pipe air — Sonny Alba sending it to the sun. *Credit: Eli Zatz*

Day two of Dew Tour was filled with multiple star-studded events that exceeded all expectations. Athletes including Alex Ferreira (A.K.A. Hotdog Hans), Eileen Gu, 12-year old Patti Zhou, and both of the Fava brothers cemented themselves as household names and proved why they deserve their spots at the Dew Tour. Day two of the Dew revolved around four competitions; Men’s Ski Superpipe, Women’s Snowboard Superpipe, Women’s Ski Streetstyle, and Men’s Snowboard Streetstyle.

gold — Alex Ferreira ecstatic after making history. *Credit: Karlos Jeri (@Karlosjerimedia)*

In the realm of ski and snowboard competitions, the term NBD – never been done – is frequently tossed around to describe new tricks, but today, Alex Ferreira landed an NBD that was bigger than just a trick. This 2023-2024 ski season, Ferreira went a record-breaking seven for seven in World Cups and X-Games competitions in the halfpipe and closed the case today with a gold in the Dew Superpipe event. While the other athletes kept it close through the finish, Ferreira truly stole the show and won with confidence. Alex attempted and nearly landed an NBD double cork 1800 at the bottom of the pipe on his last run right before claiming gold and stating that:

“I feel absolutely fantastic! I couldn’t even dream this up. It was my goal in the beginning of the season, but it was a far-fetched one. Seven for seven! Say it again!”

It was easy to see that most of the crowd was attracted to this event simply because of Alex. He has been on a tear over the past decade and only seems to be riding at a stronger level in each competition he enters. Alex is the epitome of what it means to be a Dew Tour athlete and represents his hometown of Aspen, CO with pride.

PZ pipe — Patti Zhou: 12-year-old Superpipe phenomenon. *Credit: Jesse Orlean.*

The middle of the day was all about the women, with the Snowboard Superpipe and Ski Streetstyle titles on the line. Patti Zhou, a 12-year-old phenom from Beijing, China put all of Dew Tour on notice. Although she did not podium today, Zhou raised the bar for the Superpipe event and snow sports in general; she is such a young but mature and collected individual going head to head against the best female halfpipe athletes in the world. Keep an eye out for Zhou in any upcoming Women’s Snowboard halfpipe events.

Following the Women’s Snowboard Pipe event was the Eileen Gu-led Women’s Ski Streetstyle competition, where Gu led the whole way and came out with yet another impressive victory. What I found most fascinating about this event was how graciously Gu dominated, even though she is primarily known for being a halfpipe athlete. This storyline was so interesting to me because of how much work it takes to be a multi-discipline skier, especially one that outright crushes every single event; skiing the 22-foot halfpipe walls starkly contrasts with being able to ride a Streetstyle rail jam event with steel-rails only being separated by a few feet. Gu is only 20 years old and is looking to go on one of the most commanding win streaks in all of sports starting right now. She is an extremely well-spoken, hard-working athlete who has no intention of taking her foot off the gas.

Admittedly biased, my favorite event of the night to watch was the Men’s Snowboard Streetstyle competition. The rider list featured veteran rail riders, like Benny Milam, as well as younger, up-and-coming athletes like Liam Brearley. This event was a true blood bath and I was relieved to be on-scene as a writer and not as a judge. My favorite rider to watch during this competition was Darcy Sharpe, who ended up snagging the bronze medal. The Streetstyle course’s rails were all so close together, but that did not stop Darcy from applying pressure and oozing his “loose” but snappy riding style over every feature. At the same time as this event was occurring, Snakehips was DJing a high-energy set and every time a snowboarder made it to the bottom of the course, the crowd went wild.

Once the Snowboard Streetstyle competition ended, I got to talk with gold medalist Liam Brearley, and I asked him about the process of originally being invited to Dew Tour as an alternate but ending up as a champion. “Coming here, I didn’t know if I was going to compete but I ended up in the contest, and I tried to put down a line and make it as fire as I could. I’m glad it ended up this way.” Liam put down banger tricks on every single feature and the crowd consistently went crazy for him. He is coming off his first X-Games gold in Knuckle Huck less than a month ago and is looking to carry momentum from this competition season into the next. The highlight tape from this event is must-see TV and serves as an introduction of Liam Brearley to the rest of the snowboarding world.

Day two of the Dew Tour was as great of a follow-up to day one as anyone could have asked for. The overall atmosphere of Dew Tour is so electric and you can tell that all of the athletes genuinely enjoy competing here at Copper Mountain. Switching back and forth from a Superpipe to Streetstyle setting was an amazing experience from my perspective and it gave the athletes a good chunk of time to practice and figure out their lines while not having too much on their plate. Even after a packed first two days of breathtaking events, there is still day three to look forward to which will host the Women’s Ski and Men’s Snowboard Superpipe competitions, and also the fan-favorite Legends in the Pipe event. There is so much down the hatch already with even more to look forward to.