Powder & Rails - US Open Retrospective Part 1
The revered Burton US Open celebrates its 30th birthday this season, and with things kicking off Stateside, the Powder & Rails crew take a look at the history of this prestigious snowboard contest. Peep it.
On the second weekend in March 2012, snowboarding’s longest running contest turns “Dirty 30.” The Burton US Open is one of the most respected events in snowboarding and has been traditionally held at Stratton, VT for most of those 30 years. A lot of things have happened at the USO: old school downhill racing, the first machine-dug halfpipe, keg parties, snowball fights, mini-riots, people dangling from trees above the halfpipe, drunk people did a lot of dumb shit and some of the coolest stuff in snowboarding history – sometimes those last two are one in the same.
Powder & Rails collects accounts from snowboarding legends like Terje Haaksonsen, Jake Burton, Jeff Brushie, Andy Coghlan, Tricia Byrnes, Seth Neary, and Jason Ford, many of which have had podium spots throughout the USO history. Speaking of podiums, US Open winners and Olympic medal holders like Danny Kass, Ross Powers, Kelly Clark, and Hannah Teter are in there too. Part 1 goes into one of the most controversial things to ever happen at the US Open, 1996: “The Year of the Cage.” Look out for that story.
