As one of the first resorts in the world to allow snowboarders on its slopes, the Breckenridge Ski Resort has more than 20 years experience in developing cutting edge freestyle terrain. Today, Breckenridge features four world-class parks and half pipes with features ranging from family appropriate beginner terrain to massive 90-plus foot jumps. The resort is world-renowned for its freestyle programs, consistently garnering top 3 rankings from prominent ski and snowboard publications. With the advent of twin tip skis and the growing popularity of freeskiing, Breckenridge’s terrain features have continued to evolve. If you’re visiting Breck, as the locals call it, this winter, consider dropping into one of the resort’s four terrain parks for a bit of freestyle adventure. This is your guide to freestyle skiing and snowboarding at the Breckenridge Ski Resort.

The most famous of the resort’s terrain parks is known simply as the Freeway. This expert level park features one of the country’s largest triple jump lines, and a myriad of rail and jib features. The park’s layout and design is regularly changed to keep things interesting for the world’s best skiers and snowboarders. Freeway’s super pipe, featuring 18 foot high walls, is considered by industry leaders to be the best half pipe in the world. To access the park, simply follow Breckenridge’s Four O’clock run to the top of the Freeway trail. Even if you’re not up to spinning or flipping over its massive jumps, the view from the top of this run provides some of the best freestyle spectating around.

For the 2007-2008 ski season, Breckenridge has added a new terrain park on Peak 8 with the intent of helping intermediate skiers and snowboarders build their freestyle skills. Park Lane will feature 3,500 feet of jumps and rails, all of which will be crafted by Breckenridge’s award winning terrain park team. To accomplish this, the ski resort has added an extensive snowmaking system to ensure there is enough snow to mold and shape the park’s jump features. Locating Park Lane next to Freeway and near Peak 8’s beginner parks, Breckenridge has organized a multi-level “pod park.” These freestyle facilities of various difficulty levels will allow skiers and rides to gradually build confidence as they transition from one park level to the next. Park Lane will replace the Gold King and Country terrain parks, formerly located on Peak 9. Gold King’s intermediate half pipe will relocate to Country Boy, providing a somewhat hidden place for freestylers to dial in new tricks before taking them to the super pipe.

Novice skiers and riders will appreciate Breckenridge’s two entry level terrain parks, Trygves and Eldorado. Respectively located near the base areas of Peaks 8 and 9, these parks feature small rail and jump features as well as entry level half pipes. Jump, Rail and jib features are kept low to the ground to minimize risk while maximizing progression. These terrain parks are well laid out and very family appropriate. Here, Moms and dads have great opportunities to capture their children’s improvement on camera, or catch a bit of air time for themselves.

The Breckenridge Ski Resort has a strong reputation among snowboard and freestyle industry leaders and consistently works hard to maintain it. No matter what level your freestyling abilities may be, you’ll find appropriately designed terrain for you in one of the ski area’s four terrain parks, spread across two mountain peaks. Whether you’re a top notch professional or your skis or snowboard have never left the snow, Breckenridge is committed to making sure you enjoy your freestyle experience on its slopes.

Sales of Beijing Olympic tickets resumed on Monday using a revised ticketing system. Chinese residents wishing to buy tickets to the summer games must enter a lottery. It can be done online or by registering in person at Bank of China branches.

Interested buyers have until Dec. 30 to join the lottery, the second phase of ticket sales for the summer games. The Beijing Organizing Committee apparently learned its lesson after the resumption of the second trail of ticket sales resulted in chaos last month.

The computer crashed, while hotlines were jammed when millions of hits and calls were made by Chinese wanting to buy tickets. As a result, Rong Jun was fired as director of the Olympic ticketing center. He was replaced recently by Zhu Yan.