Beijing reveals Great Wall-inspired Olympic slopestyle course
Cast your mind back to the women’s snowboard slopestyle event from Pyeongchang 2018 and you may recall the wind playing havoc, with riders describing the proceedings as “dangerous” and a “s— show”. It was a disappointing distraction from an otherwise epic slopestyle course and a talented line-up of riders.
Well, the same world-renowned park creators, Schneestern GmbH & Co, have been given the job of creating the Beijing 2022 slopestyle course at China’s Genting Resort Secret Garden, and there’s no doubt Pyeongchang will have been in mind. The “culture-connected” course has taken inspiration from the Great Wall of China, with a replica wall running alongside the top sections of the course to protect riders from the prevailing westerly winds.
Beijing 2022 slopestyle course
“The main challenge we faced was to protect riders from the strong west winds. ‘Where would you like to be in windy conditions?’ I asked myself. Behind the wall, right?”, says Schneestern head designer Dirk Scheumann.
“That’s how Great Wall design came to be a part of the course. Also, the rail features are installed in steps, that go lower and lower towards the right side. We believe this will serve its function and that riders will be able to perform at their best.
“Once the wind issue was solved we put all effort to designing features that allowed for creative lines on the rails, take-offs, and landings, and I hope to see all the lines we imagined – and more – utilised by the riders at Beijing 2022.”
Beijing 2022 slopestyle course
The course features the standard three jib sections and three jumps, but with the kind of flair and creativity you’d expect from an event of this magnitude. A Newschoolers article describes it as “…pretty rad, like an extended Audi Nines setup.”
There are a couple of defining features of this course – the first, in the second jib section, is a replica of a Great Wall watchtower, with a slideable ridge beam on the roof to boot. A post from FIS/Schneestern states that it “has the potential to be the most-photographed aspect of the entire Beijing 2022 slopestyle course”.
Section four features two imposing, off-camber kickers that were featured for the first time on Pyeongchang 2018. They will send riders 19 metres over a table top to the sweet spot of the landing and will require “some inspired trick selection to get the most out of the feature”.
‘“Options” are what the three jib sections are all about, with section one and two both boasting five main sliding features apiece – including one feature in section two that has the potential to be the most-photographed aspect of the entire Beijing 2022 slopestyle course, as a replica of a Great Wall watchtower stands tall, complete with slideable ridge beam on the roof. The third jib section is something of a rail/jump/butter box combo which should lend itself well to showcasing a competitor’s creativity, before the freeskiers and snowboarders head into the second half of the course for some airtime.’
‘From section three the freeskiers and snowboarders will flow out to the first of the jumps in section four, which is a redux of the ‘wing’ or ‘skew’ jump that was featured for the first time ever in PyeongChang, four years ago. The two imposing, twin, off-kilter kickers will send competitors over a table top that is 19m to the ‘sweet spot’ of the landing, all while challenging their edge control and requiring some inspired trick selection to get the most out of the feature.’
‘Following the skew jumps is another section built for creativity, as section five is a monolithic pile of snow that features roller-to-knuckle buttering options, transfer kickers and quarterpipes all leading to the same landing. With 5m high kickers, a peak height of 9m at the top of a roller, and a sweet spot in the landing that is some 21m distance from the kickers, section five is both a beast and one of the most forgiving features on the course – depending on how you ride it.’
‘Finally, the Beijing 2022 slopestyle course will finish off with the feature that’s the most fundamental of them all when it comes to freestyle snowboarding and freeskiing – a huge, old-fashioned straight kicker 5m tall that will launch competitors above a 21m ‘step-over’ table top.’
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