We may get distracted from this simple fact sometimes, but there’s no escaping the truth: turning is the beginning and the end for a snowboarder. On average, a well-executed turn results in about 1.27 smiles, and it can be assumed that every one of the 500 competitors this year made at least one turn look good. That’s a lot of smiles!

Those of us who couldn’t link flawless berm-turns joined the peanut gallery. Banked slaloms are a ton of fun for spectators. The crowd was fired up. Looking at the scene around the double-jump on the red course, you’d think you were standing in the front row at a nascar race getting bombarded by burning tires and beer cans. In reality, it was just a bunch of dirty boarders standing in a snowbank watching some really slow, really awesome turns. Thanks to everyone who came out, the diggers, Josh, Tyler, and everyone at Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort for a hell of a good time. Derby on!