Casual Observers: Sean Malto, Danny Davis enjoy powder at Dew Tour

Skateboarder Sean Malto is no stranger to summer Dew Tour competition, but says this week’s event in Breckenridge is his first time ever seeing a snowboard contest in person. He was on the mountain early on Friday morning, making fresh tracks with Danny Davis and Red Gerard in more than 6 inches of fresh powder that fell overnight.

It turns out Malto has some skills: he was slashing turns right behind Davis, taking VIP “First Tracks” laps on the Colorado Superchair for more than an hour before the chairlifts officially opened.

“I’m excited to be here and cruise around in some good snow, a nice break from filming for a new Nike video part that has had me traveling all over the place lately,” Malto says. “I’ve been a big fan of Danny and everything he does for a long time so it’s rad to get to ride with him again,” Malto says. “He can skate too – he totally rips – and I’ve been snowboarding for about 10 years, so it’s fun to get these kinds of crossover opportunities that put us together. Mountain Dew always does a good job doing some creative pieces and really elevating action sports, and it’s been a big year: Danny’s Peace Park projects are so rad, I feel like the Dew Tour in Long Beach was the best one yet, and the Mountain Dew Super Snake project I did with Danny earlier this year was amazing. I’ve never done anything like it! It’s been a fun year and I’m excited Danny invited me out to be here at my first winter Dew Tour to see what it’s all about.”

Davis says the respect is mutual.

“Standing sideways is the bug we’ve all got,” Davis says. “I grew up snowboarding, skateboarding, and wakeboarding, and in the last few years I’ve been loving learning to surf, so it’s nothing but respect all around. Ultimately it’s all surfing: surfing the snow, surfing the concrete, surfing the waves. Malto is one of the rad ones who can do a bit of all of it, and he’s always been one of my favorite skateboarders: it’s always cool to meet another chiller and Malto’s one of the coolest guys around. It was rad to get to skate with him some this year at Super Snake, and I’m stoked to get him out on a snowboard a couple times this year, too.”

This week Davis is in full spectator mode after the Dew Tour halfpipe contests were canceled and will be joining Malto as a superfan in the crowd, but he’s not sweating it: he recently sliced some tendons in his right hand while chopping firewood – “I totally axed myself,” he says – and doesn’t mind having some extra time off to let it heal.

“A week ago there wasn’t enough snow to build a pipe and now we’re slashing knee-deep snow, that’s just how it goes,” Davis says. “I would like to be riding some haflpipe and I would love to be competing this week, but it is what it is: I’m not going to be bummed on riding some pow and coming to Breck for a nice chill week to hang with my friends in Colorado.”