Danny Davis and Peace Park return
Welcome to Peace Park
"Whenever people ask for my input, I'm always saying let's change it up, let's change it all the way up," says Danny Davis, whose Peace Park project is a collaboration with Mountain Dew, Snow Park Technologies, and the crew at Grand Targhee to help translate some of his wildest ideas into shred-ready terrain. "Peace Park has been a pretty natural progression from there. It's like, 'let's break the halfpipe apart, add some bowls, throw in some rails, try something new, make it into a huge experiment and see what we can do with it.' And every year, it just keeps getting better." The full episode from the 2016 Peace Park sessions airs on ABC's "World of X Games" on Sun., Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. ET.
"Whenever people ask for my input, I'm always saying let's change it up, let's change it all the way up," says Danny Davis, whose Peace Park project is a collaboration with Mountain Dew, Snow Park Technologies, and the crew at Grand Targhee to help translate some of his wildest ideas into shred-ready terrain. "Peace Park has been a pretty natural progression from there. It's like, 'let's break the halfpipe apart, add some bowls, throw in some rails, try something new, make it into a huge experiment and see what we can do with it.' And every year, it just keeps getting better." The full episode from the 2016 Peace Park sessions airs on ABC's "World of X Games" on Sun., Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. ET.
Ride everything
"I came up riding everything and I was bummed when that started getting phased out as people started really specializing, to where you'd have pipe guys, park guys, rail guys, street guys... it all got real segregated like that for a while," Davis says. "From the beginning, Peace Park was meant as an antidote to all that. We put it at the end of the season so everyone could go do their thing, their contest scene or whatever, film all their video parts, then come here and just have a blast. Now I think it's trending the other way -- everybody wants to ride everything, again, especially the younger riders coming up -- and I like to think Peace Park has helped influence that."
"I came up riding everything and I was bummed when that started getting phased out as people started really specializing, to where you'd have pipe guys, park guys, rail guys, street guys... it all got real segregated like that for a while," Davis says. "From the beginning, Peace Park was meant as an antidote to all that. We put it at the end of the season so everyone could go do their thing, their contest scene or whatever, film all their video parts, then come here and just have a blast. Now I think it's trending the other way -- everybody wants to ride everything, again, especially the younger riders coming up -- and I like to think Peace Park has helped influence that."
Paying tribute
"Every year we like to get somebody with some legend status to come bless Peace Park and shred it with us," says Davis, pictured here with Jeff Brushie, one of snowboarding's first true rock stars and one of Davis' all-time heroes. "We'd always talked about having him come out -- in the past we've had guys like Terje Haakonsen, Trevor Andrew, Dave Downing, and Bryan Iguchi -- and this was the year it finally came together."
"Every year we like to get somebody with some legend status to come bless Peace Park and shred it with us," says Davis, pictured here with Jeff Brushie, one of snowboarding's first true rock stars and one of Davis' all-time heroes. "We'd always talked about having him come out -- in the past we've had guys like Terje Haakonsen, Trevor Andrew, Dave Downing, and Bryan Iguchi -- and this was the year it finally came together."
Sending it
"Greg [Bretz] is the man," Davis says. "He's one of those big, tall dudes with a really unique, smooth style, super consistent, and he just absolutely sends it every time. I aspire to be like him."
"Greg [Bretz] is the man," Davis says. "He's one of those big, tall dudes with a really unique, smooth style, super consistent, and he just absolutely sends it every time. I aspire to be like him."
The crew
"It's definitely an eclectic crew, and that's part of what makes it so much fun," Davis says. "These are not necessarily riders who are together all year, because everybody's off on their separate trips doing their thing in different aspects of snowboarding. We had quite a few younger guys this year, which made it extra fun: the energy those kids bring, the stoke to ride everything and anything... all these kids are down. They're just hyped to shred." This year's Peace Park riders included Mikkel Bang, Greg Bretz, Jeff Brushie, Danny Davis, Sebbe Debuck, Ben Ferguson, Gabe Ferguson, Red Gerard, Christian Haller, Taku Hiraoka, Scotty James, Matt Ladley, Kyle Mack, Nils Mindnich, Alek Oestreng, Charles Reid, and Darcy Sharpe.
"It's definitely an eclectic crew, and that's part of what makes it so much fun," Davis says. "These are not necessarily riders who are together all year, because everybody's off on their separate trips doing their thing in different aspects of snowboarding. We had quite a few younger guys this year, which made it extra fun: the energy those kids bring, the stoke to ride everything and anything... all these kids are down. They're just hyped to shred." This year's Peace Park riders included Mikkel Bang, Greg Bretz, Jeff Brushie, Danny Davis, Sebbe Debuck, Ben Ferguson, Gabe Ferguson, Red Gerard, Christian Haller, Taku Hiraoka, Scotty James, Matt Ladley, Kyle Mack, Nils Mindnich, Alek Oestreng, Charles Reid, and Darcy Sharpe.
Surf's up
"When you schedule something like Peace Park for the end of the season, in the spring, you never know what kind of conditions you're going to get, but so far we've been crazy blessed," says Davis. "This year we got a foot and a half of super good snow, in April, and we had a snowcat, so everyone got to go out and surf some pow. Man, that was so fun. Those days, when it all works out so perfectly and everything is just pure fun... there's nothing like it."
"When you schedule something like Peace Park for the end of the season, in the spring, you never know what kind of conditions you're going to get, but so far we've been crazy blessed," says Davis. "This year we got a foot and a half of super good snow, in April, and we had a snowcat, so everyone got to go out and surf some pow. Man, that was so fun. Those days, when it all works out so perfectly and everything is just pure fun... there's nothing like it."
Still out there
"I'm someone who hopes I can snowboard forever, and that's one of the cool things about [Jeff] Brushie, because he's still out there hiking laps with everyone, as hyped as ever," Davis says. This season Davis has been riding the reissued version of Brushie's iconic "Trout" 1993 pro model for Burton Snowboards that Brushie is carrying here. "He was out there handplanting, cracking some methods, slashing, and to see guys like him still riding well and still loving twenty-some years down the line is an inspiration to me. That's how I want to be."
"I'm someone who hopes I can snowboard forever, and that's one of the cool things about [Jeff] Brushie, because he's still out there hiking laps with everyone, as hyped as ever," Davis says. This season Davis has been riding the reissued version of Brushie's iconic "Trout" 1993 pro model for Burton Snowboards that Brushie is carrying here. "He was out there handplanting, cracking some methods, slashing, and to see guys like him still riding well and still loving twenty-some years down the line is an inspiration to me. That's how I want to be."
On a big scale
"What I respect most about Mikkel [Bang] is that everything he does is on such a big scale," Davis says. "If he's going to hit a jump he's going to hit a massive jump. If he's going to ride a big mountain line, it's going to be crazy line. He wants to hit the gnarliest stuff there is." Tune into the 2016 Peace Park show on ABC's "World of X Games" on Sun., Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. ET.
"What I respect most about Mikkel [Bang] is that everything he does is on such a big scale," Davis says. "If he's going to hit a jump he's going to hit a massive jump. If he's going to ride a big mountain line, it's going to be crazy line. He wants to hit the gnarliest stuff there is." Tune into the 2016 Peace Park show on ABC's "World of X Games" on Sun., Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. ET.