Kirkwood, CA – As the chairlifts at Kirkwood Mountain Resort came to a halt this past spring, the Snow Park Technologies (SPT) snowcats were powering up. For 20 days, an SPT crew of seven professional designers, shapers and builders logged over 1,200 hours constructing the slopestyle course of Bobby Brown’s dreams at the ski and snowboard resort high in California’s Sierra Nevada.
Three years ago the Denver, Colo.-based professional athlete was asking his fellow pro skier friends, “What’s next for slopestyle skiing?” His answer is Red Bull Megaslope, a 2,750-foot long course that flawlessly incorporates six features winding across the natural terrain of the mountain.
For three days during a seven-day weather window in April, Matchstick Productions (MSP) filmed Brown’s domination of the course. The picturesque bluebird days allowed for spring skiing at its finest. Coming off of two broken ankles and surgeries in the past year, Brown was able to finish the snow season off with a bang. For the first time ever, the course allowed him to incorporate a triple cork (three off-axis flips) into a single full run.
“I think this project has potential to push the sport to a new level,” said Brown. “Having the opportunity to session these kinds of features allows me to try things I never thought were possible on a conventional slopestyle course.”
Although Brown could have had exclusive access to the custom built course, he extended the invite to fellow pros Russ Henshaw, Gus Kenworthy, PK Hunder, and his younger brother, Peter Brown, to session it with him.
From start to finish, the course featured:
- A 24-foot single barrel down rail on either side of an eight-foot-wide stair-set positioned on a downhill angle;
- A 65-foot table with a five-foot step down, with a narrow pathway in between two tree groupings;
- Gap jump to 24-foot long up-box with a gap jump off to another 24-foot flat-box;
- A cannon to wall ride feature which started with a 24-foot up-box towards the 32-foot long perforated metal wall-ride with a transition of about six-feet in between;
- A 100-foot step over jump across the natural fall line of a gully; and
- An 80-foot hybrid tabletop jump with steeper takeoff and landing angles.