After a tight competition in the Philips US Open Halfpipe Finals, Ross Powers and Gretchen Bleiler took home $20,000, a 15” Flat TV from Philips Electronics and a gold Sheriff badge – this year’s loot for winning snowboarding’s most sought-after title.

The head-to-head halfpipe format was a first for this year’s Open. The riders were placed in pairs of two, seeded by place from the Semifinals. Each pair of riders took two runs. The rider with the best scored run in the pair moved on, the other one was knocked out of the competition. Things got heated pretty quickly with the head-to-head format, putting a lot of pressure on the riders to have perfect runs since they only had two chances. Top riders like Danny Kass and Abe Teter were knocked out of the men’s finals early on due to the head-to-head format.

Shaun White and Daniel Franck were the first pair to drop in the men’s finals. Shaun, who was a favorite to win the event after such a strong season, fell in both of his runs and was knocked out of the finals. The tightest battle in the men’s pairs was between Andy Finch and Ross Powers. Both had exceptionally strong runs. Ross scored higher by a point and moved on to win the event. Things got even more heated when there were only three men left competing for first place. Ross Powers, Kazuhiro Kokubo and Daniel Franck had two runs to determine who would stand in the top podium spot. Japanese rider Kazuhiro was definitely a crowd pleaser, getting over 15 feet out of the pipe and stomping enormous McTwists. It was a close contest between Ross and Kazuhiro, but Ross prevailed with his signature smooth Methods, straight airs and tight trick combinations.

“I’m so excited to win the Open – I never thought I’d win it again,” said Olympic Gold Medalist Ross Powers. Ross was born and raised riding Stratton Mountain and the US Open is still his favorite event. Today’s victory marks his second US Open Halfpipe Championship and his first major pipe win of this season.

In the women’s finals, it all came down to Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler and Natasza Zurek. It was a tight contest between Hannah and Natasza – both throwing down technical tricks like cripplers, frontside 540s and 720 rotations – Hannah even stomped a 900. In the end, two time US Open Champion Natasza Zurek placed second and Hannah Teter landed in third place. Gretchen Bleiler dominated with two flawless runs that started out with her signature crippler and ended with a Crippler 720, which earned her the Best Trick award from Right Guard Xtreme Sport on top of the Philips US Open Halfpipe title. All in all, Gretchen walked away with $22,500 in winnings plus an electronics prize package from Philips– not bad for a couple hours of snowboarding.

Gretchen has been unstoppable this season, winning several major halfpipe titles including two Vans Triple Crowns, one Grand Prix, the X Games Halfpipe and recent FIS contest in Japan. This is Gretchen’s first US Open Championship – and it was well-earned.

Tens of thousands of people showed up to watch the riders go head to head for a coveted spot on the US Open podium. The Superpipe is the pinnacle event at the US Open and attracts riders and spectators from the world over. Once again, Pat Malendoski and his crew from Planet Design, custom built the Open’s Superpipe. Pat is a halfpipe-building legend and has built more world-class halfpipes, including the epic 2002 Olympic pipe, than anyone else on the planet. The contest was held under partly sunny skies at Stratton’s Sun Bowl area. Outdoor Life Network filmed and broadcasted the competition live for the first time in the contest’s history.