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VTSP

The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum to induct Jeff Brushie and the VTSP into the Vermont Snowboarding Hall of Fame

altThe Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum will be inducting Jeff Brushie and the founding members of the VTSP (Cole Bouchett, Josh Brownlee, Jeff Brushie, Matt Lawrence, Greg Manning, and Kris Swierz) into the Vermont Snowboarding Hall of Fame. The induction will take place this Friday, October 4th at 7:00 PM at the museum on Main Street in Stowe Vermont.   In conjunction with the informal induction ceremony will be the opening of a new exhibit of artifacts and photographs from the personal archives of Jeff Brushie and the VTSP.

Along with the exhibit opening and induction ceremony, the museum will also be presenting the Paul Robbins Ski and Snowboard Journalism Award to Pat Bridges. Pat, along with all inductees will be on hand to receive their recognitions in person. The event will feature a cast of friends and family as well as much of the Vermont snowboard community whom have been influenced by the accomplishments of Jeff and the VTSP.

The induction and opening are free to the public, but the non-profit museum does encourage all attendees to support such events by joining the museum. Memberships can be purchased through the museum website, VTSSM.com as well as during the event.

About Jeff Brushie:

In the early 90's while professional halfpipe riding was still in its infancy Hinesburg, Vermont's Jeff Brushie was literally head and shoulders above the pack. With his uncanny ability to maximize airtime, seemingly effortless trick execution and stylish flair both on and off the slopes Brushie put New England on the freestyle snowboarding map and signaled the arrival of skate-inspired new school trickery to the top of the podium. Jeff's fluidity was infectious and kids from coast to coast would crouch, sprock and poke off every bump they could find in homage to Brushie.   Winning the overall World Cup for halfpipe in 1990 solidified Jeff's place as a snowboarding superstar and iconic pro model boards soon followed only adding to how immensely influential Jeff Brushie was to the snowboarding aesthetic. Today tricks pioneered by Jeff Brushie are performed at an Olympic level yet few riders since have been able to do them with as much style.

About the VTSP:

Today they would reverently be referred to as outliers, yet three decades ago, the individuals who pioneered snowboarding in the Green Mountains were for the most part considered outcasts. The handful of hills that welcomed these non-conformists became ground zero for a movement that would eventually be celebrated for saving the winter sports industry.

In 1985 a group of High School kids from Northern Vermont saw advertisements for snowboards in their BMX and skateboarding magazines and soon started schussing the toboggan hills and golf courses of the Champlain Valley standing sideways on shred sleds. Once resorts like Sugarbush, Jay Peak, Stowe and Bolton Valley opened their doors to riders this pastime transitioned into a lifestyle and a brotherhood was born. To many in the alpine establishment the acceptance of snowboarding was largely probationary. From the liftline to the cafeteria to the cat track launches that provided the sought after opportunity to get some air every riders actions were scrutinized and the only respite from this judgment came from your fellow snowboarders in turn fostering a deep bond. Inspired by the Mount Baker Hardcore on the West Coast, one of the group, Josh Brownlee, hand drew Vermont Slope Posse, a moniker that merged hip-hop with riding, on sweatshirts and the crew forever had their colors. Other lettermen joining Josh to fill out the VTSP ranks were Cole Baltouchett, Matt Lawrence, Greg Manning, Kris Swierz and Jeff Brushie. Rallying up and down Route 100 the VTSP became renowned for their technical skills and new school style. The crews fame soon spread across New England and eventually the world on the pages of International Snowboard Magazine, Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboarder Magazine. In addition to consistently having a presence on the podium at the US Open, the New England Cup and the PSTA Pro Tour, the VTSP alongside four-time US Open Champion Andy "Dog" Coghlan held several camps a year at resorts like Killington, Bromley and Bolton in turn intimately raising the level of local riding talent beyond their sect.

Putting words and letters together made the VTSP's ties something tangible. Though snowboarding is a personal endeavor it is also a social one. Just as the Vermont Slope Posse and The Mount Baker Hardcore acknowledged the common ground they shared with their onhill community by creating close-knit cliques, future generations of snowboarders would also band together as The Farmington Crew, The SFK, The Frends, The Grenerds, The Wildcats, RK1, The CoBrah's, The ARA, Lick The Cat, The Trulli Clan, Aesthetiker, The Skids, The Gremlins and more. While snowboarding is no longer the outlaw fraternity it was once labeled as, there is still a desire to celebrate the intimate bonds sown on the cold slopes in a way that only insiders can know. This is why the cryptic symbols sharpied alongside sponsor logos on top sheets may have changed, but the relationships these characters represent remains timeless.

About Pat Bridges:

altPat Bridges was born in Rutland Hospital in 1973 and grew up in Killington, the son of ski bums. Having skied since the age of five, Pat began snowboarding in 1985 at Sonnenberg Ski Area in Barnard, Vermont. During his Junior Year of High School, he wrote an award-winning essay about snowboarding and realized the pen could provide a path to fulfilling his riding dreams. After a short stint as a competitive snowboarder and later a coach, Bridges became a full-time snowboarding scribe in the late nineties as a partner in the Burlington-based "EI Snowboard Magazine", which highlighted the infectious draw of snowboarding in New England. In 2000, he became Senior Editor of SNOWBOARDER Magazine, the largest endemic media outlet in the world of snowboarding, and has now been the Editor-in-Chief of said magazine for the past decade. Though he now calls San Clemente, California home, the Green Mountains are part of the fabric of who Pat is and a place he continues to visit and cover routinely, with the most recent instance being a feature he wrote about riding twelve Vermont Ski Areas in one twenty-four hour period last March.