The whirlwind of the 2009-2010 Winter Dew Tour has come to a close after the final event this past weekend at Mount Snow. With a different overall atmosphere and vibe resulting from the timing of the Winter Olympics and the shocking monumental injuries, this competition was an emotional roller coaster surrounded by drama and what seemed to be lack of interest. Many big names were missing from the last stop of the Dew Tour because of a little thing called being on the US Olympic team, so this provided a huge window of opportunity for the rookies to get in the spotlight. Regardless of speculation and which prime time events were being aired simultaneously, the riders didn't let it affect their riding or their attitudes. Who knows if they even noticed? They were there to thrown down, and throw down they did. Here are the final winners in each event:

Men's Freeski Slopestyle - Andreas Hatveit

Men's Freeski Superpipe - Jossi Wells

Men's Snowboard Superpipe - JJ Thomas

Men's Snowboard Slopestyle - Sage Kotsenburg

Women's Snowboard Superpipe - Kaitlyn Farrington

Women's Snowboard Slopestyle - Jamie Anderson

In the men's freeski events, Andreas Hatveit's performance at each stop was mind blowingly consistent and flawless. He was at the top of the podium in Breckenridge and then had a 2nd place finish at Snowbasin and came into the last stop of the Dew Tour tied with Tom Wallisch. This Norwegian Dew Tour newbie took home first place in Vermont along with the title of freeski's Dew Tour champ in slopestyle.

The race for first place in men's freeski superpipe was filled with top dogs like Simon Dumont, Jossi Wells, Xavier Bertoni, and Peter Olenick. After a final balls out, crowd pleasing run from Simon Dumont that landed him in first place at Mount Snow, it was Jossi Wells who ended up with the overall Dew Tour win. This kiwi had nothing to complain about after a stand out season so far that rightfully earned him the championship.

Now for the drama that is men's snowboard superpipe. After the crash of Kevin Pearce that hushed crowds across the nation, Danny Davis' almost perfect journey to the Olympics followed by a spinal injury that took him out for the rest of the reason, and many other top riders missing due to Team USA rules and regulations that restricts them from competing in any event before the Olympics, we begin to wonder, was this year's Dew Tour doomed from the start? In a difficult time, it's hard to focus on an event like the Winter Dew Tour when it seems like there are so many bigger and more crucial things to be worrying about. This year's Dew Tour was fighting for appreciation against the looming shadow of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics along with the fact that the last stop was being aired the same weekend of the NFL Superbowl. Well, I hate to disappoint but the athletes still left in the fight for the championship could care less about Peyton Manning or the Saints, and I believe the energy of the upcoming Olympics and their fallen friends only inspired their riding.


JJ Thomas was the epitome of inspired. Coming out of hibernation in the contest scene, JJ let everyone know he hadn't lost his edge. With his top performances in superpipe alongside stiff competition, Thomas seemed very relaxed and just stoked to be riding. Although he was not selected for the U.S.Olympic Snowboard Team, his riding this season has been impressive and fluid. JJ Thomas took home the Toyota Championship title and the Dew Tour Cup followed by Steve Fisher and the injured Danny Davis.

Keeping up with the big dogs, at 16, Sage Kotsenburg became the youngest athlete ever to be named the Winter Dew Tour Cup Champ in men's snowboard slopestyle. Torstein Horgmo, Tyler Flanagan, and Eric Willet all had their own bag of tricks at each stop but Kotsenburg was hungry for the win and stomped his way to the top.

Women's superpipe also had a lot of familiar names missing after the announcement of who will be heading to Vancouver on Team USA. Again, this allowed for some young guns to duke it out for top honors. Kaitlyn Farrington and Kelly Marren seemed to be the top two contenders for the Dew Cup. At the last stop of the tour, 15-year-old Maddy Shaffrick threw down a solid run that ultimately gave her a second place finish at Mount Snow. Rookie Kaitlyn Farrington was ready to bring it on her second run through the pipe. With a clean inverted 720 (the only chick to do so), a huge 540, and consistency and style throughout, Kaitlyn earned her spot on top of the podium and the Dew Tour Cup in her hands.

One event that did not follow the trend of surprising or unexpected was women's snowboard slopestyle. Jamie Anderson seems to be competing with herself these days and continues to come out on top after winning in Vermont and the Dew Tour Champ title. However, all these ladies were ready to lay it all out on the course. Coming into the last stop, Spencer O'Brien, Jenny Jones, and Anderson all had equal chances to take home the Cup. The girls were going huge with massive spins and throwing down presses that put most guys to shame. Ultimately, it was Jamie's last run that was deemed one of the best female slopestyle runs in Dew Tour history (scoring a record 96.25) that clinched the win. It was complete with text book tailpresses, perfect boardslides and frontboards, an insane switch backside 540, frontside 720, and was rounded out with a floater of a backside 180. The rest of the gals just couldn't hang after that.

Congrats to all the competitors and winners of the Winter Dew Tour. You can all breathe now. Sit back, relax, and get ready to see what our U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team has in store for us.

The Winter Dew Tour at Snowbasin Resort concluded Sunday with slopestyle finals, in both skiing and snowboarding. Kicking things off early in the AM were the dudes of skiing. 12 super-duper pros took to the course each vying for a win.

As with all of the contests that went down at the Wendy's Invitational, the field was uber stacked- in this case more so than a Baconator, and triplestack stacked.

The sun was blazing, and the skier's were simply 'amazing- each showing the judges they wanted a win.
Second to drop was mista Bobby Brown, who laid down a fierce first run that scored a 90.0 right off the bat. Then Mr. Brown upped the ante by going even bigger and earned himself 93.25.


Photo cred: Paul Braunstein
Bobby Brown sailing his way into 3nd. Watch out ladies, he's a charmer.



photo: Paul Braunstein

Ian Cosco had a great showing as he lauched a double corked 12, but just wasn't able to keep it keep clean enough to break into podium.



Andreas Htveit- Photo by: Rocky Maloney

Coming in hot for second was the winner of the Breck Dew Tour, Andreas Havtveit.
"Dre" got nifty on all the rail features, switching it up all over while styling it out, but his attempts just weren't enough to edge out Tom Wallisch.

Wallisch was in it to win it, and that's exactly what he did. His run was very progressive and simply incredible to watch. Here's what T-Wall unleashed- double switch-up on the up-flat-down rail, 270 on, pretzel 450 off the second rail, left 900 tail, switch right 1080, to switch left double cork 1080.
Dizzie? So was the crowd!



Tom Wallisch- Doing his thing, and making it look easy. Congrats!
Photo: Rocky Maloney




Podium- Hatveit 2nd, Wallisch 1st. Bobby Brown 3rd. Holla
photo: Rocky Maloney





Tom Wallisch and his dad. Thumbs up for Winning tom!


Results
1) Tom Wallisch - 94.75
2) Andreas Hatveit - 93.63
3) Bobby Brown - 93.25
4) Sammy Carlson - 91.25
5) Jossi Wells - 87.38
6) Phil Casabon - 85.75
7) Elias Ambuhl - 84.25
8) Alexis Godbout - 84.20
9) Ian Cosco - 84.13
10) TJ Schiller - 84.00
11) Charles Gagnier - 83.00
12) McRae Williams - 81.00

With scores like that, the Mount Snow stop is going to be off the chain! Stay Tuned!

Andreas Hatveit Photo Courtesy of Alli, Alliance of Action Sports

As the Winter Dew Tour in Breck came to a close, the freeski slopestyle final athletes concluded it with some balls out riding. Norway's Andreas Hatveit ended up as the top dog, barely edging out Tom Wallisch with his run filled with technical rail riding, a switch right 1080, a switch left 1260, and a double cork 1080. While every other athlete opted to choose either the Toyota box feature or the Breckenridge wall ride, Andreas decided he needed to hit both by flipping from the take off to the hip landing. That, my friends, is how you win competitions. In a ridiculously close second place was Tom Wallisch with a monster of a run ( a pretzel on the first rail, rodeo 900, a switch right 1080, and a misty 450 off the flat-down) however, Wallisch fell on a giant switch double on his first run. Last but certainly not least, in the number three spot, was Sammy Carlson. Also ending up with a final score in the 90's, Carlson threw down with a switch right 1080, switch misty 900 poke, double cork 1080 poke, and a rodeo 450 into the flat down box.



Men's Freeski Slopestyle Final Results

1. Andreas Hatveit Sudndalen, NOR 93.00
2. Tom Wallisch Pittsburgh, PA 92.38
3. Sammy Carlson Tigard, OR 91.13

Words & photos by Alexander Runhellen

Many of skiing's elite made their way to Stockholm, Sweden yesterday to fight about for crown of King of Style, presented by Peak Performance. It's been three years since the first King of Style competion began in the massive Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, and this year the weather couldn't be have been better; bluebird, and just a few clouds.


L.J. Strenio

This year the whole setup was a touch smaller which made the landing a bit shorter. Last year Norwegian PK Hunder was crowned King of Style, but he unfortunately couldn't defend his crown due to his injuries from JOSS at the end of last season. Despite the absence of last year's champion, it was still one hell of a show. In the finals the riders had three runs with the best run counting.


Jacob Webster

Local legends Jacob Wester and Jon Olsson both crashed (to the surprise of all), while Swedish newcomer Simon Ericson, LJ Strenio and of course, Tom Wallisch all threw down some stylish maneuvers.


Simon Ericson


Tom Wallisch

But in the end it came down to a hectic fight between Phil Casabon, Sammy Carlson and Andreas Hatveit. Casabon was in the lead after the first run with his switch 1080 that was dripping with style, while Sammy did an awesome double cork 1080 with an a la Sammy Carlson mute (translation: poke).


Phil Casabon

In the second run Hatveit executed a perfect double cork 1080 double mute and received 286 points that pushed him into first place.


Andreas Hatveit

And despite their best efforts, Casabon and Carlson failed to better the Norwegian's score, causing Hatveit to win the competion before his third and final run, which he threw another double cork on to show that he is indeed the King of Style.


Your King

Results

1) Andreas Hatveit - 286
2) Phil Casabon - 283
3) Sammy Carlson - 280
4) Pekka Hyysalo - 272
5) Jon Olsson - 270
6) Elias Ambuhl - 262
7) Simon Dumont -254
8) Patrick Hollaus -252
9) Tom Wallisch - 240
10) Simon Ericson - 201
11) LJ Strenio - 160
12) Jacob Wester -134