{"id":802564,"date":"2019-12-23T17:32:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T00:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=376411"},"modified":"2019-12-23T17:32:58","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T00:32:58","slug":"colorado-kids-celebrate-opening-of-free-reds-backyard-terrain-park-at-copper-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/colorado-kids-celebrate-opening-of-free-reds-backyard-terrain-park-at-copper-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado kids celebrate opening of free Red\u2019s Backyard terrain park at Copper Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rocke Weinberg of Steamboat Springs rides a rail during Monday’s grand-opening Red’s Backyard rail jam competition at Copper Mountain Resort.<\/strong>
Courtesy Woodward Copper<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

COPPER MOUNTAIN \u2014 By the time Rocke Weinberg scrambled in her snowboard boots to the top of the new Red\u2019s Backyard terrain park at Copper Mountain Resort, she had to catch her breath.<\/p>\n

After an hour of lapping and hiking back up the rail garden, Olympic gold medalist and Burton U.S. Open champion Red Gerard \u2014 the namesake of the rail garden \u2014 noticed her effort to get in as many laps as she could and to learn some new tricks. Looking up to older riders in the garden, Weinberg decided to try some of the bigger rails, at one point landing a backside 180 off a rail that had her, and Red, stoked.<\/p>\n

Before she could accept her prize, Weinberg, a young snowboarder from Steamboat Springs, ran through the slushy snow on the side of the new rail garden at Copper Mountain Resort to meet up with Red. After bobbing and weaving through skis and snowboards, Weinberg breathed heavy into the microphone as she was embraced by Red and awarded a free week of summer camp during the Burton Week at Woodward Copper in the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stood out about Rocke is I was just watching her all day, and she wasn\u2019t the best snowboarder here, but she was consistent with hiking and running back up the hill,\u201d Red said. \u201cShe was the one I saw true progression in, and that\u2019s why we gave that to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerard and Woodward Copper hosted a grand-opening rail jam contest Monday at Copper\u2019s Center Village in celebration of the new terrain park zone. It\u2019s a zone inspired by the actual backyard rail garden at the Gerard family\u2019s home in Silverthorne. Inside the Red\u2019s Shed tune-up and warming hut at the top of the garden, there is a poster listing the 10 Rules of Red, such as \u201cRake before session,\u201d \u201cRake after session\u201d and \u201cRip hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the Gerard family moved to its current home in Silverthorne, Malachi \u201cKai\u201d Gerard, Red\u2019s older brother, said the family\u2019s band of brothers always would scope out some patch of snow to build something to ride on. Then when they moved to Silverthorne, he and older brother Brendan saw a hill with an almost perfect slope and asked their parents, Conrad and Jen, if they could built something bigger and better.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yeah, sure. Go for it,’\u201d Kai remembers his parents saying. \u201c\u2018Take it over.\u2019 So then it went from having a couple rails to, \u2018We should set up the dirt bike (motor) and make a rope tow if we can.\u2019 It just kind of all grew from there, and five years later now it is what it is. It\u2019s pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kai said Monday that the purpose behind the new Red\u2019s Backyard at Copper isn\u2019t to exactly emulate what he and Brendan brought to their backyard, complete with old pieces of horse fences as rails and rails inherited from other snowboard projects. It was more to bring a free option to a world-class resort like Copper so youngsters like Rocke could have fun snowboarding at no cost.<\/p>\n

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