The word "Southpark" has some special meaning in my ski career. My full-time career in the ski business started at Mammoth Mountain, California. Mammoth is pretty much the epicenter of park skiing. They were one of the first to built terrain parks, hosted the SuperPark events for many years, and built the first Super Duper Pipe.
Back in the late 90s, Mammoth had three parks. One at Main Lodge under Thunderbound, or Chair 6. Since the entire park was directly under the chair, and the chair went from bottom of the park to the top, and no further, it was the ultimate park.
Over at Canyon Lodge, where I worked, there were two more parks. There was the Mini Park and Mini Pipe just above the lodge. It was perfect for introducing kids to both park and pipe.
But we had our own super park. It went from near the top of Roller Coaster Express (I can't recall the chair number) to the bottom. No half pipe, but it was otherwise legitimate. It was perfect for mid-level ski groups, and we had a lot of fun skiing there on our days off. The terrain actually allowed for some cool transitions, hips, and pretty big table tops. I landed on my back, side, and head more times than I can remember. Learned to stick all those jumps and session the park from top to bottom boosted the pride in "our" park.
Mammoth management officially divides the mountain East and West, but it always seemed like more north and south. For that reason, and the popularity of the TV show, we always referred to our park as "Southpark." The trail map my first year called it "Roller Coaster Park." By the next year, it was officially called "Southpark." Its a cool feeling to think that we helped name something at Mammoth.
On a completely different subject, I've recently been deployed with the Navy Reserves. I'm planning on going back to school in the fall to earn a masters degree in business. So while I'm putting in 12 to 18-hour days this summer, while also taking a graduate course online, studying for the GMAT, running my Reserve Unit, and loving my wife from halfway (almost exactly) around the world, its not very realistic to put much effort into Freeride Inc.
While I hope to one day return to the ski industry in some capacity, its entirely possible that skiing will once again become just a passion.
Now at the other end of my ski career, I thought it might be appropriate to sign off, for now anyways, with a couple of Southpark episodes. The first one is unfortunately, pretty representative of many individuals in the business, and the industry as a whole. Enjoy...
