Patrick Dew spends much of his life upside down while pulling off flips, spins and twists. He’s a freestyle skier and likes the view from high in the clouds.
Dew just closed the freestyle season at a rich Step Up Tour competition at Le Relais in Quebec. And while a crash on the final rail of his second run cost him points and left him a disappointing 11th, the soon-to-be 19-year-old was hardly bummed out.
“Not my best performance of the season but I was happy to end the season happy and most importantly healthy,” said the soft-spoken Dew. “As a recap on the season, I believe it went really well for me. I had two podiums which was huge. I am now waiting for the national team selections to come out to see if I am going to move up.”
Dew briefly lived in Kamloops before moving to Vernon where he attended Coldstream Elementary before graduating from VSS last year.
His parents, Todd, a pharmacist, and Karen Dew, operate Hoggarth’s Pharmacy downtown. His sister, Michaela, is a dancer.
He struck gold at a Nor-Am in Ontario and bagged bronze at a Nor-Am in Seven Springs in Pennsylvania to place second overall for the season. He was 11th at Calgary Olympic Park and 15th at Aspen in the other two Nor-Am comps.
In his tween years, Dew did some free skiing for a while before joining the Silver Star Freestyle Club’s Jumps and Bumps program.
“It was great, it was a lot more exciting than the Nancy Greene ski program and I had great instructors like Brett Reeves, Patrick Walsh, Jeremy Cooper, at Silver Star, and Evan Wilcox later in Vancouver.”
This was Year 3 on Team B.C. and Dew had six teammates providing support all season. He was first alternate/prospect on the older, more experienced Next Generation team, where he hopes to get permanently soon.
“You have to beat them the whole year to get on that team,” said Dew, who carries sponsorship from Skevik skis and Smith Optics. “I’ve done fairly well this year, probably better than expected. I’m definitely more of a jumps guy than a rail guy. I definitely excel on the jumps more.”
Cooper, 37, is now head coach of the national Next Generation team, and he is impressed with Dew’s progress.
“He’s got a great attitude and a good work ethic,” said Cooper. “He’s a good athlete with lots of potential. He has to keep his health a main priority. His jumps are technically very good; he needs to improve on his rails and he knows that.”
Wizardry like a Double Cork 1080 and a 1260 – which is three-and-a-half spins – or a Switch Double Rodeo 900 – 2.5 rotations – keep Dew dialed in while climbing the sky.
“I love the adrenaline, the rush,” said Dew, a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. “It’s about having its own lifestyle. I don’t hang out with them (opponents/teammates) outside of freestyle so it’s a reunion every beginning of the series. I have a couple of buddies in Ontario.”
Dew, a 6-foot-3, 190-pounder, trains on air bags and water ramps year-round. He has been to New Zealand the past two summers.
“I’ll be doing some glacier skiing at Momentum at Whistler in July and Mt Hood in Oregon; they always have snow.”
The 24/7 training prepares him big time for comps, where he’s always ready when his name is announced.
“I still get nervous. It’s a proven scientific fact you’re going to get nervous so you can do your best. The goal is not to crash, to land the run and do the best you can do and you can’t be upset with yourself. It just so happened my run was liked better than everybody else’s. It’s a judged sport.”
He pocketed $2,000 in Ontario and just $200 in Seven Springs. He gets a little funding but works for his father and the freestyle club to make ends meet.
“I would like to be on the World Cup circuit which would lead to the X Games and Dew Tour. If I can get on that Next Generation team, I hope to move up in the next two, three years. My goal is the 2022 Olympics….I finished in the middle of the pack at a World Cup in Quebec and that was an awesome experience. The World Cup courses are perfect.”
Cooper, who coached Dew at Silver Star in 2009-10 and for two seasons with Team B.C. in 2013-14, said Dew must take advantage of attending such star-studded comps like the World Cup.
“That experience was huge for him. It gives him a chance to see what he needs to do on the international stage.”
Dew’s post-Olympics plans see him being employed in automotive engineering. He is taking calculus and chemistry courses online to upgrade his high school marks.
He gives major props to his folks for enabling his freestyling dreams.
“My parents have been great. I wouldn’t even be this close without them.”
He also gets support from his girlfriend, Haley McCreight, a casual downhill skier.