Big White TELUS Park nabs second place in USA TODAY awards

Posted On: March 20, 2016 |

Big White's TELUS Park has been named one of the best terrain parks in North America, out of 20 terrain parks nominated in the USA TODAY 10Best awards.

Coming in at second place on the 10Best leaderboard, TELUS Park was one of only two Canadian terrain parks on the list, the other being Whistler's Blackcomb.

After four weeks of voting through the beginning of the year, Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania came in at first place, with Northstar California Resort in third place and Copper Mountain, Colorado in fourth place.

Other resorts in the Top 10 included Stratton Mountain Resort, Mount Snow, Keystone Resort, Whistler Blackcomb, Loon Mountain Resort and Breckenridge Ski Resort.

Big White Ski Resort has done extensive work on their terrain park over the last 10 years, partnering with TELUS to develop one of the top ski and snowboard parks in the country.

“The park is built around the progression system, consisting of small, medium, large and extra-large sizing,” said Flynn Seddon, Director of Terrain Parks and Outdoor Events. “This allows skiers and snowboarders to progress along at their own pace and ride within their ability range. The areas are separated, allowing riders to ski and board in the zone that they are most comfortable in.”

TELUS Park also has a standard 12-foot half pipe and a full-time snowcross course to help strengthen basic skills in skiing and snowboarding.

TELUS Park regularly partners with Provincial, National and International sporting organizations to supply event venues for many disciplines of snowsports, from grassroots kids events to National and World cup events. As a result, the park plays host to events that showcase the Olympic disciplines, such as ski and snowboard slopestyle, snowboard cross and ski cross, halfpipe and international World Cup para-snowboardcross and banked slalom.

This includes the 19th Annual Neil Edgeworth Memorial Banked Slalom, which runs in-resort from March 18-20. This historic snowboard event was created after Neil passed away in an avalanche in France in 1987, and has transformed into a gathering for generations of riders to remember the true soul of the sport. Over 200 riders of all age groups will be competing in the slalom this weekend, with $20,000 worth of prizes to be awarded to the winners.