What Is It Like to Work in Terrain Parks? The Blade Dive Podcast Reports from Cutter's Camp
In 2024, fun, creative, and perfectly built terrain parks at the resorts we frequent is something we've come to expect. But the reason we think of this as baseline is because of the dedication, sweat equity, and perfectionist mentality of snowboarding's park builders.
From cat operators to hand crew, the men and women who make up the terrain park teams are behind-the-scenes literally pushing what is possible when it comes to jumps, jibs, and transition features. As riders, we see their immaculately sculpted cheese wedges and perfectly rake take-offs every day, but when it comes to bringing these things to life, there is so much that goes on, of course.
Today, the 20th anniversary edition of Ski Area Management Magazine's Cutter's Camp kicks off at Timberline Lodge in Oregon. The beloved summit has brought together the operations crews from resorts all over the world since 2005 to share, educate, instruct, and collaborate, aligning on what works and working through what doesn't, raising the level of resort parks collectively through the process.
In 2023, Parker Bohon, industry veteran and host of beloved podcast The Blade Dive, recorded a special episode during Cutter's Camp opening fireside chat during which Day Franzen (Kingvale), Charles Beckinsale (The Stomping Grounds), Marsha Hovey (Trollhaugen), and Landon Taylor (Snow Park Technologies) discussed the current state of terrain parks, including a look back at some of the history of parks, creative feature building, career pathways and how to grow as an operator, as well as some of the challenges of staffing and retention including finding balance between pay and passion.
If you aspire to work in the park, or just want to hear from these industry leaders about what affects terrain parks behind-the-scenes, you can listen to the 2023 Cutter's Camp Fireside Chat episode of The Blade Dive here. Stay tuned for more from this year's event!
