Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Snowboard Outreach Society's Outreach Series, the largest snowboarding series in Colorado, returns to Steamboat Springs this weekend for two competitions at the Steamboat Ski Area.

Saturday features a halfpipe competition, and on Sunday, action switches over to boardercross.

This weekend is the fifth of the eight-week winter series. The SOS Outreach Series opened its season at Howelsen Hill more than a month ago and will return Saturday to the ski area after stops in Breckenridge, Vail, Keystone and Beaver Creek.

The SOS Outreach Series boasts 16 U.S. Amateur Snowboarding Association-sanctioned events, including this weekend's competitions in Steamboat.

Competitors can register online at www.sosoutreach.org or they can register from 8 to 9:30 a.m. on race day in the Champagne Power Room above RideSports in Gondola Square.

Both events are scheduled to start around 10:30 a.m.

There is a competition fee of $25 and a one-time annual USASA membership fee of $40. Single-day lift tickets will be available for competitors without season passes.

The SOS is in its ninth season of snowboard competition. Events such as the two in Steamboat this weekend are held to raise money for programs that serve the region's youth through snowboard instruction.

For five days, divided between last weekend and this weekend, nearly two dozen junior high and high school students from the Ute tribe have been in Steamboat learning how to snowboard. Their lessons conclude this weekend.

SOS is providing equipment, clothing and instructors for the students. The Steamboat Ski Area is providing passes, while Deb Fuller of Yampatika, with the assistance of Timber Run Condos, has provided low-cost lodging for the event.

Ute students at Colorado Mountain College are serving as organizers /coordinators and hosts for this event.