Hawk Island Snowpark
New sports park has winter thrills for residents
By Lauren Gibbons | Originally Published: 3 hours ago | 1 comment
When Eric Starke was considering going to MSU for college, he wasn’t sure if he could give up his habit of snowboarding six days a week.
Then he heard about the upcoming Hawk Island Snow Park project and his mind changed.
“I really didn’t want to go here because I wouldn’t be able to snowboard every day, but now I’ll be able to,” the human resource management freshman said.
Come December, Starke and other interested students, residents and snowboard and ski enthusiasts will have a place to partake in winter sports in an urban setting at Hawk Island Snow Park in Hawk Island County Park, 1601 East Cavanaugh Road in Lansing.
The multi-use hill will have areas available for tubing, snowboarding and skiing.
Modern Skate and Surf owner George Leichtweis, and Bob Ford and Pete Bosheff, principals of the newly created group Urban Snow Parks LLC, championed the project and teamed up with Ingham County Parks to make the hill a reality.
Hawk Island Park Manager Brian Collins said plans to create a tubing hill already were in place through a $75,000 matching grant from Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources when Urban Snow Parks representatives came to the county about the prospect of including a snowboarding and skiing section last winter.
“It just … fit along with the winter sports route they were going to go,” Collins said.
“It made logical sense to put snowboarding in there too.”
County officials aside $35,000 to assist with additional grating and architectural issues, but the snowboarding portion will be paid for through fundraising and admission fees, Collins said. Admission to the park will be $7.
Bosheff said the project will be one of the only urban sports parks of its kind in the country.
The snowboarding portion was designed by Ryan Neptune, a nationally recognized winter sports course designer who has worked on terrain parks for events such as the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Having a place to snowboard much closer to home will benefit many MSU students and Lansing area residents who currently have to commute to parks hours away, Bosheff said.
“They’ll be able to have as much fun on this thing five minutes away from campus instead of driving two hours, spending the night, buying a big lift ticket and all that sort of thing,” Bosheff said. “The potential of success is huge.”
Collins said the tubing hill combined with the urban sports project will bring new customers to Hawk Island and the plans already have garnered the interest of many community members.
“The hill will attract a lot of people that wouldn’t always use the park,” Collins said.
Big plans are in store for the park, and many MSU students will be involved every step of the way, hospitality business junior Alex Mlynarek said.
Interested boarders hope to add new amenities to the park such as new rails, snowmaking machines, concessions and a small lodge for park users through fundraising and a planning committee.
To Mlynarek, the volunteer efforts of he and other snowboarders at MSU to get the park off the ground is based on the love of their hobby.
“We’re not going to get paid, but we all just love to snowboard so much that we’re just going to be out here every day,” Mlynarek said.
By Lauren Gibbons | Originally Published: 3 hours ago | 1 comment
When Eric Starke was considering going to MSU for college, he wasn’t sure if he could give up his habit of snowboarding six days a week.
Then he heard about the upcoming Hawk Island Snow Park project and his mind changed.
“I really didn’t want to go here because I wouldn’t be able to snowboard every day, but now I’ll be able to,” the human resource management freshman said.
Come December, Starke and other interested students, residents and snowboard and ski enthusiasts will have a place to partake in winter sports in an urban setting at Hawk Island Snow Park in Hawk Island County Park, 1601 East Cavanaugh Road in Lansing.
The multi-use hill will have areas available for tubing, snowboarding and skiing.
Modern Skate and Surf owner George Leichtweis, and Bob Ford and Pete Bosheff, principals of the newly created group Urban Snow Parks LLC, championed the project and teamed up with Ingham County Parks to make the hill a reality.
Hawk Island Park Manager Brian Collins said plans to create a tubing hill already were in place through a $75,000 matching grant from Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources when Urban Snow Parks representatives came to the county about the prospect of including a snowboarding and skiing section last winter.
“It just … fit along with the winter sports route they were going to go,” Collins said.
“It made logical sense to put snowboarding in there too.”
County officials aside $35,000 to assist with additional grating and architectural issues, but the snowboarding portion will be paid for through fundraising and admission fees, Collins said. Admission to the park will be $7.
Bosheff said the project will be one of the only urban sports parks of its kind in the country.
The snowboarding portion was designed by Ryan Neptune, a nationally recognized winter sports course designer who has worked on terrain parks for events such as the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Having a place to snowboard much closer to home will benefit many MSU students and Lansing area residents who currently have to commute to parks hours away, Bosheff said.
“They’ll be able to have as much fun on this thing five minutes away from campus instead of driving two hours, spending the night, buying a big lift ticket and all that sort of thing,” Bosheff said. “The potential of success is huge.”
Collins said the tubing hill combined with the urban sports project will bring new customers to Hawk Island and the plans already have garnered the interest of many community members.
“The hill will attract a lot of people that wouldn’t always use the park,” Collins said.
Big plans are in store for the park, and many MSU students will be involved every step of the way, hospitality business junior Alex Mlynarek said.
Interested boarders hope to add new amenities to the park such as new rails, snowmaking machines, concessions and a small lodge for park users through fundraising and a planning committee.
To Mlynarek, the volunteer efforts of he and other snowboarders at MSU to get the park off the ground is based on the love of their hobby.
“We’re not going to get paid, but we all just love to snowboard so much that we’re just going to be out here every day,” Mlynarek said.