Fred Grubb doesnt like routine construction jobs. His career, like the roller coasters his company builds, has been a thrilling and satisfying ride, he says.


Grubb is president and co-owner, along with his wife, Suanne Dedmon, of Hayden-based Rocky Mountain Construction Group Inc., which has made a name for itself by assembling roller coasters and other entertainment features in seven states and now in South Korea. Its most recent accomplishmentand its biggest challenge so farwas to install the Aftershock roller coaster at Silverwood Theme Park, near Athol, Idaho, beginning in the middle of winter.


That neon green and blue, steel-framed, boomerang-style coaster, which began operating July 21, is the third coaster Grubb has been involved in getting ready at Silverwood. He also headed construction of the Timber Terror, the parks first big wooden roller coaster, which opened in 1996, as well as the Tremors roller coaster, which opened three years later.


After erecting the two roller coasters, he and Dedmon founded Rocky Mountain Construction in 2001.


Silverwood, in fact, was the catalyst that led to the creation of Rocky Mountain Construction, Grubb says.


In 1995, Grubb, a former home builder, was living in Seattle and specializing in creating artificial rocks and trees for such clients as zoos, when Silverwood owner Gary Norton contracted with him to do concrete work on Silverwoods planned new Thunder Canyon Raft Ride. Norton then hired Grubb to supervise maintenance at the park, and he and Dedmon moved to Athol.


I never left, says Grubb.


It wasnt long before Norton asked Grubb if he wanted to build a roller coaster for the park.


I started studying it and ended up building the Timber Terror, he says.


The wooden coaster, the parks first brand-new roller coaster, reaches 85 feet in height, and propels riders to speeds of 55 mph. It was such a hit that Norton asked Grubb if he wanted to build another, bigger wooden coaster.


Grubb took on that challenge, as well, resulting in Tremors, a coaster that climbs to 100 feet, reaches 60 mph, and dips underground four times.


Soon, word spread within the amusement-park industry about Grubbs work at Silverwood, and other theme parks started seeking his expertise. Since then, Rocky Mountain has completed coaster projects in Ohio, New Jersey, New York, California, Kentucky, and Louisiana.


The company, which started with just a handful of workers, now has a permanent crew of 20 and hires on many more workers on a temporary basis during a project. Grubb runs jobs in the field, and Dedmon and their daughter, Amy Garcia, run the office.


Grubb declines to disclose the companys revenues, but says theyre growing.


The company moved this year into a 6,400-square-foot office and shop building in the Warren K. Industrial Park, in Hayden.


Through its growth, the company has maintained its relationship with Silverwood.


Silverwood was always instrumental in letting me do first-time projects, Grubb says


Not long after Grubb and Dedmon founded Rocky Mountain Construction, Norton asked Grubb to design and build a water park at Silverwood. Called Boulder Beach, the 12-acre water park opened in 2003 with wave pools, slides, a lazy river, and a childrens section.


That work led to a job designing and building an indoor water park at Triple Play Inc., a small Hayden, Idaho, amusement business, and installation of water features at a water park in South Dakota. Rocky Mountain Construction also built an expansion to Boulder Beach that opened last year and included a family raft ride and a second wave pool.


Currently, the company is constructing an amusement park ride in Seoul, South Korea, that Grubb asserts will be one of the largest wooden roller coasters in the world.


It takes roughly 90 people to build a roller coaster, he says, adding, We bring our crew, and we like to hire local workers.


About half of the coasters the company works on have wooden frames.


The big megacoasters are built out of steel, but people still like wood, he says.


Jobs in Rocky Mountain Constructions pipeline include a water park in California and possibly another boomerang-type coaster at a location he declines to disclose. A boomerang coaster travels forward and backward on the same track.


The company selects an average of two major jobs a year and also rebuilds or repairs four or five roller coasters a year.


We turn down quite a few jobs because we cant do it all, he says.


Grubb says he doesnt have to bid for jobs, but, rather, negotiates them.


Its precise work with very heavy liability, he says. They just dont pick a contractor off the street.


Amusement parks usually require that construction be done during their off-seasons.


Most of the time, were building in midwinter, he says. Normally builders start in the spring and work through fall. We do just the opposite.


Grubb says no two coasters or water parks have been the same. They all have unique challenges, he says. We have to figure each one out.


Silverwoods Aftershock brought several such challenges. The new ride has two towers, each of which is nearly 200 feet tall, its seats are attached on an overhead track that includes a complete loop and a twisting roll, and the ride is designed to run both forward and backward.


On top of that, Aftershock had to be built on an accelerated schedule that began during one of the snowiest North Idaho winters in memory, Grubb says.


Silverwood bought the attraction, formerly called Deja Vu, last November from the Six Flags America Great America theme park, near Chicago, and Rocky Mountain began assembling it at Silverwood in February with a four-month construction schedule. Under a normal schedule, it would take seven months to dismantle a used coaster, transport it to a new site, and put it back together, Grubb says.


For Aftershock, time was short, he says. We hired another company to disassemble it, and we assembled it as they shipped the parts that came in 50 truckloads.


Grubb says his crew loves to ride roller coasters, especially the ones they build.


Were the first to ride them and try them out, he says. We tested Aftershock for two weeks.


In addition to coasters and water parks, Rocky Mountain Construction has built miniature golf courses, gravity-powered cable rides called zip-lines, a go-kart track, and large steel aircraft hangars and commercial shop buildings.


Im not good at doing things over and over, Grubb says. When something new comes up, I say, Lets do it.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.