Head of the Fishbowl

Whitefish Mountain Resort's Fishbowl terrain park has a new crew leader for the upcoming ski season.

Ian Mull will take over as the park's lead designer, replacing Jason Fuchs, who recently moved to Missoula.

Although this is Mull's first time as the crew chief, he has played an integral role in the progression of the Fishbowl park throughout his career with the resort.

Together, Fuchs and Mull developed the Whooptie-doo box introduced last season, as well as the extra-long 30-foot rail and the propane-tank hit. Mull also manned the snow groomer at night — sometimes buffing out jumps from midnight until 9 the next morning — and he painted a mural on the park's wallride.

Raised in Whitefish, Mull graduated from Whitefish High School in 2002. He has been snowboarding for most of his life and has worked on Big Mountain's terrain-park crew off and on for half a dozen years.

"I started back in the day when the park was on the back side and I was a shoveler," he said.

He left the resort for a number of years to pursue a career in art — his first passion in life — and to snowboard at Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort in Bend, Ore., and at Mammoth Mountain in California.

"When I moved to Mt. Bachelor and shredded, I got an idea of what a good park is like," he said. "Then I went to Mammoth and saw how it's really done.

"You can't learn about parks from watching videos — you have to go and ride them."

Mull says that while he learned a lot about building and maintaining terrain parks during his time in California, integrating the over-the-top features seen at those resorts here at Big Mountain isn't always realistic.

"Our mountain (Big Mountain) is so different from those resorts," he said. "We are more mom and pop than most people think. The way we build the park is subject to the riders that we have here. We have to focus on the crowd that comes."

Mull says there are a few standout riders in the area, but most of the traffic in the Fishbowl terrain park consists of intermediate snowboarders and skiers.

"In that sense, we have to make the park as fun as possible," he said.

With that in mind, Mull and the rest of the terrain park crew will integrate more features into the beginner Depot Park near the old platter lift.

"That area is focused on families and it's been a real hit," Josh Knight, the events manager for the resort, said. "You can hike it easily and it's a place where people can hang out and practice."

Also this season, the resort plans to add double take-offs for jumps in the intermediate park.

Mull says that adding two separate launching points on the jumps will help make the area more progressive.

Skiers looking to step up their abilities can use a take-off point that will launch them higher and farther, while riders new to the park can use the more conservative side of the jump.

"It's going to allow people to have more fun," he said.

For his first season at the helm of the Fishbowl, Mull said he doesn't foresee any major challenges confronting the park crew — as long as the slopes are white.

"Snow is always a challenge," he said. "As long as we get snow, we are good to go.

"Everything seems to be working out so far. I think we will have a lot of happy shredders. If you are snowboarding, you should always be having fun."