ESPN Snowboarding

It didn't take much convincing to hit the road on up to Mt Snow this weekend; pow was in the forecast, a couple of homies were down to roll and, hey, I wanted to see what the Winter Dew Tour was all about. With some of the best riders in the world holed up at the spanking new all-park Carinthia face it seemed like all the makings of an epic trip were in the house.

And they were...sort of.

Waking up on Saturday morning from what wasn't much more than a three-hour power nap and remembering that our "hotel" room didn't have heat, TV or enough towels to go around, but did have the smell of a dead rodent buried under the floorboards made me anxious to hit the hill. Caffeinated and credentialed I made my way over to Carinthia to get in on some of the slopestyle action. After stopping to stare somewhat incredulously at the rules for entry sign, I made a quick tour of the sponsor village before assuming my position in the press section of the viewing area which allowed me, like everyone else, to watch the first features of the competition on a jumbotron and the final hit with my own eyes.

The riding was dope and everything was fine. But that was what started to bother me, it was only fine.

Continue reading "Drinking The Dew":

Forget bro and gnarly, progression is really the main buzzword in snowboarding. For years it's been the holy grail for showing and proving that what you were doing meant something to the sport. Riders are challenged to push progression in tricks; companies in equipment; terrain parks in their features; and filmmakers in visuals and cinematography. Ask anyone—it's all about progression. And this is the only thing I could think of as I watched the jumbotron, feeling not terribly connected to the events at hand. Where was the progression?

Not to take anything away from the Dew Tour: it's a well executed version of the standard snowboard competition format. There is a slopestyle course and a halfpipe, there is a sponsor village and tons of free stuff from some sponsors that make sense...and others that don't. No disrespect to Ballpark Franks but c'mon! I didn't even see an actual frank the whole time I was there although I did see a million signs and TV ads for the "Alpha Dawgs" campaign. Alpha Dawgs? In 2009?

After the competition part there is a concert on the mini stage at the lodge and at night there's a party at the local barn/club where we wait to see how many drunk dudes it takes to start a fight.

Laura Austin

A picture perfect halfpipe.

Laura Austin

Danny Davis enjoyed a first place win at the first Dew stop, but fell just short of the podium with a fourth place finish at Mount Snow.

None of this is bad, its fun stuff, but if I had my eyes closed you could have told me I was at any number of big purse snowboard events around the country that follow the exact same format and I would not have known the difference. I'm not hating, I'm just asking, "where is the progression?" I think from the fans to the smart creative people who work for the sponsors to the riders, we could all benefit from rethinking these things and figuring out if there are some new ways to make it happen. With Natural Selection on hold and Air and Style cancelled we need it more than ever. Snowscrapers—a lot is riding on you!

Laura Austin

Riders felt the slopestyle course was a considerable improvement from the first stop in Breck. Charles Reid getting double corked.

Luckily, on Sunday a powder gift from the gods got me to stop worrying about progression and into the trees for some of the most fun riding I've had yet this winter. By the time halfpipe started at 4pm I was so stoked that I could have been at an eyebrow waxing convention and would still have been having a blast. I watched Shaun White deliver another epic showdown, finished up my interview duties and my Mount Snow time was up.

But this morning all I could think about again was progression. Next year, let's Dew it!

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