November 19, 2008
Top events headed to region
by Staff Report/
Flips, twists and some serious vert drop in on New England this season as the region hosts some top-of-the-line freestyle and snowboard events, including a World Cup stop.
Freestyle skiing and snowboarding’s elite athletes will converge in southern Vermont from Jan. 8-11 at Mount Snow for the AST Winter Dew Tour.
After several years of successful summer tours, this is the Dew Tour’s inaugural winter series. The event features slopestyle and superpipe disciplines in both skiing and snowboarding, with top athletes such as Simon Dumont, Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter and Jen Hudak expected to compete. It will be televised live on NBC.
“The timing couldn’t be better,” said Kelly Pawlak, Mount Snow general manager. “We want to show the world that Mount Snow is taking East Coast freestyle skiing and snowboarding to new levels. It’s really an honor to host the Winter Dew Tour.”
Sunday River will welcome the world of snowboarding when it hosts the Visa U.S. Snowboarding Cup Feb. 27 to March 1. It will be the only U.S. World Cup stop for snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom.
The world’s best snowboardcross athletes are expected to compete, including Maine’s Olympic SBX gold medalist Seth Wescott, Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, Vt.), and snowboarding legend Shaun Palmer, to name just a few.
The future of U.S. snowboarding will be on display at Sugarloaf this winter as the nation’s top up-and-coming riders gather for the fourth and final stop on the 2009 U.S. Snowboarding Revolution Tour from March 9-11. The USSA tour will crown its overall champions for the season at Sugarloaf, and the winners will qualify for the Chevy U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix finals March 14-15 at Killington.
Stratton is the place to be for the Burton U.S. Open March 16-22. Not only will ace riders be on hand, the championships also are the final stop of the Burton Globe Open Series, which includes visits to New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan.
