Oniell Shoreditch Showdown

Last Thursday the Parkshaper team headed down to Shoreditch to work alongside the DWA to build the setup for one of the best UK ski and snowboard events that London has ever seen..

The park build started early Thursday morning with the arrival of the 80 tons of snow from the snow centre which arrived in 4 lorry loads.
With the main rail setup already in place the day before the carpenters where putting the finishing touches to the specially made ledges and brick work, whilst all us shapers got to work on the moving the snow around.

Luckily the weather gods where good to us all day and with no rain and a slight chill in the air the snow held up beautifully. On previous external snow drops we have found the snow sometimes doesn't hold very well making it hard to shape and feel soft under foot..
This time it was definitely not the case.


We started by getting the bulk of the snow in the right places making sure we had a good foot of snow deep all over. We then started getting the snow up onto the drop in ramp and take off.

Luckily we had Mario the italian tele handler driver who albeit very slowly negotiated his way around the features to assist us in getting the snow onto the centre section.

From there we then pushed the snow upwards to fully cover the drop in ramp and then build the take offs using the park rakes to ensure a tidy finish..

I have to give a massive shout out to Joe Rackley and his team for the design and build quality of the rails, post box, bus stop and street sign.. They where all so sick and built to perfection.
I can't believe Joe built an exact replica of a london post box.. and if you looked closely you could event see Joes face peeking out at you through the letter box..

The level of riding on the day was great, with 45 of the UK's best skiers and boarders the lucky few that got tickets to the show where definitely in for a treat..

A massive well done from all the team to 11 year old Will Gilmore, the youngest rider out there by far but did not hesitate to drop in and front board his way down the down rail.. SO SICK..

A big thank you to everyone who made the event what it was and thanks for inviting us to be part of it, a lot of blood sweat and tears went into the setup which I'm sure if you speak to anyone they will tell you they would do it again in a heartbeat..

Roll on next year!?

PARKSHAPER BLOG TEAM.