On Saturday, January 21st, The Burton Mystery Series Tour rolled into its first U.S. stop at the home of Woodward Tahoe, Boreal Mountain. True to the tour’s name, this contest is shrouded in mystery up until the day of each event - all you need to know is where and when to go. Burton’s asking us to trust them a bit. And with a history of throwing events like the US Open, rail jam tours, and countless snowboarding events, the mystery tour attendees needn’t worry.
A crucial component of each Mystery Series Tour stop is a mellow banked slalom, and Boreal’s dormant halfpipe walls were the perfect setup. Riders from all ages and abilities chose which side to drop in on and from there, did their best to make it down without missing a gate. Slalom racers honed in on their turn techniques as the mellow halfpipe banks allowed the first timers and veterans alike to figure out lines without the course getting too crazy. We saw some kids mop the halfpipe floors with their parent’s times, Danny Davis put on some heelside carve clinics, Maggie Leon was ollieing over the gates (which might have been grounds for disqualification?) The sun was shining, tunes were spinning, and anticipation was building. Anticipation for what? The Mystery. 
After lunch on the deck, the Mystery Series host, Alex Caccamo, got a phone call that made for an exciting development for the second phase of the day. Zeb Powell and Rob Roethler were on their way to the hill. They had been out snowmobiling the day before and slept in, opted out of bluebird powder, and were making their way to Boreal. The kids went wild after hearing the facetime over the mic. Rumor has it that the sea of traffic to get into the resort parted so that people could get in line for autographs before Zeb and Rob even got out of the car. 
Zeb showed up to the start gate, put his arms on the pull-in grips, turned around to sign a handful of autographs, turned back around and then dropped in. Similar to Derek Zoolander, Zeb might not be much of an ambi-turner. Opting out of the heelside walls, he just flipped a quick backside 180 to switch carve around each gate. Classic Zeb, the crowd got fired up again and it was time to bring that energy to the demo zone.
The Boreal park crew set up an epic jib zone for the crowd and Burton riders to get down on. Wilky [Brett Wilkinson] made his return to Tahoe known as he put down a couple nollie front board 270’s on the down rail that lied on the other side of a large tunnel feature. Maggie Leon put down a handful (literally, two hands down on the rail) of her now-signature moves. And Zeb and Rob put a beatdown on everything in their path until the end of the day. With the vibes escalating back on the deck, Rob put down a giant method to shut down the demo.
To wrap the day we slugged a Fat Tires with the homies before the awards. All in all, it was a perfect way to kick off the tour. We’ll see y'all at the next one in Denver.
Photos, video, and words: Ted Borland