Last winter, Copper Mountain Athlete and part-time Summit County resident Patti Zhou made history at the Winter Dew Tour at Copper Mountain Resort. At only 11-years-old Zhou not only made her Dew Tour debut, but also competed in her first snowboard halfpipe competition featuring adult-level competition.

Lining up against seasoned snowboard halfpipe athletes in Korea’s Gaon Choi and Bea Kim, and Sonny Alba and Summer Fenton from the United States, Zhou proved that it doesn’t matter how old you are in the sport of snowboarding, hucking high above Copper’s superpipe walls and putting on an impressive show.

Zhou ended up putting together two strong runs, earning a score of 89.33 on her first run before improving the score to 90.66 with a backside 900, frontside 720 and switch backside 540 on her second run.

The awe-inspiring run put Zhou into first place for a short amount of time before the 14-year-old Choi topped the younger snowboarder with a score of 95.66 on her second run, which she improved to a practically untouchable score of 98.33 on her third and final run.

To the applause of the audience standing at the bottom of the halfpipe, Zhou was awarded second place at her first Winter Dew Tour, quickly becoming the youngest athlete to ever place on the podium at a Winter Dew Tour event.

“I am really grateful for Dew Tour because it was my first-ever adult competition,” Zhou said. “I was pretty grateful to have all the people cheering me on and having this energy around me. It was just so fun. I love it.”

Before sailing high above Copper’s halfpipe walls, Zhou first began to snowboard when she was just 2 years old in Beijing, China, where she was born. 

“I was 2 when I started to snowboard, and that was in kindergarten,” Zhou said. “My school was a monastery school. My teacher inspired me and all the kids to try different things. She told us to try 12 different things or go to 12 different places. For my birthday, I decided to go snowboarding, and that’s what inspired me to start snowboarding. I am really thankful for my school.”

Once being introduced to the sport through her educational setting, Zhou quickly took to snowboarding and, in a short amount of time, gained the skills necessary to compete at the global-level while representing her home country of China. 

Zhou’s snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing have since progressed her skill on the mountain, where she has gained attention in competitions, snowballing her young career and earning sponsorship deals from the likes of Burton and Sun Bum.

Soon Zhou chose Copper as her home mountain away from home since the Woodward indoor barn and several terrain parks that spread across the mountain allow Zhou to to train at the highest level and reach new frontiers in the sport.

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“Everywhere is fun,” Zhou said. “Copper has this magical glow to it. Whenever you step on the snow there are new things you can try and new places to explore. The barn is also awesome. My little sister loves the trampoline.”

Characterized by an infectious smile and positive attitude, Zhou says she draws inspiration from older riders like Australian snowboarder Scotty James and Japanese rider Ayumu Hirano.

With Hirano featured in the 2024 Winter Dew Tour men’s snowboard halfpipe competition, Zhou is excited to put on a show in front of her idol at her second Winter Dew Tour from Friday, March 8, through Sunday, March 10, at Copper.

Although Zhou has not been able to make a trip to Copper so far this winter season due to issues with her and her family’s visas, Zhou feels confident that her training in China will be able to successfully catapult her to the top of the podium at this year’s Winter Dew Tour.

“This year, I haven’t been able to get a single day at Copper,” Zhou said. “If I scanned my pass it would say, ‘Oh, newcomer!’ I am looking forward to probably getting podium. When I look at the list of athletes I am like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ world-top-three and Olympic-top — so scary, but I am going to try to beat them all.”

With so much potential left to be tapped into, Zhou is hopeful that she will continue to progress her riding to the point where she will get the opportunity to represent China at the Olympic level.

“I hope that I can get Olympic gold,” Zhou said. “I have a dream that I can take my snowboarding and surfing and travel around the world. “

Zhou will take her next step towards her dreams when she competes in the Winter Dew Tour’s women’s snowboard halfpipe final on Saturday from 12:45 to 2:15 p.m. Zhou is scheduled to compete against California’s Maddie Mastro, Vail’s Zoe Kalapos and 2024 X Games gold medalist Sena Tomita of Japan.

Summit’s Chase Blackwell and Lucas Foster are slated to compete in the men’s snowboard halfpipe final, which will take place on Sunday from 9-11 a.m.

For a full schedule of events and list of athletes, visit DewTour.com.