Photo: Rockstar Energy Open
Winter in Breckenridge always kicks off with a big celebration at its longstanding Ullr Fest. The whole town gathers to pray for snow with a massive bonfire, a parade, and an annual world-record shotski attempt that will require more than 1,400 people to pull off in 2025. This year, Rockstar Energy drink is adding to the festivities with its first-ever Rockstar Energy Open snowboard event at Breckenridge Ski Resort.
The snowboarding event will build off of the success of Rockstar’s existing skateboard event by the same name, in which up-and-coming athletes are given spots to compete against professionals. The inaugural snowboarding event is going to feature A-list talent, including several Olympians riding with the winners of Rockstar’s Video Qualifying Series. An announcement from the brand earlier this month revealed invited snowboarders include Olympic medalists Red Gerard, Mark McMorris, and Jamie Anderson, along with other big snowboarding names like Zeb Powell, Iris Pham, Benny Milam, and more.
Those established riders will be up against snowboarders who earned spots into the event via Rockstar’s Video Qualifying Series. Each snowboarder will get three top-to-bottom runs down the athlete-designed course in Saturday’s semifinal, with the top eight men and top eight women in each field advancing to Sunday’s final. The format for the final will switch to head-to-head matchups, which could create some unique and exciting pairings of athletes we’ve never seen face off against one another.
“After two successful years of the summer skateboard edition in Portland, we are excited to introduce the Video Qualifying Series to snowboarding for the first time,” said Kemp Curley, managing director of Platfrm, in a press release, the group that created the skate comp the snowboarding event is modeled after. “This open concept has proven it delivers great riders, and the volume and quality of submissions in this first year made narrowing the field to the top 10 extremely difficult. This shows a real desire for a format where emerging and non-traditional snowboarders can shine alongside the world’s best pros in the same, progressive competition.”
Outside of competition, there’s an entire festival-like atmosphere planned for the weekend, including a film fest and two musical performances from DJs Torren Foot and Westend — two big-time catches for lovers of house music.
“The Rockstar Energy Open merges an all-new, unique competition with a festival atmosphere in a way that is core to our DNA and the culture we want to bring to this event,” said Steve Mateus, director of sports marketing at Rockstar Energy. “Pairing world-class riding with music from artists like Westend and Torren Foot creates the right vibe that will fuel the crowd, elevate the athletes, and turn the entire weekend into a party!”
