Krista's Park 3
Welcome to Krista’s Park, ladies

Words: Chelsea Waddell

Photos: Kara Rennie

The grand opening of Brighton Resort’s girls only snowboard park was held this past Saturday under the snowy skies of Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon. The park has been named “Krista’s Park” in honor of the late Krista Moroge, who passed away in 2010 after a three-year fight with breast cancer. She worked for Burton Snowboards for almost a decade as the regional rep serving Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, and was a staple of the Salt Lake City snowboard community.

In honor of Krista’s spirit, Burton, Brighton and Boarding For Breast Cancer (B4BC) came together to make something positive in her memory. This girls only park is the first of its kind and was designed with women in mind. Brighton local Leikeisha Finai-Jones said, “All of the features are perfect, because they’re features that you can actually learn and advance on.” The park includes a flat box, a down rail, and even a nice little jump.

Krista's Park 1Friends, family, colleagues and strangers alike came out to celebrate Krista’s life and honor her in the most suitable manner. It’s less about girls riding separately from the guys, and more about girls riding together. As Krista’s husband, Park Beutler said, “It’s just a really befitting way to recognize Krista for what she did and for who she was. The support from everybody is crazy, and it means a lot.”
Krista’s Park is dedicated not only to the progression of women’s snowboarding but also to help promote a healthy lifestyle among them. B4BC spent the day out at Brighton educating as many people as possible about the signs and prevention methods for breast cancer. It’s something terrible that took Krista too soon, but we are all fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do our part to detect it early and seek treatment.

Although Krista is gone, every time a girl comes into her park and learns something new, it will ensure that she is never forgotten.

Krista's Park 4