Woodward Park City Closes for The Uninvited Invitational

Resort shifts focus to building custom street-style course for all-women's snowboarding competition after tough winter season.

Apr. 3, 2026 at 8:10pm

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A cubist, geometric painting depicting a snowboarding competition, with overlapping planes of color and movement, capturing the energy and diversity of the event.The Uninvited Invitational snowboarding competition brings together talented women and non-binary athletes in a dynamic, custom-built street course.Park City Today

Woodward Park City will close to the public on Saturday, April 4, as crews move remaining snow into the event footprint for The Uninvited Invitational, a custom street-style snowboarding competition featuring 75 athletes from over 20 countries. The resort has faced a challenging winter season with warm temperatures and limited snow, requiring crews to repeatedly reshape and rebuild features to keep terrain usable. The Uninvited Invitational, founded by pro snowboarder Jess Kimura in 2023, aims to elevate the talent and success of women in the sport.

Why it matters

The Uninvited Invitational is an important event that addresses long-standing gaps in opportunity and visibility for women and non-binary snowboarders. By hosting this competition, Woodward Park City is supporting the growth and empowerment of underrepresented groups in the sport.

The details

Woodward Park City has been working tirelessly to maintain its terrain throughout the challenging winter season, repeatedly reshaping and rebuilding features as warm temperatures and limited snow cover took a toll. Crews focused on condensing the available snow into a smaller, more manageable area, utilizing their knowledge of the underlying terrain to prioritize durable sections and keep a continuous, rideable line open. Despite the obstacles, the resort is now shifting its full attention to building up the custom street-style course for The Uninvited Invitational, which will bring 75 athletes from over 20 countries to compete.

  • Woodward Park City will close to the public at the end of the day on Saturday, April 4.
  • The Uninvited Invitational will take place from April 9 to 11.

The players

Woodward Park City

A ski and snowboard resort in Park City, Utah that is hosting The Uninvited Invitational.

Jess Kimura

A professional snowboarder who founded The Uninvited Invitational in 2023 to elevate the talent and success of women in snowboarding.

Nirvana Ortanez

A pro snowboarder and coordinator for The Uninvited Invitational, who sees the event as a way to mentor and inspire younger women in the sport.

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What they’re saying

“This is about inspiring confidence in a group of people that confidence doesn't necessarily come naturally to. It's not even about the riders — it is, to a degree — but it's also about all the little girls in the audience watching, all of the women in the industry watching, anyone who feels like an outsider, who feels like no one's ever given them a chance like that. It means something to them.”

— Jess Kimura, Founder, The Uninvited Invitational

“This is for the younger us. Because we wouldn't get invited to things, we had to fight tooth and nail to get the same opportunities. Being a mentor to the younger girls on the team has been more impactful to me than my pro career ever was.”

— Nirvana Ortanez, Pro Snowboarder and Uninvited Coordinator

What’s next

The Uninvited Invitational will take place from April 9 to 11, with qualifying rounds on April 9 and 10, and the main competition on April 11.

The takeaway

The Uninvited Invitational is an important event that aims to address the long-standing gaps in opportunity and visibility for women and non-binary snowboarders. By hosting this competition, Woodward Park City is supporting the growth and empowerment of underrepresented groups in the sport, inspiring the next generation of female and non-binary athletes.