At the peak of Grouse Mountain snowboarding enthusiasts will be able to take on new heights and experiment with tricks like the Corkscrew and the Flying Squirrel Air all thanks to two Canadian snowboarders.
Sebastian Toutant ‘Seb Toots’ and Mark McMorris, who are 2014 Olympic athletes, put their pro skills to use and created a rad course full of diverse jumps. Their hope is to prepare snowboarders for future competitions, including the Winter Olympics, as well as allowing the athletes to soar even higher.
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McMorris, said the development focuses on being innovative and entertaining.
“In… snowboarding right now there’s a lot of progression going in the realm of spinning more and flipping more,” McMorris said. “We really want to be a part of the creative side, and we have a lot of fun riding more progressive features and dumbing it down for trick level, but pumping it up in the feature side of things.”
The athlete is hopeful that this course will intrigue people and get them interested in the winter sport.
Toutant, echoes McMorris saying the obstacle’s the new course offers will allow boarders to do tricks that are simplistic but still visually stimulating.
“The main idea was to build fun features that you can be super creative on, or do tricks that are simple. That’s what snowboarding’s about, it doesn’t need to be the gnarliest trick every day.” Toutant said.
As of this season, Vancouverites can head up to North Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain to put their snowboarding skills to test by hopping on a modified version of the new course.
Megan Beveridge, a volunteer with Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports at Grouse Mountain, says that there is a lot of excited chatter around the new course and she believes it is a fun learning environment for those who are into the hills.
“I think people are excited about it, I was talking to someone on the chair lift who was working with kids, and I think it would be a good space to teach and introduce people jumps,” said Beveridge. “I think it’s great they’re creating something to encourage people to get into snowboarding.”
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For Vancouverite and recreational snowboarder Tyler Henderson, he’s excited to go try the new course and hone his boarding abilities.
“This new course will just add to the excitement I feel every time I go to the mountain,” said Henderson. “I think it will definitely help me improve my skills.”