LUDLOW, Vermont ??” The banners and balloons are still flying high all around Ludlow, Vermont, for Okemo home-mountain hero Hannah Teter. Everyone is poised to welcome home the Olympic Women’s Halfpipe Gold Medalist, who has been on tour with her gold medal. She’s been visiting Late Night with Jay Leno, making maple syrup granola with Martha Stewart and has made the cover of Sports Illustrated with her medal-winning team mates. It’s only a matter of time before she returns home to the open arms of a community that is planning to laud her as a hometown hero. Destined to carry on the Teter family legacy, Hannah has evolved from a little girl with amazing skills to a driving force behind the progression of women’s halfpipe.

This proud Vermonter’s potential is almost limitless thanks to a strong support staff including brothers Abe and Elijah, who climb plenty of podiums themselves, and oldest brother Amen, who makes sure she handles her business.

In a family with three snowboarding brothers, getting the hand-me-downs was a given when Teter started riding at the age of eight. She took her first lesson at her home mountain of Okemo because her brothers “were someplace else on the mountain,” and didn’t want to hang out with their little sister. They don’t have any problem being around her these days, though.

Aside from her namesake on the big stage of snowboarding, Hannah says the most important thing is that people know she is “just a normal girl who followed something that lead to somewhere.” For her, that “somewhere” is traveling the globe doing what she loves and “meeting all kinds of people who speak all kinds of languages,” all thanks to the influence of her brothers – Amen, Josh, Abe and Elijah – and the awesome guidance of her parents, Pat and Jeff.

If, like Hannah said after winning the gold medal, “It’s the syrup, baby,” young, inspired snowboarders will be lining up at sugarhouses all over Vermont for this year’s golden run of sap.