ride ride ride

This weekend was nothing less than fantastic. Three full days of snowboarding at Stratton Mountain, complete with three inches of fresh powder for our riding pleasure on Sunday morning. I haven't ridden powder since last year! We rented a rustic little 2 bedroom vermont condo for the weekend, with wooden ceiling beams and a wood-burning stove. It was so cozy to come back to that after each day of riding. After not riding for three months, I needed all the comfort I could get. This weekend was the US Open Snowboarding Championships. We hung out and watched the quarterpipe on friday, halfpipe on saturday, and slopestyle on sunday. Shaun White took home first in the halfpipe and slopestyle. We saw his halfpipe runs...DAMN, that kid can fly! We saw a few runs standing on top of the pipe, and then caught the action at the bottom so we could see the whole pipe. The pipe for this year exceded the Torino pipe by 4 feet, and was the largest in competition history...talk about going big! By Sunday, we were pretty tuckered out, but got to ride right next to the slopestyle course and catch come sem-final runs. By finals time we needed to get heading back to New Haven. I didn't realize until this morning that I missed Tara Dakides ride the slopestyle course. Bummer. She did a backflip with a melon grab. Woulda been sweet to see. Can't win 'em all. All in all, we caught a ton of competition action while still getting plenty of runs down the mountain. It was surreal to catch a patch of powder, then ride down next to a kicker and see a rider fly through the air, then ride down a little further a catch another rider hit a rail. oof. very nice. Next year we may bypass the US Open and opt for a weekend up at Killington. I'm told I HAVE to go there. Then again, the open is such a blast. What a great end to the winter season. I'm a little sad to put my board away, but running around in flip flops sounds better everyday.