Students woke up this weekend with snow falling from the skies, a unique experience during this warm winter and a welcome sign for skiers and snowboarders.
At Snowbasin Resort near Huntsville, Weber County, this weekend, the opposite was true, with skiers and boarders falling from the sky onto the snow that has been resting there.
The Winter Dew Tour finished their series with the Toyota Championship, which ran Feb. 9-12. The event featured competition for men and women, ski and board, in the superpipe and slopestyle.
Some of the biggest names in winter sports gathered for the finale, including Gretchen Bleiler, Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Iouri Podladtchikov, Mason Aguirre, Tom Wallisch, Nick Goepper and Devin Logan for all the spins, grabs, flips and switches the fans could handle.
[easyembed field=”Photogallery”]The superpipe also had a fair share of excitement for the skiers, as David Wise walked off with the event win with a 94.5 in the final. Wise also nearly pulled off the first double 1440 in competition, but his ski ripped off in the landing and he had to finish with one ski.
“I had been real solid in my dub twelves since the X Games going into this week, and I always have a little extra time at the end, so I felt like today was the day to try to go for it,” Wise said. “If only my ski had stayed on I might have had it.”
A 93.00 was good enough for second place, and French skier Kevin Rolland was able to secure the Dew Cup for ski freestyle superpipe.
“I am really relived right now,” Rolland said. “I had a fall in my first run, and I was not really confident in my mind, but I stomped my run, and now I have something to put in my backpack and take back to France.”
The women’s title for ski superpipe ended up in the hands of Devin Logan, edging out the Pantech Invitational champion Maddie Bowman with a score of 90.00. Logan had an impressive weekend, entering the slopestyle competition and finishing in third place. She finished the Dew Cup with a podium in every event she entered, demonstrating how dangerous she is as a dual-event threat.
Not to be left out, the boarders threw it down on Saturday night. Xuetong Cai of China had the crowd roaring during the women’s runs, but the title ended up with Kelly Clark, a superpipe legend in the sport.
The men dazzled the gathered crowds Saturday afternoon. Iouri Podladtchikov finished second with a 97.00, performing extremely well after recently coming back from nose surgery. Louie Vito won the event with a 98.00, edging his rival and earning the Dew Cup with a 13 point margin.
Sunday was reserved for the slopestyle finals, an event that combines rails with the amplitude of big mountain jumps.
The women snowboarders started off the day, but Spencer O’Brien would finish it, winning with a score of 94.50. Semi-final leader Sarka Pancochova wasn’t able to use the momentum she had gained in the final, crashing on a run to put her in sixth place on Sunday,
Sebastien Toutant won the men snowboarders slopestyle competition, scoring 11 points higher than second-place finisher Dash Kamp. “Seb Toots” also won the Dew Cup for that event as well, gathering 90 points at Breckenridge and Killington to claim ownership on the hardware.
Devin Logan pulled off a double podium for the weekend, finishing in third place with a 89.00. Kaya Turski won the event, posting a 93.75 and gaining the top spot on the podium at the awards ceremony.
In the final event of the weekend, fans got to see Nick Goepper win the event with a score of 95.00, his highest score of the Dew Cup. Tom Wallisch walk off with the Dew Cup for men slopestyle, despite coming in second at the Toyota Championship, thanks to wins in Breckenridge, Colo. and Killington, Vt. at past events. He also won the Toyota Athlete of the Year, an award given to the athlete with the highest overall point total in the Dew Cup.
“It’s awesome, I’m leaving here with too much to carry though,” Wallisch said.
For results and video highlights of the event, visit allisports.com.
