“It’s the Olympics. It should be flawless. What a lame showcase of snowboarding, and what a lame way to treat the athletes.” – Danny Davis, USA Snowboard Halfpipe athlete
“The IOC probably didn’t want to pay the right guys to do it. I’m pretty sure what they’re focused on is keeping as much money in their hands as possible. That’s the shame of it all. All these kids, myself included, worked very hard to get here. And then the pipe is just no fun and boring and [expletive]. Halfpipe is super fun. But riding a crappy pipe and having to perform in it is the worst.” – Danny Davis
“It’s super sketchy. The snow is super soft, we’re just digging into the snow. I just side-slipped the last run and there’s holes like 20 centimeters wide.” While Arthur spoke another rider went down hard, knocking her helmet off her head. He watched as it bounced down the flat-bottom. – Arthur Longo, French snowboard halfpipe competitor
“It’s a little disappointing. It’s hard to get in there and have all the tricks and not be able to get to the wall. I’m hoping they can do whatever they can to make it a better pipe.” – Shaun White
Truckee, CA based Danny Davis went on to say that the flat/bottom part of the pipe is bumpy and full of sugary snow. This is reportedly slowing riders down significantly and throwing off flow, rhythm, and safety.
Danny has also called the halfpipe “garbage” and “crappy.” Another halfpipe competitor called it “unsalvageable.”
One of the controversies surrounding the problematic halfpipe was the IOC giving the halfpipe building contract to New Zealand-based Development Snowparks in place of Lake Tahoe based Snow Park Technologies, widely considered the best halfipipe builders on Earth.
Development Snowparks has been trying to fix the halfpipe flaws but many riders have stated that the ‘fixes’ have actually created more issues with the halfpipe.
Officials are holding off on treating the halfpipe with chemicals that might help improve its condition until the halfpipe finals on Tuesday night.
In general, riders have widely regarded X-Games halfpipes to be much better than Olympic halfpipes.
what a shame. I was talking to a Russian friend who said that Russians don’t watch skiing or boarding or care much about the sport. It’s all skating there. so….priorities affecting spending? A New Zealand company? isn’t NZ chasing the tail of this sport, rather than leading the technology as they are in Tahoe?