{"id":803192,"date":"2020-01-17T16:53:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T23:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=377494"},"modified":"2020-01-17T16:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T23:53:01","slug":"burton-us-open-in-vail-to-feature-modified-superpipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/burton-us-open-in-vail-to-feature-modified-superpipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Burton US Open in Vail to feature modified superpipe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This year, the Burton U.S. Open snowboarding competition at Vail Mountain will feature a modified superpipe that transitions from a 13-foot mini-pipe at the top to roller jumps that transition into a standard 22-foot superpipe.<\/strong>
Courtesy Burton Snowboards<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2014 Continuing the trend of modified man-made snow structures for elite snowboarding and freeski competitions<\/a>, the Burton U.S. Open at Vail Mountain next month will feature a modified superpipe and a revamped slopestyle course.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Burton Snowboards announced the changes to this year\u2019s superpipe and slopestyle courses for the annual men\u2019s and women\u2019s snowboard event scheduled for Feb. 24-29. For the superpipe, Burton has opted for a modified design that will split two halfpipes with roller transitions in the middle.<\/p>\n

After dropping into the course, snowboarders will be able to get about three hits in a 13-foot mini-pipe featuring six-foot tombstones before transitioning to a standard 22-foot superpipe via a pair of roller transition jumps on skier\u2019s right and left. Once in the 22-foot pipe portion, Burton officials said snowboarders should be able to land three to four more hits.<\/p>\n

The course design is similar to last year\u2019s Dew Tour modified superpipe at Breckenridge Ski Resort. U.S. Olympic gold medalist and freeski legend David Wise described that course as \u201cpipestyle\u201d<\/a> \u2014 an homage to the modified superpipe course with transition features more commonly seen in slopestyle.<\/p>\n

As for this year\u2019s Burton U.S. Open slopestyle competition, the course is going heavy on flowy, choose-your-line transition jumps over one big booter jump after another. The course also will feature choose-your-line rail sections up top that mimic the kind of urban riding many snowboarders \u2014 including Silverthorne resident and Olympic big air silver medalist Kyle Mack \u2014 love to spend time on.<\/p>\n

The slopestyle course will have two urban features up top, including one that includes a rail next to stairs and a second that includes a wall ride. After those two features, snowboarders will get to the transition portion of the course, where 13-foot and 22-foot radius transition jump features will allow for snowboarders to carve efficiently into and off of angled jumps. These are the kind of transition jumps that Red Gerard mastered to win gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics and at last year\u2019s Burton Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then the course will include a more traditional high-speed rail feature, the kind Summit County\u2019s Chris Corning has mastered with his advanced version of a rodeo flip.<\/p>\n

It all leads to the traditional booter jump at the bottom of the course, where riders like Corning, Gerard and Mack will send their biggest tricks as each of their run\u2019s exclamation points, sliding to a stop in the corral where the fans will be in a frenzy.<\/p>\n

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