The Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships are upon us, and while you may love watching athletes speed down the mountain, the little ones might not — they might not even know what’s going on. Burton, however, has you covered with its Riglet program.
Riglet offers children ages 3 to 6 the opportunity to learn snowboarding basics at the hands of Vail Resorts instructors for free.
“What we do is create a snow-based playground with fun features for kids to play around on,” said Shaun Cattanach, globals resorts manager with Burton. “The idea is that while they’re having fun, they’re also learning the basics of snowboarding.”
The learning area, located by the magic carpet at Golden Peak with a satellite location in the sponsor village, will mimic the features that the professionals are navigating. Much like what adults will see on the slopes, Riglet will offer miniature versions of the halfpipe and slopestyle course, with a mini banked slalom course in the works.
Cattanach describes the results he’s seen as “phenomenal.”
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“If kids are having fun, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Cattanach said. “But there have been multitudes of kids that have gotten into snowboarding because of the exposure they got at Riglet.”
It’s not just the kids that love it, either.
“We have a crew of instructors every year because they want to keep coming back,” Cattanach said. “It’s apparently a sought-after assignment.”
Riglet, which has been a feature of the Burton US Open since it moved to Vail seven years ago, will be open on Friday for private lessons, and Saturday to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
