December 24, 2008 E-MAIL PRINT

Ross Powers up for a tricked-out ride

by Marty Basch/

Ross Powers (photo: Okemo Mountain)

Ross Powers (photo: Okemo Mountain)

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Ross Powers is holding his young daughter Meredith in his arms. He's got two young girls — Victoria is the other — and right now daddy's working. He's answering questions from a man with a tape recorder thrust near daddy's face.

"I have the experience, I just have to train and put it all together," he says.

At 29, Powers is steeped in snowboarding history. When snowboarding first became an Olympic sport in 1998, the Vermonter was in Nagano, stepping onto the podium to accept his bronze medal.

Then came Salt Lake City in 2002 and Powers was there again. This time his medal was gold.

Powers excels in the halfpipe, and over his distinguished career he has collected a treasure chest of honors from the X Games, various Opens (U.S., New Zealand, European) and Grand Prix.

But Powers, a snowboarding ambassador at Okemo in Ludlow, Vt., wants to get back in the game. He wants to leap from halfpipe amplitude to bursting from the starting gate and getting the hole shot in boardercross at the 2010 Olympics.

"Boardercross is a little more serious," he says. "The hardest part for me is I'm used to jumping jumps to see how high I can go. I have to learn how to absorb them and stay low to the ground."

Just as his daughter sees a tape recorder and stares at what must be a new trinket to her, daddy has to go to school again.

Powers says he's still learning about racing tip-to-toe against a bunch of riders all heading down a course at the same time loaded with jumps and banked turns. He spent the summer in Argentina training with the U.S. Team with such 'cross luminaries as Dick Baumgartner. Powers competed in two Continental Cups, messing up in one and finishing sixth in the other.

Certainly, he will have stiff competition to gain an Olympic boardercross slot with riders such as Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott, legendary X Games vet Shaun Palmer and World Cup racer Graham Watanabe all gunning for the same starting gate.

Powers will hit the Nor-Am circuit and Grand Prix to gain points for his bid. If all goes well, he'll be competing at Sunday River in Maine when the World Cup stops there later this season.

"The tricky thing about boardercross is that every course is different," he says. "Someone can be good on one track and it's a different story the next week. I enjoy riding motocross and used to race that a little bit."

Powers also raced gates as a youngster and admits that competition in the halfpipe has changed.

"The halfpipe is a younger sport," he says. "The progression is changing so much."

But Powers won't leave the halfpipe for good. You might see him in a New England halfpipe, like at the U.S. Open at Stratton in March.

"I love snowboarding and I love competing," he says. "People have always said boardercross can be my thing with my racing background. I love riding. This way I can push myself and give the Olympics another shot. I can go ride and do what I love to do."

Little Meredith and Victoria must be proud.

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