Nike backed the first of the three Dew Tours for the 2011/12 winter season at Breckenridge, CO — I cruised out with my pal Hondo to meet up with filmer Justin Gunson and cover the event for Transworld Snowboarding. It was sweet to take a drive through the desert from SLC up into the Rockies, and awesome to hang with some friends that I don’t get to see that often in CO.
I enjoyed getting back into the groove of hustling to get the right credentials, hustling to get the shot, and the strict schedule that goes along with shooting these events.
Shaun White — I hadn’t seen him ride in person in a few years, if anyone was talking trash about this A-List celebrity, he shut’em up. The kid was absolutely blasting.
While Shaun and Kelly defended their reputations as pipe supertars topping the mens and womens podiums, there were also some fresh faces putting down some incredible runs. Maddy Schaffrick’s Method was among the best I’d ever seen in the pipe – style aside, maintaining double overhead airs fourth hit in the pipe will set her apart from her competition.
With Shaun, Kelly, I-pod, and more bringing back the method in this pipe competition, Maddy Schaffrick’s most definitely stood out from the crowd, pretty impressive style from this young Colorado Local.
Expect the unexpected at the first big event of the year… Jamie Anderson, who has dominated the woman’s line up in past seasons couldn’t put down her run, and was not present on the podium – she’ll be back… On the men’s side of things Norway’s youngster, Gjermund Braaten put down an unstoppable first run which the judges awarded a 96. In practice he was clearly having a good time, and told us that he couldn’t wait to ride in the contest the next day – if he can keep this attitude and not let the pressure of competition get to him, he’ll be a force for years to come.

Torstein hoisting Gjermund after the win was clinched.
A few of my selects from the event are below — for more details, photos, and videos – check out the new Dew Tour posts at TWSnow.com.






Top to Bottom: Gjermund for the win // Charles Reid to the moon // Eric Willett laying one out at the end of a throw away run for his hometown crowd // Pipe Crowd // SHAUN!!!! // Iouri Podlachtovich hanging it out in afternoon sun…
That’s all -
A
(Note: 4 of 9 photos in this post were of Methods… the best air in all of snowboarding.)