Winsport Canada Olympic Park, or C.O.P. to it's friends, is the epitome of the ‘local hill'. A mere 20-minute drive west from anywhere in Calgary and easily accessible by public transit, C.O.P. is the ultimate urban winter playground. Originally named Paskapoo, the hill was sold in 1984 and prepped for the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. Due to the success of the games a legacy fund was created and has been utilized to help run the facility right up until now. C.O.P. continues to be a world-class training and event facility for all things winter: moguls, ski jumping, aerials, luge, cross-country skiing and more importantly to us snowboarders, halfpipe and slopestyle. The area plays host to numerous regional snowboard contest each year, along with global events such as the World Cup and Burton Canadian Open. It was during the final stages of the terrain park build for these two events that Wade Cose, former pro snowboarder and all around shred park guru, let me ride shotgun in his Snowcat so I could pick his brain about C.O.P. Wade, at 35, is married and has a two-and-a-half year old son and five month old daughter. He has been snowboarding for 17 years, living in Calgary for 12, building terrain parks at C.O.P. for 10 and his current title is ‘Venues Manager'.

Wade Cose, with his tool of choice and the fruits of his labours.

Give me your take on the terrain park and what your goals are when designing and building this park.
It's almost cliché now, but it really is all about progression. The majority of our user group are beginners learning to ski and snowboard, but we do have a high number of clubs, about ten or twelve, that train here. Some of those guys are on the World Cup tour, others are up-and-comers so it's really about making all of them happy. I need to have a kid be able to snowplow down through the park; we don't shut our park off to anyone, we allow anyone in as long as they wear a helmet, so it's open concept park building. Everyone can use it but it has to be safe and fun for everyone. We have to be able to create jumps and jibs and fun things for kids to play on that an eight year old can enjoy, but at the same time guys like Dustin Craven or Scott Shaw need to be able to go in and have fun too. We aren't about hundred foot tables, but we are about progression.

C.O.P.'s commitment to snowboarding right now is very apparent. How has that evolved in the twelve years you've been here and what do you see happening down the road?
It started as a side interest. They built a halfpipe and terrain park because that's what was happening. Other areas were doing it and kids were asking for it. It was built up slowly to make sure it complied with their whole "family model". Obviously,  over the years, that has grown. We still have that family core, but now we have the clubs and the teams that want to come here and train. Also add to that big events like World Cups and the Burton Open and you can see that it's really grown. I never thought it would get this big. I always figured it would stay a more family oriented place, so it's great! We've learned so much over the years and it really shows in our final product these days.

One last thing...Why C.O.P.? Why not just drive past it en route to the Rockies?
Easy: it's by far the best warm up spot. For sure. If it's sunny and windy here and there's a chinook in town, (chinooks are a weather phenomenon in the Calgary area that can cause very warm conditions in the middle of winter) it's snowy and cloudy in the mountains, so you can spend the day riding here working on your jumps, keeping your legs under you, getting comfortable and then as soon as the cold weather rolls back into town here, normally the mountains will be sunny and nice. Then you go out there to get all the fresh powder, build booters and whatever else. C.O.P. is the perfect practice spot. You couldn't ask for much more. It's one of the best training facilities in the world.

C.O.P.'s pipe in World Cup mode.

Stats:
- 394' vertical drop
- 2 chairlifts and 4 moving carpets
- Night riding
- Terrain park, 22' pipe and 12' pipe
- 80% beginner to intermediate terrain, 20% intermediate to advanced
- Adult season pass: $599
- Student/youth season pass: $569
- Adult day pass: $39
- Youth day pass $32
- 22 foot Zaugg Pipe Monster
- 4 snowcats
- Some snowboard alumni's: TJ Schneider, Scott Shaw, Dustin Craven, Mike Suderman, Dwayne Wiebe
- More info: www.winsportcanada.ca

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Related:
Canadian Open Halfpipe Finals (2009)
Push.ca At The Canadian Open: Slopestyle Finals (2009)
Billabong's Ante Up 2009 (video)