Right before Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler finished first and second in the Olympic women's halfpipe snowboarding event, the pals pulled a Laverne and Shirley – sneaking off to a roped-off section of the mountain in Bardonecchia so they could snowboard on virgin snow.
"The guards were saying, 'You can't go,' so we just jumped under the ropes, strapped in quick and went," Bleiler, 24, tells PEOPLE. "That's what snowboarding is all about. It's not about sticking to a routine."
Born in Toledo, Ohio, and a snowboarder since age 11, Bleiler was favored for gold but walked away thrilled with silver. The Olympics "have been my dream since I was little," says Bleiler, whose nerves had her "screaming uncontrollably for the last three days."
By contrast Vermont native Teter, 19, is unflappable, grinning impishly beneath her trademark pulled-down ski caps. "They don't come off," she says. "I don't know why but I feel supercomfy in hats – I can hide under them if I feel like it, you know? I don't make them, but that's the next step – to make my own."
Yet that's about as much of a plan as either boarder will admit to. Bleiler says she will stay in Italy for a while, seeing the sights. As for Teter, who's dating Strive guitarist Eli Lieberman, "I think we're going back to the States and hang out and do a couple of things over there, and then I want to go to Lake Tahoe and soak up some sun rays and snowboard until the start of spring."
Meanwhile, PEOPLE caught up with Teter's beau who says: "It's so amazing that I found a woman that I love in every way possible And she can even keep up with me snowboarding, I love it."
During Teter's gold-medal winning run, she was inspired by Liberman's music – and was listing to one of his songs, "Communicate," on her iPod when she raced. (The MP3 is available on their website.)
Liberman tells PEOPLE that now Teter has inspired him: "I just wrote a new song about the deep connection we have and how much I love spinning into the oblivion with her. It's called 'Hannah Lee'.... and she even likes it."
Your Reaction
