2005 US OPEN PIPE

By Landon Short

For a complete gallery of the 2005 US Open CLICK HERE

Best Open pipe ever? Best at the Sunbowl for sure!

Like a sleeping giant stirred from its slumber to regain its place atop the food chain, the 2005 US Open halfpipe contest showed the snowboarding world why the Olympics and X-Games will always be imitators at best. Under sunny skies the Saturday morning pipe finals began in what many competitors called the best u-tube in Open history. Pat Melandowski and the rest of the Planet Snow staff labored long and hard to sculpt the fresh Stratton snow into a flawless creation. Due to recent dumps, the cutting crew was less reliant on farming manmade snow than in the past and in turn was able to create a halfpipe that wasn't flawed by varying snow layers.

After five straight days of sun, Mother Nature came thru with another scorcher for Saturday and a classic Open crowd arrived with zinca on the nose and deck sodas in hand. The stacked field of sixteen men and eight women included former Open champions Ross Powers, Gretchen Bleiler, Guillaume Morriset, Hannah Teter, Danny Kass, and Tricia Byrnes as well as past podium finishers Keir Dillon, Abe Teter and Steven Fisher. Several rookies made their way thru the ranks into the finals including Torah Bright, Elena Hight, Joe Eddy, Shayne Pospisil, Kevin Pierce, and Danny Davis. Of note is the fact that two of our ladies, Junko Asazuma and Meg Pugh made their first Open finals appearance in '05 and both are at or near the thirty year old mark. Who says being a rookie is a young rider’s game?

Though any one of our finalists could have emerged with the victory, small falls and subtle mistakes separated the top contenders from the also rans. Normally five 720 plus spins in a run would guarantee a podium placing but such wasn't the case at the ‘05 Open. For the ladies third place went to southern Vermont sensation Hannah Teter who threw the five to 9 to cab 7, a combo that otherwise would have settled the field. Second place went to perhaps the most underrated girl in the game today, Australia's Torah Bright. Torah started each run by skying a legitimate McTwist overhead on the first hit. By "legitimate" I mean that it wasn't a lead shoulder barrel roll. Torah’s Mctwists were straight up and straight down, the way they should be. For her efforts Torah earned the runner up spot on the podium and an additional $5,000 for the Nintendo DS women’s best trick. Winning her second Open pipe title in three years was the current X-Games champion Gretchen Bleiler. After sitting out much of the '04 season with an injury Bleiler returned to Stratton with a hunger unmatched by her peers. After sealing the win with her first runs, Bleiler dropped into a third run victory lap and instead of stepping back, she stepped up in a big way. Her first hit 900 was easily the largest ever thrown by her gender in competition and definitely worthy of a $20,000 payday.

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In a nod of respect to perenial crowd favorites like Terje and Abe Teter, Burton sanctioned poaching this year for the first time in Open history. Those not making the "official" cut but finding their way into the finals "sans bib" were semi-final showstoppers like Tyler Emond, Scotty Lago and Guy Deschenes. Had Deschenes put down his patented cab 7 to one footer combo in the early running he would have been a definite Open contender. Scotty Lago also raised the roof with large technical tricks. One rider not poaching but certainly boosting in the finals was Abe Teter. After finishing second to Kass in '01, Teter once again found himself in the Open finals. In typical Teter fashion Abe rode for the crowd. With a double overhead 900 Abe earned the men’s best trick title. Another rider who was going for broke was the "Italian Stallion" Giacomo Kratter. Giacomo's spins were as unbridled as his hair and his straight airs were as smooth as his romantic rapport. Unfortunately some of Giacomo's landings were as sketchy as his late night antics and he would find himself off of the podium. Third place went to Antti Autti, a rider who found himself ahead of his time in '04 but in the money consistently in '05. Antti started each run with a crooked method on the backside wall. This is where the stock tricks were set aside for 4140 degrees of Finish madness, back to back 1080's, an alley oop 360, a fs 720, and to finish things off a fs 900. Steven Fisher found himself sitting in a much deserved 2nd place after dropping in to a 1080 and following it up with a 9, a 7, a 5, another 7 and finally another 9. Not only do you need big balls, good wax and a healthy dose of style to make it in today’s pipe world, apparently you also need a bottle of Dramamine and a geometry degree.

Winning his fourth Open pipe title and making Open history at the same time was the Jersey Devil himself, a rider who some might say has saved our sport from both the corporates and the jocks. Alas I am talking about none other than Danny Kass. Danny's Airs to fakie and Alley Oop rodeos showed that airtime and style will always trump technical monotony when it comes to true snowboarding events. In turn Danny surpassed Haakon as the winningest pipe rider in Open history and won $20,000 in the process.

Results

Men

1. Danny Kass
2. Steve Fisher
3. Antti Autti
4. Keir Dillon
5. Danny Davis
6. Risto Mattila
7. Pat Moore
8. Kevin Pearce
9. Ross Powers
10. Elijah Teter
11. Mason Aguirre
12. Guillaume Morriset
13. Giacomo Kratter
14. Joe Eddy
15. Shayne Pospisil
16. Abe Teter