Former Mount Shasta resident Tyson Goodrich’s 22 foot tall halfpipe at Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort is one of just six in the country, and next week, it will be the site of the US Snowboarding Grand Prix – a qualifying race for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Having grown up in Mount Shasta and getting his start as a trail groomer at the Mt. Shasta Ski Park, 32 year-old Goodrich is now the terrain park grooming supervisor and pipecutter at Park City.
Boasting 104 runs and 16 lifts, Park City is the “final stop on the way to Vancouver,” where Olympic hopefuls will do their best to win a spot on the Winter Olympic team, Goodrich said.
“There are five qualifying events this year,” he explained, “one at Copper Mountain in Colorado, two at Mammoth in California, and two here at Park City. On Jan. 22 and 23, the Nighttime Superpipe Finals will take place, and then the Olympic team will be named. The whole thing will be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 24 on NBC at 12 p.m.”
Goodrich’s 550 foot long halfpipe took 26 million gallons of snow and approximately $115,000 in energy to create, he said.
To give the halfpipe its shape, Goodrich used a Snowcat equipped with a special pipe cutter/snowblower that resembles a massive crescent moon. Not only did he build the halfpipe, but he’ll also be taking on the important job of cutting it for the event, he said.
Goodrich attended school in Mount Shasta since kindergarten, then moved to New Zealand during his junior year in high school. He returned home in 1997 and began working at the Ski Park.
“In 1999, I started driving Snowcats,” he said. “From there, I asked Mike Thompson  and Doug Gerdes [the Ski Park’s managers at the time] if I could progress and take over the jumps and halfpipes. They said yes.”
Six seasons ago, Goodrich landed a job at Park City, and worked his way to a supervising position. He spent 365 hours in December fine tuning the pipe, he explained.
During that time, the US Olympic team and some members of Australia’s team have been using the halfpipe for training.
Goodrich still has plenty of family in Mount Shasta, including a sister who’s a math teacher at MSHS.
“More than anything, I feel blessed with the opportunity to showcase my talent,” he said. “Going through life, people don’t always have a lot of faith, and it’s nice to be able to prove myself... I guess the best revenge is success.”