And we are live…

We have reached a huge milestone for MySnowparks! Today we can finally let you guys loose on the beta version of the shiny new MySnowparks.

It is a gigantic step towards fully realizing the dream we had of creating a complete database of all snowparks in the world. The old MySnowparks was OK, but had some flaws. The new MySnowparks is taking the same basic idea and wraps it into a much nicer package that is ready to kick some ass…

Click here to go to the new MySnowparks Beta site

So, what is new?

You might recognize some familiar features, but a lot has been changed and new stuff has been added.

Park Directory
It is much easier to find the park you’re looking for. The new “Snowparks” page lists resorts with their parks. You can assign filters to only show specific continents or countries. You’re gonna love it.

Clearer distinction between Resorts and Parks
Resorts are now “wrapped” around parks in the design. You will always be looking at the resort wrapper while switching between the parks in the resort. Ahhh clarity.

Follow Parks
You can follow parks and become part of the group of followers who will receive updates whenever something new is posted or things are happening in the park. The number of followers will become a measure of a parks popularity. This will be the next big thing :)

Park Reviews
You can now review parks with some text and a 1-100% score in the categories; Quality, Diversity, Maintenance, Facilities, Lift Service, Location/Atmosphere. Do you ever book a hotel without looking at the reviews online anymore? No? Now get used to check the park reviews before booking your next ski or snowboarding trip.

Discussions
Ask questions and discuss what is going on in each resort and its parks. Discussions are the new way to communicate around resorts/parks. Snowparks are social. Now you can finally be heard!

Likes
Liking reviews and discussions is a new way to show that you find them helpful. Most liked reviews and discussions will be at the top of the lists. Don’t you like this?

What is meant by “beta” version?

We have decided to let you access the new site as soon as possible. This means it is definitely not done, yet. Some parts of the site is not fully functional and some parts still look unfinished.
Further, a lot of the planned areas of the new site are not even built at this point. So don’t be surprised if you find links leading to nowhere. And neither if you find new features next time you log in.

What are you waiting for? Get going…

We highly encourage you to start using the new site right now. Since we’ve started pretty much from scratch you’ll need to create a new account. That should be really straightforward using the join form on the frontpage. The good news is that even though it is a beta – all the content you create now will stay on the site as we move on to the final launch at some point. So we basically encourage you to abandon the old site and start using beta.mysnowparks.com:

• The first step would be to update your profile with a photo and some basic details. The user profile area is a good example of an unfinished part of the site. The basic stuff work, but much more will happen here…
• Then go ahead and follow some parks.
• Next step is to write some reviews of parks you have been to.
• You can then initiate some new discussions and reply to other peoples’ questions.
• Don’t forget resort and park pages are open for editing. Fill in where details are missing and upload your photos.

Generally we are happy if you just try out as much as possible and let us know if something is not working or could be better. You can use the blue FEEDBACK button in the right hand side of all pages.

Click here to go to the new MySnowparks Beta site

Over and out (have to get back to fixing stuff…)