Lee Jin-man / AP file
COPPER MOUNTAIN — The new Red’s Backyard terrain park zone at Copper Mountain Resort will open for the first time Monday, Dec. 23.
Influenced by the Olympic gold medalist’s actual homemade rope-tow backyard rails near Silverthorne, the Red’s Backyard terrain park zone will be a hike-to-jib rail garden within walking distance of the Center Village base area at Copper Mountain.
While chatting last month at the Mountain Snow Dance at Breckenridge Ski Resort, Red Gerard said he enjoyed working with the Woodward Copper team on the concept behind Red’s Backyard, his main focus being to keep the terrain zone free. Red’s Backyard will be just that for snowboarders and freeskiers, as accessing the park by hiking will not require a lift ticket.
“It was kind of like myself and my mom’s passion project,” Gerard said about the Red’s Backyard idea. “My mom is always on me for giving back to the community. You go to the resort’s nowadays, the tickets are $200 to go ride. And it’s so not appealing to a kid. So my idea behind it was, ‘Let’s make a $20 hike park or even free.’ I think Copper is going to be free. You just have to sign a waiver. And that was our whole idea behind it.”
For the Dec. 23 grand opening, Woodward Copper will host Red’s Backyard Jam. The zone, part of Copper Mountain’s new Woodward Mountain Park, will open at 9 a.m. with a ribbon cutting and rail jam at 11 a.m. Gerard will be in attendance mingling with skiers and riders and signing autographs.
Red’s Backyard terrain park zones also will open this year in Park City, Utah, and Killington, Vermont.
At Snow Dance last month, Gerard said he originally was hoping the Copper Mountain park would feature a motorized rope-tow, similar to the rope-tow powered by an old motocross engine he has at his family’s home in Silverthorne. Looking ahead, Gerard said he hopes he and Woodward can still have that vision come to fruition in the coming years.