Burton US Open at Vail

Burton US Open Brings FREE On & Off-Snow Activities to Vail 

PRESS RELEASE – BURLINGTON, VT (February 26, 2014) Today, Burton Snowboards is excited to announce that there are tons of FREE activities fit for the whole family to enjoy as part of the 32nd annual US Open Snowboarding Championships presented by MINI at Vail Mountain. Taking place from March 3rd – 8th, this year’s event offers an incredible mountain experience for guests, including world-class snowboarding, luxury lodging, restaurants and shopping, a jam-packed entertainment line-up with a variety of live music acts, a Riglet Park for kids to try snowboarding, all-day après events, rider autograph signings and photo opportunities, product sampling, games, giveaways, and more.

For more details on all the exciting FREE things to do in the Town of Vail at the Burton US Open, check out the schedule below:

Après All Day Lounge at Solaris Ice Rink

11:00am – 6:00pm daily

Hang out, get cozy, access free Wi-Fi and phone charging stations from Nokia, and watch the Burton US Open competition in this open-air Après All Day lounge. Check out MINI test drives, guest rider appearances, drink specials from Pacifico, Mountain Dew samples, DJ Logic spinning great tunes, and more. Make sure to stop into the Burton pop-up store and grab limited edition US Open merchandise. Also enjoy Après All Day locations throughout the resort at favorite Vail spots like Larkspur, Garfinkels, Red Lion and Tavern on the Square featuring live feeds of the competition, giveaways, and food and drink specials.

Burton Riglet Park Kids Learn To Snowboard Experience at Lionshead Base Area

Wednesday and Thursday: 10:00am – 12:00pm & 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Friday and Saturday: 10:00am – 12:00pm, 1:00pm – 3:00pm & 4:00pm – 6:00pm

A special Burton Riglet Park will offer a Learn To Ride experience for kids as young as 3 years old, complete with coaches and gear provided free of charge.

Sponsor Village at Golden Peak

Wednesday: 11:00am – 4:00pm

Thursday-Saturday: 9:00am – 4:00pm (will stay open until 5:00pm on Friday and Saturday)

At MINI’s tent, enjoy awesome motoring swag, a photo booth, spin-to-win games and a gallery featuring Burton heritage boards. Over at Mountain Dew, choose your Dew, learn about the Green Mountain Process, enjoy moderated discussions, autographed sessions, photo opportunities with Dew’s pro riders, and more. At G-Shock, don’t miss the daily raffle, giveaways and pro rider autographs. There’s also product samples, giveaways, games and photo opportunities from Garmin, Nokia, Paul Mitchell, Bear Naked® granola, Shiseido and Clif Bar, and the chance to win Chipotle’s VIP for the People experience with free tacos and Patron margaritas. Improve your chances of being a Chipotle VIP by pre-registering here between February 24th – February 28th.

BurtonGirls at Golden Peak

Wednesday: 11:00am – 4:00pm

Thursday – Saturday: 9:00am – 4:00pm (will stay open until 5:00pm on Friday and Saturday)

New this year, soak up the US Open atmosphere and relax with the BurtonGirls crew at the ladies’ tent. There’s a Burton Team rider signing on Friday at 1:30pm, plus a VIP demo experience catered specifically to women, a photo booth and Instagram contest for the chance to win a Burton jacket, a candy bar to mix, match and take home your favorite sweets, FREE hot chocolate, giveaways and more. And to explore Vail Mountain in style, head to the tent at 10:00am on Friday and Saturday for BurtonGirls ride meet-ups and take laps.

Burton “Drop In & Win” Game at Golden Peak, Vail Village and Lionshead

9:00am – 5:00pm daily

Go to the Burton stores in Vail Village and Lionshead or the Burton Base Camp in the Sponsor Village to receive a FREE “Drop In & Win” game card, which includes a Bingo-format card with 25 options to get stamps at locations around The Town of Vail. Drop-in to the Burton stores or Sponsor Village tents to play and win daily prizes for the whole family, including Burton store gift cards and the chance to win a Vail Epic Season pass. Limit one card per person. For more info, go to www.Burton.com/USO.

Burton Team Autograph Signings at Lionshead

Thursday: 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Saturday: 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Stop by the Burton store in Lionshead on Thursday and Saturday to meet and hang out with Burton Team riders who will be signing autographs.

And that’s just a short list of things to do after you watch the best snowboarders in the world compete at the Burton US Open. Be sure to check out www.Burton.com/USO for the full competition schedule so you don’t miss any of the action at the world’s greatest snowboard event.

Finally, all events are FREE, family-friendly and open to the public. Look for convenient, free in-town bus routes to get around both base villages provided by the Town of Vail. Also, don’t miss exclusive US Open gifts with purchase and special discounts at the Burton stores in Vail Village and Lionshead, the Stone Hut tent in the Sponsor Village and the Burton Pop Up store in Solaris. And check your local listings to watch the US Open Lifestyle show, and Slopestyle and Halfpipe highlight shows on FOX Sports 2.

For more information on the 2014 Burton US Open and a full list of competitors, schedules and more follow the hashtag #BurtonUSOpen and head to www.Burton.com/USO.

Taste of Vail

Convening a crowd of the hungry and thirsty to eat and imbibe amid stunning scenery is not a new concept, but with the Taste of Vail the eponymous resort town attains its own niche with a blend of fun, sophistication and culinary alpenglow.

The event, held in and around the storybook streets of Vail Village, features tastes of signature dishes from around 30 of the town's best restaurants, wine tastings from dozens of national vineyards, interactive cooking seminars, and the Colorado Lamb Cook-off. It is one of the only food and wine festivals in the USA to require that each wine to be personally poured by the vintner or winery owner, allowing attendees to distill expertise direct from the source.

The theme of this year's Taste, which runs April 2-5, is rose wine, and the kick-off event April 2 is a three-hour tasting showcasing more than 100 roses from around the world, paired with local cuisine (fret not, pinot fans: The full suite of varietals will be on offer throughout the Taste). Renowned wine expert wine Josh Wesson, co-founder of the New York City wine shop Best Cellars, will MC the rose tasting.

On Day 2, the thin air of Vail Valley fills with the pungency of the lamb cook-off, with more than two dozen chefs burnishing their innovative takes on Colorado ungulates as guests wander from booth to booth teasing their palates – with, of course, wine pairings. In 2013, Executive Chef Paul Anders of the venerable Sweet Basil took first prize for his slow roasted leg of lamb with preserved lemon labneh, dried olives, lamb cracklins and pickled ramps.

Day 3 takes the festivities to new heights – a hand-built snow arena two-thirds of the way up Vail mountain, at 10,350 feet above sea level, where chefs prepare an all-you-can-eat gourmet picnic. The site is accessible on skis, or via the Eagle Bahn gondola.

The timing of the Taste of Vail is not accidental, in line with the longest and (usually) warmest days of the ski season, and off the peak of tourist season, affording visitors some breathing room when floating among the events or skating through non-existent lift lines.

Chefs tend to wait until the event, or just prior, to announce which dishes and recipes they will feature. Among the hits last year: Escargot in sauce persille', French Helix snails cooked in parsley sauce, from La Tour Restaurant; Skuna Bay salmon desgustation, from Hooked; herb gnocchi with lobster, maitake mushrooms, sea urchin butter and orange foam, from Atwater on Gore Creek; and potato crusted trout filets with haricots verts and heirloom cherry tomatoes, from former Top Chef star Kelly Liken.

The Taste of Vail wraps up with a Grand Tasting, billed as a showcase for the chefs' most creative fare and the wineries' best products. Coming on the heels of three days of sumptuous indulgence, those superlatives might be a stretch. Then again, for an event that seems to outdo itself every year, anything is possible. And there's only one way to find out.

VAIL — The banner said “We love Heidi,” but you didn’t need to read it to know that was the case.

Welcoming hometown Olympian Heidi Kloser back to Vail on Monday were a collection of people who have known the 21-year-old mogul skier her whole life and whose faces were brimming with pride as she thanked them for being there.

“Your support has been amazing. I couldn’t have done it without you guys,” Kloser said on Monday.
Included in the group was James Deighan, of Highline Sports and Entertainment: “I was certain she was going to medal,” Vail Mountain Chief Operating Officer Chris Jarnot: “Thanks for representing our community so incredibly well,” and Dr. Steven Yarberry, who delivered Heidi: “She’s just a great girl.”

HEARTBREAK TO EXCITEMENT
A common theme expressed by many of those who spoke at the event was the heartbreak they felt when Kloser injured her knee on the first day of training in Sochi, which left her unable to compete at this year’s Games, and the excitement they’re already feeling from the idea of her skiing in the 2018 Olympics.
“I know you’re going to be there in Korea, and we’re going to be there with you,” said John Garnsey, Vail Resorts’ president of global mountain development.

FOCUSING ON THE PRESENT
While Heidi has said explicitly that the 2018 Olympics are among her goals, her parents said her focus is more immediate.

“Heidi looks at the present. She’s saying, ‘I have to recover and get back into World Cups,’” Heidi’s mother, Emily Kloser, said Monday.
Heid Kloser will likely receive ACL surgery on the injured knee in a week or so. Until then, she’s trying to keep the swelling down and the positivity up.

“She’s been through surgery before, so she’ll approach it in the same manner, heal up and strengthen as much as she can as quickly as she can,” her father, Mike Kloser, said Monday. “She’ll head out to training camps in Park City (and) work on physical therapy. She’ll be on a good program.”
While it’s not absolutely certain, Heidi Kloser will likely wait for the U.S. Ski Team physician and surgeon Dr. Bill Sterett, of Vail Summit Orthopeadics, to come back from Sochi to perform the surgery, her father said. Sterett is also a Vail Valley local.

“When I got hurt ... it was just so encouraging to have this whole community behind me,” Heidi Kloser said.

Follow Heidi Kloser on her website, www.heidikloser.com.