Huck and Splash

I am Ted "Shred" Gwathmey.  I have been a skier for 40 years, a coach for 20 years and a freestyle specific coach for 10 years.   The sport has changed radically since I started, and I get stoked on every new grab and new corked variation.  It's tough and painful to get a new trick dialed in at a terrain park.  I have been working for the past 10 years on a design and strategy for the ultimate place to learn, without the painful wrecks. 

My mission is to make Huck & Splash the best possible place for skiers and boarders to take the sport to the next level.  Additionally, Huck & Splash has to be a blast for everyone, including the folks my age and older.  Huck & Splash is going to be a perpetual expression session where your mom's first 360 is going to be just as steezy as your first D-Spin 1080.  That is the vision and I won't be satisfied until the vision becomes the reality.

Why Freestyle Jumping?

Unfortunately ski resorts haven't figured out a way to get accurate stats on how many people go through their terrain parks on a typical ski day.  They can only tell you that, from their observations, the number is significant.  Terrain parks are incredibly popular and can be incredibly dangerous for those who don't know how to utilize them safely.  Air awareness helps, but there is more to it than that.  Safety of the sport clearly depends on the knowledge and skill level of the skiers and boarders themselves.  It is better to learn the lessons in an environment where the mistakes won't require a hospital stay.

Shred???

I believe that it takes a 22 year old mind trapped in the body of a 42 year old to pull this off.  I am 42, but I still enjoy jumping and I am always trying to learn something new.  I want to be as aggressive as I was when I was 22, but the bumps and bruises don't heal as fast now.  There are plenty of splash pools out there that were built for the 22 year old body.  When that skier or boarder wrecks he/she says "well that didn't hurt too bad" and they get up and do it again.  If I build another splash pool for the 22 year old body, then it won't be fun for everyone else.   I am going to build a splash pool for the body of a 72 year old and then everyone else is going to love it.