THE SKI
TOUR DEBUTS WINTER 2007
North
America’s new elite, four-stop skiing competition features the
world’s best halfpipe & skiercross skiers competing for $500,000
BaseCamp Music Experience to feature over 30 big-name
music acts alongside multi-day alpine festival including photo competitions,
film festivals, street
bonfires, rail jams, and countless partiesFour hours of network television coverage planned for
The Ski Tour
Sun Valley, Idaho,
November 15, 2006—At last, skiers have a professional tour and music
festival to call their own. This winter, The Ski Tour (TST) plays out at four
of America’s top resorts—Sun Valley, Idaho; Breckenridge Colorado;
Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado; and Squaw Valley, California. The world’s best
skiers will compete in skiercross or skier halfpipe competitions for
$500,000—the largest purse in skiing—while a gigantic concert venue
will bring some of the nation’s biggest music acts to the heart of the
mountains. All four events will be nationally televised (in one-hour shows) on
network television.
TST will feature an international field of world-class
athletes, each having equal opportunity to win the single largest payout in the
sport—$125,000 each weekend. Athletes confirmed for the tour include
Olympians Daron Rahlves, Eric Schlopy, and Reggie Crist and X Games medalists
Tanner Hall, CR Johnson, Simon Dumont, and Zach Crist.
“In recent years the sport of skiing has undergone
radical change and progression. Skiing is back on the map and I feel it is
at its best,” said Zach Crist. “With the creation of The Ski Tour
we now have a chance to showcase the reinvention of skiing to the
masses.”
In addition
to the skiing competition, the BaseCamp Music Experience, presented in
conjunction with The Ski Tour, will be the focal point of off-hill
entertainment at each of the tour stops. BaseCamp will feature over 30 bands
and DJs, including Michael Franti & Spearhead, Blackalicious, Hinder,
Donavon Frankenreiter, The Wailers, DJ Logic, DJ Jillian Ann, Swollen Members,
Kamphire Collective, and more to be announced.
At most
stops, these big-name acts will play in a centrally located, 14,000-square-foot
heated pavilion, which will accommodate up to 3,000 people. This structure,
erected in the center of town, will occupy a city block. In addition to hosting
the headline concert, the pavilion will be the hub for all of the festivities,
featuring an array of events throughout the weekend, including street party
bonfires, the Limelight Film Festival, rail jams, VIP and athlete parties,
locals bar parties, pro photo shootout parties, teen rock & roll parties,
fashion shows, and many more activities celebrating mountain culture.
“Our goal with The Ski Tour
is to broaden the market of people interested in skiing competition. But the
way to do that is to not just
focus on the competition,” said TST co-founder Kipp Nelson.
“We’re going to take the entire ski experience—from the first
chair to après to late-night entertainment—and turbo charge it into a three-day
cultural experience for everyone who loves the mountain lifestyle. If
you’re only going to go skiing one weekend of the year, you want it to be
one of these four.”
The launch of TST comes at a
pivotal time for skiercross and skier halfpipe as skiercross is expected to
join snowboard cross at the 2010 Olympics. TST founders want to see skier
halfpipe follow suit. TST will put these sports into the national limelight,
helping to promote them as viable Olympic sports.
To successfully execute their vision,
co-founders Nelson and Steve Brown have assembled a team of ski industry
veterans: Zach and Reggie Crist and CR Johnson to lead athlete relations; MSI
(a full service event management company with 10 years experience) and Kevin
O’Grady of HOK Events to execute all of the on-hill presence and
competition venues; Lynn McCarthy (15 years event and entertainment
experience); to direct the look and feel of the off-hill parties and functions;
Hatch (45 years combined experience producing sports and lifestyle programming,
whose principals produced The Tour de France, Gravity Games, and Winter
Olympics) to produce four hours of network television; Bravo Entertainment to
produce the concert scene; Keith Carlsen of MSI (former Powder Magazine editor)
to spearhead the PR, communications, and media relations; Wirestone, an
integrated marketing firm, to produce the TST website and branding, and a
multitude of industry insiders who have added their input and attended
countless meetings to make sure that all sides of skiing are represented.
For The Ski Tour photos, videos, athlete bios,
competition schedules, music updates, and more, visit the newly re-launched http://www.theskitour.com
The Ski Tour would like to extend a special thanks to its
current list of sponsors: Spyder, Paul
Mitchell, Icebreaker clothing
THE DETAILS
2007 The Ski Tour dates and locations
$125,000 prize money per stop
Sun Valley, Idaho
January 11-14, 2007
Breckenridge, Colorado
February 1-4, 2007
Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado
February 22-25, 2007
Squaw Valley, California
Tour Finals
March 8-11, 2007
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