2002 US Open Snowboarding Championships on MountainZone.com

Old man fog decided that the enormous quarterpipe at Stratton was not quite difficult enough, so he laid a blanket of his thickest offering over the hill to make things a bit more interesting. The riders were champs though, and regardless of the visibility problems, they managed to put on quite a show for the enormous crowd.

The event was a two-hour jam session with cash prizes of up to $10,000 going to the rider who made the greatest overall impression on the judges. The contest within the contest was for Best Trick, with $2500 going to the individual that the riders, judges, and sponsor, Sobe Adrenaline, decide did the most insane trick of the night.

"Romain DeMarchi made it out of lockdown long enough to through a Haakon 9 that was eventually voted the Sobe Adrenaline trick of the night...."

The ladies were charging alongside the men and were boosting airs big enough that it was hard to tell the difference. Vermonters Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter were riding well despite having hiked pipe all day long. Hannah threw down a frontside seven on her way to claiming 3rd place as well as the Sobe Adrenaline trick of the night.

Looks like the (Abe) Teter family has yet another snowboaring prodigy on their hands. Second place went to New Hampshire's own Jamie MacLeod who was stomping backside spins all night. But it was Kelly Clark who dropped in and busted a McTwist that took home the big check and all the glory that comes with first place at the US Open quarterpipe.

In the men's finals, it was obvious early that Keir Dillon would be the man to beat, boosting his trademark McTwist, and even taking it to 7. It was good to see that a day's worth of hiking pipe wasn't going to stop the riders from stepping it up.

Dylan Butt blew it up with an enormous Michalchuk, and Abe Teter was throwing down for the hometown crowd, but no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to tweak his board so hard that it actually broke.

Romain DeMarchi made it out of lockdown long enough to through a Haakon 9 that was eventually voted the Sobe Adrenaline trick of the night. The rest of the night belonged to Travis Rice, who decided that qualifying first in slopestyle on Thursday and qualifying for the halfpipe finals earlier in the day was just not enough, so he sessioned the jump with an array of spins and airs to take home the big check with the 4 zeroes on it. This kid is on fire.

As the crowd of several thousand made their way down the hill, they were treated to a firework display that at least sounded quite impressive through the pea soup fog.

— Courtesy, Fuse Sports Marketing