Work/Expense of Halfpipe Construction
Building a halfpipe is a time consuming. It takes about 10 - 20 hours to
construct the walls and the basic shape of the pipe. This includes building
the start area as well as shaping the walls (with or without a Pipe Dragon
or similar device). As the Pipe Dragon shapes the transition of the walls
the most important element is the initial cut by the snowcats to achieve
a balanced and even wall height and a consistent slope of the channel of
the halfpipe.
Even with the Pipe Dragon (or other machines) hand shaping for the vertical
section. If using a Pipe Dragon, the amount of man hours doing the hand shoveling
with 10 men or women will take 4-8 hours each. If hand shaping without the
use of a Pipe Dragon or back hoe the amount of man hours doubles and the
best formula is using ten workers for around twenty hours each. This should
complete the job of the initial halfpipe development.
The cost of halfpipe construction changes year to year and varies from mountain
to mountain. I believe the cost of building and maintaining a halfpipe is
approximately $20,000-$40,000 per year. This money is well spent by the host
mountain as an attraction point and the halfpipe should be looked upon as
an investment that is maintained during the course of the season.
Back to the
main
story
|