The Streets to open at Seven Springs

Courtesy Forum Seven Springs Mountain Resort to unveil The Streets.

On January 19, Forum Snowboards and Seven Springs Mountain Resort will unveil a new urban terrain park called The Streets. The western Pennsylvania resort, some 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, contains six parks already, but only The Streets was intended to replicate some of the region's best urban riding.

Seven Springs action sports director Joel Rerko and Forum team manager Kevin Keller conceived of the idea this summer; the two became friends after Forum visited the resort during the previous two seasons. "[Keller] threw the idea off me. We thought it would be cool," said Rerko. "Riders Pat Moore, Nic Sauve, and the higher-ups at Forum got involved and we began working on different park designs, looking to create lines."

Ground wasn't broken on The Streets until early October and construction is in progress, preventing Seven Springs from operating the park for the full winter. Development of the project is being handled by Snow Park Technologies, who has partnered with Seven Springs on similar projects since 2006, and has collaborated on designs for the Winter X Games, Winter Dew Tour, Red Bull and others.

They considered, at first, reproducing skate spots in Pittsburgh. Instead, they chose to create a unique layout, with the city as an inspiration. "There are parts that resemble the Highmark Building and a few other spots downtown," Rerko said.

"Having produced video parts in the streets, we have some good ideas as to the progression of urban riding and how to bring this to the mountains," Kevin Winkel, Forum's brand manager, said of the set-up. "Some levels are easier ... while some are pro level status. There's a little something for everyone to get their urban game on." The Forum team will hold a photo a shoot the week before The Streets opens to the public.

Rerko said The Streets will be a permanent fixture, and that the resort is already planning to expand during the off-season. Next year, the park will be the first portion of Seven Springs to open and the last to close. "I'm not aware of another set up of this magnitude elsewhere," said Rerko. "It's fun to be figuring this stuff out on a mountain in Pennsylvania."