Dane never had something other kids always had in Rossland- school. Being home schooled Dane skied the hill and trained during the day and flipped through his books at night. Like other successful Rossland skiers Dane put his time in with Red Mountain racers, but it was the free skiing that he was doing on the side that had others talking.

Originally sponsored by Salomon for ski racing, Dane gradually traded his spandex in for bibs at big mountain competitions and slope style events. At only 14 Dane trekked down to Crest Butte for the junior big mountain competition. Needless to say Dane left an impression that still prevails to this day. Freeskiier Pip Hunt once said to me, "People still mention Dane as the young ripper from Rossland who won the junior competition but could have easily placed top three in the open men's category."

Dane is no longer 14 and now can officially compete with the adults of freeskiing. This year Dane has had a break out season filming with Theory 3 Media, podium finishes at big mountain competitions, 4th at the Red Bull Cold Rush, US Open, Salmon Jib Academy and honorable mentions at several terrain park competitions. Dane has been living on the road, booking his schedule up with numerous park and big mountain competitions.

"Being a diverse skier is highly important to me. I want to be on top of the game and win both park and big mountain competitions," says Dane. Dane fully embodies what it takes to be a professional skier in today's day and age and looks up to the likes of Tanner Hall and Jon Olson who cross-over in big mountain, ski racing and park.

Dane possesses a unique ski imagination that allows him to turn a big mountain venue into a natural terrain park. This was on display at the Red Mountain Freeskiing Open when he "transformed his skis into magic wandsâ and gapped an entire cliff band." as Jeff Holden, a Senior Freeski judge described Dane's Semi Final run, put it. Here at Biglines.com we even entitled the Red Mountain competition "The Dane Tudor Show"- because you never knew what he was going to do and he skied so aggressively and confidently despite jumping out to a massive 6 point lead on the opening day. He didn't look capable of crashing.

I recently caught up with Dane while he was at Red Mountain filming with Theory 3 Media. I was not surprised to see that Dane had gathered a mini fan club who high fived him for his colossal style off the enormous jump built for the Theory 3 shoot. Between jumps I quizzed Dane what was next to which he replied, "New Zealand."

Dane is now gearing up for his endless winter and preparing for his second summer in New Zealand where he plans to "hang out with friends, train in the park and establish my name there."

Despite Dane's age he possesses a very global and determined vision of what he would like to do within the ski industry. He knows that "Park is where the money isâ" but the the respect is in the big mountains. Needless to say Dane is an emerging force in skiing who has a big mountain string to his bow at a very young age that will only continue to evolve. If you haven't heard of Dane Tudor already, now you have...