Snowboard Roundup: December 10, 2004

Snowboard Roundup: December 10, 2004The countdown is on until the best snowboarders in the world are back for the start of the 2004-05 Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix, the premier snowboard competition series and pathway to the Olympics. First stop is next week at Breckenridge, Colo., kicking off Saturday, Dec. 18.

More than 300 riders from 10 countries will compete in halfpipe and parallel giant slalom competitions over three days with $10,000 on the line for Grand Prix winners. The event marks 20 years of snowboarding at Breckenridge. All competitions are spectator friendly with walk-up access or by snow with a lift ticket.

The schedule includes:

-Saturday, Dec. 18, halfpipe qualifiers and night rail competition
-Sunday, Dec. 19, halfpipe finals
-Monday, Dec. 20, Olympic-caliber PGS racing

2004 Grand Prix champion and four-time World Cup winner Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT) will headline an all-star halfpipe field that includes X Games gold medalists Steve Fisher (St. Louis Park, MN), Lindsey Jacobellis (Bondville, VT), Shawn White (Carlsbad, CA) and the return of Gretchen Bleiler (Snowmass, CO), who missed last year’s snowboard season with an ACL injury. Also, in the line-up are Olympic gold medalists Kelly Clark (Mount Snow, VT) and Ross Powers (South Londonderry, VT), to name just a few of the top halfpipe competitors.

The PGS racers take to the hill on the event’s final day, Monday, Dec. 20 featuring some of the World Cup’s fastest riders including Olympic bronze medalist Chris Klug (Aspen, CO), teammate Michelle Gorgone (Sudbury, MA) and international riders like Switzerland’s Felix Stadler and Urs Eiselin, who currently leads on the World Cup circuit with two podiums this season.

Follow the news next week at the snowboard team’s website.

The Grand Prix also brings the action straight into town as well. The Paul Mitchell Progression Session’s Downtown Breckenridge Rail Jam, a first for Breckenridge, will bring snowboard rail excitement under the lights as talented athletes like Clark, Luke Mitrani (Stratton, VT) and Ryan Lougee (Aspen, CO) will strive to walk away with the $15,000 cash prize.

The rail excitement will take place at the Riverwalk Center off Main Street and will feature DJ Mea (Click here to see DJ Mea’s intense website) presented by Bud Light, starting at 6 p.m. with the final rail competition at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

ERIC WEBSTER NAMED TOUR DIRECTOR OF CHEVROLET U.S.SNOWBOARD GRAND PRIX
PARK CITY, Utah (Dec. 8) The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is proud to welcome Eric Webster this season as the tour director for the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix series, announced USSA Vice President of Events Annette Royle. Webster has worked for the series as the technical advisor since the 1997-98 season, and is excited to continue working for the Grand Prix in his new capacity.

‘I hope that I can continue to raise the level of respect that the Grand Prix has maintained within the snowboard industry and build new relationships that will keep the events in the spotlight into the Olympic year and beyond’ said Webster. ‘I want to create excitement by developing unique exhibition events combined with entertainment components that showcase the talent of the United States’ top snowboarders.’

Webster said he feels the three Grand Prix events (Dec. 17-20, Breckenridge, CO; Jan. 7-9, Mount Bachelor, OR; Feb. 4-6, Mountain Creek, NJ) consistently provide world class venues, showcasing the best U.S. and international talent and progressing the level of competitive snowboarding since the series’ inception nine years ago.

‘We have a great line up of resorts with Breckenridge, Mount Bachelor and Mountain Creek this year’ he said. ‘I expect we will keep raising the bar for snowboard competitions.’

Webster has been involved with snowboarding since 1985 as a professional rider, coach, contest organizer, terrain park builder and resort manager. He currently lives in Meredith, N.H., with his wife Angela and his daughter Tori, 9.

U.S. Ski Team fronts Hannah Teter
As the 2006 Winter Olympics are coming up on the one-year-away mark, the U.S. Ski Team is helping to raise the profile of Hannah Teter, the 17-year-old snowboarder from Belmont, Vermont. The team recently e-mailed the following interview with Teter to USST sponsors. Winner of the 2004 X Games halfpipe gold medal and Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix (including wins in the pipe at Park City, Utah, and Mammoth Mountain, Calif.), among other, Teter splits her time living between Lake Tahoe and Okemo Mountain, Vermont. Her sponsors include Burton Snowboards, Mountain Dew, Anon, Nikita and Gallaz.

USSA: So, one event, one victory. Nice way to get the season rolling.
Hannah Teter: It’s the only way to start – with a win.

USSA: Was it really that easy, lead the first round and hold off the pack for the victory?
Teter: The pipe got a lot better on the day of the contest and rode pretty smooth. And we had an hour and a half to practice in it. In the qualifying [the previous day], I was running up the pipe to get some runs in. We didn’t have that kind of time. It was crazy.

USSA: So, what’s the deal with Vermont being a breeding ground for great riders like Ross Powers, Kelly Clark – two Olympic champs right there, and you and Lindsey Jacobellis? You and Lindsey and Kelly were all junior world champions, too. Is it the maple syrup?
Teter: Well, for me it is, as you know. I’m maple syrup all the way. But probably the conditions, riding and growing up in hard and icy and sketchy conditions make you good when you go into good stuff. It’s hard to go back to those conditions, though.

USSA: You spend more than 100,000 miles a year in flying, so how often do you get back home?
Teter: We’re a tight family, but Abe and Elijah live in Tahoe now – they bought a house in South Lake, so I’ll go there. I spend a lot of time on the West Coast. And it’s always good to be home in Vermont. I have a trainer up in Killington [half-hour away] who’s really getting me buffed. When I’m home, it’s special…and I’ll just chill. Sometimes I go in to Okemo, but mostly I just chill.

USSA: So, you’ve got your brothers, Elijah and Abe, on the team this year, and you three are pretty tight. Who else have you been working with on new tricks?
Teter: Well, everyone on the team helps each other. It’s, like, ‘Oh, do this a little different’ or you watch somebody and see how they do it, or regular people give you tips and hints, and you think about it and go, ‘Hey, y’know, that does make sense.’ And the [U.S. Snowboarding] coaches, for sure, they’re always there. And they’ll say, ‘Hannah, get in there and try this…Get in there and make me look good [more laughter]…but, really, the whole team helps each other. We compete but we really want everyone to do their best, too.

USSA: What do you enjoy about riding for U.S. Snowboarding?
Teter: I like it. I like being with my brother – they’re on it, man. We travel together, and that’s great, and – hey – everything’s taken care of. And Bud [Keene – the head coach, from Morrisville, Vt.] and Jank [Mike Jankowski, assistant coach – from Bondville, Vt.] are so cool. They’ve got the whole personality thing…and it’s really good. They’re Vermonters, they rock.

USSA: You rock, too. What do we look for from you this season?
Teter: Oh, I want to stay healthy, stay strong, get out there and throw down. I want to kick ass…and have fun. You always have to have fun. …I don’t know if I have an ultimate goal – I have a lot of goals – I want to do well any time I’m competing…yeah, maybe have fun, stay healthy, compete wel
l.

USSA: You grew up riding at Okemo Mountain, you went to Okemo Mountain School. Got a favorite place to ride?
Teter: Oh, everyone asks that. I like every new place with a good pipe. There are so many cool places, I don’t know if I could name just one. There’s a whole big world out there.

Okemo is my history, not my present moment. I go up there sometimes to get back to my roots. I was there all the time – it was, like, my favorite spot when I was in school. We’d go up every day… Now, we travel so much and when I’m home I may go up there, but usually I just chill. We’re a close family and being home is special.
USSA: Weren’t you at the Chile training camp in September?
Teter: Yeah, we went to New Zealand and the snow was awesome. We had incredible conditions. Sunny, good snow
USSA: Where were you – near Wanaka, Queenstown?
Teter: We were at Snowpark [about 20 miles outside Wanaka on South Island] and we were there for two weeks.
USSA: New Zealand is pretty cool with its “best of both worlds” setting – the resorts up on the ridgelines and the lodging and everything down in the valleys where it’s spring- or summer-like. Was that your first time down there?
Teter: No, I’d been there before – I was there a couple of days last year for MTV – but it’s so beautiful. And the people are so great, just super nice. I want to buy land there but it’s really too far.

Chris Klug and Michelle Gorgone in Swiss World Cups
Ursula Bruhin and Philipp Schoch kept the Swiss stranglehold of the alpine snowboarding World Cup tight Saturday with respective parallel giant slalom wins on the 2006 Olympic course. Reigning World Cup overall champ and fellow Swiss rider Daniela Mueli was second followed by French force Julie Pomagalski. Heinz Inniger and Roland Haldi rounded out the men’s podium oh yeah, they’re also Swiss. Nearly busting up the red and white podium party was Olympic bronze medalist Chris Klug (Aspen, CO) and not-so rookie teammate Michelle Gorgone (Sudbury, MA) Click here for results.