Backyard Snowboard Park

One of my favorite things to do in the wintertime is to go snowboarding. I learned how to snowboard my freshman year in college when I took a trip to Colorado. A great place to learn for sure! As the seasons went by I gained a little more skill and confidence I started to try out the terrain parks. I felt like I wasn't able to get to the mountain enough to get better at the park so I decided that I would bring the park to me. I figured if I could have a little terrain park in my backyard that I could practice whenever I want. And so began the construction of my (very heavy) snowboard box.

The first thing on my materials list was a sheet of High Density Polyethylene. It's kind of similar to plexiglass but more durable for this project and it doesn't rough up your snowboard. I bought a sheet that was 1/2in thick and 2ft x 8ft, so as you can imagine that was really fun to transport home... sike! After that I picked up some 2x8's, 2x2's, pressure treated plywood, nails, and screws, and handles.

I got this structure together finally, but it was quite the project. I thought I'd be able to just screw all these pieces together and bingo bango all done. Not so. Though those big pieces of lumber seem straight and sturdy but they can bend! Not an extreme amount but they did start to curl up on me and I had to really use my muscles to hold those suckers down to screw them together.

After that I nailed the plywood sheets to the structure on the top and sides (not necessary for the bottom). To make transportation a little easier I added handles to both sides of the box. I also added hinges to the plywood on one end of the box and gave it a lock so that the box could double as an outdoor storage space for sleds and other winter things.

After that was all settled I slapped that polyethylene sheet right on top and screwed it into place. Gave it it a little paint job and it was good to go. "Good to Go" turned out to be easier said than done because in true Amy form i didn't consider whether this giant structure would actually fit through the dimensions of my basement. It didn't! I then had to start a 2nd project called "Taking apart a huge shelf that is attached to my basement wall" so i could finally get it out. With a little luck, a couple of siblings, and about a centimeter of wiggle room I finally got it outside!