The Man Behind the Curtain

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

That timeless quote from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in my opinion, typifies a good groomer. Tyson Goodrich is the man behind the curtain of Park City Mountain Resort's infamous terrain park. I say infamous, because not only was it the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics where USA swept the competition, gleaning Gold, Silver, and Bronze, but more recently was the site of Kevin Pearce's unfortunate scorpion to head-smash, which left him in a coma for several weeks, and took him completely out of the running for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. To track Kevin's progress, feel free to become a fan on Facebook of Well Wishes to our Frend Kevin Pearce.


In  good competition venue, the masterminds behind the features are faceless, thankless, ethereal presences that only really get noticed if something sucks. If the features are good, everyone can focus on the next-level tricks being thrown down, just like Shawn White's double McTwist 1260 that he learned just prior to the US Snowboard Grand Prix. Tyson Goodrich spent weeks on end, pulling eighteen-hour days, pushing and shaping, and changing, and remastering until the pipe was 22 feet high, 550 feet long, and at an exact 18 degree slope. Andy Earl and I got a chance to ride along with the good chap and do a little interview. Here's some of the pics I took while sitting shotgun with an artist, and next time you're watching a half-pipe event on TV, or passing by at the resort, remember the dude working the graveyard shift, drinking Red Bull and Coffee, listening to Iron Maiden, and making the pipe the best it's ever been.