Photo: Chip Kalback
Mike Riddle during his winning run at the Totino's
Open Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge.

(As seen in USA Today) - For freeskiers competing at the Winter Dew Tour this weekend in Snowbasin, Utah, the halfpipe competition at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games is only telling half the story.

"A complete representation of halfpipe should include skiing," says freeski pro Sammy Carlson. "There's no [good] reason ski halfpipe isn't in the Olympics...skiercross is in, so why not halfpipe?"

Freeskiing's big bang occurred in 1998 (the year snowboarding made its Olympic debut in Nagano) with the introduction of twin-tip skis, which allowed athletes to land backwards and execute more advanced maneuvers. Growing exponentially since, the "newschool" movement reignited participation in skiing among youth, marrying snowboarding's irreverent ethos with skiing's own technical park and pipe tricks.

Today the momentum continues. Its core discipline, ski superpipe, is scheduled for LIVE broadcast this Saturday on NBC (1-3 pm EST), and is a clear favorite among Dew Tour s TV audience, "Freeski is exploding in popularity," says Wade Martin, President and CEO of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports. "With its incredibly visual tricks, dynamic and engaging athletes, it really is the next big thing in action sports."

Mike Riddle, superpipe winner from last month's Totino's Open in Breckenridge, CO counts the Dew Tour as key to freeskiing's growth, "We have the three Dew Tour stops along with X Games and Euro X Games. Those are our big events with big exposure from the networks."

Though disappointed about not competing in next month's Vancouver Games, Riddle hopes continued exposure will lead to ski superpipe becoming an Olympic sport. I'm super bummed ski superpipe didn't get into Vancouver, but I know the FIS guys in Canada and US are pushing for it, so hopefully we should get in for 2014."

In the meantime the Dew Tour is the focus for freeski competitors this week in both superpipe and slopestyle. "Events like the Dew Tour are the driving force in competitive freeskiing." says Matt Harvey, Editor of Freeskier Magazine. "Without a three stop Dew Tour event, freeskiing wouldn't be able to excel in the way that it has."

By James Sullivan