The Dew Tour will kick off in Breckenridge, CO this weekend, but there will be a noted absence. There will be no female skiing events throughout the winter-long tour, except for one pipe comeptition in Utah. This tragic news for female park skiers—and women every where for that matter—came in an email from pro-boarder, Spencer O'Brien. Here's what she had to say...

Hey everyone, how's it going? I hope you're all enjoying the start of winter as much as I am.

With the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour fast approaching I've recently learned that they have made the decision to not include female skiers in the series (except one pipe event in Utah, no slope events at all). This decision is really disheartening for me, not only as an woman but as an athlete. Like most of you I'm blessed to have my sport so openly welcomed at nearly every major snowboarding event in the world as a result of the many women before me who fought extremely hard to be treated equal in their sport.

I'm close friends with many of the girls who compete and have seen what these amazing ladies can do first hand. I've also gotten to see how hard they have to fight just to get into events, never mind get equal pay, resulting in very few events for them to compete at. This last season was a huge step in the right direction with X Games finally including both pipe and slopestyle along with equal pay. You'd think with this kind of progression Dew Tour would follow suit, however, that's not the case. I know that Sara Burke and Kristi Leskinen have both fought this very hard on behalf of their sport and fellow athletes, however, I wanted to take the initiative to help them in their fight. Every voice from within the winter sports community helps. If you agree, please EMAIL me with your name, address and email and I will forward it on along with the letter below to the appropriate people. Please pass this on to anyone you see fit.

Spencer

Jumpers, if you feel strongly, email a well-thought response to leah@shejumps.com, she'll forward it on to Spencer. Women may not make it into this weekend's events, but if enough of us rant then maybe, just maybe, female park skiers will have their chance to shine later on in the tour. Thanks for looking out for us two-plankers Spencer.