Dane Tudor And Rachael Burks Crowned Red Bull Cold Rush Champions

Silverton, Colo. — Last night the Red Bull Cold Rush athletes crammed into the Grand Imperial Hotel’s 130-year-old saloon to celebrate the end of another crazy comp in the San Juans and to anoint the winners of this year’s men’s and women’s Red Bull Cold Rush.

The voting begins at Red Bull Cold Rush. Photo by Ian Fohrman.

The way in which the Cold Rush champs are determined is just one of the many aspects of the event that makes it so unique. Rather than a panel of judges dug in to a bunker at the base of the venue scoring each competitor’s run — as is the case in the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour and Swatch Freeride World Tour — the judging for Cold Rush falls squarely on the athletes’ shoulders. Without a point system that rewards line choice, style or fluidity, the judging at Red Bull Cold Rush took place Wednesday night in a screening room in the catacombs of the Grand Imperial Hotel and deciding on an overall champion is based on the competitors’ overall impression.

The athletes cheer on their fellow competitors. Photo by Christian Pondella.

As you can imagine, the scene in the screening beneath the hotel was rowdy. Two-time Cold Rush Champion Sean Pettit was bedecked in bathrobe, Dash Longe was cracking jokes and most everyone had a red keg cup in-hand. On the athletes’ laps sat a clipboard with a roster of the competitors.  And the athletes started hooting and cheering as soon as the edits started rolling on the big-screen.

By the time the footage wrapped up, it was clear that deciding on a winner was going to be a difficult task.

“Judging your friends is real difficult, it’s the hardest part of this competition,” Sean Pettit said after watching the footage captured from Cineflex cameras mounted to the helicopters. “It’s a tough thing to do, but, as far as I’m concerned, Dane [Tudor] is going to win. He stomped most of everything, had a clean line on the big-mountain day and stomped the sickest slopestyle run.”

Dash Longe fillis in his scorecard. Photo by Mike Arzt.

Pettit’s prediction proved to be spot on, because after tallying the athletes’ votes Dane Tudor was announced as the men’s overall winner of the 2012 Red Bull Cold Rush. On the women’s side, Rachael Burks’ aggressive big-mountain line and stomped backflip off The Castle during slopestyle earned her the women’s overall title.

“I’m just super stoked,” Dane Tudor said after standing atop the podium. “Everyone out here just kills it, so to be on top at Red Bull Cold Rush is just awesome. I’m really hyped as I’m heading up to Alaska this week so carrying this win up there is going to make it a great time.”

“It’s the biggest honor and I’m so stoked that I don’t really have words,” Rachael Burks said while clutching her first-place trophy. “I’ve never been on a number one podium but to be on the podium at Red Bull Cold Rush is the biggest deal in the whole world and I’m just elated.”

The top 3 men and women. Photo by Erik Seo.

Rounding out the overall podium on the men’s side were Pep Fujas and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa in second and third, respectively. And, the overall women’s podium had Jackie Paaso in second and Michelle Parker in third.

The results for the big-mountain day, decided by the athletes, had Dash Longe in first, Dane Tudor in second and Andy Mahre in third for the men; Rachael Burk in first, Lexi Dupont in second and Michelle Parker in third for the women. Dane Tudor won the slopestyle day, followed by Pep Fujas and Wiley Miller; Rachael Burks made it a clean sweep with another first place spot with Jackie Paaso and Anna Segal in second and third.

Now that Red Bull Cold Rush is over the 23 athletes are scattering in different directions all over the world. Some are flying directly to other big-mountain comps like the next Freeride World Tour stop in Fieberbrunn, Austria, and Kicking Horse’s Wrangle in the Chute, others are going home to quickly do laundry before heading up to Alaska for film projects, and some are Jonesing to get back to British Columbia to sample Whistler’s most recent storm.  

While the athletes completed their portion of the voting for Red Bull Cold Rush on Wednesday night, you can still vote for your favorite competitor.  Go online at www.redbullusa.com/coldrush or tune-in March 24 to Red Bull Cold Rush airing nationally on NBC at 1pm EST/10am PST to vote for the athlete who laid down what you think was the sickest lines, threw the most bad-ass tricks, and stomped the biggest landings during the competition. The winner of the People’s Choice Award will win an additional $1,000 thanks to your vote. Voting is open now through March 26 when the winner will be announced on the website.