With the long, extensive, and hectic Summer Dew Tour just behind us, the athletes in winter clothing are gearing up for the 2008 Winter Dew Tour set to kick off on December 18th in Breckenridge, Colorado.  Announced today were some of the world’s best snowboarders and freestyle skiers who will be competing for the Dew Cup and a piece of that $1.5 million prize purse waiting for them at the end of the three-stop series. 

The all star roster reads like the who’s who of the modern freeski and snowboard movement, highlighted by multiple X Games and Olympic medalists including snowboard athletes Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Andreas Wiig, Travis Rice and Gretchen Bleiler. Freeskiing superstars Tanner Hall, Sarah Burke and Simon Dumont will join the snowboarders on the impressive roster of athletes.

“I’m thrilled for the start of the Winter Dew Tour this December,” said Dumont. “This is just what we need to give skiing the exposure it deserves. We’ll have live TV coverage and the resorts chosen are some of the best in the world.”

“I feel like the Dew Tour is gonna be huge and I’m really looking forward to riding on the entire series this year,” said Teter. “The roster of athletes that will be competing on the Winter Dew Tour is sick. It’ll be a fun battle to see who comes away with Dew Cup at the end of the season.”

The roster of snowboard and freeski athletes includes the following notables:

Snowboard Superpipe                                                                                                
· Shaun White
· Mason Aguirre
· Trevor Jacob
· Hannah Teter
· Gretchen Bleiler
· Kelly Clark
· Torah Bright                                                                                                     

Snowboard Slopestyle
· Travis Rice
· Andreas Wiig
· Danny Kass
· Kevin Pearce
· Jamie Anderson
· Hana Beaman
· Torah Bright

Freeski Superpipe                                                       
· Tanner Hall
· Simon Dumont
· Peter Olenick                                                    
· Colby West                                          
· Jossi Wells
 
Freeski Slopestyle                                                       
· Andreas Hatveit
· Jossi Wells
· Matt Walker
· Charles Gagnier
· Jon Olsson
 
Freeski Women
· Sarah Burke
· Jen Hudak
· Kristi Leskinen
 
The complete list of Winter Dew Tour competitors will be released on Monday, Nov. 24.
 
Similar to the Dew Tour’s summer competition structure, the Winter Dew Tour will be based on a cumulative points system as the top snow athletes battle it out for a piece of the $1.5 million prize purse and the chance to take home the Dew Cup at the conclusion of the season in February.
 
The complete 2008/09 Winter Dew Tour schedule is as follows:
 
Event                           Date                             Location
Stop 1                          Dec. 18-21, 2008           Breckenridge, Colo.—Breckenridge Ski Resort
Stop 2                          Jan. 8-11, 2009              West Dover, Vt.—Mount Snow Resort
Stop 3                          Feb. 19-22, 2009           Lake Tahoe, Calif.—Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort
 

Since Red Bull is putting this on, it’s no surprise the company’s top snowboarders will be there, including Shaun White, Travis Rice and Pat Moore.

Other than the concept, there’s barely any other info out about this contest yet, except that it will take place on Thursday, Feb 5, 2009 in Manhattan someplace.

Of course, sometimes Red Bull’s events don’t go off as planned *cough*Metallicross*cough* but when they do, they are among the best in the business.  We will be watching.

Just when it looked like Shaun White was about to dominate the video game world with his snowboarding videogame, Destineer in conjunction with Absinthe Films is creating their own snowboard adventure game.  And I think Shaun White is pissed! Actually no he’s probably not, I’m just trying to stir up some drama.  But the new video game is called “Stoked” and involves an open world backcountry setting with five huge open world mountain backdrops with different weather patterns to cope with.  Sounds scary! 

The video game will be exclusive to X-Box.  Sorry Wii’ers.  “It’s all about defining your riding style and crafting the line that suits you,” said Peter Anthony Chiodo (“Tony”), Destineer’s Director of Product Development. “Stoked leaves well-worn resorts behind and gives players absolute freedom to ride wherever they want and trick off of anything they can find in some of the most famous backcountry locations the world has to offer. Gameplay is focused on style and finesse, not button mashing; Destineer and Bongfish have created a game that looks and plays like a snowboarding movie.”

Adds Patrick “Brusti” Armbruster, co-founder of Absinthe Films: “Developing a snowboard video game has always been a dream of mine. There are endless synergies between a snowboard film production and a game developer that were just waiting to be activated. Bongfish and Destineer have realized this potential, and have shown a real passion for snowboarding, and together we’ve worked to bring snowboarding luminaries from across the planet together for this project.”

Stoked features some of the most influential professional riders in the world: Travis Rice, Nicolas Mueller, Wolle Nyvelt, Annie Boulanger, Romain de Marchi, Tadashi Fuse, Gigi Ruef, and Bjorn Leines. An impressive line up of 30 authentic sponsors also appear in Stoked including but not limited to: Burton, Dragon, Arcus, Von Zipper, Eleven, 686, Billabong, DaKine, Electric, LibTech, Nitro, Northwave, Oakley, Quiksilver, Ride, Hart, Rome, Salomon, TechNine, Vans, Volcom, and more!

Expect a limited edition video game version of Project Runway set to come out later next year as you play a determined Shaun White attempting to take over the fashion world.  Or maybe not if he’s too busy. 
 

Just when it looked like skateboarding was kind of catching up with snowboarding as far as production value, this comes out. It’s not even a snowboard movie; it’s a snowboard epic film. This film features the likes of , in some of the most beautifully shot sequences I’ve ever seen. Even more beautiful than “The Sound Of Music”, and that says a lot. Check out the teaser and judge for yourself.