Summit Daily file
COPPER MOUNTAIN RESORT — Woodward Copper on Monday announced a reimagining of its winter skiing and snowboarding terrain at Copper Mountain Resort.
Woodward Mountain Park at Copper will be a network of featured terrain zones that “together offer a balanced variety of exciting on-mountain experiences for all ages and abilities,” according to Woodward representatives.
The Mountain Park’s zones — which dot terrain from Center to West villages — will range in accessibility, difficulty and offerings. The zones will range “from learning zones, large freestyle zones and everything in between,” according to Woodward.
That includes two zones inspired by U.S. pro snowboarders Danny Davis and Red Gerard.
Red’s Backyard
In the announcement, Woodward officials detailed the new terrain park zone inspired by Gerard, an Olympic gold medalist from Silverthorne.
Gerard, 19, grew up snowboarding with his free-riding family and friends on a homemade rope tow on a slope at their Summit County home. He won an Olympic gold medal in slopestyle in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.
Copper’s new Red’s Backyard terrain zone, a short hike from Center Village, will pay homage to the actual backyard with rails of varying difficulty in a hike-to-jib format.
Woodward Peace Park
The Woodward Peace Park, which was announced in March, is scheduled to open in late 2019, depending on conditions.
The park concept comes from Davis — a Grand Prix, X Games and Dew Tour champion — who first created Peace Park years ago as a ride along and hang-out session with his pro snowboarder friends and peers.
That all changed when Davis partnered with Woodward in January for the new Woodward Peace Parks at Boreal Mountain Resort in California and Killington Ski Resort in Vermont. This winter will be the first year for Woodward Peace Park at Copper.
“When Danny created Peace Park in 2011, he believed that people who could freely and creatively express themselves doing what they love in the outdoors were as close to achieving peace as possible, hence the name Peace Park,” according to Woodward.
“Woodward Peace Park is a unique, ever-evolving terrain park designed to maximize creativity, organic flow and progression with a focus on fun for shredders of all ages,” the announcement continued.
Company officials also said Woodward Peace Park will “transcend” standard slopestyle and halfpipes with more flow, transition, room to breathe and options for creative expression.
The parks will be built for intermediate and advanced riders and will be accessible to skiers and snowboarders off the Woodward Express Quad, the new name for the Union Creek Quad, out of West Village.
More zones
Woodward officials also announced several other zones and zone types, including Woodward Family Cross, which will be an ideal “next level up” from groomers and will be specially built to ski and ride as if a natural terrain gully is enhanced with moderate shaping.
“You’ll find a fun and flowing course with banked turns and rollers that use as much of the natural terrain as possible,” according to the announcement. “Features are almost all made of only snow — with the possibility of finding just a couple jibs.”
Woodward Family Cross will be accessible from the top of American Flyer off the High Point run.
Woodward Mountain Park also will feature zones devoted to skiers and snowboarders of varying ability levels. At the Green Acres learning area in Center Village, Woodward will have a Start Park for first-timers. There also will be three progression parks: the Koko’s and Dino Ridge progression parks off the Kokomo Express in West Village and a progression park at Green Acres.
Woodward officials also announced the company will incorporate its preexisting Central Park terrain park as the largest zone in Copper’s Woodward Mountain Park, accessed via the Woodward Express Quad. The nearby Pipe Dream pipe accessed by the same lift will be part of Copper’s Woodward Mountain Park, as will the 22-foot superpipe near the Center Village base.
The superpipe will host the world’s best halfpipe skiers and snowboarders at December’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix and February’s Dew Tour, which is at Copper for the first time after more than a decade at Breckenridge Ski Resort.