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It was a Saturday at Ruby Hill, a small, city-owned park in an in any other case industrial space of south Denver. And snowboarders of all ages had been throwing it down for the Burton Thriller Sequence.
For one 5-year-old, that meant hitting a shoebox-sized function sticking 2 inches out of the snow. For a 59-year-old retired semi-pro rider, it meant competing for the primary time in 30 years, testing his pace down the banked slalom course within the Thriller Sequence, hoping to attain large and win some money.
There have been about 150 snowboarders, ranging in age from 5 to 60. They had been all attempting to shred as arduous and quick as they may down the course, measuring about 40 vertical ft from summit to base. All entrants registered without cost. Many had rented boots and boards (which additionally they acquired without cost).
The brand new Burton Thriller Sequence is making stops like this all around the world. It doesn’t intention to hit main resorts, principally small city places like Denver’s Ruby Hill. The aim is to construct group and stoke pleasure for the game. Burton needs to welcome snowboarders of all backgrounds to assemble and experience.
“An enormous a part of the Thriller Sequence is being inclusive of all ranges, ages, and talents. We’re additionally attempting to make it actually accessible, not simply financially, however time commitment-wise,” George Carpenter, son of the late Jake Burton Carpenter, aka the godfather of snowboarding, instructed GearJunkie. “With this Sequence, we requested ourselves, how can we create group and construct good instances the place the individuals are at as a substitute of constructing them come to the place we’re?”
Burton’s New Thriller Sequence
Again to the Roots
When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Burton had simply wrapped up its monumental Burton U.S. Open occasion in Vail following Jake Burton Carpenter’s passing in November 2019. It seems that the U.S. Open occasion, which introduced out the world’s prime snowboarders — X Video games and Olympic medalists — could be the final one for a number of years.
Because of the long-term planning and logistics that go into the U.S. Open and the continued uncertainty of the pandemic, the corporate canceled the 2021 U.S. Open occasion. And it launched into some artistic brainstorming. The Carpenter household and workers started analyzing the competitors, which traditionally required no qualification or invitation. They regarded on the prospects with contemporary eyes.
“The U.S. Open did extra for skilled snowboarding than any occasion in historical past. However a few of its authentic attraction of it modified with the instances. It was all the time open to any competitor. So somebody might present up that nobody has heard of,” Carpenter stated.
“It was a platform for individuals to get acknowledged, however with the web, there’s nobody that isn’t acknowledged. There aren’t any surprises anymore. We determined to take a step again, and have a look at the second technology of snowboarders. There are 4-year-old snowboarders whose dad and mom are snowboarders. It’s robust to go to a spot like Vail for every week, and pay for carry tickets, and all the pieces. What’s nice in regards to the Thriller Sequence is that we will localize them. We are able to do much more Thriller Sequence occasions versus one U.S Open for form of the identical value.”
Stops Across the Globe
Burton examined the format for the Thriller Sequence final season at Theodore Wirth Ski Hill in Minneapolis. It stops there once more on March 4. The primary season of the worldwide tour has already included stops in Boreal, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; and Ontario and Saskatchewan in Canada, in addition to in Japan, China, New Zealand, and all through Europe.
All occasions are free to enter and embody a banked slalom competitors with grownup money prizes and product prizes for teenagers.
“Banked slalom is exclusive to snowboarding and has been round some time. It’s inclusive of all ranges — a 3-year-old or a 40-year-old who’s solely gone snowboarding a few instances — it’s about doing all your private greatest. Each occasion has a banked slalom, then all-level park options. We’re encouraging youngsters to hit their first rail or first soar. On each course, there are additionally expert-level rails and jumps. We’re inviting professional athletes to all of those stops. We’re inspiring the subsequent technology of riders, displaying them that is what you may ultimately do in your snowboard. [It’s] actually creating one thing that hasn’t existed in snowboarding.”
Carpenter’s mother, Donna Carpenter, ripped the banked slalom course in Denver. At one of many Japan stops, George nailed a brand new trick of his personal. The announcers, not realizing he was Jake Burton Carpenter’s son, threw him a pair of gloves (that he regifted).
To seek out out extra or register, go to Burton.com/mysteryseries.
The place Is the Thriller Sequence Stopping This Spring?
North America
- Theodore Wirth Ski Hill, Minnesota – March 4, 2023
- Woodward Park Metropolis, Utah – March 25, 2023
Europe
- Arosa Lenzerheide, Switzerland – March 5, 2023
- Kläppen, Sweden – March 11, 2023
- Sveitsi, Finland – March 18, 2023
- Flachauwinkl, Austria – March 26, 2023
- Solheisen, Norway – April 29, 2023
Japan
- Lake Songhua, Jilin – March 18, 2023
New Zealand
- Snow Planet, New Zealand – Might 6, 2023
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