After 30 years in Vermont, the Burton U.S. Open made its debut in Vail, Colorado, on February 25, 2013. The event, which emerged from humble beginnings as the National Snowboarding Championships at Suicide Six ski area in Vermont in 1982, is one of the oldest competitions in snowboarding and has been a stalwart of the Vermont snowboard scene. The event had been held at Stratton Mountain, Vermont since 1985.
For 2013, the Burton U.S. Open decided—to paraphrase the Burton website— to be like many an Eastern rider, and make a move west. “It kind of felt like it was time to move,” Jake Burton Carpenter, founder of the event and Burton Snowboards told Snowboarder Magazine’s Pat Bridges. “Stratton… I grew up there, raised my family there, and started my company there. I love that place. But… the X Games came along, the Olympics and all of a sudden we were not necessarily keeping up with the times… It was time to progress the event.”
The competitive element of the party that is the Burton U.S. Open hit Vail, Colorado over four days from February 27 to March 2, 2013. Check out the video from Snowboarder Magazine to hear more from Jake Burton Carpenter, as well as to see highlights of Shaun White’s winning halfpipe run and hear Bridges catch up with six-time Burton U.S. Open Champion Kelly Clark and 2013 men’s halfpipe runner up and rising star Ayumo Hirano.
Head to the official site for results
