And now back to your regularly scheduled US Open coverage. I already wrote about the Black and Night rail jam that went down Friday night, so now it’s time for some photos (plus a sick video from our friends at Snowboarder Mag. well, we’re not really friends. we’ve never met. hopefully we’re at least not NOT friends).

The view from the grandstands. Grandstands? Yeah, there were grandstands at a rail jam. That's gotta be a first.

Tim Humphries, hand plant over the QP tube.

Charles Reid is from Canada and he speaks French. Don't hold it against him, though, because he can do things like stylee handplants. And oh yeah, he won the rail jam too.

It’s been weeks since a significant snowfall blanketed southern Vermont (up north they’ve been getting successive small storms that have added up). But we finally got a 4 – 8″ blessing on February 16 and 17 at Okemo, Stratton, Mount Snow and Magic. Look below for a little helmet cam footy from a run through The Trials at Mount Snow at 9am on February 17. Fresh.

Good to have you back, snow.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In an hour the 2010 Olympics kick off with the opening ceremonies. Three Vermont snowboarders will be competing: Lindsey Jacobellis (Snowboardcross, Stratton), Hannah Teter (Halfpipe, Okemo), and Kelly Clark (Halfpipe, Mount Snow). Ross Powers (Snowboardcross, Okemo/Bromley) will be on stand-by as an alternate.

Head here to check your local listings for a television schedule.

Here’s the full snowboarding event schedule:

February 15, 2010

10:30 – Snowboard – Men’s Snowboard Cross Qualification

14:00 – Snowboard – Men’s Snowboard Cross 1/8 Finals

14:26 – Snowboard – Men’s Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals

14:42 – Snowboard – Men’s Snowboard Cross Semifinals

14:53 – Snowboard – Men’s Snowboard Cross Finals

February 16, 2010

10:00 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Snowboard Cross Qualification

12:15 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals

12:29 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Snowboard Cross Semifinals

12:40 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Snowboard Cross Finals

February 17, 2010

13:05 – Snowboard – Men’s Halfpipe Qualification

17:15 – Snowboard – Men’s Halfpipe Semifinals

19:15 – Snowboard – Men’s Halfpipe Finals

February 18, 2010

12:30 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Halfpipe Qualification

16:00 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Halfpipe Semifinals

18:00 – Snowboard – Ladies’ Halfpipe Finals

February 26, 2010

10:00 – Snowboard – Ladies’ PGS Qualification

12:15 – Snowboard – Ladies’ PGS 1/8 Finals

12:51 – Snowboard – Ladies’ PGS Quarterfinals

13:09 – Snowboard – Ladies’ PGS Semifinals

13:31 – Snowboard – Ladies’ PGS Finals

February 27, 2010

10:00 – Snowboard – Men’s PGS Qualification

12:15 – Snowboard – Men’s PGS 1/8 Finals

12:51 – Snowboard – Men’s PGS Quarterfinals

13:09 – Snowboard – Men’s PGS Semifinals

13:31 – Snowboard – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Finals

The Dew Tour slopestyle preliminaries wrapped up about an hour ago and we now have our list of riders headed to the finals tomorrow. Unfortunately, our homestate boy, Yale Cousino, missed the cutoff by 2 places (only the top 9 finishers qualify for finals). He landed solid tricks in the top half of the course on both his runs but had trouble on the last two booters.

On the women’s side, the top 5 finishers are headed to the finals tomorrow.

Men’s Snowboarding Slopestyle results (Chas Guldemond, Tyler Flanagan and Sage Kotsenburg have a bye):

Women’s Snowboarding Slopestyle Results (Spencer O’Brien has a bye):

Women’s snowboarding slopestyle finals take place tomorrow from 1:30 – 2:10pm. Men’s snowboarding slopestyle are 2:30 – 3:30pm. For a full schedule of events, clickity click here.

Buncha dudes in bibs waiting at the start gate for the Slopestyle Prelims.

Seth Hill (Jacksonville, OR) moments before drop-in.

Vermont-boy Yale Cousino relieves pre-slopestyle run jitters by texting.

Ian Thorley visualizes his run before dropping in.

Wyatt Caldwell owns the gap on the first feature of the slope course.

Eric Willett took first place in the prelims by making gnarly features like this up-gap-down look easy.

Yale Cousino spins the first booter.

Seth Hill. First booter.

Torstein, who beat Shaun White to take first in slopestyle at last year's Dew Tour stop at Mount Snow, placed third in prelims today.

The signature Toyota Tundra truck bed canon box.

Don't look Yale Cousino's pants directly in the eye. They don't like that.

email Luke

But there’s a very particular plaid I want you to look for this weekend. And if you keep your eyes peeled, there’s free cheese in it for you. That’s right, FREE cheddar, baby.

Cabot Shredders are rocking "Buffalo Check" jackets all season.

The Cabot Shredders, a team of snowboarders bedecked in red and black-checkered plaid jackets and special Cabot boards (both supplied by Burton), will be riding at select resorts throughout the winter. If you spot one, don’t be shy — step right up and say, “Good day to you sir (or madam). I hear your cheddar is quite delectable. May I trouble you for a 3/4-ounce hunk?” and you’ll get a free 3/4-ounce sample of Cabot’s Seriously Sharp cheddar. (Note: you don’t actually have to speak like Sherlock Holmes – you can just say “hi.”)

If you don’t spot a Shredder on the hill, look around the base area in the afternoon, where Cabot reps will be doling out Seriously Sharp.

RideVermont caught up with Chris Pierson, Cabot’s Marketing Manager, to get the skinny on Cabot Creamery, stationed in the shadows of Mount Mansfield in Cabot, Vermont.

“At Cabot, it’s all about our dairy farmer-owners,” explained Chris. “We promote and support local agriculture. Cabot is a dairy farmer-owned cooperative… and 100% of our profits go directly back to our [approx. 1,300] dairy farms.”

Gotta respect that.

Chris went on to say that the Cabot plant, which produces cheeses with worldwide acclaim and numerous awards, pulls milk from farms of all sizes from all over New England and New York.

So keep your eyes peeled for the red-and-black-checkered jackets this Saturday at Mount Snow and Stratton and this Sunday at Sugarbush and Stowe. Support VT and eat more Cabot. Your local farmer will thank you.

-Luke

P.S. The Darn Tough Twitter-Off is heating up at http://www.twitter.com/ridevermont. If you’re not yet a follower of @RideVermont, follow us and simply tweet “I get rad @RideVermont”. We’ll randomly select a winner on Monday and a brand new pair of Darn Tough socks could be coming your way.

email Luke