One by one, snowboarders leave the start and make their way down the winding course and past the gates.

There aren’t racing en masse like in boardercross.

There aren’t any tricks to do like in a terrain park or in a halfpipe.

And forget about those hard boots and long, narrow boards they use in parallel and giant slalom. Soft boots and a forgiving board are just fine.

It’s just the snowboarder in a game of beat the clock. Fastest time wins.

Welcome to the banked slalom snowboard race.

There’s a revival going on of the grassroots competition. The most famous one takes place at Washington State’s Mount Baker and has been going on for nearly 30 years.

This season, the retro-banked slalom has been an exhibition sport in the United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association, the organization that promotes the development of snowboarding and freeskiing in the country.

Now, there’s been a wave of races in March in the East indicating something of a resurgence of the race that’s a return to snowboarding’s roots.

One such race, the second annual Mike Baker Banked Slalom, started last year at Ragged Mountain in Danbury, New Hampshire, a small- to middle-sized area in the foothills of the White Mountains.

“Last year we had 92 riders compete,” said Communications and Event Manager Jamie Cobbett. “The format is two runs per rider with the fastest time counting.”

He says it’s a technical course. There’s a $1,500 cash purse, up from the inaugural $500. There are three divisions: Open men, open women, and a men’s 37-plus for riders like Baker, 37, who grew up in Bristol and still rides as hard as a teenager.

“The race is about bringing together the New England snowboarding community,” Cobbett said. “It’s a great way to get everyone together and riding and cheering each other on.”

That’s also the appeal of the banked slalom. It’s cool. Low-key. Lots of friends. Likely beer.

And there’s also the chance of watching some legendary riders race like Olympians Seth Wescott and Ross Powers. Both are stalwarts at a couple of New England races, the Sugarloaf Banked Slalom in Maine and the Vermont Open.

Wescott, the two-time Olympic gold-winning boardercross rider, is behind the Sugarloaf Banked Slalom at the Maine mountain he calls home. He started it as a way to give back to the sport, and he even designs the course.

Following the 2006 Torino Olympics that saw the debut of boardercross with Wescott winning his first gold medal, he decided to host a professional boardercross race at the Loaf to put on a good high energy show for spectators. But Wescott, who has raced in the Mount Baker race several times and won last year, felt more like doing a grassroots type of event for all ages.

The Sugarloaf Banked Slalom was born.

“This is not just to promote high-end riders, but it’s an opportunity for riders of all ages to participate together,” Wescott said.

Plus, Wecott is rallying some of his top notch snowboarding colleagues and hopes to bring the banked slalom to the World Cup level.

Wescott has a friendly rivalry going on with Ross Powers, the 2002 gold halfpipe medalist from Vermont. Powers won the first Sugarloaf Banked Slalom with Wescott coming in third.

Powers is also linked to the Vermont Open at Stratton, which had a banked slalom held recently. That started last season.

Co-organizer of the event is Scott Palmer, a former US Open competitor, who said the race is a way to give back to the snowboarding community.

“This is a timed event,” he said. “There is no judging so you don’t have that element and the course is actually a lot of fun.”

Killington is getting into banked slaloms with its Slash and Berm in the all natural terrain park The Stash.

“It’s been a while since we’ve done a true back to the roots snowboarding event,” said the Big K’s Youth and Action Sports Marketing Manager Mike Garceau. “This is getting back to snowboard’s shredding roots, fun, and camaraderie.”

Take that to the bank.

Image courtesy of Sugarloaf