Behind the US Open
2005 Snowboarding Championships in Stratton, Vermont

By George Davis - I'm soaking in the Long Trail House hot tub under a crystal-clear evening sky. It's Sunday, March 20, and—like the butter cream moon hovering above Stratton—I'm waxing slowly, shedding light but faintly, obliquely on my subject. Only, with the moon, it's picturesque, even… breathtaking.

Airborne above the mondo half pipe. (Photo by George Davis)

Minutes prior I was joined by an exuberant family of five who had just arrived at Stratton Mountain Resort for vacation. They were eager to hear about the snow conditions, the accommodations, the dining. The eldest of the three children, a self-proclaimed snowboarding fanatic, maybe 13 or 14 years old with long black locks falling into the bubbling water was far more interested in the fact that I had been involved in the just-ended 2005 US Open Snowboarding Championships.

In that meticulously cool teenage manner—part edgy self confidence and part "Oh, yeah, well who really gives a damn" indifference—he corralled our conversation into the now familiar but still disorienting lingo of the past week: Cab 5's, 7's and 9's, Switch Backside 7's, Frontside 9's, Switch Boardslides on the Flat Ledge… Don't misunderstand. I was way stoked to tell this grom all about the rad shredding, phat triple XL pants sag, and every last detail of the gnarliest huckfest on earth! (Need a snowboard slang primer?) But frankly I was still trying to sort it all out in my head, and the onion-skin-thin veneer of my snowboarder camouflage was no match for this savvy snowboarding aficionado.

I don't snowboard. As lone skier amidst the snowboarding masses, the week had been an eye opener. Although not a total neophyte, (that had been last year when I volunteered on the banner crew for the 2004 US Open Snowboarding Championships) being a "two-planker" simultaneously disqualified me from the insider scoop while guaranteeing a fresh (albeit occasionally facetious) perspective. Sure, at one point a member of the banner crew pointed down at my skis in mock horror, "Hey, looks like your board broke in two!" But aside from the obligatory ribbing, I found that everyone was far more eager to proselytize about the merits of snowboarding than enter into a tired skiing versus snowboarding debate. In fact, all were willing and forthcoming subjects for my non-stop questioning.

Before plunging into my 100% unofficial "inside out" look at the 2005 US Open Snowboarding Championships, a little context begs. Hosted annually at the Stratton Mountain Resort (an Intrawest skiing, snowboarding, golfing, hiking and mountain biking destination resort in southern Vermont), the US Open Snowboarding Championships marks the birthplace and epicenter of competition snowboarding. Breathed into existence in 1982 and counting among the initiates many of snowboarding's forefathers (Paul Graves, Jake Burton, Doug Bouton and others), the event was not designated the US Open Snowboarding Championships until 1985 when it was moved to Stratton Mountain from Snow Valley. At Stratton it has remained and grown ever since, showcasing the best snowboarding in the world.

The US Open takes place in the Sun Bowl, a conveniently self-contained area to the east of Stratton's main ski slopes, which minimizes excess traffic and confusion resulting from spring skiing crowd. It offers the added benefit of concentrating all three snowboarding venues—Friday night Rail Jam, Saturday Halfpipe and Sunday Slopestyle competitions—in a central location, simplifying attendance logistics, event management and press coverage.

Experienced against the gloomy memory of last year's foggy, windy and generally cruddy conditions, the conditions this year were as perfect as the glossy photographs in a Stratton Mountain Resort brochure. Robin's egg blue skies speckled with downy white clouds , a golden orb marching across the dome to keep us warm and the visibility perfect. Relatively low wind all week. Lots of crisp snow, not becoming mashed potatoes until the final afternoon. My first and last skiing of the season, I was admittedly less aggressive on the slopes than I normally would have been by this time. Nevertheless, I enjoyed skiing the impeccably groomed corduroy with snowboarders and covered most of the mountain's terrain over the course of seven days.

Ad-copy conditions and gourmet dining aside, what exactly did I discover about the underbelly of the US Open that stood in the way of a quick and tidy answer for the shaggy snowboarder in the hot tub? Unlike my previous experience "behind the scenes" at the world's oldest and biggest snowboarding championships, this year I stayed for the duration. Benefiting from a protracted stay and an imbedded perspective (I've wanted to be able to say that for a long time! This year I was fortunate enough to be armed with banner crew credentials AND media credentials.), I stumbled upon several thought-provoking aspects of the snowboarding world.