Mavericks On Board

During a training session at Colorado's Snowmass Mountain, near Aspen last week, a group of élite snowboarders who call themselves the Collection swooshed, spun and flipped over a curved channel, or half-pipe, changing the way their sport is played.

It's more than rare talent alone that separates the Collection--whose members include teen phenoms Mason Aguirre, 18, and Luke Mitrani, 15; 2002 Olympic gold medalists Ross Powers, 26, and Kelly Clark, 22; 2005 X-Games silver medalist Andy Finch, 24; and Gretchen Bleiler, 24, who is expected to take the women's half-pipe gold in Torino--from the rest of the snowboarding world. The group,...

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