Yes, We're U.S. Open

It happens once a year, a day of free swag, famous riders, and a whole lot of snowboarding! Every March, Stratton Mountain in Vermont hosts the annual U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships. The competition began in 1982, and for the past 28 years has attracted the dirtiest riders and fans alike. It offers male, female, and youth categories and features rail jam, big air, and slopestyle competitions. Not much has changed over the years—male riders such as Ross Powers, Danny Kass, Danny Davis, Shaun White, and female riders such as Kelly Clark, Hana Beaman, Natasza Zurek, and Hannah Teter still dominate the seen.

In 2010 the U.S. Open attracted over 30,000 fans, four of which were me and my three friends: Morgan, Garrett, and Devin. We left our homes in Huntington, VT, at 7 AM, hoping to beat the crowd, snag a close parking spot, and score loads of free stuff.  After a two hour, hilarious car ride down Route 7, through Rutvegas, crammed in Garrett’s tiny, piece of $h!t Saturn, we were all giddy and overexcited to have finally made it. With blue-bird weather (shredding term for: not a cloud in the sky) my 7^th U.S. Open was off to a memorable start.

Devin and I got the back seat, and by back seat I mean best seat....

When we finally arrived, we hit up the sponsor tents for loads of free swag

We spent the rest of the day parked at the Super Piper. Shaun White was mysteriously absent, leaving new to the scene rider Kazuhiro Kokubo the opportunity to win it. In his winning run Kokubo threw down a front nine, McTwist, front ten, cab ten, and front ten double... impressive. 

By the time night fell we were cold, wet, and exhausted. Being the dedicated fans we are, however, we stuck around for the rail jam under the lights. Our good friend Luke Haddock would be riding in this competition and we had to show support for someone who would be representing our home mountain. Lucky we did too. Our "local rider" would soon be a "local celebrity." Luke won AMPD Best Trick and walked home with $3,000. A great guy on and off of the mountain, I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. 

On the ride home, Garrett unwillingly drove while we all napped. We stopped to eat at a Taco Bell where, coincidentally, an entire high school lacrosse team was also eating. Possibly the cherry on top of the best day ever? I think so. 

Nothing will ever compare to my 7th, and probably last (thanks a lot college), U.S. Open. What an epic day to remember.