Spinning 360s and noseslide pretzel outs – hundreds of freestyle snowboarders and skiers opened the nation’s first urban rail yard Saturday in Denver’s Ruby Hill Park.
“Sledding is so last century,” said City Councilwoman Kathleen Mac Kenzie at the park’s opening.
‘Boarders and skiers spun and slid, fell and leapt over six “rails” installed by Winter Park ski experts in collaboration with the Denver Parks and Recreation Department.
The 3-foot-thick snow was blown from 750,000 gallons of Denver water, helped by a strong base from the past few weeks’ natural snowfall.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Greg Baker, father of three boys, who is volunteering at least four hours a week to help maintain the rail park in southwest Denver, at South Platte River Drive and West Florida Avenue.
Baker and his colleagues will hand-groom the slope, which covers nearly an acre, and oversee activities. He’ll get Winter Park ski passes in return.
The six “rails” are more like benches, several inches across the top and more than a dozen feet long.
Skiers and snowboarders slide down a short slope and up a snow ramp onto the rails, spinning, sliding along edges and leaping off the end into the air.
“This is the beginning of a scene,” said Bryan Dehaven, owner of TS Board Shop on South Broadway.
Dehaven, another volunteer, said he hopes such parks become as trendy as urban skateboarding.
“If this goes well, we’ll have these all over the country,” Dehaven said.
City officials said that other than staff time, the only tangible city purchase for Ruby Hill’s rail yard was a rules sign.
Winter Park’s Matt Sugar said final cost numbers are not available, but Winter Park provided equipment ranging from a snowblower to the rails.
Many of the more than 250 people at Saturday’s opening spent their youth tubing and sledding down Ruby Park’s hills.
“We’d fly into the street,” laughed Joaquin Sanchez, 30.
Sanchez said he can’t afford to get up to the mountains more than once a year, but he bought a used snowboard and boots in a pawnshop a few years back and is excited to use the new hill. “I can’t wait. I don’t have to go to the mountains now,” he said.
Weather permitting, the yard should be open through February.
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-954-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
