MT BULLER Park Update from Clive Dickerson

Greg & Triff

Mt Buller Park Update

Text and Pics by Clive Dickerson (except where noted)

One thing about Mt Buller is that it is close to the city, full of fashion and wanna-be gangsta snowboarders, but saying this, the mountain is sick if they get the snow, and lately it has been coming down in buckets. Buller has far better terrain than Falls Creek, but the Falls park, what can you say?

Buller is really stepping it up in the park stakes this year and it looks like the grooming department is working hard to build nice kickers and features. The pipe shouldn't be far off and there are some sweet kickers on Summit at around 45 feet with a nice big take off. It looks like three are being built and there is an awesome rail line with a new feature called 'Frank the Tank', which is a HUGE gas tank, a FYVE / Obvious whale tail or can be called a rainbow kicker box and a whole heap of other features. The also have a nice medium size kicker built on the Skyline park.

Stu Lakeland

Stu Lakeland is running the show these days and doing it well. So Stu, how many park areas does Buller have this year and what are they?

This year we have 3 Terrain Parks, a half pipe, and a boarder/skier cross course. We're aiming to cater for all levels of park rider with our Koflers Park being filled with small to medium sized rails, boxes and jumps. The Skyline park has medium to extra large boxes, rails and bonks, and medium to large jumps. The Summit park consists of large to extra large jumps.


What features have you got rocking and what is to come this season?

In the Koflers park we have a number of surface level rails and boxes along with some small jumps.
In the Skyline park we medium, large and XL lines filled with flat boxes, down bars, up bars, kinks, and one of our new features... Frank the Tank!
We have been fortunate enough to be donated two new boxes this year. Fyve and Obviouse have kindly donated a 'Whale Tail' box which is a great addition to the park. The boys at Decoy have donated a 'bugle' box, which is a flaired flat box with each side tapering to become banked C's.

How does BSL management work with you in allowing you to create the different park areas?

Early in the year we're allocated our different areas on the mountain where we can build our parks, in low snow seasons we may be allocated a 'temporary' park site. For example earlier this season where we had a small space on our Bourke St run where we had a fun early season park setup.
As the season kicks off we're allocated a certain amount of grooming and park digger hours for us to build our parks.


You guys seem to be getting a bit more Cat time this year, who is grooming the park? Does he work in any overseas parks?

Big Phill Trewhella is our park groomer and has been for a few years now. He has groomed park overseas at Norquay at Banff, Squaw Valley and COP in Calgary. He is constantly improving and providing a better product every day.


Who are the Park crew this year? It's good to see you have a mix of skier and snowboarders in there.

We have a good crew with Adam Edwards as the park Manager, myself as supervisor, Andre Philbrick is my second in charge, Scottly Talbut is our resident skier and Sean Herily is our newest member. We also have 10 vollunteers who work a certain number of days with us in return for a seasons pass.

Sammy

How long have you been riding for? Have you worked in any overseas Terrain Parks?

This is my 10th season riding and working at Mt Buller and have worked overseas in the Telluride terrain park, and have done seasons in Whistler, Breckenridge, Steamboat, and have been to Japan a couple of times.


So now we have the snow, what new things are we going to see Buller pulling out this year?

This year we're really trying to cater for all levels and to provide a really good progression.
We've almost repaired our C box and we're currently building a double barrel down flat down rail. With more snow we'll continue pushing in the summit park for some more jumps. One thing about Mt Buller is that it is close to the city, full of fashion and wanna-be gangsta snowboarders, but saying this, the mountain is sick if they get the snow, and lately it has been coming down in buckets. Buller has far better terrain than Falls Creek, but the Falls park, what can you say?

Buller is really stepping it up in the park stakes this year and it looks like the grooming department is working hard to build nice kickers and features. The pipe shouldn't be far off and there are some sweet kickers on Summit at around 45 feet with a nice big take off. It looks like three are being built and there is an awesome rail line with a new feature called 'Frank the Tank', which is a HUGE gas tank, a FYVE / Obvious whale tail or can be called a rainbow kicker box and a whole heap of other features. The also have a nice medium size kicker built on the Skyline park.

Clive Dickerson P: Dosha

Stu Lakeland is running the show these days and doing it well. So Stu, how many park areas does Buller have this year and what are they?

This year we have 3 Terrain Parks, a half pipe, and a boarder/skier cross course. We're aiming to cater for all levels of park rider with our Koflers Park being filled with small to medium sized rails, boxes and jumps. The Skyline park has medium to extra large boxes, rails and bonks, and medium to large jumps. The Summit park consists of large to extra large jumps.


What features have you got rocking and what is to come this season?

In the Koflers park we have a number of surface level rails and boxes along with some small jumps.
In the Skyline park we medium, large and XL lines filled with flat boxes, down bars, up bars, kinks, and one of our new features... Frank the Tank!
We have been fortunate enough to be donated two new boxes this year. Fyve and Obviouse have kindly donated a 'Whale Tail' box which is a great addition to the park. The boys at Decoy have donated a 'bugle' box, which is a flaired flat box with each side tapering to become banked C's.


How does BSL management work with you in allowing you to create the different park areas?

Early in the year we're allocated our different areas on the mountain where we can build our parks, in low snow seasons we may be allocated a 'temporary' park site. For example earlier this season where we had a small space on our Bourke St run where we had a fun early season park setup.
As the season kicks off we're allocated a certain amount of grooming and park digger hours for us to build our parks.

Marc Triffit

You guys seem to be getting a bit more Cat time this year, who is grooming the park? Does he work in any overseas parks?

Big Phill Trewhella is our park groomer and has been for a few years now. He has groomed park overseas at Norquay at Banff, Squaw Valley and COP in Calgary. He is constantly improving and providing a better product every day.


Who are the Park crew this year? It's good to see you have a mix of skier and snowboarders in there.

We have a good crew with Adam Edwards as the park Manager, myself as supervisor, Andre Philbrick is my second in charge, Scottly Talbut is our resident skier and Sean Herily is our newest member. We also have 10 vollunteers who work a certain number of days with us in return for a seasons pass.

Stu Lakeland

How long have you been riding for? Have you worked in any overseas Terrain Parks?

This is my 10th season riding and working at Mt Buller and have worked overseas in the Telluride terrain park, and have done seasons in Whistler, Breckenridge, Steamboat, and have been to Japan a couple of times.


So now we have the snow, what new things are we going to see Buller pulling out this year?

This year we're really trying to cater for all levels and to provide a really good progression.
We've almost repaired our C box and we're currently building a double barrel down flat down rail. With more snow we'll continue pushing in the summit park for some more jumps.

Marc Triffit  P: Dosha