Men’s Superpipe Finals

Women’s Superpipe Finals

Men’s Slopestyle Finals

Women’s Slopestyle Finals

Men’s Ski Slopestyle Finals

Men’s Ski Superpipe Finals

Danny Davis – cr. Jennifer Huskey / Lat34

The first stop of the Winter Dew Tour wrapped up Sunday in Breckinridge, Co., and six athletes are each $15,000 richer.

It’s a record setting event—the first winter tour for the huge Dew/Alli empire, the first exhibition for women freeskiers, and unlike the one-week, one-stop X Games, there are three stops in the Winter Dew, where repeat winners can total up huge prizes  to rival the heavy money X Games. In addition, women winners in snowboard pipe and slopestyle will get paid the same as the men.

Shaun White got his loot for winning Saturday’s snowboard slopestyle contest, while nearly unknown Canadian rider Spencer O’Brien had the run of her life and ruled women’s snowboard slopestyle, scoring seven points higher than her closest competition.

But gasps of awe and screams of joy went to Breck local Bobby Brown, who won freeski slopestyle with ever bigger tricks as he rode his run, most of them switch, including a switch misty 1080—upside down and twisting—to a switch double rodeo 900 from the top of one jump, and spinning like a gyroscope off the others.

The show continued Saturday night under bright lights, when freeskier Tanner Hall shook off all the rest to land the first 1080 of his career—at the bottom of the superpipe. He went on with back to back nines, and tricked all the way to the bottom.

While there are lots of women who go big on boards, there are not yet enough women freeskiers who throw down well enough to contest for the best at the Winter Dew, so while there are women freeskiing pipe and slopestyle exhibitions, they’re not yet part of the official contests.

Sunday’s finals were bluebird all the way, after a week of qualifying and contests where the snow never stopped. “Today was the first day it didn’t snow, but we still had great competitions the whole time. In the open qualifiers, there were close to 250 athletes,” said Chris Prybylo, the Dew’s Vice President of Events.

The wrap up was total pipe, and Gretchen Bleiler continued her domination, with halfpipe amplitude rarely seen in women riders. Danny Davis won superpipe.

Prybylo said, “We didn’t have any double winners; nobody won more than one event. Shaun White won slopestyle and finished second in superpipe. I think everyone competed really well every day.”

He went on to rave about newcomer Bobby Brown. “He’s only 17, and I think he’s going to be a great athlete. He had an incredible run Saturday. All of these guys are competing for the Dew Cup. No one has the most points yet because it’s the first event. They are also competing for an overall bonus purse that will be awarded at the finals.”

When Prybylo was asked if hearty partying was underway, he hedged a bit, then diplomatically said, “they were in a contest, they wrapped it up. I think everyone’s going to enjoy themselves tonight.”

The Winter Dew Tour stops next at Mt. Snow Resort in Dover, Vt. on Jan. 8-11, then to the season finals at Northstar-at-Tahoe in Lake Tahoe, Ca., on Feb. 19-22. Each stop will have the Dew’s signature “Village,” concerts, bands and dancing in the streets.

For more about the contest, check out the Winter Dew Tour website.

Here are the podium results of all the events:

Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals
1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, Calif. 95.17.
2. Mikkel Bang, Norway, 92.33.
3. Janne Korpi, Finland, 86.17.

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals
1. Spencer O’Brien, Canada, 85.00.
2. Jenny Jones, Great Britain, 77.33.
3. Bev Vuilleumier, South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 74.17.

Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Finals
1. Bobby Brown, Breckenridge, Colo., 90.50.
2. Josiah Wells, New Zealand, 89.50.
3. Henrik Harlaut, Sweden, 85.67.

Men’s Freeski Superpipe Finals
1. Tanner Hall, Kalispell, Mont., 90.75.
2. Justin Dorey, Canada, 85.50.
3. Duncan Adams, Breckenridge, Colo., 81.00.

Men’s Snowboard Superpipe Finals
1. Danny Davis – 94.75
2. Shaun White – 93.50
3. Scotty Lago – 90.00

Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Finals
1. Gretchen Bleiler – 90.25
2. Kelly Clark – 86.75
3. Elena Hight – 82.00

Fuel TV is getting ready for a week of Oakley programming coming in January.  It started last month when the channel covered the super-elegant, invite-only world premiere of Oakley’s all women video “Uniquely.” White linens, holiday silver, a red carpet and a Ming and Ping Show were the setting for an ultra-feminine night for the premiere that took place at Oakley headquarters in Foothill Ranch.

The entire cast of “Uniquely” including snowboarders Gretchen Bleiler, Marie-France Roy, Elena Hight, Anne-Flore Marxer, and Chanelle Sladics; skateboarders Lauren Perkins and Lyn-z Adams Hawkins; surfers Karina Petroni, Leilani Gryde, Kira Shepard, Sage Erickson and Claudia Goncalves; skiers Kristi Leskinen, Grete Eliassen and Angeli VanLaanen and wakeboarder Amber Wing arrived by bus from Encinitas, where they were spending the weekend surfing and bonding in a beachside mansion.

Now Fuel is covering Oakley’s REVTour (Oakley’s traveling road show promoting its snow products) as it hits seven cities the next month.  Of particular interest is the just-added New York stop on Nov. 13, which will feature Tanner Hall, Seth Morrison, Laura Hadar and more.

Fans won’t get to come to all of the tour dates (two in Colorado are open to the public) but through Fuel they’ll get to see a little bit  of every stop.

You can catch Oakley week on Fuel’s “The Daily Habit” from January 12 – 16, 2009, the week before Winter X Games 13.

Oakley REVTour Dates:
Portland, OR: November 11th (VIP, Media & Industry Only)
Manhattan, NY: November 13th (VIP, Media & Industry Only)
Seattle, WA: November 16th (VIP, Media & Industry Only)
Salt Lake City, UT: December 1st (VIP, Media & Industry Only)
Denver, CO: December 6th (VIP, Media & Industry Only)
Copper Mountain, CO: December 8th & 9th (Open To The Public & VIP)
Breckenridge, CO: December 8th – 12th (Open To The Public & VIP)

Last year Oakley started a campaign for women called “Uniquely” featuring some of its athletes in photo shoots/advertisements and videos.  Now that campaign has kicked into high gear with the release of a new HD film featuring most of the top-flight Oakley women in a “cultural journey” around the globe.

Among the featured athletes are snowboarders Gretchen Bleiler, Marie-France Roy, Elena Hight and Chanelle Sladics, surfers Karina Petroni and Layne Beachley, skiers Kristi Leskinen and Grete Eliassen and wakeboarder Amber Wing, among others.

The film will be distributed in the US via Foam magazine and through Oakley retailers, and an online release is probably an option down the line.  There will also be a five-city/three country tour in October starting in Colorado and ending in London (check out the release at the end of this story for more on that).

For more about the film you can check out Oakley and watch the trailer.  And if you’re interested, the music is MGMT “Time to Pretend.”  Pretty sweet, eh?

Here’s the full release about the film.

Oakley Announces Women’s Action Sports Film Entitled, “Uniquely”
1242 Productions Releases Fifth Film

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Oct. 1, 2008 – Oakley, Inc., in conjunction with 1242 Productions, announced today the upcoming release of “Uniquely,” a 35-minute travel inspired women’s action sports film shot exclusively in High-Definition (HD).

“’Uniquely’ showcases the diverse personalities, lifestyles and athletic talents of the Oakley women’s team,” said Liesl Holtz, “Uniquely” Executive Producer. “The film exposes the joys and challenges of being a professional athlete while inspiring us all to create our own adventures.”

“Uniquely” takes viewers on a cultural journey through Japan, Russia, Colorado, California, Indonesia, Australia and beyond.  Explore the remote corners of the earth with the women of Oakley, as they search for perfect conditions while building lasting memories and lifelong friendships.

The film stars snowboarders Gretchen Bleiler, Marie-France Roy, Elena Hight, Anne-Flore Marxer, Chanelle Sladics and Etsuko Tominaga; skateboarders Lauren Perkins and Lyn-z Adams Hawkins; surfers Karina Petroni, Leilani Gryde, Layne Beachley and Claudia Goncalves; skiers Kristi Leskinen, Grete Eliassen and Angeli VanLaanen and wakeboarder Amber Wing.

“To me, ‘Uniquely’ is a reunion of passionate girls who want to share their passion for their sport,” said Oakley snowboarder Marie-France Roy. “It’s a mix of adventures and portraits that show how beautiful life can be when you find what you really love and you sacrifice everything for it.”

The film was shot, directed and edited by John Roderick, who used HD and RED cameras to capture progressive action while creating a vivid picture of the world.

“Uniquely” will be distributed by Foam magazine in the United States, Cooler magazine in Europe, Yen magazine in Australia and Transworld Snowboarding magazine in Japan.

The film is also available at participating Oakley retailers.

“Uniquely” Film Tour:

October 3, Wheeler Opera House, Aspen, CO
October 8, Henry Afrikas, Manly, Australia
October 8, Hotel Ipanema Plaza, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
October 23, Oakley Headquarters, Foothill Ranch, CA
October TBD, London, UK

About Oakley, Inc.

The global leader in performance sunglasses, goggles and prescription eyewear, Oakley also offers technical and lifestyle apparel, footwear, watches and accessories. The company was created for athletes who see impossibility as just another challenge, and their dedication inspires Oakley to seek out problems, solve with innovation and wrap invention in art. Exceeding the limits of possibility for more than thirty years, Oakley serves the demands of world-class athletes with unbeatable technologies including High Definition Optics® (HDO®). Additional information is available at www.oakley.com.

Olympic silver medalist and four-time X Games snowboard champ Gretchen Bleiler has a new collection from Oakley that’s hitting stores this fall.  Not only will it include sunglasses, but also jackets and other clothing, including a beanie — a total of 17 pieces in all.

“I wanted to create clothing I would be excited to wear, something entirely new that could take me from daily riding to just chilling,” said Bleiler in the release pimping the new line.

While most of the gear is made for snowboarders like Bleiler, there are things like t-shirts that anyone in any environment can enjoy.  As long as they are female, of course.

If you don’t live in an area where someone carries the line, you are still in luck.  You can check the items out online at Oakley.com and buy from there, too.  Just in time to watch Bleiler perform at this winter’s inaugural AST contests and at the Winter X Games.