Monday, March 18

U.S. Open at Stratton

By Glen Seelenbrandt
EXPN.com

Have you ever wished that you had been present when "it" happened? Like maybe when Jordan won his first dunk contest or when Jim Morrison was arrested in Hartford or at Charles and Di's wedding or …. Well, every year for the past 20 years, if you wanted to be there when "it" happened in snowboarding, you could when you went to the US Open in VT. Every year, the bar has been raised right before the Open's spectator's eyes. Whether it was Jacoby's J-Tears in '88 or the Scanners twirling invasion in '93 or Terje's amplitude every year, the Open has been witness to the best snowboarding in the world.

The 2002 US Open was, once again, the barometer for the present and future state of freestyle snowboarding. Unlike other sports, where perfecting and revamping age-old strategies is key, snowboarding has always been about progress and change. A prime example this year was Markku Koski. In between throwing down some of the biggest airs of the weekend, he also added a couple more rotations than everyone else. I don't just mean that he added more rotations than anyone during the contest, he added more than anyone has ever done anywhere. During the qualifiers he landed, not to mention grabbed, the first 1260 ever seen in competition. Throughout the finals, he had been reluctant to throw the big spin in spite of the badgering fans and announcer. It took him nearly all of the finals to get 2 runs stomped. With about 5 minutes left in the hour-long jam, Markku did his setup 900 (a setup trick?) and then threw it. Only "it" looked a little different. The announcers were dumbfounded, "Was that a 1440?" It looked like Markku was surprised, too, but he had indeed landed a 1440. Sick!

Witness the progression, Markku Koski with the 1440.

It should be pointed out that snowboarding contests are not the typical forum for the progression of the sport. For the most part, competitors come to most other events with an overly rehearsed half pipe run that they have worked on for months. Sure, there are also people at the Open who work their stock runs, but they always throw in a little something extra. I'm not sure why the riders let their anal retentive hair down for the weekend of the Open. Perhaps it's because the Open has always been more of a get together than a cut-throat contest. As a result, the event seems more like 15,000 friends hanging out while 20 of them have fun in the half pipe. The crowd is so much a part of the contest that some riders, like Abe Teeter, would just hike one-hitters for the roar, and Giacomo Kratter would stop and sign autographs in the middle of the finals. I remember Terje saying something about how much the screaming crowd pushed him every year.

Two names deeply entwined in Open's roots and lore are Brushie and Palmer. In the spirit of history, fun, and friendship, the two legends made a small wager at the beginning of this season. The bet was to see which of the two riders, neither having competed in the half pipe in years, would do better at the Open. Palmer, who has been very competitive in other pursuits for the last several years, had not been in a half pipe contest for 8 years. Likewise, Brushie had not seriously competed for several years, except for a few fun contests here and there. Guess what? They both still rip. Palmer has got some progressive maneuvers like a solid 900, and Brushie still has his big airs and stylie McTwist. Palmer edged out Brushie by one spot to finish one place outside of qualifying. Not bad for 2 guys in their 30's who have been competing in the Open since before some of the competitors were born.

Keir boosted the biggest airs of the day and finished in third.

The main action this year started with the Quarter Pipe contest on Friday night. The event, which in many ways is the inaugural party, is always one of the most fun. Things were a little quieter this year as security was a lot tighter. Two check points filtered the way to the ¼ pipe and made it feel more like boarding a plane than going to a party. The ¼ pipe itself was protected by a thick blanket of springtime fog. It seemed like the fog may have subdued not only the light but also the crowd's excitability. The riders put the ¼ pipe through it paces: huge straight airs from Abe Teter and Keir and huge technical spins from Travis Rice, Roman De Marchi and Dylan Butt. Rice won the event with a Haakon 9 that was as big as any straight air done. The highlights may have been a couple of failed and hence frightening double runs from De Marchi and Annie Boulanger.

With rain in the forecast, the weather report for Saturday did not look promising. Mother Nature cooperated, though, and the sky cracked open every now and then on cue for the best runs of the day. Just like the weather, things were slow to heat up in the pipe, as well. Danny Kass had a hard time finding his rhythm. After a couple of slams and a few cussing crotch grab airs, it looked like last year's champ may not even place. Ross had a shaky start, too. He wiggled and twisted his way out of more than a few sketchy looking 17 ft. airs. Even the super-consistent Kelly Clark squirreled out and slammed hard, requiring some brief medical attention in the flat bottom. Early contenders for the titles looked to be Andy Finch and Giacomo Kratter. Both had put together super-tech and stylish runs. Kratter, who in many people's opinion was robbed of a medal in Salt Lake, threw down perfect 1080 after 1080. Finch had the biggest Cripplers of the day as well as some of the highest straight airs.

The women's field began to find it mark as well. Noticeably ripping this year was Maelle Ricker. She had some of the smoothest, most stylish runs in the contest. For some reason Maelle would not end up placing. Again Tricia Byrnes was her consistent self. She had her 720's, 540's and bright orange pants working to perfection. In the end Clark was able to find her Olympic form and literally soared above her competition. She had some airs that were as big if not bigger than the men's competitors. She also has gotten her McTwist so dialed in that she's started to tweak it. In the end Clark's amplitude edged out Byrne's consistency and Kelly took the win.

Kelly Clark found her Olympic form late in the finals to claim her second US Open title.

About ¾ of the way through the finals, both Kass and Markku Koski found their range. Koski had some of the craziest combos imaginable, such as a switch 900 into a solidly grabbed 1080. And then he landed his 1440. Kass, however, brought the half pipe to a higher level. I'm not sure how many spectators realized it, but Kass did a different run every time through the pipe. He completely mixed up his tricks. On one run he would do an air to fakie into Kasserole and the next into a switch inverted 900 and the next into a Wet Cat. Talk about a bag of tricks. In the end, it was the fact that Kass could and did do every one of his tricks at any place in the pipe, a mastery and versatility that no other rider exhibited, that led to his victory.

Guess who's the champ again...

Kass and Koski continued the tradition of the Open by showing that snowboarding is still progressing at a dizzying speed. Even in the month since the Olympics, riders have continued to push the level of consistency with harder and harder tricks. They also showed that doing it for the fans and stoke is still more important than any piece of round metal.

Related Photos:
US Open