Elena Hight hopes her Olympic experience will pay
off.

Jossi Wells is favored in men's pipe.

Over 380 freestyle skiers and snowboarders are set to compete this weekend in halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines at the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour in Breckenridge, CO, the Nike 6.0 Open.

The field includes Olympians Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler and Elena Hight as well as JJ Thomas, Scotty Lago, Mason Aguirre and Louie Vito.

Vito is coming off a win at last weekend's US Snowboarding Grand Prix. "Topping the podium at the Grand Prix was a great way to head into the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour. I'm feeling confident and am excited to ride the 22-foot pipe, so I'm hoping to continue the streak and start the Dew Tour season with a win."

This is the first year Breckenridge has built an Olympic-regulation 22-foot halfpipe. In 2009 some Olympic contenders chose not to compete in the Dew Tour because of its smaller 18-foot pipe.

Yet with the next Olympics still years away, the Dew Tour is now the main focus for this competitive season. My goal with the Olympics behind me is to not simply compete well, says Elena Hight. This year I'd really like to be in contention for the Winter Dew Cup at the Toyota Championships in February."

Another new development is the addition of a women's program in slopestyle and superpipe. "This is the first major open event that women freeskiers have had," said X Games gold medalist Jen Hudak. "This is a huge opportunity to prove to the world that this sport is established and constantly progressing.

The IOC is still considering whether to include freeski slopestyle and halfpipe in the 2014 Olympics Games in Sochi, Russia.

Top male skiers competing in Breckenridge include Jossi Wells, Simon Dumont, Booby Brown and Andres Hatveit.

The Winter Dew Tour will broadcast LIVE on NBC this Saturday, 2:30-4:00pm EST and Sunday, 4-6pm EST and continues with stops n January at Killington, VT and Snowbasin, Utah in February.

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