Continually one of the biggest events of the year, The Winter Dew Tour made its annual stop in Breckenridge, Colorado last weekend. Always an event that I’m so happy to be apart of, and the opportunity to ski at such a big event is amazing.

This year, we were very fortunate with warm sunny weather for our days of practice. Unlike last year, were it was -40 degrees, and you could only take one run before going into the lodge to warm up for an hour. It was on the positive side of the thermometer, with temperatures around 30-40 degrees for the majority of the entire contest. The course this year flowed really well, and thanks to Freeskier I was able to put together a course preview from the first day of practice.

My practice days were going really well for me. It was the first time I had thrown any double flips since summer, but thankfully they were coming back nicely. Just as I was getting the finishing touches on my run, I unfortunately went too big on the third jump, slid out and landed right on my ribs, bruising them. This was a pain I’m already familiar with from a couple of years back at the Gatorade Free Flow Tour Finals, when I cracked a rib there. For those of you who don’t know, ribs are one of those injuries, that make you feel like a giant wussy. Walking, talking, breathing, heck I almost started to believe thinking hurt (Not really, but you get my point).

After getting checked out by the awesome people at Main Med, they got me all wrapped up, and took the entire evening and next day off to ice and rest. I tried to not do anything that would affect them, and take it easy so I could still compete the following day.

Up bright and early, I made my way over to Breck, and thanks to my truly amazing roommates, I was able to get a good breakfast in. First couple runs of practice, I tried to take it as easy as I could. Making sure I could stand the impacts of the jumps. When I started spinning, that’s when things got a bit more painful. After one run, I immediately asked for more pain-killers. While those were being absorbed, I kept on spinning. Every run was getting better, and by the end of the practice, I had landed every double except from the first jump. Then it was time for the contest to start.

I believe without a doubt that this was the toughest semi-finals that I’ve ever been apart of. Last year’s Dew Tour, I was able to make it into Finals with only 2 doubles. This year, I did 4, and wasn’t even close. Nearly everyone was throwing at least three to four doubles, with a great variety of rail tricks to go along with it. My first run is hands-down the best run I’ve had so far, along with being the most technical. I was able to put down four double flip rotations, spinning each direction. Unfortunately, I had a couple of bobbles on my first rail, and missed a grab on my second jump. For those reasons, I wasn’t awarded a very good score at all. When my second run came up, I screwed up on my first rail, along with any chances I had to make it to Finals. Even though I wasn’t able to make it to finals, I’m still very happy with how I skied, especially with having bruised ribs for it.

So for the rest of the weekend, I decided to just hang out with friends, while making many visits up to Main Med in the athlete lounge to get back rubs, and help with my ribs.  Other than that I spent my weekend hanging out with my TM’s and friends that I don’t get to see very much.

 Along with partaking in some of the festivities happening in the Breckenridge village.

Always a fun way to start off the ski season, and I’m looking forward to many more contests. Now back home in Washington for the holidays, and some much needed rest and relaxation for my ribs. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Cheers,

-Noah