Torstein Horgmo of Norway and Jamie Anderson of South Lake Tahoe, California, took first place in the men's and women's slopestyle snowboard events at the Winter Dew Tour today. The scene down at Mt. Snow was hopping, with the all-park Carinthia area proving the perfect locale for this weekend's events.

Look here for a full recap of the competition to follow shortly, but in the meantime, there's still time left to check out the Winter Dew Tour at Mt. Snow for yourself - Men's and Women's Snowboard Superpipe competitions are scheduled to go on throughout the day tomorrow; add in the four inches or so of new snow expected to fall overnight and you've got the makings of a perfect Sunday on tap for tomorrow...did I mention the G-Men battle the Eagles at some point tomorrow, too?

Ride Mt. Snow on Sunday...check out some of the world's best professional snowboarders doing their thing in the Superpipe...then watch some playoff football. All in a day's work, right?

The inaugural Winter Dew Tour headed east earlier this week, as the brand-new event makes its 2^nd stop of the season, this time at Vermont's Mount Snow. The event, which runs from January 8^th to the 11^th, features some of the ski and snowboard world's biggest stars. According to Winter Dew Tour Media Guide, 282 athletes are slated to participate, including 24 former Olympians.

Saturday's schedule features Men's and Women's slopestyle events on both the ski and snowboard side. Additionally, the alt hip-hop group The Flobots are scheduled to perform Saturday night. I'll be down at Mt. Snow for all the festivities, so be sure to check back here throughout the weekend for the latest news from the Winter Dew Tour at Mount Snow.

Holiday periods at U.S. resorts are always a hectic time. The slopes are more congested, the number of less experienced skiers and riders on the hill increases, and resort staff - from ambassadors to instructors, park rangers to ski patrollers - are spread thinner. This is not to say the holidays are a bad thing...after all, busy periods are when resorts pull in the majority of their revenues, and those dollars are what make the rest of the season possible. Having just survived my umpteenth Christmas vacation week in Vermont, I was once again impressed with how smooth things ran throughout the holiday period. One thing I was not impressed with, however, was the utter disregard (the reality is it's probably more ignorance than disregard, but there's simply no excuse for that ignorance to exist) the general public seems to have for Terrain Park safety.

The resort I work for part-time (Okemo Mountain Resort) has multiple parks, each one designed for riders of a specific skill level. Regardless of skill level or feature size, however, the rules of terrain park safety apply to each park equally. The four main points of park safety, known collectively as "Smart Style," dictate that skiers and riders inspect features prior to using them, use a spotter on anything with a blind landing (the "Look Before You Leap" part), know their limits, and respect others around them. All four points, of course, are designed to keep everyone safe and in one piece.

Needless to say, I saw all four points - which are clearly displayed at the entrance to every terrain park at Okemo - being disregarded regularly over the holidays. Like I said, it's COOL to look before you leap. What's not cool is when an adult-sized adult DOESN'T look before leaping and ends up landing on top of my 4 foot tall 4 year-old student. Not only can such a bonehead maneuver lead to the loss of riding privileges (I have no qualms whatsoever about pulling the tickets of those that nearly kill my kids), it can also lead to the loss of your freedom (i.e., jail time), as Vail skier Nathan Hale discovered a few years ago. In the end, it's not worth it. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP...It's the COOL THING TO DO!

JHMR webcam shot of ski patrol actively conducting S&R operations on Dec. 30th, 2008.
Photo courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Click on image for larger view

I love snow. If you're reading this, chances are you love snow, too. Sadly, love can be dangerous...even fatal. We're barely two months into the 2008-2009 ski and snowboard season in North America, yet we've already seen 18 fellow snow lovers fall victim to the deadly power of avalanches. Statistics from Avalanche.org put the average number of avalanche fatalities in North America over the last ten years at 41, yet 30 hours before the ball drops in Times Square to usher in 2009, we're already almost halfway to 41. Not good.

Slides happen. Sometimes they happen because dumb people do dumb things, but just as often smart people get caught even after they've done all the right things. It all depends on the snowpack. From what I've heard and read so far this season, the snowpack in the western regions of North America is already sketchy enough to cause experts to start predicting one of the most deadly avalanche seasons in recent memory.

A loyal reader (a mentor, even!) forwarded the Jackson Hole snow report to me today. Jackson Hole has picked up over five feet of snow in the past seven days, which sounds like heaven but has been hellish instead. I literally felt a chill run down my spine as I read the words. Written by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort President Jerry Blan (how often does the President of the resort write the snow report?), it detailed not one but two in-bounds slides that occurred at JHMR on Monday. During the course of conducting routine avalanche control efforts, ski patrol set off both slides, one of which Blan characterized as being of "significant size." Five patrollers were caught in the slide, but thankfully everyone survived unscathed. Following these events, resort management made the decision to close the resort until further notice. DURING CHRISTMAS VACATION WEEK. If that doesn't get the point across, I don't know what will.

The maggots over at the Teton Gravity Research forums, usually an unflappable group, are visibly shaken. Some are talking about staying away from the slopes for significant periods of time, others are vowing to press on, but never without an avalanche beacon in close proximity (close proximity meaning strapped to their chest). When hardcore guys and girls get scared, you should, too.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: When that little voice in the back of your head goes from a whisper to a steady drone, there is no shame in stepping away from the edge. There's nothing wrong with walking away. There's nothing laughable about sitting one out. As Ferdinand Foch once said, "None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear."