Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. So cold...

 Welcome to Denver, Colorado. The only city in the country with a snow sports terrain park located within city limits, and home to at least one mediocre photographer. The picture above was taken at Speer Blvd and I-25.

For the past several years, the city of Denver has partnered with Winter Park Ski Area and some corporate sponsors to put together the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, a small but unique and well-maintained park consisting of 8 to 10 rails and fun boxes, and illuminated with stadium lighting, allowing skiers and riders to use the park from 5 am to 11 am, seven days a week.  Pretty damn cool if you ask me; Denver has made some notable departures from the culture of fear that most major cities seem to operate under when it comes to high-risk action sports. Downtown Denver is also host to a large, city-maintained skate park, which I hope to highlight in this blog this summer.

Ruby Hill is a nostalgic place for those of us that grew up in Denver, because regardless of how old you are, you likely went sledding at Ruby Hill park when you were a kid. The fact that I can snowboard there as an adult, and that my friends are taking their kids riding there is really cool to me.

 

 I struggled a bit with lighting, because I feel that popping off flashes in people's faces while they're trying to concentrate on not busting their asses is unethical. Aperture was set at f5.6 to f7.1, and shutter speeds varied from 1/40 to 1/100, depending on which angle I was at in relation to the large banks of lights at the top of the hill. What I forgot to adjust was the ISO setting, so the camera did it for me and set it at 1600. Embrace the graininess, friends...

Below is an example of how a backside railslide is supposed to be performed...

 ...and how you're not supposed to do it.

I spent several minutes chatting with this guy at the top while I warmed my hands, he and his buddies were drinking 40's of Mickey's. Gotta love the culture in D-town...

Another example of how it isn't done. Now I must admit that I don't have much room to talk, because this is what I generally look like when I attempt fun boxes. He busted his ass good on the coping. Been there, brother...

I spent a fair amount of time shooting this cat, because he was doing these absurd helicopter spins on the narrow box, and he had this really fluid, loose style that would have lent itself better to video. I did some burst shots but my camera was lagging, I think because of a combination of my settings, the low light, and the cold.

I had these kids pose together for a shot because they were having such a great time, and the smiles really sum up the attitude that pervaded the scene at Ruby Hill tonight. Too often, in terrain parks, you find judgmental attitudes, trash talking, style-posing, and other stupid things that in my opinion don't belong in snow sports culture. Tonight, everyone was supporting and cheering each other, pushing each other to try new things, and laughing it up. Perhaps it was the temps which were hovering just above 0 degrees F, or maybe it's the feeling that we have it so good here, to be able to ride in the city, under lights, with full support of the city of Denver. 

Hell, I didn't even strap in and I was all smiles. Expect an additional installment to this posting, I will be returning on a bright sunny day to do some more shooting, and hopefully some riding as well. Take care.