He kicked out, greased the double-kink, and proceeded to stomp a variety of Cab 1080s and 270s on and off of every feature in the course. He skied with such confidence and technical ability that from the top of the hill to the finish, veteran athletes and industry insiders scratched their heads and asked each other, "Who is this kid?"

He was the slopestyle champion. In one afternoon, the phenom from Vernon, BC climbed from obscurity to the top of the most stacked field in freeskiing, and as he mounted the podium next to Henrik Windstedt, all Schiller could think was, "I don't belong here."

"I kept waiting for somebody to tell me the judges were just kidding," he recalls. But no one said that. Instead, they said, "Get ready, kid, because this is the start of your career." Within days, Schiller was fielding contract offers from major ski, clothing, and goggles companies. Poor Boyz Productions was slotting him into its shooting schedule, and the Open had created the latest in a long list of overnight superstars.

The first came in 1999 when Philou Poirier—a bartender from Quebec's Mont Tremblant who competed in rental boots—unleashed a fakie backflip in the big air to beat JF Cusson, JP Auclair, and a handful of new freestyle's first stars. "What happened to TJ this year was a flashback to Philou in 1999," says Open Founder Michael Jaquet. "The kid comes through the finish line, his score pops up, and suddenly team managers are trying to negotiate the next few years of his career on his way to the podium."

It's an experience to which Andy Woods can attest. In 2000, Woods took a break from his family's vacation in Vail to beat Jonny Moseley and Jon Olsson on his way to winning the big air with a 1260 he learned during practice. Woods has been a mainstay on Dynastar's freeride team ever since. John Symms has a similar story. The quiet kid from Idaho showed up to the 2003 Open with a free pair of goggles his local rep gave him, took third in big air, and lef with a car so packed full of free product that he could barely fit his skis in there.

When the Open began in 1998, its "open" format—anyone can compete provided they preregister online—was a foregone conclusion. Terrain-park skiing was in its infancy and there simply weren't that many skiers to worry about. The event has doggedly stuck to theo open format in spite of an ever-growing amount of participant interest. The 2004 Open filled up within 72 hours of registration going online, and thousands of skiers were turned away. The format wreaks havoc on the event's Web servers, but creates a competition that, year after year, is a lotter kids like Philou, Woods, Symms, and Schiller can win.

"The Open is the only event where anyone can show up and go head-to-head against the best in the world," says George Couperthwait, the Rossignol product manager who first signed Tanner Hall and Evan Raps. "It's a great measuring stick."

Couperthwait isn't the only industry executive who makes a point of attending the Open each season, constantly on the lookout for the new talent that's emerging in terrain parks across the world. Smith Optics Senior Promotions Manager Tag Kleiner is another. "In a winter schedule increasingly crowded with competitions, it's still the most important," says Kleiner. "A lot of careers have been launched there."

The 2004 Open was particularly productive. Aside from Schiller, both Tanner Rainville (third in slopestyle) and Grete Elaisson (first in women's slopestyle, second in halfpipe) were unknown last season and head into the coming winter as favorites in any competition they enter. As for Schiller, he's long since solidified his deals with Armada, Orage, and Anon, and his segment in PBP's X showed the world what everyone at the Open already knew: he is a talent to be reckoned with. "The Open changed everything," he says now. "It's the reason I have a career."

Registration for the 2005 Open goes online in early November, and there's no question that somewhere in the ensuing scramble, a kid no one has ever heard of will hit "return" on this entry form and show up three months later to shock the field. The only question that remains is: who will it be?