1.) Snow Park Adventures Mark E
2.) ECOD does Snow Park Shane H
3.) NineOhhFive Snow Park Video Wars
4.) Ratz – Snow Park Video Wars
5.) Smuffy’s Spectacular Snow Park Submission (Ian P)

(Note: this is without judges’ scores.)

There’s a week and a half left to win, so don’t let these guys down! Who are you going to vote for?

-Parker

1) Ratz Snow Park Video Wars
2) NineOhhFive Snow Park Video Wars
3) Snow Park Adventures Mark E
4) ECOD Does Snow Park Shane H
5) Smuffy’s Spectacular Snow Park Submission

These videos will be moved onto www.snowparkniagara.com, and all voting will happen through there – everyone is set at 0 again! There will also be a judges’ score factored in. The winners will be announced November 16th, and I’m pumped. I can’t wait to see who wins!

Did your favorite make it into the top 5? Or are you sad to see who did? Let me know!

-Parker

It’s Friday, October 29th. Which means that on Monday, the top five in Video Wars will be officially selected. They’ll win $500 and be happy, everyone else gets nothing and they’re sad. It’s the wheel of fortune, though. (No, not this one, THIS one. )

Here is how the rankings stand:

Ratz – Snow Park Video Wars by markkgoodall
NineOhhFive Snow Park Video Wars by NineOhhFiveBoarding
Snow Park Adventures Mark E by Equinozzi14
Smuffy’s Spectacular Snowpark Submission (Ian P) by smuffinator
ECOD does Snow Park Shane H by futbolesvida002

Pretty consistent with what we’ve seen so far. However, I wanted to do a what-if analysis. What if they had decided to run the contest with the videos that received the least dislikes? You’d see a ranking like this:

1) 2 Dislikes

2) 6 Dislikes

3) Tied with 6 dislikes

4) 7 Dislikes

5) Tied with 7 dislikes

Interesting. Because let’s face it, it can be argued that if they are disliked the least, they could be liked the most.. and if we went by that logic, our top 5 would be at the bottom of the barrel.

What do you think? Do you agree with the top 5? Are you hoping to see another video push to the top? Well make sure you vote! I know I’m excited for Monday.

-Parker

And in my parent’s car, the little snowflake showed up on the temperature gauge.

Winter is pretty much here, forget December 21st!

I’ll start taking guesses – how many days until we see snow?

-Parker

A really complicated way to say that the rankings are as follows: 1) Ratz, 2) NineOhhFive, 3) MarkE, 4) ECOD, 5) Smuffy. On the outskirts are 6) Schindler and 7) TylerARavelle. For the most part, votes are really close. Most fall within the 200-400 range, but you can see how quickly things change in a matter of days. Remember, just for getting in the top 5 you get $500 – that’s worth a season pass somewhere, I’m sure.

On that note, I’ve been thinking about what I would do with $5000 and I have to say, I’m not too sure. Winning something like that is completely unexpected, so I feel like you need to DO something completely unexpected. Buy a segway or whatever. (By the way, did you know that the CEO of Segway rode one off a cliff and died? Ironic, and really sad). What would you do with $5000, in a completely outside-the-box kind of way? Let me know in the comments!

-Parker

A video on the fringe has broken the top 5! Smuffinator is now in 5th place:

Pushed into number 6 is:

All other rankings remain the same, but this goes to show how quickly things can change. The rankings were unchanged as of Friday, October 15th – it only took 3 days for Smuffinator to dethrone someone! Don’t get lazy, there’s only two weeks left to claim a top 5 spot!

-Parker

This Snow Park, Snow Park New Zealand, is a bit different than the Snow Flex and Tubing Hill that we have here. They have set out to create the “first dedicated snowsports terrain park.” Everything is made using the mountain, snow, and a little bit of construction help. Forget about ski runs – this is the place to come to perfect your skills and conquer a 22 foot halfpipe.

Personally, I don’t know when I’ll afford the $1400 it’ll probably cost me to get out there, but it’d definitely be cool to check out.

Their website is www.snowparknz.com

And for fun, here’s a long list of their rail/box inventory.
• Long Flat Box
• Flat Down Rail
• Long Round Bar Rail
• Dog Box
• Flat Down “T” Box
• Down Flat Down Rail
• Flat Down Flat Rail
• Long Box
• Long Down Box
• Down Flat Down Box
• Battleship Box
• Wallride
• High Rail
• Rainbow Rail
• Shotgun Rainbow Rail
• Original Down Box
• Flat Down Box (wide)
• Flat Down Box (old school)
• Flat Down Rail (Shotgun)
• 2 x 6m Flat Boxes
• 8m Flat Box
• Dinosaur Box
• Rainbow Box
• Quarterpipe
• Mini Wallride
• Small Flat Box
• 2 x small shotgun rails
• Stairs
• Permanent Stair set with two Flat rails and single barrel centre rail
• Intermediate Shotgun Rail
• “Joe’s” Rail
• 4 x Small Flat Rails
• 2 x C Boxes

Have you ridden on anything like these? Which one is your favorite?

Why does Lake Placid get a whole post? Well, mainly because of that whole Olympic thing they have going on over there. Lake Placid was host to the 1980 Winter Olympics – you know, the Miracle on Ice? The US Hockey Team owned the Soviet Union for the gold medal. Lake Placid boasts an Olympic Center where you can start honing your skills for Sochi 2012. Whiteface’s runs are perfect for Olympic-style speed and skill.

I went to Lake Placid a few years ago and to put it simply – it’s awesome. You get to board (or ski, or skate, or bobsled) where Olympians do. You get to skate where the greatest moment in sports’ history happened. You can do that crazy skeleton thing. And if you’re serious about your Olympic dreams, Lake Placid provides one of the best training facilities in the world.

Here’s the rundown:
Whiteface Lake Placid
5021 Rt 86
Wilmington NY 12997
www.whiteface.com
(518) 946-2223
Olympic Center
220 Bob Run, Rt 73
Lake Placid, NY 12946
(518) 523-2202
Season pass prices haven’t been released, but you’re looking at a ballpark of $700. It’s about a 3.5 hour drive for me, so I much prefer the 15-20 minute travel time to Snow Park, but alas, we have to look at other options for the time being.

Have any of you been to Lake Placid? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

-Parker

Peek’n Peak
1405 Olde Road, Clymer, NY 14724
www.pknpk.com
(716) 355-4141
Distance: 2 hours from Snow Park
Prices: $625, Ages 6-College – $399
Peek’n Peak is probably best known for their spa features – hot tubs and massages and all that. But they also boast 27 slopes and trails, and a terrain park for every possible skill level. They also offer tubing and snowmobile trail access.

Check it out for yourself:

Bristol Mountain Resort
5662 New York 64, Canandaigua, NY 14424
www.bristolmountain.com
(585) 374-6000
Distance: 2 hours from Snow Park
Prices: $665
Bristol Mountain is a popular destination for the Rochester-area set, and with 33 trails and 2 terrain parks (for the more experienced), it makes sense. Also fun – proximity to the Roseland Waterpark. Don’t act like you don’t love a good splash in the pool, too.

A video made by one of our Video Wars entrants!:

Let me know where you like to go! As awesome as I am, even I can’t know everything.

-Parker

Note: All prices reflect season passes. I encourage you to visit the websites of these places to check out day passes, lift tickets and more.
Also note: Distance is from Snow Park. For all I know, you live in a tent on top of Kissing Bridge’s trails.

Kissing Bridge
Kissing Bridge Lane, Boston, NY, 14025
www.kbski.com
(716) 592-4963
Distance: One hour from Snow Park
Prices: Adult – $525; 14-17 – $475; 7-13 – $425
KB offers 30+ trails and a terrain park to get your trick on. They offer lessons for skiers and snow boarders of all levels and a children’s program. Coming up: their annual Ski/Snowboard Swap and Open House Nov 12-14.

A nice Kissing Bridge Montage with an even nicer Passion Pit soundtrack:

Holiday Valley
6557 Holiday Valley Road, Ellicottville, NY, 14731
www.holidayvalley.com
(716) 699-2345
Distance: One Hour from Snow Park
Prices: $900
Holiday Valley is in Ellicottville, a cool town if you’ve never been. Also, purchasing their season pass offers you a discount on other snow resorts. They boast a Burton Learn to Ride Center, 58 trails! and four terrain parks.

A glimpse at Holiday Valley:

We’ll feature two more tomorrow, but let me know in the comments section: what’s your favorite resort to ride?
-Parker