The Honda Ski Tour Preview

Jan 12 2007 / Los Angeles, CA

So what exactly is The Honda Ski Tour? The Honda Ski Tour is a new multi-event competition series that could change the face of skiing in America forever. At the very least it is American skiing’s last, best hope to crawl out from under the fragmented obscurity that it currently resides in. With some of the best athletes in the world competing in two of skiing’s most progressive disciplines and half a million dollars in prize money up for grabs, The Ski Tour is the biggest thing to happen in skiing since the winter X-games started over a decade ago.

The Ski Tour, however, is about more than just top-level competition. With four hours of network television (ABC) coverage, top 40 artists like the band Hinder, The Wailers, and DJ Logic performing live at the venues, ice carving festivals, photo contests, après ski parties, VIP rooms, and the who’s who of skiing and Hollywood celebrities in attendance, the Ski Tour promises to be a celebration of mountain ski-town culture and, in Kipp’s words, “the best weekend of the year.” With venues like Sun Valley, Breckinridge, Aspen and Squaw Valley all hosting The Honda Ski Tour one thing’s for sure, it will be one hell of a party.

“What it really comes down to is expanding skiing’s fan base, consolidating all the different sects of the sport and getting them behind The Ski Tour” Kipp explains. In order to achieve that goal Kipp examined the entire spectrum of skiing. He immediately found the first problem of the skiing market in America. It’s completely fragmented, and the different sects have little to no interest in each other.

On one side there is ski racing, with its strict European traditions and rules, and on the other you have freestyle and the free riding movement. Each one of these has sub-sects such as big-mountain, park, moguls, aerials, downhill, slalom, etc. By the time it all spreads out there are over ten different sects in skiing, each claiming to have a world champion. “The challenge was picking two events that we thought best represented the entire spectrum. We spent quite a while batting around different ideas, then the International Olympic Committee (IOC) pretty much made the decision for us” Kipp recalls as he outlines his relationship with Bill Marolt, an ex-Olympian from Aspen who was Kipp’s ski coach at CU Boulder and now runs the U.S Ski Team and USSA (United States Skiing Association). Due to the popularity of snowboarder-cross and halfpipe at the 2006 Olympics the IOC, in an unprecedented move (perhaps/probably initiated by NBC looking for better ratings), approached the FIS (the governing body of skiing) and asked to sanction skier-cross as an Olympic event in 2010. The FIS jumped at the opportunity and voted to include skier-cross in the next Olympics. So Skier-cross, and hopefully skier halfpipe are going to be Olympic events in four years yet hardly anybody even knows that these sports exist on their own. Besides the X-games once a year, nobody even sees them on television. There is certainly no Olympic qualifying tour for skier-cross, or I should say there wasn’t one. Kipp, using an old Wall Street strategy, saw an opportunity to put some money into a relatively unknown but exciting segment of the skiing market. The goal being to expedite its growth while at the same time providing inspiration to American skiing’s next generation of Olympic hopefuls.

Skier-cross, for the uninitiated, lies somewhere between a traditional ski race and a Chinese downhill. Four skiers at a time buzz around turns and over jumps at 50-60 mph less than an arms length from one another. The first one down wins. The halfpipe competition is held in the same halfpipe snowboarder’s use, only skiers can jump higher due to their ability to carry more speed across the flat bottom of the pipe. Ultimately, the goal of The Ski Tour is to showcase these events together in order to encourage crossover fans; A 55 year old fan of ski racing gets to see how impressive halfpipe riding can be and the young kid who spends all his time in the park can see how intense and fast ski racing is. Then they both get to go to a kick ass concert together and party with movie stars.

The use of technology will also set The Ski Tour apart from other events. Taking a page out of NASCAR’s book, the most exciting innovation for the T.V audience will be the use of head cameras during the competition. Nothing translates the speed, airtime, and drama involved in skier-cross and halfpipe better than the point of view perspective a head-cam provides.

So stay tuned as Lat34.com takes you inside this exciting new event series with reports from on and off the hill live from sun Valley, Idaho on the 13th and 14th of January. From the 14,000 square foot tent in the middle of Sun Valley, to street concerts, a rail jam, and a bonfire on Main Street, The Honda Ski Tour promises to put American skiing back on the map and Lat34 will be there to watch it all go down. Join Athletes like Zach and Reggie Crist, Daron Rahlves, Simon Dumont and Tanner Hall as we get their thoughts and opinions on the new tour and the party that surrounds it.      

Dates and Airtimes 

Sun Valley, Idaho: January 11-14. Air Date: Saturday, Jan. 20^th 2-3pm ET/ 4-5pm PT (click here for the complete schedule)

Breckenridge, Colorado: February 1-4. Air Date: Saturday, Feb. 10^th 2-3pm ET/ 4-5pm PT

Aspen, Colorado: February 22-25. Air Date: Saturday, March 10^th 2-3pm ET/ 4-5pm PT

Squaw Valley, California: March 8-11. Air Date: March 24^th 2-3pm ET/ 3:30-4:30pm PT

Places to Stay

Official Hotel in Sun Valley

The Sun Valley Lodge & Inn

Tate Knowles is our events contact person, PR is Jack Sibbach

Official Hotel in Breckenridge

Beaver Run Resort 

Breckenridge Co 

Lindsey Dollahon - rooms,  lindsey.dollahan@theskyhotel.com

Official Hotel in Squaw Valley

The Village at Squaw Valley

1985 Squaw Valley Road

Christie Beck - group sales and lodging  cbeck@intrawest.com