The 2010/2011North American competition season is now officially underway. With the conclusion of today's Grand Prix Halfpipe Finals at Copper Mtn. Co it appears as though the vertical scene hasn't gotten the memo that this is going to be an off year for the points chasers.

According to the Copper Facebook page 9" of fresh had graced the resort overnight. Well 9" was an understatement as thigh deep drifts enveloped much of the mountain. The all-time conditions appeased the pow hungry shreds looking to get some before the event but organizers were left with a panic to clear the decks and trannies of Coppers famed 22' U-Tube before the 11:30 start.

With the trannies swept the riders were left with a pipe that had firm walls and a packed powder flat bottom, which despite the best efforts of the Copper park and pipe crew is less than ideal. Nonetheless the international field persevered and put on a solid show.

For the ladies a first class international field found their way into the finals with all but two of the competitors veterans of the Vancouver Olympics. Riding well but encountering some untimely falls was Japan's Soko Yamaoka. Canada's Sarah Conrad, Spain's Queralt Castellet, America's Ellery Holligsworth and Australia's Holly Crawford.

Head on over to SnowboarderMag.com for all the details, results and photos with hilarious captions.

The battle is set to continue between America's snowboard prodigy, Shaun White, and the newest threat on the scene, Danny Davis. The battleground will be in Mammoth Lakes massive 22 foot halfpipe for the thrid stop of the Grand Prix Olympic Qualifier series.

White has long been the favorite to win, but with Davis laying down the winning run, and what many are calling the best halfpipe run ever executed at the last Grand Prix, the industry seems to have become divided as to who should own the title of the all-time best pipe rider.

White won the first stop of the Grand Prix series at Copper Mountain, CO and now that Davis' has the win from this weeks second stop in Mammoth Lakes, CA they are going into the third stop neck and neck.

Both White and Davis' rode extremely well in qualifiers today, setting themselves up in prime position for tomorrow's finals by taking the number one and number two qualifying spots respectively. In fact, Davis only scored six tenths of a point below White's top score of 45.80. Qualifiers don't always tell the tale of what will happen in the following finals though, so with White scoring just tenths of a point ahead Davis' it can not be assumed that White will take the win tomorrow. It's anyone's game.

Many other popular riders qualified in the top 15 spots today and will move onto tomorrow's final, including Olympic Bronze medalist J.J. Thomas, Dancing with the Stars Louie Vito and the Frends crew brothers Luke and Jack Mitrani.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Sprint U.S. SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX Stop 3
Mammoth Mountain, CA - Jan. 8th, 2010
Halfpipe Qualifiers

Men's
1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 45.80
2. Danny Davis, Detroit, MI, 45.20
3. Dylan Bidez, Minturn, CO 43.10
4. Jarret Thomas, Golden, CO, 41.40
5. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 43.00
6. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 43.40
7. Nathan Johnstone, Aus, 40.70
8. Zachary Black, Breckenridge CO, 39.50
9. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 39.70
10. Matt Ladley, Steamboat Springs, CO, 39.40
11. Mathieu Crepel, France, 38.90
12. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth, CA, 38.20
13. Andy Finch, Truckee, CA, 38.00
14. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth, CA, 37.90
15. Brad Martin, Canada, 37.20

Women's
1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 45.60
2. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 44.00
3. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 41.30
4. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 39.90
5. Holly Crawford, Australia, 38.90
6. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 38.30
7. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 37.90
8. Maddy Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, CO, 37.20

Snowboard fans at today's Grand Prix event in Mammoth, Calif., had a sense they were in for a treat today. Within the tight-knit snowboarding community many here would argue that making the elite U.S. Snowboard Team this year is just as hard, if not harder, than earning a medal in Vancouver. The argument is a testament to the talent and depth of the U.S. hopefuls.

Danny Davis drilled this point home today.

Davis made snowboarding history by completing what many experts are already calling the best halfpipe run ever during today's finals. With a solid first run under his belt, he made the most of his final shot. He came firing out with a cab double cork, followed with a front 900 and a back crail (straight air), then finished up with back-to-back double corks, the last one being the switch double back rodeo.

"I hadn't even landed one of those [switch double back rodeo] in practice," Davis explained. "So that was a gamble."
When his score of 49.20 out of 50.0 was announced, it sent the crowd into a frenzy. Davis' total score was nearly impossible to beat, but Shaun White had one final chance to catch him.

For a moment it looked like White was going to pull the impossible. No snowboarder has ever earned a perfect score of 50.00. White landed every double cork, boosted his straight air and laced his spins, but on his very last trick, another double-cork attempt, he couldn't manage the landing. The mistake gave Davis the win, and snowboarding's golden boy finished with a rare second place.

"There was some great riding today," said White. "This is by far the heaviest contest I've ever been in."

The win was especially moving for Davis, who's riding with good friend Kevin Pearce on his mind. Pearce was severely injured last week during halfpipe training run and remains in an induced coma in Salt Lake City.

"I had Kev on my mind and right before every run," Davis said. "I know we're sending vibes back to each other and it was good. I asked Kev to help me through [this] one."

The fans in attendance were equally moved by the moment. Signs flashing support for Pearce were peppered throughout the crowd, making the win for his good friend Davis feel almost poetic. Davis acknowledged the outpouring. "Our best friend Kevin Pearce got a little hurt so he's not here with us...He's the strongest kid we know and he'll be better soon enough."

The women's pipe final was full of excitement as well. The girls were boosting well above the lip and laying down run after run with few mistakes.

Kelly Clark, who won the first Grand Prix, picked up where she left off last month. She waisted little time jumping out to an early lead. Her first run ended up as the top score of the day, which meant her final run was a victory lap.

After winning two Grand Prix Olympic Qualifiers in a row, Clark has officially become the first American to be named to the U.S. Snowboard Team, an honorable feat indeed this year. This will be her third trip to the Winter Olympics for halfpipe. Clark won the women's gold in the 2002 at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Hannah Teter followed Clark with second place today, and the well-known philanthropist promptly donated all of her winnings to Hannah's Gold, her charity foundation in Africa.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Sprint U.S. SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX
Mammoth Mountain, CA - Jan. 5, 2010
Halfpipe

Men
1. Danny Davis, Detroit, MI, 49.20
2. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 46.20
3. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 45.00
4. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 45.00
5. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 44.90
6. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Mountain, CA, 44.50
7. Jeff Bachelor, Canada, 43.50
8. Mathieu Crepel, France, 43.00
9. JJ Thomas, Golden, CO, 41.30
10. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth Mountain, CA, 40.30

Women
1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 48.40
2. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 45.20
3. Holly Crawford, Australia, 44.40
4. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 42.50
5. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 42.40
6. Maddy Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, CO, 38.70
7. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 31.00
8. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 39.90

Do I really even need to tell you who won today? Didn't most of us hedge our bets before this season even started? Yes, Shaun won, but more on that in a minute.


If they make a wax figure out of Shaun White they should probably make it in this pose, he gets to claim a lot of wins. Red Bull can and all. (P) Nate Abbot

Greybird skies, bitter cold temps and light flurries crept back into Copper for Saturday's finals, which contributed to many riders not being able to land their runs today.

Once in a while this kind of thing happens. A qualification day like Friday's Grand Prix's qualifications will have a higher level of riding then the day of finals. You almost have to feel sorry for the 1,000 or so spectators that braved Colorado's Interstate 70 to come watch the best riders in the world. If only they knew what they missed the day before. The field of riders yesterday just trying to make it into finals was so stacked that everyone had to give it their all. Just making it to today's finals was a victory- some of the favored to podium today's event didn't even make it in, including Kevin Pearce, Luke Mitrani, Torah Bright and Mason Aguirre.

When the pressure of the importance of these finals (due to them being an Olympic Qualifier and all) and the less than ideal weather sunk in first thing this morning, those thousand or so live spectators were treated to some pretty early-on carnage. Hit after hit, run after run, riders were bailing on their landings. It took standing up an entire run, consistency, and perseverance to make it to the top today. Luckily there weren't too many major injuries.

Let's get back to who won and why. On the men's side of things all eyes were on Shaun, as they almost always are, to take the win. Each rider had two chances to impress the judges. Most riders play it safe on their first run to get a solid score, and then go all out on their second run, but not Shaun. By the time Shaun finished his first run (with his infamous back-to-back double cork 1080's) he had won the entire event with a score of 47.00.


Men's Podium: Zach Black 3rd, Shaun White 1st, and Louie Vito 2nd

That didn't stop anyone from trying to beat him though. It only got more exciting during second run as every rider threw out their best to beat unstoppable White. Louie Vito, who was nipping at White's heels during qualifications yesterday, stood almost 5 points behind White after first run. Vito was the last rider before White to drop, and with no one else coming close to White's first run score, Vito knew he needed something cleaner and bigger for his second run.


Pretty impressive for a dancing hobbit. Rider: Louie Vito (P) Nate Abbot


And that is exactly what he did. Vito's second run was close to flawless, highly technical, and consistently huge.

You could have heard a pin drop as the judges tallied Vito's second run score. Vito and Shaun (and quite possibly everyone in the crowd) held their breath. Shaun stood strapped into his board at the top of the pipe to drop in for his second and final run, waiting to find out if his first run score was enough to take the win.

Vito's second run score was announced as a 45.60, confirming that White had clinched it by a mere 1.40 points. It was one of those "crowd went wild" moments, although it was hard to tell if the crowd was going wild for White winning, or for Vito barely losing to the red-headed wonder.

And with that, White dropped in for a victory run, and he went absolutely huge.


Louie "Twinkle Toes" Vito- Barely missing the win but happy with the results of today's finals. (P) Nate Abbot

It's hard to get noticed with names like Shaun White and Louie Vito taking center stage, but the underdog story of the day goes to third place finisher and local boy Zach Black. With top riders like White, Vito, Scotty Lago, Jack Mitrani and Danny Davis all in the finals and scrambling to get in the 2010 Winter Olympics, being an underdog and finishing third is quite possibly the biggest feat of the day- maybe even more so than back-to-back doubles. The 19 year old Black earned some street cred today by doing two things the judges love to see, keeping it consistent and maximizing altitude, and that earned him a score of 44.10. (He also did a flawless Switch BS 1080, which definitely helped his score.)

With a showing out of Black like today, it's safe to say yet another name has been added to the mix of Olympic Hopefuls for Vancouver.

On the girls side of things it wasn't so clear cut going into the day who was the favored to win. As always though, the major battle was between American's Gretchen Bleiler and Kelly Clark. Bleiler won thursday's finals but it was Clark who stepped it up for the big win today, narrowly knocking Bleiler into second place with a two point lead. For the third place finish it was Japan's Soko Yamaoka who has shown us year after year not to count her out as a threat.


Women's Grand Prix at Copper Podium: 3rd Soko Yamaoka, 1st Kelly Clark, 2nd Gretchen Bleiler

Having a win or a top finish at this first of five Grand Prix's is important for the United States Olympic Halfpipe hopefuls since the Grand Prix series is the major deciding factor for which athletes will represent the U.S.A. in Vancouver this February. There are still four more chances in the series though, so it was not crucial to place high today. Riders like Danny Kass who didn't make it to the Copper Mountain event, or like Scotty Lago, Luke Mitrani and Danny Davis, who didn't even place top 10 here, will all have more time the season to prove their worth and make it onto the exclusive team.

Stay tuned to GrindTV.com and the 2010 U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Series. With so many talented American riders in the mix this season, these competitions deciding who will be named to the U.S.A. Snowboard Halfpipe Team may be more exciting to follow than the Olympics itself.




Results from the 2009/2010 U.S. Snowboard Copper Grand Prix:

Men:

1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 47.00
2. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 45.60
3. Zack Black, Breckenridge, CO, 44.10
4. Fredrik Austbo, Norway, 41.20
5. JJ Thomas, Golden, CO, 41.10
6. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 40.00
7. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 39.40
8. Tore-V Holvik, Norway, 34.80
9. Ryo Aono, Japan, 34.00
10. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth, CA, 28.80
11. Elijah Teter, USA, 22.1
12. Charles Reid, Canada, 18.8
13. Danny Davis, USA, 18.8
14. Scotty Lago, USA, 16.0
15. Dustin Craven, Canada, 9.0
16. Nathaniel Johnstone, 8.6

Women's Results:

1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 44.50
2. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 42.60
3. Soko Yamaoka, Japan, 40.20
4. Quera Castellet, Spain, 30.50
5. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 35.80
6. Madeline Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, Co, 35.50
7. Holly Crawford, Australia, 24.00
8. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 13.60

First and foremost, the best played moment of the day goes to the D.J. at the top of the pipe blasting Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" as Louie Vito dropped into his first run of the day.

Vito's good humor accounted for, he went with it. A little help from Elton, two double corks later and Louie had the second best score of Men's Qualifiers. With a stacked heat on hand it wasn't necessarily what anybody expected going into tomorrow's Finals, but it was more than deserved for Dancing With the Star's first snowboarding superstar.

The crowd was in for more of a treat than just seeing Louie "Frodo" in person or getting his autograph. As Louie linked his double-corks together he upped the ante for the man in black, Shaun White, to unleash tricks he may have been holding back for tomorrow's finals.

Indisputably, White set the bar and stole the show, securing the lead going into Saturday's finals with an unheard score of 49.50 out of a possible 50.00 points.

Here's the real kicker... It's quite possible that White wasn't even throwing out his best yet.

Rumor has it that White still has a few more tricks up his sleeve that even his fiercest American competitors haven't been witness to yet. It's hard to believe that we'll see riding more progressive than what was thrown down today, but if anybody wants to come-up on White then it will take unseen and unexpected exploits of snowboarding in tomorrow's podium competition.

Regardless, the buzz from today lies in the talent-show that was only a qualifier. If today is a taste of the level of evolution snowboarding has seen in barely a year's time, than this halfpipe Olympic season is off to a good start.

You can see the good start for yourself here: