Friday, March 11, 2011 1:55pm PST

Rukajärvi, Willett win slopestyle finals at Burton US Open

By: Heather Hendricks

Wet, soggy, and utterly terrible weather set the scene for the men's and women's slopestyle finals at the 6 star TTR Burton US Open at Stratton Mountain in Vermont.

The rain Gods took pleasure in relieving themselves all over the course today, making conditions slushy, mushy and sopping wet. Visibility was the biggest factor of the day with some riders opting to charge the course without goggles.

Speed was surprisingly not an issue, but the rain riddled course made simple transitions between features hard to navigate, which claimed several top riders early in the game.

This event marked the last TTR slopestyle event of the season, and buku bucks were on the line, so everyone soldiered on and tried to slay the course despite the slop.

Kicking things off were the women who suited up in Gor-Tex gear and took to the course. Kjersti Buaas, from Norway, was the first drop and set the bar for the ladies by proving she wasn't going down without a fight.

Buaas was a little squirrelly through the jumps, but managed to get her tricks around and scored a 74.5 which earned her fourth place.

Seventeen year old Silje Nordendal, also out of Norway, came out swinging and nabbed the third place spot for her technical rail tricks and boosty backside 180s.

This was the first big podium for the young ripper and she's definitely one to keep your eye on in the future.

Jamie Anderson, earned the overall TTR title based on her first place finish in slope semis yesterday, but had to settle for second place in finals today.

Anderson was keeping it cool and landed all of her runs, safely scooping up an extra $10,000 dollars for her finish today. Jamie walks away from Vermont a mellow $60,000 richer for her efforts today and throughout the season. Can you say baller?

Enni Rukajärvi of Finland snapped up the first place finish with a run that was smooth, solid, and technically advanced. She threw a massive cab 5 on the 'Bring It Home Daddy 'O Jump' at the bottom of the course that was super impressive and helped her earn a solid 86.5 making her the proud winner of $20,000.

Switching over to the men's side of things, the dudes were charging through the sloppy course, seemingly undeterred by the pissing rain.

Eric Willett of Breckenridge, Colorado was in it to win it and stomped a massive run that included a double underflip, a double cork, and backside 10. This run earned him a score of 90.4 which was a full three points higher than second place finisher, Mark McMorris.

The seventeen year Canadian sensation recently landed the first ever 1440 triple cork, forever etching himself into the ever evolving history of snowboarding. McMorris was smart not to try that behemoth of a trick today, but did bust out a cab double cork 10, which helped him earn a 87.80 and $10,000.

Rounding out the top three was Chas Guldemond who laid down a fiery third run despite the dismal conditions.

Guldemond came out of the gate in a fury and landed a run that consisted of a huge backside dub cork 10, and a menacing cab dub 10 on the bottom jump. The judges were far from generous with his score and only awarded Chas a 87.20.

There was lots of grumbling that this was super low for the caliber of the run, but Chas didn't seem to mind and was stoked to earn an extra $5,000 for his third place finish.

Today's contest marked the end of the slopestyle portion of this season's TTR series. Congrats to all the riders for coming out and sending it in the slush.

There's still lots of excitement to be had in both the Rail Jam and halfpipe sectors at the 29th Burton US Open in soggy Stratton, VT, so stay tuned- we'll bring you all the action.

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