Rider Rally Returns to Copper Mountain for Its 25th Anniversary

AASI Rider Rally, one of the most unique, storied, and all-around fun annual snowsports instruction events of the winter returns to Copper Mountain, Colorado, to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Known as much for its celebration of snowboard culture and community as it is for its timeless contributions to instruction and learning, Rider Rally 2025 will take place in Copper, April 21-24, returning to one of the original venues where the event has been staged since it was first formally introduced in 2000 at Big Sky, Montana.

“We’ve always tried to keep this event really core and simple and made it all about snowboarding and hanging out with the team,” said AASI Technical Coach Eric Rolls in a new PSIA-AASI First Chair Podcast about Rider Rally and its long history.

Held as a standalone occasion in some years, taking place in Mammoth, Breckenridge, Snowbird, Jackson, or Steamboat, or in conjunction with PSIA-AASI National Academy, at Big Sky, Rolls said the upcoming Rally at Copper will feature a little bit of the freestyle origins of the early years as well as a self-improvement focus both on the hill and indoors at Woodward Copper.

“I see this as the perfect blend of what has always been that somewhat rogue, rawness of the event along the administrative support of the national office that we didn’t have when it was its own event,” Rolls said. “We’ve had some great momentum with National Academy, but it hasn’t been the same as when it was a standalone snowboard focus where everything really is being driven by the team.”

One aspect of Rider Rally that has always stayed true to the event – whether as a standalone snowboard fest or as part of a multi-discipline gathering, is that it allows snowboard instructors to meet and ride with other pros from across the country. Or, in the case of the now famous 2017 Rally at A-Basin, Colorado, funded exclusively by team members, a small group of suppliers, and attendees, with the Rally’s first attendees from China.

“From the very beginning, we wanted a posse spirit that was less about rigid clinics and more about togetherness and lifting each other up,” said Eric Sheckleton, a former AASI Snowboard Team member and co-founder of Rider Rally with former AASI Snowboard Team Coach J. Randy Price, adding that “he knew the event was a hit when there was an immediate dedicated following with a core group of 10 to 15 people who attended every year.”

If you feel like you’re finally ready to send it for the 25th anniversary, the AASI Snowboard Team is stoked to welcome you to Copper Mountain in beautiful Summit County, Colorado, for an independent Rider Rally. The team has high hopes this special celebration will be the biggest U.S. snowboard gathering of the season. Come for the camaraderie and terrain, stay for the education and networking.

Registration is now open for Rider Rally, hosted at Copper Mountain, Colorado, Monday, April 21, through Thursday, April 24, with three days on snow. Register now for early bird pricing. Costs will increase Saturday, Feb. 1.

PC: Ian Zinner. 2024-28 National Team members