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Bandanas = Winners!
An ode to bandanas and all who wear them!
Oh Shaun White, thank you for bringing the bandanna back in style. You, Sir, have bestowed honor to a tradition so coveted by the rapscallions of generations past! Like the noble Ashton Kutcher before you, who brought back the trucker hat as a symbol of wealth and popularity, you have brought the bandanna in to a new realm. The Bloods, The Crypts, even old train robbers from western movies, have tarnished the bandanna in the days of yore. Oh how I have longed for the day when someone would take a stand and say, “No more shall the bandanna be a symbol of dishonor!” And as if God himself granted my wish, here you come along, my dear White Knight, to capture the flag and return it to its rightful owners, the lords of Gnar. How I cherish the days on the mountain tops as I see all my brethren clad in such magnificence. Like armor for a new generation of knights, the bandanna shields them from Mother Nature’s wrath. Neither rain, nor wind, nor snow could ever penetrate such a masterfully crafted shield of cotton and polyester. Now, thanks to you Sir White, all of your disciples may wear the bandanna proudly and not be seen as the dregs of our mountains. Rejoice, and wear your bandannas proudly because I promise you this, If Shaun White does it, it has to be cool!
-Cruit
There was Big Air, woman’s SuperPipe finals, and the conclusion of the Boarder X. The night was cold and the slope was fast. In the end, Aspen gave us some unexpected drama.
Woman’s SuperPipe
Taking the stage for the last time before the Winter Olympics, the US woman’s team pushed each other to take the next hit higher and perform better. The favorite coming into the competition was top qualifier Kelly Clark, who, throughout the night, consistently went bigger and was smoother than all other riders. However, she could not overtake the hometown hero Gretchen Bleiler, who put a flawless run down that include an 900 and an inverted 540. Both woman will be representing the very strong team USA in Vancouver.
Clark was the last rider of the night and her best score was still 2 points behind Bleiler. When she dropped in, she maintained her speed and went bigger than any other rider, but fell short by only .66 points. Taking third was another Team USA teammate in Hannah Teter.
In a sport defined by progression, the rider’s tonight proved that they are ready to put the entire sport on their back and take it to the next level.
Woman’s SuperPipe Finals scores
GOLD Gretchen Bleiler 96.66
SILVER Kelly Clark 96.00
BRONZE Hannah Teter 70.00
4 Soko Yamaoka 66.00
5 Ellery Hollingsworth 46.66
6 Elena Hight 39.33
Men’s Boarder X Finals
In a day that featured a fall in one of the heats that would make anyone turn away and wince. The entire field went down, but taking the brunt on the rollers was Olympian Graham Wantanabe, who was quickly carted to the ambulance. Only Alberto Schiavon, Nate Holland, and Jayson Hale ended up making it to the bottom.
In the end, the two anticipated riders to watch went back and forth until the very bottom where NASCAR like strategies were on display. Nate Holland beat out Seth Wescott (and Alberto Schiavon) to take the Gold. He won with less than a second lead. Wescott beat Schiavon by only .19 seconds.
GOLD Nate Holland (1:31.942)
SILVER Seth Wescott (1:32.510)
BRONZE Alberto Schiavon (1:32.529)
Woman’s Boarder X Finals
Lindsay Jacobellis is the most dominant Snowboarder X rider and proved it once again by taking the gold. But she had to fight for it with Helene Olafsen taking a late lead, then pushing Jacobellis to the very end. Joanie Anderson grabbed the bronze, but the race was for gold. Both rider’s picked their own lines and both made a near flawless run. It seemed that Jacobellis simply picked a better line, taking more gaps and riding the roller sections better. It was close though.
GOLD Lindsey Jacobellis (1:38.145)
SILVER Helene Olafsen (1:38.664)
BRONZE Joanie Anderson (1:43.018)
Big Air
The Snowboarding Big Air competition didn’t become the double cork fest that it looked like it would be during the warm ups on Thursday night, but it took two double corked moves to get a perfect score and win it by X Games rookie, and newly minted TransWorld Snowboarding’s Rookie of The Year, Halldor Helgason.
Halldor had the entire contest wrapped up with his perfect score pretty early as Torstein Horgmo pulled in the silver and Mikkel Bang styled his way to the bronze. It was exciting, but the course took some sun in earlier in the day and seemed to be riding different. Mr. Big Air himself, Travis Rice didn’t qualify for the finals as he only landed one of his tricks. I guess will have to wait to see his new trick.
Falling seemed to be the trend during the elimination rounds, but as soon as the finals started, the rider’s were ready and began throwing down, highlighted by two perfect double cork 1080’s, throwing them both frontside and backside.
Big Air Finals Results
GOLD Halldor Helgason 100
SILVER Torstein Horgmo 94
BRONZE Mikkel Bang 83
4 Tyler Flanagan 76
5 Eero Ettala 72
Looking toward tomorrow’s conclusion of the Winter X Games, the last to be decided in the sport of snowboarding is the slopestyle, a discipline not included in the Olympics, but maybe the closest to what everyone deems “snowboarding”. The rider’s will take a series of features and do what they want with them.