Evan Dybvig likes being high [click]

January 22-24, 1999
Whuppin' it in Heavenly
We brought you the X games, now welcome to the Rodeo: World Cup freestyle skiing comes to Heavenly, CA in the Top Gun on Gunbarrel, sponsored by Sprint. Picture this: brute strength and control keep a skier steady as he or she wrestles unruly moguls down the long, steep Gunbarrel run. We're ready for the round-up, and the only difference between this and a wild west rodeo fest is there ain't no dung to get yer feet dirty.

"The only difference between this and a wild west rodeo fest is there ain't no dung to get yer feet dirty..."

It's all about throwing tricks. After training all week, the real show starts on Friday night, January 22 with full hype, hoopla and the acro competition. Mogul riders duke it out Saturday on Heavenly's 30-degree, 1,500 vertical foot Gunbarrel run, and aerialists take flight from the Launch Pad Sunday afternoon.

	Matt Chojnacki [click]

Who to watch? Canadian Nicolas Fontaine, the 1997 aerials World Champion, who for the last two years took the World Cup aerial titles, won the season open in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec and took 2nd in Steamboat, CO last weekend. Young Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus, Russia is a force to be reckoned with, and US Olympic champion Eric Bergoust will be looking to ride onto the podium.

In the women's aerials, Australia's world champion Jacqui Cooper has two out of two straight victories this season. Canada's Veronica Brenner and America's Olympic gold medalist and fightin' girl Nikki Stone will also rustle it up. If Stone can take 4th on no sleep (Steamboat, CO), imagine the possibilities if she gets a nap in before Sunday.

Acros will be agro. The Russian women are strong: Elena Batalova and Natalia Razumovskaya took the top-2 in the season kick-off in Steamboat, CO and Sweden's Annika Johansson was numero 3. In men's competition, 42-year-old Ian Edmondson from Birmingham, MI may kick-out the young-ins, but the Euros are strengthened by acro-bats like Konrad Hilpert from Switzerland who took 1st in Steamboat and teammate Heini Baumgartner who got 3rd.

	Nikki Stone [click]

In moguls, Germany's Sandra Schmitt, Sweden's Marja Elfman and USA's Ann Battell took the 1-2-3 in last weekend's dual mogul comp in Steamboat. As they make their way out west they'll be kickin' up some dirt. On the men's side of the fence, the Canadian's prove to be wild and woolly with two spots on the podium in Steamboat (and eight World Cup freestyle medals in the last two weeks) and Patrick Soreide from the cold north of Norway is far from home but could ride the bull for a medal. US mogul superstar Jonny bruised his back during the X-Games in Crested Butte, CO last weekend, but maybe he'll show Moseley off a Rodeo Japan Air to indulge us.

	Jonny Moseley [click]

Local northern California boy Moseley grew up skiing around Tahoe, and as Heavenly pours freestyle star syrup, he's on top of the stack with other US Olympic gold medalists Bergoust and Stone from last year's Winter Olympics in Nagano. Pour it on thick.

Top Gun on Gunbarrel, sponsored by Sprint, will air in the US on January 30th at 2pm EST (11am PST) on NBC.

— Michelle Quigley, in the bleachers for The Mountain Zone