{"id":803358,"date":"2020-01-23T09:21:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T16:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=377748"},"modified":"2020-01-23T09:21:15","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T16:21:15","slug":"espn-snowboarders-to-honor-jake-burton-carpenter-in-first-x-games-since-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/espn-snowboarders-to-honor-jake-burton-carpenter-in-first-x-games-since-his-death\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN, snowboarders to honor Jake Burton Carpenter in first X Games since his death"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Jake Burton Carpenter and Kelly Clark hang out at the bottom of the X Games superpipe in January 2019 after her final run.<\/strong>
Anna Stonehouse \/ The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There will be a void at the bottom of the superpipe this weekend as X Games Aspen is held for the first time since the death of Jake Burton Carpenter. But expect the emotions to run as high as the rider above the deck.<\/p>\n

The father of snowboarding, Burton, 65, died in November after a second battle with testicular cancer. He was a staple as the X Games grew from the late 1990s to the show it has become and Olympic sports it helped launch.<\/p>\n

From his beginnings in a Vermont barn to the top of the industry, Burton\u2019s legacy is undeniable. Riders from around the world joined the Burton crew, and this weekend they\u2019ll honor him, some still with a heavy heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago at X Games we went for some powder runs in between competitions,\u201d Olympic and X Games gold medalist Anna Gasser said Wednesday afternoon. \u201cWith how the weather\u2019s been with the little bit of snow the past two days it\u2019s almost a sign that he\u2019s still here and that he wants us to have a good time.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake was never a boss. He was always like family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch for Mark McMorris and Danny Davis, two of the current stars on the men\u2019s side and Burton riders who were close to him, to have an extra level of emotion.<\/p>\n

When ESPN launches its on-air coverage Thursday night, the first event is men\u2019s snowboard superpipe. Host Jack Mitrani, a former professional boarder who has deep roots in Vermont, became friends with Burton and will do the tribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just happens that we\u2019re coming on the air first with snowboard superpipe, and so from our perspective, we felt that it was right to hit it and acknowledge Jake right off the top as we\u2019re about to get into our first snowboard event,\u201d X Games Vice President Tim Reed said Wednesday standing in the middle of the Buttermilk venue. \u201cJack has a long relationship with Jake so he\u2019s the perfect person to say a few words and do what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Rhode Island native, Reed, 45, also has a New England connection with the Burton lore. His first Burton board was in the early 1980s when he was 8 years old, and it was the early version of Burton\u2019s Snurfer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have it. It has the \u2018JBC\u2019 on it,\u201d Reed said. \u201cWhen I was growing up, our favorite thing at the holidays was our mom let us pick one thing out of the Burton catalog. \u2026 Burton was always the New England company.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Open started in 1982 in Vermont, more than a decade before X Games came onto the scene, and Burton was there.<\/p>\n

The event, now known as the Burton U.S. Open, goes off each winter in Vail. This year\u2019s event is Feb. 24 through 29 at Vail Mountain.<\/p>\n

As the X Games grew, and Reed moved up the ranks from his first gig in Crested Butte in 1998 to now vice president, he\u2019s seen how a Burton sighting upped the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great how much support he gave to the riders who are a part of this. His impact is just undeniable,\u201d Reed said. \u201cYou would see him at venue and you could tell everyone was just so stoked that he was here,\u201d Reed said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Oh, Jake\u2019s here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitrani said Burton\u2019s presence was felt no matter where he went, but certainly he enjoyed being around the riders. Burton was at the X Games pipe last year when snowboarding icon Kelly Clark made her final run<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember him at the bottom of the superpipe just holding court and having an aura around him,\u201d Mitrani said. \u201cHis energy is definitely going to be upon us this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

dkrause@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jake Burton Carpenter and Kelly Clark hang out at the bottom of the X Games superpipe in January 2019 after her final run.Anna Stonehouse \/ The Aspen Times There will be a void at the bottom of the superpipe this weekend as X Games Aspen is held for the first time since the death of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-803358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-24 23:50:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}