Photography By ML Hobby Photography
All week, the world’s top snowboarding talents are set to compete in the 35th annual Burton US Open in Vail!
The Burton US Open is the longest running strictly-snowboarding competition held in our own backyard of Vail, Colorado. All week Slopestyle riders and Halfpipe tacklers will be riding their courses, practicing and competing in hopes to take home the gold on Friday and Saturday. All while spectators psych themselves up for a week/weekend full of high-flying winter sports action, and groove worthy free concerts!
From February 27 - March 4 Olympic medalists are scheduled to ride the courses and compete against one another. The Burton US Open is one of the last major contests ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, so the pressure and anticipation for this competition is palpable.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
The Burton US Open always brings a ton of enthusiasm from both riders and spectators.
Shaun White, a Burton US Open vet, told SnowBoarder.com “I’ve been riding at the Open since I was a little kid, and it’s always a good time.” Which is an understatement for the Olympic Gold Medalist. For him, Burton is the place to not only compete but experiment with his craft. White had an exceptional year at last year’s Burton - He broke his old record of 24 feet out of the halfpipe, with a gravity defying 26-foot air on the first hit.
All of the riders step up their game at the Open, especially with the Olympics less than a year out. I can’t wait to see how the contest shapes up this time around” - Sean White, Snowboarder.com[gallery size="large" ids="9488,9483,9487,9473,9471,9486,9467,9469"] The Burton US Open is also a great platform for female athletes out there. In a once thought to be “male dominated” sport, Burton Girls insures and drives home the fact that women rock just has hard.. Or maybe even harder, than the men. Burton Girl’s puts out a series showcasing the talents and overall badassery of women snowboarders. This year’s Stand Up, Stand Out series shows that women can rock the slopes just as hard and have a ton of fun doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSFIEEaAq-Q Among all of the riders is, naturally, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White (USA) and three-time Olympic Medalist Kelly Clark (USA); 2014 Olympic Slopestyle Medalists mark McMorris (CAN), Stale Sandbech (NOR), Jamie Anderson (USA) and Enni Rukajarvi (FIN). And on top of all of those amazing riders, will be the entire 2014 Men’s Olympic Halfpipe podium with Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI), Ayumu Hirano (JPN), and Taku Hiraoka (JPN) are all confirmed.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Read on for more info and photos!
Along with the glittering Gold accolades of many of the boarders, local, upcoming and junior riders will be competing to make their marks on the halfpipe and Slopestyle courses. The whole competition starts with the famous Junior Jam on Tuesday, Feb. 28. 16 boys and nine girls under the age of 14 will be competing on the superpipe for their chance to make it into the history books, all in hopes of being the next Shaun White or Kelly Clark. The top boys and girls will advance into the pro competition later in the week. As the week winds down and the finals arrive, 10 men and six women will compete for a share in the overall $343,000 prize purse in three-run format. Slopestyle finals will be held on March 3 followed by halfpipe finals on Saturday, March 4. [gallery size="full" columns="7" ids="9477,9482,9472,9486,9490,9478,9470,9489,9492" orderby="rand"] All the competitions are totally free to attend during the day, and at night the streets of Vail transform into a music-filled winter wonderland. The Burton US Open kicks off Vail’s free concert series and the lineup, like the athletes, is nothing to scoff at.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
The Free Concert Series starts on Thursday night with double set by Twiddle (stuff about twiddle). At the end of Friday’s events and a Special Guests Autograph Session by rockstar Chloe Kim, Gramatik and Lizzo will take the stage for what I assume will be a mind blowing performance. Lastly, on Saturday, the last day of the competition, Keys and Krates, Skratch Bastid and Xavier Omar will perform on the Solaris Concert Stage - and for the US Open Closing Party D.R.A.M, Four Color Zack and Air Credits will perform on the Dobson Ice Arena. Again -- All for FREE!
If you have free time this weekend and can get away with playing some hooky on Friday, I would definitely suggest heading up to Vail for your chance to not only catch the high-flying action, but experience some amazing music as well!
