(Host) Vermont will be the center of the snowboarding universe for the next ten days.
As VPR’s Nina Keck reports, back-to-back competitions will bring the best snowboarders in the world to Killington and Stratton Mountain.
(Keck) At Killington, they’ve been fine tuning their snowboard terrain for weeks in preparation for tomorrow’s Chevy US snowboarding grand prix. Killington spokesman, Tom Horrocks, says the finals will be held at 7 Saturday night.
(Horrocks) "Some of the top snowboarders in the world going absolutely huge out of the super pipe, which they’ve actually carved up and it has 21 foot walls on it now. And just in practice today some of these riders were going up to 14, 15 feet above the top of the deck, so you can imagine they’re getting close to 40 feet off the ground."
(Keck) Olympic gold medalists Kelly Clark and Hannah Teeter will join over 100 other snowboarders competing for more than 130-thousand dollars in cash and prizes. After Killington, competitors will pack up their boards and head to Stratton Mountain where the 26th annual US Open begins on Monday.
For VPR News, I’m Nina Keck
AP Photo/Alden Pellett
Hannah Teeter competes at the U.S. Snowboarding Championships at Stratton in 2005.