DEW TOUR RECAP
One of the biggest freeskiing and snowboarding events of the season, the Winter Dew Tour, went down in Breckenridge, Colorado this past weekend under sunny skies and snowy slopes, complete with a twist.
Evan McEachran. Photo by Zoe Blewett
In contrast to the most standardized format of straight up and down slopestyle and halfpipe contests, the organizers opted to mix things up this year by separating jumps and rails into two separate courses (where the athlete with the highest combined score would be crowned as the winner), and a tricked-out, mind-boggling modified superpipe that allowed pipe skiers to step outside the usual box and get extra creative.
Kevin Rolland. Photo by Zoe Blewett
One of the first things on the docket was the Team Challenge, in which trios of male athletes sponsored by Armada, Atomic, Faction, Head, K2 and Volkl squared off against each other on each of the three courses. After a hard-fought battle, Team Atomic, which consisted of Gus Kenworthy, Fabian Bosch and Miguel Porteous emerged victorious with the most combined points, while Team Faction (Alex Hall, Antti Ollila and Mac Forehand) scored second and Team Head (Aaron Blunck, Evan McEachran and Jesper Tjader) took third.
Gus Kenworthy. Photo by Zoe Blewett
Team Faction (2nd), Team Atomic (1st), Team Head (3rd). Photo by Zoe Blewett
TEAM CHALLENGE RESULTS
1) Atomic (Gus Kenworthy, Fabian Bosch, Miguel Porteous)
2) Faction (Alex Hall, Antti Ollila, Mac Forehand)
3) Head (Aaron Blunck, Evan McEachran, Jesper Tjader)
4) Volkl (Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, Hunter Hess, McRae Williams)
5) Armada (Henrik Harlaut, Tanner Hall, Torin Yater-Wallace)
6) K2 (Birk Irving, Colby Stevenson, Ferdinand Dahl)
Just prior to the combined throwdown, Women’s Slopestyle went down, where after being forced to sit last season out due to a knee injury, Kelly Sildaru returned to reclaim her throne, with familiar podium dwellers Tess Ledeux in second and Maggie Voisin in third.
Kelly Sildaru. Photo by Zoe Blewett
Tess Ledeux (2nd), Kelly Sildaru (1st), Maggie Voisin (3rd). Photo by Chris Ortiz
WOMEN’S SLOPESTYLE RESULTS
1) Kelly Sildaru
2) Tess Ledeux
3) Maggie Voisin
4) Johanne Killi
5) Giulia Tanno
6) Elena Gaskell
7) Sarah Hoefflin
8) Mathilde Gremaud
On Friday, following a gala evening at the 19th annual Powder Awards, the Women’s Modified Superpipe contest transpired, with Canadian up-and-comer Rachael Karker scoring the biggest win of her career, while Canada’s golden girl Cassie Sharpe happily settled for second and the always consistent veteran Devin Logan took third.
Rachael Karker. Photo by Simon d'Artois
Cassie Sharpe (2nd), Rachael Karker (1st), Devin Logan (3rd). Photo by Zoe Blewett
WOMEN’S MODIFIED SUPERPIPE RESULTS
1) Rachael Karker
2) Cassie Sharpe
3) Devin Logan
4) Brita Sigourney
5) Abigale Hansen
6) Svea Irving
7) Maddie Bowman
8) Annalisa Drew
With the women’s events wrapped up, all eyes were on the men over the weekend, with Men’s Slopestyle going off on Saturday, in which Evan McEachran, long a bridesmaid but rarely a bride, emerged victorious in the biggest win of his career, making it two-for-two on that front for The Great White North, while Alex Hall mounted the podium once again in the silver medal position, and multiple X Games champion, the incomparable Henrik ‘E-Dollo’ Harlaut, took third.
Evan McEachran. Photo by Zoe Blewett
Alex Hall (2nd), Evan McEachran (1st), Henrik Harlaut (3rd). Photo by Zoe Blewett
MEN’S SLOPESTYLE RESULTS
1) Evan McEachran
2) Alex Hall
3) Henrik Harlaut
4) Alex Beaulieu-Marchand
5) Andri Ragettli
6) Oscar Wester
7) James Woods
8) McRae Williams
9) Teal Harle
10) Gus Kenworthy
11) Fabian Bosch
12) Ferdinand Dahl
From there, the weekend’s festivities culminated on Sunday with Men’s Modified Superpipe, in which the top pipe skiers on the planet got tricky with it. Once the dust had settled and smoke had cleared, it was a clean American sweep of the podium, with wild child Alex Ferreira in first, Aaron Blunck in second and two-time Olympic gold medalist David Wise in third.
Alex Ferreira. Photo by Zoe Blewett
Aaron Blunck (2nd), Alex Ferreira (1st), David Wise (3rd).
MEN’S MODIFIED SUPERPIPE RESULTS
1) Alex Ferreira
2) Aaron Blunck
3) David Wise
4) Birk Irving
5) Kevin Rolland
6) Nico Porteous
7) Simon d’Artois
8) Taylor Seaton
9) Gus Kenworthy
10) Torin Yater-Wallace
A big congrats to all of the winners, competitors and organizers for another successful instalment of the event, and for more information, videos, rundowns and so forth, be sure to visit dewtour.com.