If snowboarding is a niche sport, then street snowboarding is a niche within a niche. It feels like the only real street snowboarding competition that comes to mind is the annual Burton Rail Days held in Tokyo, Japan, every November. But in fact, Burton also hosts many street snowboarding events aimed at the general snowboarding community, not just the pros — including the Burton Qualifiers Street Snowboarding Challenge!
This year’s Burton Qualifiers consist of 7 competitions, taking place at different ski resorts across North America. These include Trollhaugen in Wisconsin, Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, NorthStar in California, Powder Mountain in Utah, Woodward Copper in Colorado, Beaver Valley in Ontario, and Seven Springs in Pennsylvania.
So far, 4 out of the 7 events have been completed, and almost every competition has drawn a crowd of street snowboarding enthusiasts from within a hundred miles of the resort. That’s because winners of these 7 events not only get cash prizes but also earn the chance to travel to Japan to compete alongside true pro riders at the November Burton Rail Days Street Snowboarding Challenge. It’s like an amateur football player suddenly getting the chance to play on the World Cup stage.
