Roger Heid is one of the architects of Snowpark Laax, the Swiss Snowboarding Neverland. While many European resorts still try to attract families and the affluent, drunken mob, Laax was one of the first destinations in Europe to invest big time into a killer park and the necessary infrastructure to build a shelter for our kind of folks.

After years of going their own way and the constant efforts of guys like Reto Poltera and Reto Gurtner, their resumé proves them right: LAAX has one of the youngest demographics on the hill, a Snowpark that deserves the term Magic Mountain, a steady barrage of edits coming in and a recession-proof business model. Why don't more European resorts follow the lead of Laax, you ask? Probably because they're stupid and stubborn – or perhaps because they don't have the right people in charge, like Roger Heid, Reto Poltera and Reto Gurtner.

We talked to Roger about the new LAAX Open, the future of snowparks and building quarterpipes all over the place.

- What makes a good park?

First you need the backing from the resort to get things started.  After that I think the team is the key to build a good park. The shapers who shred and build the park and stay “true to this”.

- Does progression in park design have to equal going higher, bigger, and wider?

Not really. I mean if you build parks for contests its probably where it's going. But everybody else doesn’t need the big jumps. We try to make progressions possible for beginners and medium snowboarders. I think we should integrate the park features more into the normal slopes. For example if you randomly build different freestyle elements all over the resort. That would be sick.  But yeah we'll see.

- LAAX snowpark seems a huge success in many ways. Why don't more resorts follow LAAX' example?

We have a long history and a strong background in the company. Without that background it's hard to get the budgets you need to build a good park.

I think there are also lots of resorts who invest their money in the wrong features . Some resorts build a halfpipe and  pro jumps but they don’t even have a proper beginner/medium park. That makes no sense.

For example if you have a good beginner/medium park where all the snowboard/skischools go during the holiday, everybody thinks, wow so many people in the park. On the other side you have an empty pro kicker line.

We are lucky and we have lots of people in all the different parks…. haha.. And yeah there are more resorts coming for sure.
 

- When did the whole concept of Snowpark Laax come to birth and what were the main influences back then?

That was a long time ago. Our CEO Reto Gurtner was traveling through California and liked that surf/skate lifestyle. He wanted to bring that to LAAX.

There were a lot of other people who did a lot for snowboarding back in the days in LAAX. One of the main people behind the whole“Freestyle concept” was Reto Poltera over all the years.

I started 2004. Lots of things changed in this time.  The Snowpark started to get serious. We employed the first shapers, bought obstacles… Needed a proper budget…. Yeah so it started then…

- It's great to see that LAAX carries on the former BEO under the new name LAAX Open. What happened with the Big B though?

When Burton finally decided that they are not going to do the Burton Open anymore it was shock for LAAX. For us that was a pretty important event to show snowboarding to the mainstream audience.

But we knew that the industry is struggling. Even Burton.  We still work together in other ways. The door is open for sure to work together on a another big project.

- What can we expect from LAAX OPEN?

It is going to be bigger. That means we have more prize money to get the best riders here. We want to have everybody here. Also the side program is going to be bigger.  

And hopefully we'll have some Riders going through the qualification and battling with the invited pros in the semis. We like that open format. And back in the days there were always riders who came through the qualis. Roope Tonteri won once I think.  He was not even invited.
 

- Many are complaining that there's no money in snowboarding to organize events. LAAX Open seems to prove 'em wrong?

Yeah i think it is true. The industry struggles. There is no money.  So we help ourselves during this time. But we're always looking for sponsors and partners. It is not that we want to do it alone. There is just no industry partner right now.

We have a good infrastructure on the mountain which we are building anyway. That helps a lot. Building the superpipe and the slopestyle is a big budget position.

- Do you think we need more challenging Slopestyle Parks that force riders to go creative and refrain from only spinning as fast as they can on the big kickers?

That’s a hard question. At the end the riders need good jumps to their doubles and triples. They're battling for a lot of money and points. So they want to throw down their biggest tricks.

That’s just how it is. Mostly when you build something a bit different the riders don’t like it too much. Back in the days we had some pipe hits in the slopestyle course. Not everybody liked that.

- How did the decision come to produce regular clips and movies around the park? How did Blume get involved?

Actually Blume and the Oilers and Friends crew came up with the idea of the Crap Show. There were many shapers and laax regulars involved in creating the whole concept.. Blume then started to film more and more. So now he is 100% in the LAAX team producing video clips.

- Crap Show has almost become an institution in the chaotic realms of online snowboard clips. What does it take to make a good park clip?

Maybe you have to ask Blume, haha…. We are talking a lot about how a clip should be. I think the hardest thing is to find the balance between core and mainstream. 'Cause at the end you want to reach a lot of people.

There are people that like crappy follow cams and there are people who want to see nice slow motions…. Somehow you have to bring everything together. And then there is the music which is really important. And also hard to find good songs you can use.

- Who will we be able to see in the new Laax Mini Movie? Are you gonna have a shot in there?

No, i think they cut me out. Just had one shot…haha. We have all the LAAX Team riders, Oilers and Friends and some shapershredders.

- If you had one free wish for the park, what would it be?

Lots of snow next winter!