Bev Vuilleumier after a slopestyle run in Breckridge, Colo. Photo courtesy of Alli Sports.

The Winter Dew Tour brought heaps of energy to the Tahoe area this past weekend as the tour made its final stop at Northstar-at Tahoe. The competition hosted some big names in professional snowboarding, including Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Andreas Wiig, Mason Aguirre and Gretchen Bleiler. Shredding right next to them was 2008 Sierra Nevada College alum Bev Vuilleumier.

The 21-year-old has claimed a number of notable titles in professional snowboarding since her graduation from SNC last year, and continues to throw down some rather impressive runs. Her recent success pulling off a front side 720 landed her a solid third place finish for the women’s slopestyle finals at the Dew Tour’s first stop in Breckenridge, Colo.

“She is sick and gets down harder than a lot of boys, for sure,” said former SNC freshman Kayvee Vincent. “She shreds hard and goes for everything. It’s nice to see her doing so well. In fact, I saw a giant picture of her face in Transworld the other day.”

Vuilleumier has been riding for 10 years and is currently on a Salomon Lily – the only thing regular about her riding is the stance.

“Many people inspire me, mostly those who are good at what they love – comedians, actors, athletes,” said Vuilleumier.

Her hard work has scored her sponsorships with Bonfire, Salomon, Etnies, Thirty-Two, Elm, Kicker, The House Boardshop and Northstar. She was also nominated rookie of the year in 2008 by Transworld.

On top of competition, Vuilleumier loves to just shred for fun. Her perfect day would be to “Pow all day,” she said.

“My thoughts while riding are usually happy, scared, stoked [and] sometimes pissed,” she added.

Living in Tahoe and going to school at Sierra Nevada College allowed Vuilleumier several of those blue-sky powder days.

“It was awesome because I could snowboard a lot, and my teachers were really flexible for me whenever I left town,” said Vuilleumier.

Some of her best snowboarding memories include “riding Northstar with the homies.” SNC is a great spot for aspiring snowboarders who still want to continue their education. Vuilleumier is a success story for current students to look up to.

“She is obviously a role model,” said Vincent. “I want to be just like Bev. She’s really good at singing, too.”

Vuilleumier said she likes to write songs, sing, dance and attempts to play the guitar.

The Dew Tour was huge for Vuilleumier and will add to her list of contest results. She came in at seventh place (60 points) at the Dew Tour’s second stop in Vermont, and ninth place (45 points) at her home mountain as the Dew Tour made its final stop at Northstar-at- Tahoe. Her other results include first place in the If Ullr was a girl, first place in the Burton AM, 13th in the U.S. open slopestyle finals and 11th place in the Roxy Chicken Jam finals.

Her enthusiasm is contagious – it will be exciting to see where she will progress. Be sure to look for Vuilleumier, as she is currently filming with the “Peep Show” girls.  You can also catch some shots of Vuilleumier in Runway’s “See What I See.”

Q & A with Bev Vuilleumier:

• Where’s your favorite place to ride? Northstar, Breck and Whistler.
  
• What’s your favorite song to shred to? Changes every day, but right now anything from Lady Gaga.
  
• Favorite trick? Nollies, Ollies, Front 3's
  
• Dream Trick? Front 10
  
• Pipe or slopestyle? Both are fun, but I'm better at slope.
  
• What are some of your best snowboarding memories? Riding Northstar with the homies, Iceland. I'm currently in Hawaii right now – that's pretty rad.
  
• What advice would you give to others? When one door closes, another one opens...don't feel sorry for yourself if things don't work out, because they will in the end.
  
• Words you live by? One Life.
  
• Who is the boy of your dreams? Pretty much the next George Clooney.
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• If you could change anything about the snowboard industry, what would that be? Don't even get me started.

Spectators watch the Men’s Superpipe final on Feb. 22 at Northstar.

On the weekend of Feb. 19 - 22, many people crowded out Northstar-at-Tahoe to watch, work or participate in the Winter Dew Tour 2009. According to grindtv.com, the Dew Tour is the biggest tour in action sports. This year was the first ever Winter Dew Tour. Beginning in Breckenridge, Colo., the tour made its rounds to Mount Snow in Vermont and ended at Northstar-At-Tahoe in Truckee.

The competition included over 100 world-premiere snowboarders and free skiers. The Winter Dew Tour also lured in spectators with live shows, sponsor tents with merchandise for sale and epic parties. Sponsors of the event included Mountain Dew, Toyota, Nike, and Fuel TV, just to name a few.

Students ripping down exit signs, damaging ceiling panels and vandalizing dorm hallways are some of the reasons why the Sierra Nevada College residence life staff is thinking about installing security cameras on each floor of both dorms.

“Overall, the students have mellowed out and there have been very few write-ups this semester,” said Lizzie Hernandez, administrative assistant of student affairs. “The only problem lately has been students hanging on to and punching down the exit signs in Prim Schultz Hall. This has been causing tile and metal damage to the ceilings, which can be pretty expensive to fix.”