Pat Goodnough

Colorado, USA | Active: 2000s-present public record | Known for: Project Pat, Armada, War of Rails, Breckenridge and Keystone park skiing, Tanner Hall films | Current: Armada-linked park, street and backcountry skier

Bear Mountain Rails Under California Sun

The War of Rails course at Bear Mountain looked more like a steel maze than a contest setup: cannon rails, wallrides, gap-to-downs, hard landings and bright California snow. Pat Goodnough skied it with the calm of someone who had already seen every possible speed problem in a Breckenridge park lap. His second place at War of Rails in 2013 put that style in front of a wider audience, but the skiing itself had been built earlier: Summit County repetition, Armada edits, Level 1 spring shoots, and a habit of making technical tricks look clean before they looked loud.

Breck And Keystone Before The Bigger Stage

Goodnough’s public identity is rooted in Colorado park skiing. FREESKIER described him in 2012 as a skier who had made his name by tearing up the parks at Breckenridge and Keystone for nearly a decade. That geography matters. Breck and Keystone give a skier long seasons, fast laps, hardpack mornings, spring-soft afternoons, rails that change speed hour by hour and jump lines where consistency matters. Goodnough’s skiing grew from that repetition. He learned to keep a run alive across rails, boxes, A-frames, jump gaps, switch landings and off-axis rotations without making every clip feel like a forced attempt.

Project Pat And The Armada Signal

The original “Project Pat” edit became the clearest early marker. Newschoolers lists it as Pat Goodnough’s 2010-11 season edit, with footage from Breck and Keystone and credits involving Level 1 Productions and Jake Strassman. FREESKIER later described the same project as a viral Armada edit that helped push his name beyond Colorado. The format suited him. It was compact, park-heavy and built around repeatable skill rather than a single shock clip. Goodnough hit cannon rails, A-frames, jumps and resort features with enough variety to make the part feel like a full toolkit instead of a highlight reel padded with filler.

Level 1 Spring Shoots And The Mt. Hood Thread

FREESKIER’s 2012 profile also linked Goodnough’s rise to Level 1 spring shoots and his plan to spend the summer at Mt. Hood. That period gives his skiing a larger map. Summit County built the winter base; Mt. Hood gave summer repetition on glacier snow, camp rails and soft afternoon landings. A skier in that lane has to adapt constantly. The same trick feels different on a cold Keystone rail, a Breck jump line, a Timberline summer box or a Windells-style feature with sun-warmed snow. Goodnough’s strongest quality was that the movement stayed readable across all of those surfaces.

War Of Rails And The LJ Strenio Test

War of Rails 2013 remains his sharpest contest reference. FREESKIER reported that LJ Strenio won, Goodnough finished second and Dale Talkington placed third. The event’s final field included heavy rail skiers such as Khai Krepela, Sean Jordan, Keegan Kilbride, Karl Fostvedt, Kyle Smaine and Maximilliam Smith. Goodnough earned high marks with tricks including a lipslide 270, pretzel 270 out of the gap-to-down and a switch 630 onto the same feature. That list explains why the podium mattered. He was not winning through one oversized risk. He was surviving a full rail-jam format through trick depth, control and line choice.

Bear Mountain Suited His Kind Of Pressure

The Bear Mountain setup demanded more than clean park skiing. War of Rails used transfer-heavy features, strange angles, crowd pressure, snowmobile laps and a fast jam format. Goodnough’s strengths matched that environment. He could lock onto rails without rushing the entry, hold spin direction through the exit, and keep momentum after a trick that would stall a less precise skier. Street skiers often talk about speed as the first trick. Goodnough’s contest skiing showed the same idea in a resort-built arena: the trick only worked if the approach, slide, exit and next decision were already connected.

Tanner Hall’s Circle From Triumph To XL

Goodnough’s later public record is tied closely to Tanner Hall’s film projects. Newschoolers lists him with Tanner Hall and John Spriggs in “Triumph,” Armada’s 2017 film by Tanner Hall and Corey Stanton. SnowBrains listed him among the appearances in “Here After,” while Prime Skiing listed him in “Eternal” with Tanner Hall and Coldy Wilderay. Downdays and Prime later confirmed his presence in “XL,” Tanner Hall’s 2023 birthday film, shot across Montana, Utah and California with riders including Tyler Sonowski, Brenan McLean, Lupe Hagearty and Ben Gilbert. That run of films kept Goodnough visible well after his first Armada edit era.

Project Pat 2.0 And The Older-Skier Version

“Project Pat 2.0” gave his archive a second clear chapter. FREESKIER framed the 2021 Armada release as the return of an Armada legend, connecting it directly to the original edit from ten years earlier. The update widened the terrain: cement streets, a powder-filled backcountry zone, creative step-downs, slides and even a Breck Palma line. Unofficial Networks also highlighted the part for its T-bar cable grind, big backcountry booters and urban lines. The edit worked because it did not try to make Goodnough look like a different skier. It showed the same control applied to rougher, stranger and more varied terrain.

How His Skiing Holds Together

Goodnough’s technique is built around clarity. On rails, he looks for decisive lock-ins, centered pressure and exits that finish cleanly rather than collapse into the landing. On jumps, his rotations stay readable because the grab arrives early and the axis does not wander late. His skiing uses lipslides, pretzels, switch spins, 270s, 450s, flat spins, switch landings, rail transfers, wallride-style features and backcountry booters, but the common thread is control. He rarely makes a clip feel saved at the last second. The movement usually looks chosen before the takeoff, which is why older footage still reads well.

The Colorado Park Skier Who Stayed Useful

Goodnough’s importance is not a medal count. It is the long usefulness of his skiing inside different freeski formats: Colorado park laps, Armada edits, Level 1-linked shoots, War of Rails, Tanner Hall films, streets, backcountry booters and creative resort lines. He belongs to the generation that connected forum-era park skiing to film-first street and backcountry projects. The current archive is specific enough to matter: Project Pat, War of Rails second place, Triumph, Here After, Eternal, XL and Project Pat 2.0. His skiing remains a reference for how technical park control can age into a broader creative style without losing its original edge.