MOTOROLA

 Yes, those kids are arriggghtt!

Remember when we said yesterday that the US Open was now over?  Not quite. Because there was one final item of business to take care of here in Stratton before the hordes of Burton crew could take down the celebratory bunting one final time – the Junior Jam.

 U Tube frenzy

Although all snowboarders like to claim that they’re into the sport cause it’s all about ‘riding with their friends’ and shredding powder, all of them would secretly love to win the US Open half pipe title.

It’s the big one, with the win list a veritable who’s who of shred royalty through the years. Basically, every snowboarder of note has won it. Terry Kidwell, pioneer of freestyle snowboarding? Won the first pipe event back in 1988 – see above for the evidence.

 Yowza!!

Want to know how much of an early start we had today here at the 25th US Open in Stratton? Click here to get an idea. Why so early? Yesterday’s bad weather cancellation meant that there was an awful lot of snowboarding to get through if we were to have any chance of seeing the Slopestyle finished on schedule – women’s and men’s qualifiers, semi finals AND finals. That’s a lot of snowboarding when you factor in practise, course maintenance and judging. No wonder our judges have a pretty full on job – especially on a day like today, when the temperature was well below zero.