Everyone's had their fair share of injuries. For me wrists, cervical discs, collarbones, femurs, knees to name a few. Not all in the park but a good majority. Sometimes it was genuinely my fault and there were other times that the tranny was about 1/2 as long as it should have been.

Broken Femur, 2006 (N Baldy Amphitheater, Snowbird)

How many people have been hurt in the park cause they were pushing themselves learning a new trick or stepping up to a bigger feature? How many have been hurt cause the transition was WAY too short or the lip had too much or not enough pop?

There are a lot of talented builders who understand these concepts and how they all play into how riders jump. We should all be so lucky be always get to ride on what they build but there's still room for improvement. There's also a shortage of jump designs that allow for riders to safely try new tricks without resorting to an airbag or foam pit.

That's where we come in. I'm a grad student at the U of Washington, and I'm working on a research project measuring how variations in jump design affect how riders jump. With this experimental data we can predict how different jump designs will affect rider stability and flight paths with the ultimate goal of improving rider safety. We are NOT trying to regulate parks but actually trying to improve them while leaving designers room for creative flexibility.

You can help out by donating to our crowd funding campaign here: http://ow.ly/m7kpS

Donations of any amount are helpful so don't think that whatever you're able to give won't help. If we reach our goal, there's a good chance we'll be asking for volunteer riders next spring as well as an engineering intern or two if anyone is so inclined!

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/642539/Terrain-Park-Design-Research