Oakley superstar snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler has pulled a hat trick with her third Annual COVERGIRL Snow Angels Invitational contest, which went down in Aspen Snowmass on Saturday April 3.
The biggest so far, with the Olympics done Gretchen and her girl comrades could get together for a true late-spring, celebration of women's snowboarding. Clouds didn't stop the fun, as freshies on piste meant the weekend started with some tag team powder runs, before the all-star crew of pro team riders hit the freshly cut Aspen superpipe for the fiercly fought contest.
Linn Haug, Gretchen Bleiler, and friends
The idea was born when Gretchen was having a private park session on one late spring morning. Conditions were perfect, but as stoked as the locally-born Olympian was, she had no one to share it with. At the same time Aspen approached her about organising a female focused event and Snow Angels was born - a fun, low pressure but progressive pipe contest for women, both on and off the hill.
For this third installment of the Invitational Superpipe contest, results were tight: fifiten of the creme de la creme of the world's snowboard talent came together to ride the 22 foot wall Olympic sized pipe and try to nab a slice of the prize money pie.
Left to right: Ursina Haller (2nd); Kelly Clark (1st); and Soko Yamaoka (3rd).
Youngster Maddy Shafferick stood out oozing style with 720 Haakonflips, while Ellery Hollingsworth (Kevin Pearce's new girlfriend) showed some buttery, easy style with perfectly sliced cutbacks up the pipe walls. But it was amplitude queen Kelly Clark who impressed the most: with stupendous spins and airs she took first place for the second year in a row plus the Barbie Style Award for a fifteen foot double stuffiy straight air - and a cheque for $10 000. Laax, Siwtzerland local and Oakley rider Ursina Haller took second, with Japan's Soko Yamaoka in third.
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Kelly Clark 
Gretchen Bleiler
Ellery Hollingsworth