Gretchen Bleiler came in hard on the inaugural Winter Dew Tour last season, beating out Kelly Clark and Torah Bright to winning the first event, at Breckenridge. She ended up bowing out of the rest of the tour (Clark won the next event, at Mount Snow; Bright won at NorthStar) and left the Dew Cup for Kelly Clark. She’s got plenty on her plate this year with five U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix events, but says she’s got the Dew Tour on her mind as well: She’s a threat to win any contest she enters, and we caught up with her this week to get a sense of where she’s at and what she’s been up to.

I know you’re heading into a busy couple months with the Grand Prix, the Dew Tour, X Games, the Olympics… What’s on your mind coming into the season?

GB: I’m just really excited to get the season going. It feels like we’ve all been talking about this season and thinking about it for a really long time now. I’m just glad it’s here. It’s all good: Good vibes right now, and I’m just having fun getting back into it now.

You came home from Torino with a silver medal. Now that you have some perspective on it, how much has changed in women’s snowboarding since 2006?

GB: Oh it’s crazy. A lot has changed! I think the biggest thing is that going into 2006 the U.S. was a really dominant force. Since then, everyone’s really caught up, all around the world. Everyone’s just all around better riders now. The amplitude is better, the tricks are better, the grabs are better. Women’s snowboarding has come a long, long way. You’ve now got a variety of everything, from inverts to switch backside spins, switch frontside spins, it’s all at a high and highly technical level. There’s a lot of talk on the men’s side about the double corks, but I think everyone’s going to be surprised by what some of the women are bringing too: Watch for some double cripplers and other crazy stuff this season.

There’s a lot going on between now and the Olympics. Are you going to be going for it all? Can we expect you at all of the Dew Tour events?

GB: We’ll see how it goes. Definitely the Olympic qualifiers, the five Grand Prix events, are the priority for me. I’m not going to push myself any harder than that if I’m not feeling it, because that’s a lot within a period of two months. I want to go into the Olympics with a lot of energy and excitement, and I want to be having a lot of fun, so I’m just going to play it by ear and listen to my body, see how it goes. But I won the first event of the Winter Dew Tour last year and had a lot of fun, and I’m planning on competing at Breckenridge again this year. If I can manage to go for more than that this year, I will. I’ve been doing this long enough now to know what’s best for me, so I’m just going to listen to that.

What did you get up to in the off-season?

GB: It’s pretty much a year-round sport at this point! I was at Mount Hood for a couple weeks with the U.S. team, which was an amazing session, and then went to New Zealand and was there for a month. That was the longest time I’ve ever been in New Zealand and it was really productive. I got a lot done, got a lot of good riding in, and built up a lot of confidence.

I know you’re a fan of men’s snowboarding, too. As you’re looking at the men’s competition, what’s it going to take this year?

GB: It’s definitely a whole different game for the guys this year. Everything’s changed with these new double cork tricks everyone’s trying. You can feel the tension in the air with all of these guys. It’s gonna take amplitude, it’s gonna take really clean, progressive riding, back to back combos, grabbing all the way around, really putting everything out there. What distinguishes people is their style, and there are a handful of guys who are throwing these double corks consistently. It’s just putting everything out there, is what it’s going to take. There will be a lot of falling this season, because people are going to be going for it.

Are you still living in Aspen?

GB: Yeah. Aspen’s amazing. I got married this summer, and my husband and I also have a place in San Diego, but Aspen’s always going to be home in the winter. It’s just such a supportive community there. I travel around the world and wherever I go I compare it to Aspen. Nothing has quite compared yet. It has a special place in my heart, for sure.

Who are some of the other girls to shout out coming into this season? Who have you been really impressed by?

GB: As far as U.S. riders I’d say all of the U.S. Snowboard team girls, so… Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Elena Hight, Ellery Hollingsworth, and Clair Bidez, and then the rookie girls, Katelyn Farrington, Lizzy Beerman, Kaitlyn Farrington, and Made Shaffrick. Internationally… Soka Yomaoko’s a great rider, Torah Bright’s always one to watch for. It’s a good thing we’re all friends, because it’s gotten really competitive lately.

How do you handle that pressure, to be able to keep up with the level of progression and stay on top of it?

GB: It’s completely mental. What you can do in the pipe when it’s just you and your buds training is one thing, and what you can do in a big competition is another thing altogether. It’s a pressure situation, and when it’s a pressure situation it’s more mental than physical, just overcoming yourself and your thoughts.