ESPN Freeskiing

Press release from Mountain Sports International:

Telluride, CO, February 6, 2010 — Today, a new wave of big mountain skiers have entered into the realm of giants. The top four women and top six men of today are now pre-qualified for the remainder of the 2010 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour. They now have the opportunity to get their skills noticed, gain Tour points and, hopefully, wrangle some sponsors.

Two-year consecutive winner of the Tour Qualifier, Claudia Bouvier, of Vail, CO, had a great comeback today. She made up over 11 points from yesterday to grab the top spot on the podium for the women. Bouvier's run started strong as she whipped out of a tight cornice on the top aspect of the venue, Mountain Quail, and then charged down a frozen waterfall between the trees in Review, cut a hard right, hit a 15-footer, and then sent it straight into a ten-footer, absolutely stomping it.

Guest judge and seven-year Freeskiing World Tour competitor, Cliff Bennett, was positioned at the top of the venue because of poor visibility and said that Bouvier looked the best of both the men and women.

"She flashed down the top," Bennett said.

Louise Lintilhac, of Stowe, VT, showed everyone just what it means to ski the East, taking second place for the women and qualifying for the 2010 Tour. Newcomer to the Tour and yesterday's winner, Sasha Dingle, 21, of Bridger Bowl, MT, showed off a solid run. She headed looker's left into Review, hitting a couple cliff drops, and ending with a nice 10-foot stomp into the finish.

This was Dingle's first Tour competition; for her great first showing, she was awarded The North Face Young Gun Award.

In fourth and the final woman to pre-qualify for the Tour was another local skier of Telluride, CO, Kelli Gleason skied a memorable line, with aggressive carving, high speeds and a couple little cliff hits into the finish.

The competition between the men for first and second has been quite the nail biter throughout the two-day competition. Local skier, Travis Wolfe, of Telluride, CO, nabbed first place today by a hair with a 37.67 to Whit Boucher's second place finish with a 36.33.

"I'm so happy," said Wolfe after the awards in Telluride's Mountain Village, "I came here confident and had lots of support."

Wolfe's total combined score from yesterday and today was 77.00, closely followed by Boucher's 76.90. Wolfe skied the same line as yesterday: an extremely technical line, with several impressive billy-goat drops followed by a 20-foot drop off a rocky face.

The judges said they've enjoyed being able to compare Wolfe's, highly advanced technical skiing, with Boucher's, fluid, aggressive turns and huge cliff hits. Both men stomped this weekend, in their own way.

"I surprised myself," said Boucher of his first podium and newly pre qualified status.

Another interesting style to watch was Connery Lundin's, of Squaw Valley, CA, who used his racing skills to create fast, smooth turns and effortless transitions into several cliff hits. Lundin skied another excellent third place run today.

Because Travis Wolfe was pre-qualified, Boucher captured the first pre-qualified spot, followed by Lundin, Ryan Hawks, of Grand Targhee, WY, Kent Hyden, of Alta, UT, who also received the Sickbird Award, Chason Russell, of Telluride, CO, and Nick Fountain, of Sugarloaf, ME.

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Chip Kalback

Peter Olenick fears no trick in the pipe. We fear his emissions.

Aspen's own Peter Olenick appeared in a New York Times article today. Though the picture shows a snowboarder taking a header in deep powder (caption: "Snow boarder falling in the snow"), the story itself is about overcoming one's fears -- in Olenick's case, the Whiskey Flip. Give it a read.

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Photo: Park Min Kee

Simon Dumont ended a season-long drought with a Dew Tour pipe win this weekend.

After missing the Winter X pipe podium for the first time in seven years, Simon Dumont had a lot to prove going into the final Winter Dew Tour stop in Mount Snow, Vermont. The veteran Colorado resident proved plenty this weekend with an outstanding superpipe win at the Tour's final stop.

With a fifth-place finish in Vermont, a win earlier this year in Snowbasin, and silver at the opener in Breck, Kiwi Jossi Wells was the most consistent competitor of the Tour. That unfailing performance deposited Wells at the top of the Overall Standings for Winter Dew Tour Men's Ski Superpipe, an achievement for which won the young Kiwi was awarded the Dew Cup, named in honor of Mountain Dew, the event's primary corporate sponsor.

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Photo: Park Min Kee

Sophomore Bobby Brown kept his Winter X hot streak going with a Winter Dew Tour victory.

After becoming the first skier to ever win Winter X gold twice in the same year, Bobby Brown had a lot of momentum going into the final Winter Dew Tour stop in Mount Snow, Vermont. The youthful Colorado native kept that momentum going to log a decisive slopestyle win at the Tour's final stop this weekend. Throughout the tour, Norwegian Andreas Håtveit was Mr. Consistency, winning the first stop and taking second in the subsequent two. That unflappable performance rendered Håtveit the top competitor in the Winter Dew Tour Men's Ski Slopestyle Overall Standings, which won the Norwegian the Dew Cup, named in honor of Mountain Dew, the event's primary corporate sponsor.

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Photo: Park Min Kee

Sammy "The Crow" Carlson on his way to prelim victory in Mount Snow.

Winter Dew Tour Mount Snow. Men's Slopestyle Prelims:

1. Sammy Carlson
2. Charles Gagnier
3. Alexis Godbout
4. JF Houle
5. Josiah Wells
6. Alex Schlopy
7. Best Skier Alive Joe Schuster
8. Elvis Eidsvold Harsheim

Winter Dew Tour Mount Snow. Men's Superpipe Prelims:

1. Justin Dorey
2. Matt Margetts
3. Mike Riddel
4. Byron Wells
5. Tyler Peterson
6. Walter Wood
7. Banksbel Gilberto
8. Tucker Perkins
9. Antti-Jussi Kemppainen

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When she was five, Slopestyle competitor Meg Olenick dreamed of having hair so long that it reached the top of her buttocks. Unfortunately for Meg, being tall runs in the Olenick family. And as the years passed, the Carbondale native's physical stature extended at a rate that her follicles could never match.

By her late teens, Meg's six-foot-three frame made her the tallest sibling in an already giraffesque family line. Tired of being closed off from any work involving heavy machinery, Olenick broke out the scissors, tore her Doctor Quinn: Medicine Woman posters off the wall, and fixed her focus on a new dream in action sports.

Lucky for Meg, an elevated countenance is not the only thing that runs in the Olenick family. Following in the ski tracks of older brother and Winter X podium regular Peter, Meg clicked into the slopestyle course.

"From the first run through [the terrain park], she just took off," remembers childhood friend Henrik Lampert. "If not for the lack of breathable air and survivable atmospheric pressure, Meg could ski to the moon."

And while she might not have taken to the Final Frontier, Olenick did tread on new frontiers at Winter X 14 -- for herself and for her sport. In only her second Winter X contest, Olenick elated her family and inspired her hometown crowd, rising to fifth in the uber competitive Women's Ski Slopestyle Final. She also inspired physically exceptional people the world over and made X Games by becoming the event's tallest female competitor -- winter or summer.

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Nate Abbott

Jossi Wells has been on fire this season in both slope and pipe And here he is on his way to the win at Snowbasin, UT.

As much as it rules to hang out with your friends for basically two months straight, skiers are getting sick and tired of each other. You can tell that everyone is about to crack after the high stress environs of Aspen and the X Games. Sammy Carlson and Tom Wallisch are breaking out French accents, Justin Dorey is doing 23-foot halfpipe airs in short sleeves, and TJ Schiller spun 4.5 during almost 100 feet in the air. Also, Kevin Rolland did three double flips in one run in the halftube. What?

These guys will all be back for one last throwdown before they head out on film trips in the backcountry or at least back to their home mountains to keep it mellow for a little bit. And what, might you ask, are they throwing down for? Only The Dew Cup, prestige, fans, and a $25,000 bonus prize for first place in each discipline. And on top of that, Jossi Wells, Andreas Håtveit and Tom Wallisch are in the running -- along with snowboarders Danny Davis (who, although leading the standings with 200 points, is recovering from injury) and Tyler Flanagan -- for the Winter Dew Tour's Athlete of the Year award, which is given to the athlete that accumulates the most points in any one discipline during the Tour. This little bonus counts for an additional potential $15,000.

But enough about the spoils, here are the contenders for the Dew Cup, which does not belong to Lord Stanley.

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Nate Abbott

View from the start gate as Jossi Wells takes his first run.

[Ed. Note: You can read Nate's X Games predictions for Ski Superpipe here.]

MEN'S SLOPESTYLE

Favorites: Tom Wallisch and Andreas Håtveit. Probably the tightest field in the whole X Games -- did you see every finalist land their run at the Snowbasin stop of the Dew Tour? Wallisch's style or Håtveit's muscular tricks, it's hard to pick a winner out of the strong field that includes defending Champ TJ Schiller and the rest of his podium from X last year (Sammy Carlson and Colby West).

Dark Horse: Elias Ambuhl. The Swiss youngster has been right at the top of the standings at each event so far in this season (7th, Snowbasin; 5th, Breckenridge; 2nd Freestyle.CH). Potential for a breakthrough performance is high.

Bonus alternate who'd be a favorite on the Internet: Ian Cosco. Everyone's favorite Internet video star is coming off a strong 9th place showing at Snowbasin and has the best moustache this side of Magnum PI. Not to mention legions of fans who would love for Chugg Life's production to reap the benefits of an X Games payday.

BIG AIR

Favorite: TJ Schiller. He's got the credentials on the biggest stages, he's got the looks, and he's got a variety of double flips and corks (including the switch double 12 that he says he's "going to try to land"). A combination of all of this makes "Teej" a smart podium pick.

Dark Horse: Bobby Brown. The pre-event rumor mill: Teen Heartthrob Brown has a new switch secret dub twelve (where secret means Misty). And, as I revise this after the first day of training, I can tell you that Bobby stomped the %$#@ out of his new trick three times during flat light slopestyle training. Big time.

Special note on the judging: After last year's highly successful (for Simon Dumont) text voting, the format has been changed to the mimic the format used in Summer X Games Skateboard Best Trick. Says X Games judging panelist Steele Spence, "This year will be better because we're using the quick score format that's been used at Summer X Games for skateboard best trick the past two years. And it worked well already when we [the X Games panel] did a test run in Tahoe a couple weeks ago."

WOMEN'S SLOPESTYLE

Favorite: Kaya Turski. With defending champ Anna Segal nursing a knee injury and perennial contender Sarah Burke concentrating on Superpipe, the field is pretty much open. The jib heavy course will be a benefit to Turski who has apparently been slaying handrails filming with Level 1 Productions already this winter.

Dark Horse: Keri Herman. Without having any competitive outlet so far this year, the ladies of slopestyle are an unknown quantity. But Herman, a fiery Breckenridge local, will cork all of her spins and look for a breakthrough performance. Champion or not, you know she's gonna have fun on and off the hill.

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When I go to contests, I am usually more concerned with getting the shot than about what goes down in the judging booth. Still, I thought I'd pass along my picks for WX14 ... Read More »

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In Episode Four of Line's Traveling Circus series, Will Wesson, Andy Parry, and Ian Compton look for rails to grind and tables to fly over in America's Flyover Region.

Will Wesson is currently a Powder Award nominee in the "Best Jib" category. Wesson won the same award last year for a multifeature urban line during which he not only slams a Mountain Dew, but also properly disposes of the container.

Head For The Hills, the 2008 release from East Coast movie company Meathead Films, features Wesson's winning sequence.

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