Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The names will be familiar, but the events in this week's Paul Mitchell Ultimate Bumps & Jumps will have a twist all there own.

Freestyle legends Jonny Moseley, Toby Dawson and Chris Hernandez will join free skiing's newest stars in an unconventional competition on the slopes of the Steamboat Ski Area.

The event will open Friday with a superpipe event starting at 10 a.m.

Moseley, Dawson and Hernandez will be joined by some of the top names in free skiing such as Tanner Hall, CR Johnson, Evan Raps, Rex Thomas and Dave Crichton at Steamboat's Mavericks, the longest superpipe in North America.

Once the competitors get done in the pipe, they will move onto a big air competition, which will be held in the Bashor Bowl starting at 2 p.m.

On Saturday, the events will continue with free moguls at 10 a.m. on Voodoo. Dual freestyle moguls will wrap things up at 1 p.m.

"This is going to be something that people here in Steamboat have never seen before," Steamboat Ski Area spokeswoman Cathy Wiedemer said.

Athletes will get two runs in on the halfpipe and big air ramp.

The free moguls will include a rail slide, one traditional kicker and a table-top kicker, which will be in front of the finish line.

The dual mogul event will be held on the same course, but competitors will be competing side by side.

The recently retired Moseley, who has been known for pushing the limits of freestyle skiing, will get his chance in this one-of-a-kind event.

In the moguls, competitors are not limited by the traditional rules of freestyle skiing meaning off-axis, switch and inverted aerials will be allowed.

Like the more traditional freestyle events, competitors will be judged on turns, speed and air.

However, the scoring will be weighed toward the air element and speed will be a much smaller factor than in traditional moguls.

Dawson, who is coming off a World Cup win in Madonna De Campiglio, Italy, on Dec. 14, will join fellow U.S. Ski Team member Hernandez.

Hall is just one of several top skiers who will come to Steamboat from the world of free skiing.

Hall piled up a list of top finishes in 2001 when he won three of the largest free skiing events in the U.S. and was on the podium in several others.

He also posted several top finishes in 2002 when he took first place in the World Skiing Invitational, won the gold medal at the ESPN Winter X Games in the slopestyle and took another first in the Cham Jam Slopestyle in France. Crichton will also come to the event with a long list of top-level finishes.

When he isn't posting top results on the competitive circuit, Crichton makes a living on the big screen and has appeared in several skiing movies, including "Propaganda," "High Society" and "Certifiable."

Raps was the silver medalist in the EXPN Open superpipe in 2002 and also took second at the Winter X games in the big air in 2001.

CR Johnson burst onto the scene in 1999 at the age of 16. Since then he has amassed a long list of top finishes as well, including a silver (2002) and bronze medal (2001) at the Winter X Games and a first place finish in the US Free skiing Open in the Big Air in 2002. Johnson was nominated for ESPN's Skier of the Year in 2002.

Seventeen-year-old Thomas grew up skiing near his hometown of Golden in British Columbia. He became tired of the organized sports thing and eventually moved to the sport of free skiing.

To reach John F. Russell call 871-4209

or e-mail jrussell@steamboatpilot.com