Justin Dorey, a member of the 2013 Canadian national halfpipe team, says nobody was more surprised than him when he climbed to the top of the podium at December's Dew Tour's Ion Mountain Championships in Breckenridge, Colo., his first big finish since decking out and dislocating his shoulder on the Winter X Games Aspen 2012 pipe. We caught up with him for more on what's he's been up to and where he's headed into the new year.
Is there anything specific you can point to that you did differently this year to be coming out so strong?
Definitely. For one thing I've really changed the way I ski quite a bit in that I've been training a lot harder, ramping up my training to do stuff that scares me and then ramping it down a little bit for competition so I can be more consistent. I used to just keep it mellow in training and then really go for it in competition, and I was all over the place as a result. So I'm trying to be a lot more consistent, and working to get over the fears I have of some of the tricks I'm doing or would like to be doing.
How does it feel to start this season with a big win and put last season behind you?
It feels amazing to start the season with a win: I've never done that before! I feel like in the past I've been lucky to get on the podium here and there and I wasn't expecting a win in Breckenridge at all, so it's a huge confidence booster. I still want to do a couple other tricks I didn't do for the Dew Tour, so I'm feeling pretty good. I still have some tricks up my sleeve and feel like I'm just getting started.
Is there anyone in particular that you're watching out for this season?
It was cool to share a podium with Byron Wells and Mike Riddle, and then you've got all the usual suspects to watch out for, Kevin Rolland, David Wise, Tanner Hall, Torin Yater-Wallace ... You've got to watch out for all these little Torin's coming up, too. Watching that North Face Park & Pipe event at Copper Mountain earlier this month was pretty cool because there are a lot of up-and-coming kids who are going to change the game, 16-year-old guys like Aaron Blunck who are already starting to show the rest of us how it's done.
What are you most looking forward to in 2013?
Landing more runs and getting on more podiums. A guy could get used to the view from the top of the podium.
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