Copper Goes for the Gold

The U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix event at Copper Mountain has traditionally been the opening salvo of the pro snowboarding season in North America. This year, with Olympic rings in its sights, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is letting skiers into the Grand Prix pipe, too.

Related Content

• The movies to know from Sundance and the year ahead
  January 17, 2013
• Videos of 2013's biggest snowstorm to date: Dogs, cats, Napoleon Dynamite, snow bongs
  February 25, 2013
• Winter Olympics 2022: Denver committee recommends bid, dismisses 1976 rejection
  June 28, 2012
• Sundance 2013: Sex with James Franco, sultry Scarlett Johansson and more
  January 19, 2013
• Colorado ski-porn purveyors nominated for 18 Powder Awards
  January 8, 2013

More About

• International Olympic Committee
• U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
• Tom Kelly
• Winter Sports
• Snowboarding

"Right now we're operating on the assumption that Ski Halfpipe will be an Olympic sport by the Sochi Games in 2014," says USSA spokesman Tom Kelly. "We've been working with the International Ski Federation and the International Olympic Committee to make this happen, and after the FIS Congress in Turkey in June, we have reason for optimism. I think it's a real credit to the IOC that they're looking at where the action is in these sports and pushing to keep the Olympics progressive."

The Visa U.S. Halfpipe Grand Prix starts this morning and will serve as a qualifying event for the FIS World Championships in the pipe at Park City, Utah, in February. The Grand Prix ski halfpipe qualifiers run today from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Copper's 22-foot Main Vein Superpipe at the base of the American Eagle lift, and are free to spectators. Snowboard qualifiers are on Thursday morning, ski finals are on Friday at noon, and snowboard finals are on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. NBC will air coverage from the events on Sunday, December 12, at noon. For more information, visit www.ussnowboarding.com and www.coppercolorado.com.
Dec. 8-11, 2010