The Tools Needed To Build A Half Pipe Are Ridiculous
When you're watching Shawn White or any other competitor lay down an epic run, do you ever wonder how that half pipe is made? Growing up in 90's Colorado, you'd expect the half and super pipes to be at every resort, but they were super uncommon until ESPN started their X-Games... and even then, it was born out of a way to skate in the snow.
Skip forward to the present, and you can find at least one half pipe in every resort town in The Rockies. Built up to 22 feet tall, the tools it takes to create these monsters have come a long way. It use to be done with agriculture elevators - jointed screw type sections of pipe - but those apparently took forever to not only assemble, but in performing the job. A couple of brilliant engineers took the similar idea of a snow blower, and turned it into a pipe making machine. It's impressive. You can read more here if you want the long story.