Celebrating 20 years of Dew Tour, action on the streetstyle course kicked off the weekend with skiers getting their legs warm and minds ready. Women and men hit the course collectively for two separate sessions to begin carving out their contest lines, but between varying conditions and a variety of options the task proved to be a welcomed challenge.
“Every rail section has some cool features to it,” said Colby Stevenson, defending champ. “There are so many options, it definitely has the gears turning to see what I can do. And to see what everyone else can do—there are so many good riders, it’s going to be dope!”
Complete with four jib sections, the 2024 streetstyle course offers an endless amount of unique approaches. However, there seemed to be a handful of favored options. At the top of the course are series of Dew Tour rails with a wallride placed in the center, all of which saw equal attention from the riders before setting up for the remainder of the course.
On the Woodward section skiers opted toward the center kicker onto a warming hut that gapped to a large down rail. Then multiple gravitated to the far riders right of the U.S. Airforce jibs onto a waterfall rail, which lined athletes up well to finish on the right of the Mountain Dew Baja Blast features. A wallride angled to be transferred off onto a down rail was a favorite.
Updating the format from years past, streetstyle events will consist of three rounds. The contest will open with a field of 12, 4-person heats. The top two from each heat advance after taking three runs. Then, with six skiers remaining, Round 2 will see three head-to-head matchups allowing for two runs per rider. The advancing three will make up the final round and take two runs each. Judging will be based on overall impressions and scored from 1-100.
The earlier practice session took place under calm conditions, perfect for riders to get their bearings. But the section session came with flurries of snowfall under lights, reminiscent of past streetstyle finals. Despite the second session wrapping up well after closing time at Copper Mountain, spectators were on site. Small crowds of working staff, other professional athletes and enthusiastic fans stuck around to get a first glimpse the action to come.
Starting at 7:15pm local time on Friday, March 8, watch the Men’s Ski Streetstyle Qualifier and Final. Then, at 4:30pm local time on Saturday the Women’s Ski Streetstyle Qualifier and Final will take the stage. Catch everything LIVE online at dewtour.com.
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