Features

Silver Anniversary of the US Open

Words and photos by Roberta Rodger

In all my years of snowboarding I had never been to the U.S. Open. I’d planned on going, and even had flights, but somehow never managed to get out there. So I was psyched to be attending the event this year on its 25th anniversary with Volcom team managers Bonnie Kuntz and Ryan Boyes, recognize.

We arrived into Vermont on the evening of the Mar. 14; the drive up to Stratton was beautiful with all the big white colonial houses in cute little towns. We stopped in Manchester for dinner and bumped into Kelly Clark and Ross Powers. Yep, it was official, with a Ross and Kelly sighting, we were definitely in Vermont. One thing I didn’t expect was the fog. The last half hour of our trip was intense; the fog was so thick we could barely see the lines in the road but we made it up safe and sound. I’d expected the weather to be cold but it was warm and raining.

Thursday morning we awoke to a downpour and more fog as we drove up to Stratton and went to the media centre to get our credentials. I headed up to the pipe to check out the pre-qualifiers as Canadians Mercedes Nicoll, Dominique Vallee, and Sarah Conrad were qualifying to compete with the invited 16 athletes in semi-finals. Only six girls made the cut. With the conditions not being so great, due to the rain, and the foot of slush in the bottom of the pipe, it was definitely a struggle for the riders. Mercedes Nicoll was the only Canadian female Canadian to make it.

I hooked up with Spencer O’Brien to check out the slopestyle practice but the course was on hold because of the fog, so we did a couple laps and went back to the athletes lounge after we got really wet. I always love the athlete lounges at contests—food, drinks, friends, massages, TVs, Internet, and video games. I could just hang out there all day. As the day came to a close the temperature dropped and the rain turned to flurries.

Although it didn’t snow much overnight the temperature change definitely wreaked havoc on the course. Friday morning was cold and icy for the slopestyle competition and there was a huge snowstorm expected to hit in the afternoon. I felt like I was going to catch my edge just riding down the run let alone hitting a slopestyle course. None of the riders were very stoked and in practice, three girls bruised their heals, including Leanne Pelosi and Marie-France Roy, and had to pull out of the event. Although the course was sketchy all the girls did the best they could in the semi-finals. Silvia Mittermuller advanced thanks to some nice switch Backside 180s. Teenage phenom Jamie Anderson also advanced to the finals.

It started to snow just as the finals were about to get underway. The format was best of three runs with men and women going back and forth. Halfway through the men’s first run you could see the difference the snow was making as some of the guys started to have trouble clearing the jumps. Riders like Andreas Wig were knuckling the jumps. The girls definitely started to get nervous. For those who had been hitting the small side all day it was mellow, but the girls hitting the big side didn’t know what they should do. Drop into the finals hitting a jump they’d never hit? Unfortunately, the snow really affected some of the girls as they cased the jumps and fell. I think only two girls cleared and landed the first big jump.

American Jamie Anderson, who may be small but has tons of power, dropped in with a Frontside 180 Indy grab to Cab 540, Frontside 360, Method air and a Nose Press to Tail Press on the last rail. In second place was Australian Torah Bright who opted to hit up the small side with a clean Cab 540 and Backside 360. In 3rd was British rider Jenny Jones with a smooth 360. Canadian Spencer O’Brien had troubles in the finals but still ended up in a respectable 6th place.

As I rode through the course at the end of the contest I was getting face shots. I can’t believe they competed in that. The snow continued to fall all night and we anticipated an interesting pipe final the next day.

Saturday morning we awoke to a foot of fresh outside our condo, so we headed to the contest early to ensure parking but the event ended up getting postponed till 11 a.m. I went out and took some runs with 32 team manger Eddie Lee, Ryan Boyes and Nixon team manager Brandon Lillard, who’s really more of a surfer than a snowboarder so he was having a bit of a hard time.

It had stopped snowing but with two feet in the pipe there was a lot of work to get it ready for semi-finals. The riders struggled with the icy walls and packed powder in the flat bottom. Mercedes Nicoll charged through and qualified for the women’s final. The final didn’t even start till almost 4p.m., a pretty long day for all the girls. Although the conditions were not ideal, the girls were charging. Gretchen was throwing down Cab 7s, Kelly Clark was going huge, and Mercedes was linking Backside 540 to Frontside 720s. In the end Clark came out in first place, Gretchen in 2nd, Torah in 3rd and Mercedes placed sixth—a great finish for her first time at the Open. Torah also joined Shawn White to win the Burton Global Open Series $100,000 title.

The Big Air was supposed to happen after the pipe contest but due to high winds the event had to be cancelled. Bummer! Although the conditions were extreme, the riders made the most of it and it was cool to be at one of the most prestigious and longest running events in snowboarding.