The 2011 Aspen Open kicked off today at Aspen/Snowmass's Buttermilk Mountain with both the Men's and Women's Superpipe finals. With $50,000 of prize money on the line for the weekend, we knew we would see some pretty competitive riding coming out of these young guns.

The Aspen Open is no joke. It's the only venue to boast the infamous X Games 22 foot superpipe at over 500 feet long. With prestinely cut sidewalls and bluebird conditions, both the men and women had a perfect half pipe to show the judges why they should be taking home the $1,500 first prize purse and artist series boomboxes.

Clair Bidez showed up huge for the women as she put down a flawless run with a huge first hit method. Boosting higher than any lady in the feild, Clair proved to the judges why she should take home top honors for women's superpipe. Lauren Whalley and Molly Wilson took home second and third place spots on the podium as they stuck super style grabs and spins down the 22 foot superpipe.

On the mens side we had 18-year-old Aspen native Oliver Bacharach take third place. Oliver was suffering from a hurt shoulder but proved that he could get it done as he put down a first hit cab 7 to front 5, a backside air followed by a front 9. A good friend of second place finisher, Will Adams, Oliver states, "We are the best of friends and get to ride alot together. The pipe was beautifull today. We have two of the best halfpipes in the world." This helps explain why he and Will took home second and third place.

Hailing from Carbondale, Colorado, 17-year-old Will Adams took home second place and $750 cash. With over 7 years riding pipe, it was clear why Will took home second. Going huge on his first hit with a frontside 9, he followed up with a backside 5, frontside 5, followed by a backside 9 and finishing with a frontside 7. "I was trying to throw down a frontside 10 on the last hit but wanted to land a solid run, so I stuck with the frontside 7. I never really got a chance to get the front 10 at the end, but will have it for the future," says Will. We look forward to seeing this young gun in the coming years.

Lastly, hailing from Leeds, UK, Dom Harington put down the best run of the day. The 26-year-old Brit had some crazy style that impressed the judges. Going as big as most of the X Games athletes, Dom put down a huge frontside air (shown above) to start his run followed by a backside 9, a frontside 7 and two game changing back to back 10s with a Håkon tail to finish it off. A last minute decision to enter the event certainly paid off. He remarked, "I have never been to Aspen before, and after watching X Games a few weeks back I decided to register and ride the pipe for the Aspen Open." It's no secret that riding the X Games course was a lure for most of the athletes here today.