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Just after Sage Kotsenburg won the first gold medal of the 2014 Olympics in snowboarding slopestyle, fellow Mount Hood regular Jamie Anderson soared to gold in the first-ever women’s Olympic slopestyle.

Anderson, a free-spirited 23-year-old who wears mantra beads when she competes, was born and raised in South Lake Tahoe, California. But she has been training on Mount Hood during summer for years and is well known on the mountain for making big-air tricks look easy. She co-hosted signature sessions at High Cascade Snowboard Camp from 2009 to 2012 and is scheduled to host another one this summer. She is also a former camper and visiting athlete for Windells Camp on Mount Hood. One of her first big slopestyle victories was at the Abominable Snow Jam on Mount Hood in 2006.

As was the case with Kotsenburg, Anderson earned the best scores from the Olympic judges through flowing grace rather than gymnastic-routine tricks. Her three big jumps were a Cab 720 tail grab, a switch backside 540 and a frontside 720, meaning her largest tricks involved two rotations. Other competitors spun around more times but none matched her overall style. Enni Rukajarvi of Finland won the silver medal, and Jenny Jones of Great Britain won bronze.

Here they are on the podium, with Jamie in the center:

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Here’s a minute-and-a-half trailer to Anderson’s “Living the Dream” series, coming soon, that gives you a sense of her outlook on life, and her skills on the mountain:

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Last modified: February 10, 2014