With winds dying down Wednesday and 8 inches of fresh Colorado goodness padding the landings, the second day of practice at Dew Tour Breckenridge 2016 was all about the slopestyle jump section.
Athletes gave the 65-foot booter a workout, dialing in speed before christening the jump with a vast array of double corks and big spins.
“I really like the jump,” said men’s competitor Jesper Tjäder. “I’ve been hitting only city big airs this season…so it’s pretty nice to hit a regular jump. Speed is good, and the landing is nice and soft.”
Despite temperatures hovering around zero, young gun Kelly Sildaru used a push from her coach at the top to land a handful of massive switch 540s, and then earned a standing ovation from the other competitors with a back swap 360 on the flat-down rail into a switch 450-on tail slide in the lower jib section.
Sildaru wasn’t the only athlete throwing down in the rails, and after snow dust settled on a hectic booter session, McRae Williams locked in a ridiculous back swap over the top flat-gap-down feature. Williams thinks the new format and the revamped rail section cater well to a wide array of ski styles.
“I had no idea what to expect and am definitely stoked about what [Dew Tour Breckenridge 2016] was able to put together given the conditions with the snow and everything,” said Williams. “There’s a ton of different options, lots of different rails and different lines. The first day was a little iffy trying to figure everything out, but today everything is sliding pretty smooth, everything flows….It’s going to be a fun contest to see what people come up with.”
Williams also mentioned that the adjusted slopestyle format—featuring a separate big air jump and jib sections—was a welcome change despite the weather.
“I think it almost adds to the format a little bit because having the three jumps before was almost like your basically still doing a slopestyle run. It’s almost like it’s a big air rail jam hybrid, it’s kind of sweet,” said Williams. “Plus it’s honestly one of the best jumps I’ve hit in Breckenridge because all the attention is there. It’s not four different jumps, they paid a lot of attention to that one jump and it shows.”
Competitors will get one more day of practice before Dew Tour Breckenridge 2016 kicks off with the men’s ski slopestyle jumps final on Friday, December 9.
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