Why "Hotdog?"

We’re bringing back the Hot Dog Open as a tribute to The Mountain Top’s original identity. Back to a time when the Hot Dog Mountain logo was iconic, the terrain park was the pulse of the hill and top riders from across the region came here to progress. The name itself draws from the roots of “hotdog skiing,” a term coined in the 1970s to describe a bold, freestyle approach to skiing where athletes performed expressive tricks and high-spirited maneuvers to impress the crowd. The first Hot Dog Open took place in Aspen, Colorado, celebrating creativity and style over pure speed—an ethos that still resonates today.

That spirit is deeply connected to our own history. Professional skier and Mountain Top native Ashley Battersby grew up here, riding fast laps in the terrain park while her parents worked ski patrol and taught on the hill. The short lift lines and quick runs at Grand Geneva allowed Ashley and her peers to get endless repetitions, pushing limits and progressing together—an environment that helped shape a future pro and foster a tight-knit local community of talent. Reviving the Hot Dog Open pays homage to that era, when the terrain park was the center of gravity and progression culture thrived.

With Ashley’s leadership, this year’s event is designed to closely mirror the professionally operated competitions she experienced as both an amateur and a pro—ensuring today’s Wisconsin skiers and riders have the same opportunity to push themselves, find their style, and level up. The Hot Dog Open returns not just as a competition, but as a celebration of the legacy, imagination and identity of terrain park riding at The Mountain Top.

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