Dew Tour Breckenridge: Complete Freeskiing Recap
The 2012 Dew Tour has officially come to a close following an outstanding event hosted in Breckenridge, Colorado. Continuing the trend put fourth throughout the year, the final stop offered a larger, more premium event across the board from the Dew Tour Experience, complete with unique vendor booth designs, larger course builds and a few new disciplines to best reflect the ever-changing action sports industries.
As in years past, the superpipe and slopestyle disciplines went off with great successes that continued to push the boundaries for the athletes and viewers alike. In the superpipe, Dew Tour put to use a brand new camera angle as a cable was slung down the center of the pipe to show the complete run leading the rider from drop to finish – a frontal cam if you will. On the slopestyle course, Dew Tour included three creative jib sections dropped between four large-scale jumps in order to allow for an endless amount of variations among riders. The course was repeatedly referred to by the athletes as, “the best slopestyle course ever.”
For the first time in Dew Tour history, new disciplines Big Air and Streetstyle were showcased throughout the week, and judging by the fantastic response in crowd turnout and athlete praise, these disciplines have a long and healthy future as part of the Dew Tour.
Take a look below at break-outs from each of the freeski disciplines for a quick run-down of how each event unfolded, and click on the links below to visit the individual recap articles complete with full results, photo galleries and highlight video packages.
Big Air
The Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships offered a new discipline to the fans of flight with the addition of the Big Air competition gracing the bottom of the slopestyle course at Breckenridge.
As this was the first time the Dew Tour has hosted a true Big Air event, the excitement was felt from the fans to the athletes and everywhere in between on the mountain – the nighttime aspect only added to the thrills!
Soaring over the 67-foot gap, it was Kai Mahler stomping the best trick of the night, a switch left double misty 1440 double Japan grab, earning him the highest score allowing him to ski out with the win at the inaugural Big Air competition at Dew Tour.
“The jump was so cool, it is big enough to throw anything. I’m stoked I got first! That switch left double cork misty 1440 double Japan grab was the first time I have ever tried that and landed it – I’m so happy I got it on my feet!”
Results
1st Place – Kai Mahler 97.00
2nd Place – Gus Kenworthy 95.75
3rd Place – Henrik Harlaut 94.75
Click to see the Big Air recap article with complete results, photo gallery and highlight video.
Women’s Superpipe Final
Following the windy semi-final earlier this week at the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships, the stacked list of skiers for the Women’s Freeski Superpipe Final brought the heat to Breckenridge as these women went all out for their chance at a Dew Cup.
With only two skiers left to ride, it was teammate Maddie Bowman left to dethrone Sigourney, but following a miscalculation Bowman took a spill in the pipe and it was officially Sigourney’s Dew Cup.
Sigourney took one final victory lap before claiming her trophy from atop the podium. Sigourney’s first, and best, run included an alley-oop 180, a left 900, alley-oop 540, left 540, right 540 and capped it off with a left 720.
“The pipe [at Breckenridge] is so nice, it’s definitely one of my favorites I’ve ever skied. The atmosphere here is always great, even though this is the first competition and there were a lot of nerves going on, the people are great and it is such a big event now with just the one stop – it was great!”
Results
1st Place – Brita Sigourney 90.25
2nd Place – Maddie Bowman 87.25
3rd Place – Roz Groenewoud 84.00
Click to see the Women’s Superpipe recap article with complete results, photo gallery and highlight video.
Men’s Superpipe Final
For the first time in superpipe history, the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships at Breckenridge, Colorado offered a new cable camera angle to best display the height and technicality of the tricks on display!
The Men’s Freeski Superpipe Final brought great skiing, crowd energy and progression of riding, but also progression of video treatment to best showcase the action to fans everywhere with a cable camera strung down the center of the pipe.
On his first run, Justin Dorey exploded out of the pipe and picked up a high score of 93.50 that put him on the top of the list for the rest of the event. Dorey’s run included a right double 1260 safety, left 900 tail, air-to-fakie, switch 720 Japan, alley-oop left flat 540 critical, left double 1260 Japan.
“Riddle has been on point this year, stomping runs better than anyone I have ever seen this year,” said Dorey with regard to his competition. “The fact that [Dew Tour] is doing this stop bigger than any other is pretty cool. Breckenridge is sick, this is one of the best pipes in the world and the weather always seems to cooperate with us – Breck has been good to me over the years.”
Results
1st Place – Justin Dorey 93.50
2nd Place – Byron Wells 90.25
3rd Place – Mike Riddle 88.50
Click to see the Men’s Superpipe recap article with complete results, photo gallery and highlight video.
Women’s Slopestyle Final
The Women’s Freeski Slopestyle Final broke in the last day of the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships at Breckenridge, Colorado, and with light snowfall mixed with broken sunshine it was a perfect day for competition finals.
Following a fierce semi-final from the day before, the best six scores advanced skiers into this winner-take-all final for the 2012 Dew Cup, and every women on the slope through everything they had in an effort to take the title.
Third place qualifier, Kaya Turski, nailed her first run of the final that carried her through the rest of the competition. Turski’s first and best run included a switch on front swap on the rainbow box, lipslide to fakie on the next rail, to switch unnatural 360 over the first jump, to switch 540 over the next jump, then 270 onto the next rainbow box, then she wrapped up her run with a 540 then a switch 720 over the final two jumps.
“There is a lot of great talent coming up, all these young girls definitely stepping it up and are keeping on my toes. I think I have the experience, so I played it cool,” said the humble Turski with regard to how she played the conditions and her competition. Turski went on to comment on the Dew tour’s new single-stop format saying, “I think it’s great! Overall I’ve had a great time at the Dew Tour. It’s been a great course… they have been great with working with the athletes. It’s been a fun event and the lounge is awesome!”
Results
1st Place – Kaya Turski 87.25
2nd Place – Yuki Tsubota 72.25
3rd Place – Anna Segal 56.75
Click to see the Women’s Slopestyle recap article with complete results, photo gallery and highlight video.
Men’s SlopeStyle Final
The Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships at Breckenridge, Colorado wrapped up the final day with three slopestyle events, and the Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Final was without a doubt a highlight to the day as they skied with strength through what many athletes had referred to as, “the best course ever.”
Following the 31-man semi-final, only the top twelve were allowed to return to throw it all on the line for their chance at taking the 2012 Dew Cup.
As first place qualifier James Woods, aka Woodsy, rode through his final run, he seemed to put down everything he wished, but as he approached the final jump he decided to ride to the side in order to save himself from a possible windy wreck and let this event go to the Aussie, Russ Henshaw, who scored a whopping 84.50 on his first run.
Henshaw’s best run included a 270 lipslide on the first down feature, a 270 onto the wallride, double cork 1080, right 900, switch 270 onto the rainbow, switch double cork 900 into a right double cork 1260.
“I woke up this morning and saw that it was windy, so I wanted to make it through the day safe and have as much fun as possible. I guess that paid off and worked out,” said Henshaw after he hopped off the top spot on the podium. Henshaw continued to give his thoughts on the new Dew Tour format, “I’m glad they made it just one stop and put all their resources into it – it’s been an epic event! I’m Stoked!”
Results
1st Place – Russ Henshaw 84.50
2nd Place – Andreas Hatveit 80.00
3rd Place – Henrik Harlaut 78.75
Click to see the Men’s Slopestyle recap article with complete results, photo gallery and highlight video.
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