Dew Tour Breckenridge: Complete Snowboarding 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 snowboard 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.

 

Women’s Slopestyle

After the nail-biter semi-final, the top scoring six riders made their way into the finals with only two runs to prove they deserved to be the 2012 Dew Cup champ of slopestyle.

Following Jamie Anderson’s top-notch performance in semis and decorated history at Dew Tour, Anderson was a favorite to win the final. As it all came down to Anderson’s final run, the pressure was on to throw it all out in order to take Spencer O’Brien off the top spot. With much success, Anderson nailed every trick in her final run and came out on top!

Anderson’s run included a half cab tail press on the tier drop box, a gap to tailslide to fake on the kink rail, a cab 540, a frontside 720, a backside tailslide to fakie on the rainbow box, a switch back 540 then into a powered out landing on a backside 540.

“I was just trying to stay grounded [coming into today’s final seeded first], and just know that I could land a good run,” said Anderson after the competition. “I’m happy [there is only one stop this year] I just go with the flow. I love Breckenridge!”

Results

1^st Place – Jamie Anderson 96.00

2^nd Place – Spencer O’Brien 90.00

3^rd Place – Enni Rukajarvi 85.25

Click to see the Women’s Slopestyle recap article with complete results, photo gallery and highlight video.

 

Streetstyle

From hosting a film night in the town to putting on a Big Air competition under bright lights in front of a giant crowd at night, Dew Tour broke ground in many ways; but what was quite possibly the most innovative addition to the lineup was the new Snowboard Streetstyle event hosted at night downtown.

If crowd turnout and overall atmosphere are any indicator of an events’ success, the new streetstyle discipline will be remembered and return to the Dew Tour as a flagship competition for fun and creativity!

The format consisted of a 30-minute organized jam with thirteen riders taking turns on the unique course being judged on their overall impression.

Eric Beauchemin ultimately scored the highest from the thirteen-man jam with tricks like a half cab 360 onto the down slanted jersey barrier, a back 270 on to 270 out on the barrier as well as a variety of grinds across the long dumpster at the end of the course.

“I’ve never done anything like this, features in the streets of Breckenridge… it was fun. My favorite feature was the wallride,” said Beauchemin still taking in his win.

Results

1^st Place – Eric Beauchemin

2^nd Place – Jamie Nichols

3^rd Place – Sam Hulbert

Click to see the Streetstyle recap article with complete results, a photo gallery and highlight video.

 

Women’s Superpipe

For the first time in superpipe history, the Dew Tour introduced a new camera angle to best showcase the amplitude and style of the riders with a cable camera strung down the center of the pipe showing the runs from drop to final stomp.

Considering in the past three years Kelly Clark has rode away with five stop victories and three consecutive Dew Cups, all eyes were on the Vermont native to ride with style and throw her well recognized 1080, however, this event would be one of upsets as Kaitlyn Farrington was on fire and unstoppable.

Farrington’s best, and wining, run included a backside 900, a frontside 900, a backside 540, an alley-oop 540, a straight air and a frontside 720.

“I was practing well, so I knew I had the tricks and the run that I wanted to do – I wasn’t too nervous going in,” said a confident Farrington speaking to her mindset prior to dropping in. “The pipe at Breckenridge is so good! It couldn’t be better.”

Results

1^st Place – Kaitlyn Farrington 90.00

2^nd Place – Queralt Castellet 80.00

3^rd Place – Maddy Schaffrick 71.75

Click to see the Women’s Superpipe recap article with complete results, a photo gallery and highlight video.

 

Men’s Superpipe

The Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships marked the fifth consecutive year of a winter stop at Breckenridge, Colorado, and, when it comes to Superpipe, this location has provided multiple ground breaking opportunities for riders and spectators alike.

This year, Dew Tour introduced to the superpipe a cable camera that ran down the center of the pipe showing the rider’s runs from drop-in to finish from the front perspective – a superpipe first that truly enhanced the viewers’ experience.

With past years in the back of everyone’s minds, Shaun White was a favorite to come in and take home another Dew Cup to add to his collection. However, as we saw in semi-final, White is human and occasionally slips an edge, and with the stiff competition this event was truly up for grabs.

In the end, White’s first run held him high above the competition and carried him to the top of the podium. White’s double mctwist 1260, or tomahawk as White prefers to reference it, was truly the trick that set his run apart from the rest, as he was the only one in the lineup with it in his arsenal.

“I think that [the new single-stop event format] is great – the Bigger, the better! When you make it a premier event like that it sets it up for everyone to bring their A-game,” said an accomplished and enthusiastic White.

Results

1^st Place – Shaun White 95.25

2^nd Place – Louie Vito 90.00

3^rd Place – Taku Hiraoka 81.50

Click to see Men’s Superpipe recap article with complete results, a photo gallery and highlight video.

 

Big Air

The iON Mountain Championships brought a new discipline to the Dew Tour this year to best showcase the high fliers of snowboarding with the Big Air event at Breckenridge, Colorado.

With the new age of triple corks fresh to the world of snowboarding, it only made sense for Dew Tour to introduce this extra event to take the linked line pressure off the riders and offer them up a one-hitter-quitter style competition to put their skills on full display.

As the competition came to a close, it was Mark McMorris who rode out the victor of the first-ever Big Air competition at Dew Tour after landing his backside triple cork 1440 in the finals.

With regard to Dew Tour trimming the fat and expanding on their new single-stop format, McMorris had this to say, “It’s way better, it’s a way bigger deal and there are way more people here to watch… I’m stoked to be a part of it!” McMorris also went on to comment on the Big Air event being held at night, “I feel like every event should be done at night. It doesn’t matter if it’s snowing, it doesn’t matter if it is flat light. With all the lights you can see everything so perfect and the vibes are way better at night, so Dew Tour Killed it on this one!”

Results

1^st Place – Mark McMorris 96.75

2^nd Place – Sage Kotsenburg 81.75

3^rd Place – Staale Sandbech 69.25

Click to see the Big Air recap article with complete results, a photo gallery and highlight video.

 

Men’s Slopestyle

From 31 to the elite twelve, the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle at the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships in Breckenridge, Colorado consisted of the best snowboarders in the industry riding on what many have been referring to as, “the best slopestyle course ever.”

Nobody was able to unseat Mark McMorris from the top spot as he put down both of the highest scoring runs of the day. McMorris’ best run included a lipslide to fakie, a switch hard 270 onto the next down feature, a cab double cork 900, a frontside 720, a backside 360 to tap on the iON camera feature, a double wildcat and a frontside double cork 1260 to cap it off.

“This course is sick! Four jumps, three rails – it’s a really technical setup. When you get to ride a really big course it is so much more fun… A lot of times you are limited to two or three ways of spinning, but with four jumps it makes for endless opportunities for lines you can choose – it makes for a lot more creativity,” said McMorris after he received his second Dew Cup in two days. McMorris went on to express his approval for the new Dew Tour’s change to a one-stop format, “[Dew Tour] is on the right track, one hundred percent!”

Results

1^st Place – Mark McMorris 95.00

2^nd Place – Chas Guldemond 90.75

3^rd Place – Staale Sandbech 85.75

Click to see the Men’s Slopestyle recap article with complete results, a photo gallery and highlight video.