Photo by Blotto
Brock Crouch catches some air in a Peace Park.
Staff Report
A unique obstacle course terrain park is coming to Killington next month.
Peace Park, a concept designed by Olympic halfpipe snowboarder Danny Davis, is opening on the Dream Maker trail in mid-February.
Peace Park offers an on-mountain playground and skatepark experience, featuring pipes, rollers and berms. Any rider is invited to share a video of themselves in the park to have a shot at competing at the Peace Park championships in California in May.
Davis founded Peace Park six years ago as a secret, pros-only park. Since then, he’s used it to expand the sport’s creativity. Davis, who is sponsored by Vermont-based Burton snowboards, is friends with Kevin Pearce, a local snowboarder who was preparing for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics before he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2009.
The Woodward Peace Park will be open to all riding abilities.
“It’s awesome that Woodward Peace Park is an evolution that’s for the people, not just the pros,” Davis said.
The Woodward Peace Park Championships will be held at Boreal Mountain Resort in California from May 1-5, featuring a five-day custom built course, designed and built in collaboration with Davis, Snow Park Technologies and the Boreal and Woodward Tahoe team. It will be the first Peace Park competition to include a women’s category.
The Killington parks team will collaborate with Woodward to build the Peace Park in the next two weeks.
To qualify for the Woodward Peace Park Championships any rider or skier can submit up to a 1-minute edit of him or herself riding one of the Woodward Peace Parks using the #MyPeaceParkEdit hashtag. The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges based on overall impression with an emphasis on style and creativity. Winners will be announced in early April and will receive an expense-paid trip to Woodward Peace Park Championships at Boreal May 1-5.
Killington Resort President Mike Solimano hopes the Peace Park is the start of more collaborations with Woodward. Killington opened a Woodward WreckTangle, a summer ninja obstacle course, last summer. Solimano hopes to see complete indoor Woodward facility at Killington one day.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” he said.
