There’s been a storm brewing at Falls Creek this week and not the kind that comes with snow.
A community of irate skiers and snowboarders took to social media to voice their anger at Falls Creek Ski Resort with over 280 negative comments made on a recent Instagram post by @fallsterrainparks.
According to the commentary the majority of riders are not happy with the level of features offered at the resort and that the legendary advanced Ruined Castle park has not been opened since the 2019 season.
Bearing in mind, however, that the Victorian ski resorts were mostly closed during Covid in 2020 and 2021 due to state travel restrictions and lockdowns. While in 2022 Ruined Castle terrain park did open from 23rd July to 28th Sept, excluding bad weather days, and that the following 2023 and 2024 years were seriously below average snow seasons that did not support a Ruined Castle build, let alone a full ski season.
The litany of complaints on the Instagram post about terrain park features in recent years even prompted NZSki’s The Remarkables terrain park profile to post a comment to hijack the thread for some cheeky Kiwi marketing.
It also prompted an online petition to “Bring Back Falls Creek Terrain Parks” , set up by an anonymous account called Park Revolution, with over 500 e-signatures asking to bring back more terrain park features with local-park-rider-community input.
“We’re aware of the social media engagement surrounding our Terrain Park offering early-season and we value all feedback, good and bad, in our efforts to continually improve the guest experience at Falls Creek,” said VP and General Manager of Falls Creek Ski Lifts, Richard Phillips when we reached out for comment.
“It’s important to remember that progression in our Parks offerings is important so that less experienced riders aren’t tempted by too advanced features, which is why beginner and intermediate parks are often developed earlier in the season.
“Snow coverage is also a factor, especially for a Park such as Ruined Castle, which is outside the snowmaking area and reliant on natural snow.
“We have plans in place to build a park in that area of the resort this winter and are hopeful of good snow in the weeks ahead that will allow this to happen.”
Falls Creek has in the past been an international Mecca for terrain park snowboarders in particular (and who can forget the Terrain Park Institute yellow bus feature). Those who remember the days of TTR Stylewars at Falls Creek (2005 – 2014) will remember the international community of snowboarders descending upon the unassuming Victorian alpine resort annually to compete in Ruined Castle terrain park for big prizes.
In 2007 Torgstein Horgmo (now X Games triple gold and triple silver medallist) hit the world’s biggest jump (at the time) landing a 120ft gap. Where? At Falls Creek.
Then, as recent as 2018, the team from Volcom released Attunga: A Higher Place snowboarding film shot the year before at Falls Creek with former resort Ambassador, four time World Champion, seven time X Games gold, and Winter Olympic silver and bronze medalist Scotty James.
It’s hard to witness change when you were once the go-to for park, especially as Perisher across the border hosts international Olympic and X Games athletes on their terrain park, athletes that can also combine their training with nearby Jindabyne NSTC dry land airbag jumps. Even harder to watch now-Thredbo Ambassador Scotty James launch an Olympic level training halfpipe at Thredbo for professional athletes along side the MOOKi mini pipe for grommet shredders to be inspired.
The current ground swell of frustrated skiers and snowboarders within the Falls Creek park community have been sliding into our DMs all week, though none willing to go on the record to substantiate claims, including: that park feature approval processes take weeks missing weather windows for park builds and that Falls Creek intends to remove all terrain parks and become strictly family-only-no-park skiing.
With regards terrain park build processes we are informed that approvals at Falls Creek, Hotham and Perisher work in much the same way. High-level plans are approved, such as size and location of Park, and resource needs, before more creative license by terrain park crews comes into play, subject to safety considerations, weather conditions and other terrain commitments, such as events.
Length of approvals can depend on whether the Park is of the same size and location as previous seasons or whether it’s a brand-new offering, which would typically take a longer process.
“Falls Creek does pride itself on the amazing family skiing and snowboarding experiences and we also see terrain parks that allow progression for all family members as an important aspect of this experience,” said Phillips regarding rumours of terrain park removals that won’t happen.
The @fallsterrainparks account posted a response on Friday to the social media furore, acknowledging the feedback and revealing what’s ahead.
View this post on Instagram
“We’re sorry that we haven’t been meeting guests’ expectations and we’re committed to doing better. Rest assured that Parks will continue to be part of the mountain experience at Falls Creek, and our crew continue to work hard shaping what’s possible. While conditions and terrain evolve, so will the features,” said Phillips.
The skills we have in our Parks team at Falls Creek are excellent and we are proud of what they have achieved in previous seasons and excited with the plans and innovations that will roll out through this winter across all terrain parks in Falls Creek.”
