Top athletes showcased at Northstar

The world's top snowboard and freeski athletes will be in Truckee on Feb. 19-22 to compete for the Dew Cup and a share of the $1.5 million prize.

Shaun White, Torah Bright and Simon Dumont will be among those competing at Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort as the final leg of a three-part series.

The Winter Dew Tour this week announced the schedule of events for its final stop of the Dew Cup Toyota Championship.

Leading the series in the snowboard disciplines are top athletes Shaun White, (first in slopestyle and superpipe), Kelly Clark (superpipe) and Spencer O'Brien (slopestyle).

White recently took home X Games gold in both disciplines and is looking to be the first Dew Tour athlete to be crowned Dew Cup champion on the Summer Dew Tour and Winter Dew Tour.

Key contenders to compete in women's snowboard slopestyle in Tahoe include recent X Games gold medalist Jenny Jones, and silver medalist O'Brien. In superpipe, X Games silver medalist Scotty Lago will join bronze medalist Mikkel Bang in their attempts to unseat White.

X Games gold medalist Torah Bright will be looking for her first Dew Tour win of the season in the superpipe.

On the freeski side, Tanner Hall and Justin Dorey are tied for first in the superpipe discipline, but recent X Games gold medalist Xavier Bertoni is bound to provide some stiff competition.

In slopestyle, PK Hunder leads the field with overall points, but in Tahoe, X Games gold medalist TJ Schiller could pull anything out of his deep bag of tricks.

Similar to the Dew Tour's summer competition structure, the Winter Dew Tour is 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.

A few notable athletes to compete in Tahoe are:

SNB Pipe Men: Shaun White, Louie Vito, JJ Thomas, Torstein Horgmo, Trevor Jacob, Andy Finch 

SNB Pipe Women: Hannah Teter, Ellery Hollingsworth, Torah Bright, Kjersti Buaas, Elena Hight  

SNB Slope Men: Shaun White, Mikkel Bang, Andreas Wiig, Torstein Horgmo,  

SNB Slope Women: Jenny Jones, Torah Bright, Kjersti Buaas, Spencer O'Brien  

SKI Pipe Men: Tanner Hall, Simon Dumont, Jossi Wells, Byron Wells, Dan Marion 

SKI Slope Men: TJ Schiller, Simon Dumont, Bobby Brown, Jossi Wells, Charles Gagnier, PK Hunder, Jacob Wester, Peter Olenick

Schedule of events:

Feb. 19 

11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. " Mens/Women's Snowboard Slopestyle Prelims

Noon-1:30 p.m.              Men's Freeski Superpipe Prelims

Feb. 20 

10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. " Men's Freeski Slopestyle Prelims

2-3:30 p.m. " Men's/Women's Snowboard Slopestyle Final

5-7 p.m. " Concert in Festival Village - Common and Tweak Bird

Feb. 21

10 a.m.-1 p.m. " Men's/Women's Snowboard Superpipe Prelims

11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. " Men's Freeski Slopestyle Final

3-3:30 p.m. " Women's Freeski Slopestyle Exhibition

6-7:30 p.m. " Men's Freeski Superpipe Final

Feb. 22

11-11:30 a.m. " Women's Freeski Superpipe Exhibition

Noon-3 p.m. " Men's/Women's Snowboard Superpipe Final

TV Schedule (may change)

NBC:                

Feb. 21, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: SKI Slope Men Finals

Feb. 22, 1-3p.m.: SNB Pipe Women/ Men Finals

USA Network    

Feb. 20, 9-10 p.m.: SNB Slope Women/ Men Finals

Feb. 21, 9-10 p.m.:SKI Pipe Men Finals

Tickets:

Northstar-at-Tahoe is maintaining normal ticket prices while it hosts the Winter Dew Tour. Spectators without a lift pass should purchase a Gondola Ticket at $15 per person per day to view the event.

Northstar will also be offering Fast Passes for an additional $20 sold at any ticket window. Only a limited number of Fast Passes are printed providing holders access to exclusive lift lines during the Dew Tour.

Visit www.northstarattahoe.com for more information.