses.
“That’s one of our hardest challenges being builders,” he said. “You’ve got so many different styles of riding and opinions. Men, women, skiers, snowboarders, totally different. You cannot make everybody happy. So it’s finding that happy medium not only in the design process but also when we’re here during practice getting feedback. Because we’re here for the athletes. We want to make these guys shine, keep them moving forward and progressing. And make a good show for you guys. That’s our end goal.”