Vail Sessions Blog

Honestly, I was a little embarrassed to ask riders what they thought about Shaun White not competing in this year’s Session. Yeah, it’s a big story, the defending champ opting out of attending, but seriously, there are a lot of other people who are really good at snowboarding. Like, really good. So yeah, Shaun might not be here, but just because he showed up, it doesn’t mean he was definitely going to win, does it?

I figured the riders would laugh at me (of course, that could have something to do with me walking up to people asking, “are you a pro?” first), and be annoyed that all the media cares about is Shaun White! He already got the cover of Rolling Stone, so you know, give someone else a chance. So I started off asking Zach Leach, who I grew up riding with. I figured he would be understanding of why my employer was interested in Shaun, even though he wasn’t there. I sheepishly asked, “So without Shaun here, how does that effect the competition?”

“That’s the stupidest question I’ve ever heard, Brooke,” was his reply. Then he laughed and answered honestly: “There are other riders to watch.” And as I went through a few more top snowboarders, I found that people weren’t mad or even annoyed. Everyone had a slightly different reaction, some joked he would probably win anyway, even without showing up, and some answered matter-of-factly, “Good, I’m glad he’s not coming.”

But at the Session, which is one of the most rider-friendly, and therefore, best competitions of the year, its not just about winning. Yeah, everyone wants to win (especially with a ton of cash on the line) but most people are just excited to ride the sickest slopestyle course and rail set up of the year, and do it with all their friends watching.