Oops, I didn’t mean to wait so long to finish up my 2023 Winter Dew Tour lookback. The second day of competition began with overcast skies and the popular Men’s Snowboard Superpipe. The athlete roster was quite interesting as you had heavy hitters like Ayumu Hirano and Taylor Gold going up against Dew tour newcomers like Ryan Wachendorfer and Siddhartha Ulla, who was the first Black and South Asian snowboarder to compete in the Youth Olympics.
The question of the final was whether spins or style would come out on top. Ayumu seemed untouchable since he stomped the triple cork at the 2021 Winter Dew Tour, but he didn’t pull it out this time. Nevertheless his back-to-back 1440s helped give him the lead, and his teammate Raibu Katayama aimed for the moon with his massive opening air to fakie. However, Taylor Gold found his footing at his last run, which was also the last run of the event, and showed how good style with the right amount of difficulty could be a winning combo. He was still more than 5 points away from Ayumu, but that run landed him a second place finish.
Taylor showcased a variety of grabs and directions of rotation.(more…)
The final day of Dew Tour was a big one. Snowboard Superpipe finals were going down, and with big names like Shaun White and Chloe Kim looking to cement their spot on the U.S. Olympic team, more people were there than previously. The women’s event was still sparse in comparison, but the crowd was very enthusiastic. The side of the pipe I stood on was in the shade, and several riders seemed to have visibility issues. Maddie Mastro hit the deck in one of the problematic areas and got hurt. Thankfully she was able to walk away, but she did not take her second and third runs. Queralt Castellet, however, had no issues. She threw down the gauntlet with her high-scoring first run that included immaculate back-to-back 900s. Her early lead pushed everyone to bust out their biggest tricks.
Queralt held onto the lead for most of the comp.
Xuetong Cai was another rider who seemed to get better with age. Her opening method was so stylish. Chloe Kim struggled in her first two runs. Just as the pressure mounted, she changed her run to avoid hitting the wall near me, which helped her land bolts and secure the win. Her relief at the result showed how much pressure she felt as the reigning Olympic champ.
Learning to snowboard took a lot out of me so I stayed in during the morning to watch the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle finals from my computer. I have to give Annika Morgan props because she came up short on a jump and instead of bailing, she threw herself into a front flip. I brought it up at the Roxy signing after the contest, and she shrugged it off (but was obviously very grateful to have not wiped out). Get the woman into Knuckle Huck!
I rode the Woodward Express to the top of the slopestyle course just as the Men were starting their competition. It turned out that pedestrians got to ride for free. I wish I had known earlier because maybe I would have tried to go up multiple times. It’s still a long and strenuous trek (TV makes the course look deceptively small). Some of the people I passed had the stream on their phones, which is a good way to keep track of results if you have the battery power and data plan. I did enjoy snapping photos of the riders at various parts of the course though.
Day 3 had an early start with Women’s Ski Superpipe finals taking place in the morning. The crowd was sparse again, but that was everyone else’s loss since the athletes still gave it their all. Defending gold medalist Cassie Sharpe was coming off an injury and had some tough luck.
It was nice seeing Cassie back in action after her injury.
I was stoked to spot some unfamiliar names, two being Chinese: Kexin Zhang and Fanghui Li. I think it made my parents more interested. American teen Hanna Faulhaber was another newcomer although by how high she went and how solid all her tricks were, she seemed like an old pro. She took home bronze and would definitely be one to watch in the future. Even if the media did hype up a rivalry between Kelly Sildaru and Eileen Gu like they did in the past with Tanner Hall and Simon Dumont, the two women were going to run in to each a lot all weekend, as they were both competing in all three events. Eileen went bigger, and her insistence on always bettering her own runs helped secure the top spot.
Yes, I took another year to start recapping my 2021 Winter Dew Tour experience, but in my defense, I caught COVID-19 right afterwards and it’s honestly been a struggle to stay on top of things. I heard some of the athletes got sick, and I really admire that they were able to push through and recover in time for the Olympics. Anyway, lesson learned on being too lax on safety precautions, especially as someone who has health issues. Even now it’s important to stay safe!
Like in 2020, the first day of Dew Tour wasn’t open to the public. It worked out since I was traveling to Copper, and I wound up meeting Mary Walsh of Snowboard Magazine on the shuttle. There weren’t delays with travel, but since there was a good amount of snowfall, slopestyle qualifiers got postponed.
Day 2 qualifiers included Women’s Snowboard Superpipe. Despite not being a morning person, I really wanted to check it out since the women’s events tend to be earlier. I felt frustrated because the lighting wasn’t ideal and there were hardly any people in the crowd. Nevertheless, Maddie Mastro and Chloe Kim fought hard for the top spot with Maddie getting the higher score. It was sick to see Maddie’s double crippler in person.
Haruna Matsumoto just squeaked her way into finals.
Men’s Snowboard Superpipe qualifiers followed, and that’s when people started to show. It might have had something to do with Shaun White making an appearance, as he was aiming to make the Olympic team again. He proved to still have a large bag of tricks and his signature big airs. However, the Japanese riders were ready to dominate, and Ayumu Hirano, Ruka Hirano, and Yuto Totsuka scored the top three spots. Missing from their team was Raibu Katayama who was recovering from an injury sustained the previous week.
Andre Hoeflich’s sick style helped him qualify in fifth.
Conditions proved to be challenging for slopestyle again, and this time qualifiers were cancelled. We spectators didn’t know exactly what was going on besides schedule changes, but Mark McMorris’ Dew Tour video shows the debate going on behind the scenes about whether to run qualifiers or not.
Any drama or stress of the day for the athletes went away in the evening, as it was Boarding for Breast Cancer’s 25th Anniversary Fundraiser. Although it was open to the public, I felt slightly out of place as a non-athlete or industry person. I did run into Mary again briefly and wound up befriending someone who was working the Pacifico booth all weekend, and The Nuns of Brixton provided music to rock out and dance to so I stopped feeling as self conscious. There was also an auction to raise money for B4BC, and I won a Dakine backpack. I learned that Kimmy Fasani was diagnosed with breast cancer, and B4BC was holding a ride out for her. It was cool hearing how B4BC has impacted the lives of many female snowboarders through their support of survivors and advocacy work. Jamie Anderson talked about being involved since she was a kid. Here’s to another 25 years!
The lead singer of The Nuns of Brixton thanked me for dancing when I was leaving the event so I’m happy my talents came into use. Next time I won’t be as self-conscious.
The final day of the 2020 Winter Dew Tour was another jam-packed one. Men’s Ski Modified Superpipe had an early start, and I was a bit late because it was snowing hard (by my Texan standards). The skiers didn’t seem to be bothered by the weather but rather equipment issues, as four of them had a ski come off (and twice for David Wise).
Gus Kenworthy showed off a new trick for him, switch 1260, and held the lead for most of the comp until Noah Bowman threw the run of his life and took the win. Nico Porteous rounded out the podium with an impressive variety tricks.
Day 3 was jam-packed with events due to the previous day’s cancellation. I also had snowboarding lessons so I missed a chunk of the afternoon. On my way from East to Center Village, I wound up on the shuttle with Tom Wallisch and his friend. I overheard them talking about the Disney Channel Original movie Brink! and whether the aggressive in-line moves named in the movie were actually feasible. I couldn’t help but exclaim how the movie got me into action sports, to which Tom replied, “Us too.”
As Women’s Snowboard Modified Superpipe got started early, there was hardly a crowd so I got a good view at the bottom. With Chloe Kim off for the season, many women were obviously using this chance to show what they’ve got. Maddie Mastro was the favorite coming in, but Jiayu Liu laid down an amazing second run to knock her off the top. Her time apart from the Chinese National Team has allowed her to figure out her own style and really progress. Queralt Castellet also put up a fight, which put her in third.
Sonny Alba was a newcomer who really impressed everyone. She’s just 13 so we’ll be seeing more from her.(more…)
As I get ready to do the 2021 Dew Tour, I’m revisiting my trip to the Dew Tour in February 2020 (and finally editing those photos). It’s hard to believe there was a time before COVID-19 entered our lexicon, but at that time, the biggest worry was the impending winter storm. Events were postponed while I endured an 8 hour Lyft ride after the bus trip was cancelled (someone was a fool and didn’t book the earlier Greyhound bus). Because I arrived at Copper Mountain late at night, I missed the team challenge as well as the Snowboarder Awards.
All of Day 2’s competition, except the Adaptive Banked Slalom which isn’t accessible to foot passengers, got postponed as well. That turned out to be good for everyone since the athletes got to enjoy some powder and I could recover from altitude sickness. Anybody who comes from a flat place like Texas should definitely budget some adjustment time into their schedule.
Despite the postponements, Dew Tour Experience was open. I got to visit a couple of booths, one of which even gave out free socks, and meet Red Gerard.
In the evening, I attended the Newschooler Awards. I felt a little awkward since I’m not a member of Newschoolers or a skier for that matter. However, I wanted to learn more about freeskiing beyond what I see in major contests, and I learned that Taylor Lunquist, Jake Mageau, and Hunter Hess were some to check out.. It was also cool seeing how versatile Alex Hall is. Tom Wallisch walked away with a very well-deserved Hall of Fame Award, the first ever!
More content will come and keep an eye out to my Flickr album for photo updates as I go through each day! Click me for pics.
Jen
To the Power of X 