Just popped up there at lunchtime, and had a chat with Rob. Most of the snow has now been stripped off the park slope, but some still remains to be dumped. The "Big Mama" is now down to the woodwork, and is still sat in the usual spot.

Apparently the signs are hopeful for the park side to be open in time for Friday (about 70%), and there should be some rails out, and "possibly" the Merc.

The jump, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. It is going to be moved about 10 - 15' further up the slope, and rebuilt, but current estimates put it at about 2 - 3 weeks before they can make enough snow to rebuild it. It appears that this also means that there is unlikely to be enough snow to build any kicker, even a small one, so the kicker fiends out there are probably going to be best off giving it a miss for the next couple of weeks.

The only toy that is currently out is the gas pipe, which is at the bottom of the non-park slope near the poma (which is probably where it should have been all along - I hope it stays there), so anyone going up tonight, tomorrow, or Friday in the day probably won't have much to play on.

I mentioned a couple of reports of suspected Merc induced board damage to Rob - he is going to have a look and see if he can see what might be causing it - apparently all the sharp bits were filed down before it was put on the slope, but I guess with a few hundred (maybe more) hits under its belt, something could have come loose and be causing the problems.

Finally, there are apparently plans to make some changes to the poma tracks. The current setup with that yellow plastic Dendix like stuff has been known to damage boards from time to time due to it being screwed down from the top (occasionally the screws come loose and pop up through the snow / ice - I've actually seen this a couple of times myself). Apparently the plan is to cover the track in Astroturf, which can then be screwed to the track from the sides to eliminate the loose screw problem. The only problem is, they're having trouble finding any (free) Astroturf, so if anyone knows of any pitches which are being ripped up at the moment, and can arrange for MK to get hold of some, I suggest you get in touch with Rob (you should earn some brownie points at the least, I'd push for some slope time myself). By the way, they've already tried (and failed) with MK hockey stadium, so don't go suggesting that one.