Steady snowfall this morning added a little bit of variability to the pipe as the athletes cruised through their warm-ups. Everyone looked pretty clean and confident, most notably Alex Ferreira, who has just come off a tough go of it in the pipe at XGames…
Alex Ferreira: Pipes feeling alright ya, definitely skiers right wall is feeling good and skiers left wall should be better by tomorrow… and tomorrow will be different, the sun will be out, and there’s money on the line so, we’ll see.
I asked Ferreira about having to pick between the FIS comp in Georgia and Dew Tour, and Alex is actually planning on finishing up Dew Tour and cruising straight to Georgia for FIS.
Alex Ferreira: You never want to split the field because you want the best competition possible. Immediately, my first thought was “can I do both” Then I actually started looking into the logistics and everything, and it was possible, so I said, ok, then I’ll do both. It’s part of the grind, and it’s part of the fun sometimes.
On the streetstyle side, I chatted with Alex Hall to get his thought on the course, hear what his favorite features are so far, and who he’s most excited to watch alongside him in competition.
Alex Hall: Oh, the course looks super fun. We just got five laps, so nothing crazy, but the course is looking dope. It’s nice and steep, a couple of good rail options. My favorite feature right now I like the second rail feature. There’s a lot of transfer options, some rails that are a little longer, which is sweet. And then the last rail feature, I think too will be able to figure some stuff out. I kind of just tried to slide everything and hit a couple different things so not a ton of ideas yet, but it was super fun.
And then, out of these guys you’re competing against, who do you have the most fun watching?
A Hall: A lot of them. Maybe some of the less traditional competition guys are fun to watch Call Carson, and Egan, Pete, Tucker. So it’s just cool to be right in amongst the guys that we don’t get to ride with as much and compete against as much so that’s pretty fun.
Although there weren’t enough skiers to put on a women’s superpipe contest, the women in the street style are feeling confident and ready to throw down. I chatted with Audrey Friess after their second warm-up session on the streetstyle course to get an idea of her expectations for this weekend and see what she thinks of the course.
Audrey Friess: Yeah, I would say always number one, I just want to have fun, and I’m already having so much fun with all my friends and meeting new friends. But yeah, I expect to have a lot of fun… be in the competition, and cheer everyone on.
How do you think the course is shaping up?
A Friess: I think the course is pretty flowy. Like, definitely a lot of options coming up to each set. You got to like think pretty hard and pick out, before you drop, what you really want to do.
Any favorite features?
A Friess: So let’s see, my favorite feature is the 40-foot down rail. It’s really a challenge to get to the end, and it’s the best feeling in the world when you get to the end.
Who are you having the most fun skiing with so far?
A Friess: My friend Alice. Alice Michel. She came in from Switzerland, and we hadn’t seen each other in like two years because she had to move away. But now we’re just back ripping together like old times. Yeah, we both used to live here in Colorado and it’s like old times, skiing together again, but that’s probably my favorite person to ski with. I lead her into the rails because we’re both kind of nervous. You know? We’re not used to all this stuff. So that was really fun.
Audrey is not necessarily brand new to events like Dew Tour and has even been in Dew Tour a couple of times in the past. One of the positive sides of the FIS and Dew Tour dates conflicting so poorly is that many of the gaps left in the roster here at Dew Tour are being filled by some of those up-and-coming skiers. Having the chance to compete in an event of this caliber is just the break so many are looking for. We’re all excited to see Audrey back for another year at Dew Tour.
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