You know, one thing that I always felt was missing from Empire Strikes Back were snowboarding Jedi on Hoth. Imagine Luke skidding across the new snow taking out approaching Empirical enemies with his light saber. That would have been so darn cool, don’t you think? Well I’m not George Lucas, so I can’t add that into the film, but I’m happy to report that there is a place where your kids can learn to snowboard Star Wars style.
Sierra-at-Tahoe in Northern California has officially opened Yoda’s Riglet Park in cooperation with Burton Snowboards and LucasFilms. The new portion will introduce 3-6 year olds to the wonders of the sport in an environment that they will definitely love. Their adventure begins at what they called the Padawan Center. This is where they get some informal training through a series of pods hosted by everyone’s favorite instructor Yoda. Once they’ve graduated from those, they are then able to get right into it and tackle the gentle mountain without even realizing they just sat through a class.
And that’s the idea. Creators at Burton say that kids don’t learn the same way adults do. They don’t have the patience to sit down and be taught what staying on the edge means. Their whole world is about getting out and doing things, experimenting with what they can do. So these guys have created a course specifically designed for them which is short on challenging dangers and more about fun. This gets the children up and out on the slopes as soon as possible and among the very recognizable characters, in the form of wooden sculptures. But don’t worry parents, there is plenty of supervision to make sure that everyone is safe.
The Burton Star Wars Experience runs for $135 a day per person and there is a 3 day option for $243 for those that want more fun, a $172 savings. The price includes the rental equipment such as the Burton Riglet Reel, lunch and of course, a good deal of face time with Master Yoda and his friends.
For parents who love Star Wars that want to introduce their children to the sport, you can’t go wrong here...
