"The peaks in Colorado are so sick," said Murray Buchan, a 13-year-old Scottish skier. He stands no more than 5 feet tall and sports a bright red stripe through the center of his dusty blond hair.

He is visiting the Colorado mountains for the first time with four fellow skiers and snowboarders from the United Kingdom. They're all between the ages of 13 and 16, and they're all Olympic contenders.

This British invasion comes with a crew of cameramen and journalists to record the "wicked" rides these teens take for "Rad TV," an extreme sports show on the U.K.'s Channel Five network.

In the show's eight-year lifetime, it's been nominated for four awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

"It's because we don't patronize the kids," said Christian Stevenson, who produces and presents the show. "We treat them like adults. Little adults - that's what they are, really - wise beyond their years."

The team gathered at the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool Sunday to catch some rays and a little air. The teenaged skiers and boarders seemed most content with their feet off the ground: They twisted and flipped into the water and hopped out immediately to do it again and again.

Stevenson is an American who sported bare feet, baggy jeans, long hair, and list of extreme sports film and television credits just as long. "Rad TV" takes its name from Stevenson's frequent use of the word "rad." He's lived in England for more than 10 years and finds his own children's posh British accents amusing.

He assembled this group of five skiers and snowboarders for their skill, and began planning this three-week tour through the western United States two years ago. The kids won't miss much school as the adventure spans their two-week spring break.

After Glenwood Springs, the skiers and boarders head to Aspen and Snowmass then on to Utah for a helliskiing adventure.

The crew already visited Breckenridge and spent the weekend in Glenwood Springs, where the kids explored Glenwood Caverns on the Wild Tour, squeezing through tight, dark spaces. They also found plenty of time to soak up some sun and float in the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool.

Of course, they didn't just float.

"A tenner to the winner," Wayne Yates, the show's director, said before tossing a Nerf ball into the water. The skiers and snowboarders competed to see who could not only catch it the most, but also look the coolest doing it.

Without hesitation, they hurtled their bodies off the diving board - all in a day's work for these guys.

"Murray had to go down the mountain in the meat wagon," Stevenson said about the skiing adventure in Breckenridge last week. "He was hobbling, but he kept diving. He told me, in his Scottish accent, 'I'm startin' to get sore, Christian. Think I'll have to give it a miss ... after one more.' And he just kept going."

Murray grew up in Edinburgh and learned to ski on dry slopes - mountains covered in plastic bristles.

"You wear regular skis," Murray said. "It's a lot harder to make your turn on dry slopes and to get the speed."

Murray plans to make the 2010 Olympics.

"My da' skied, and he got my mum into it," Murray said. "It was a whole family thing."

Stevenson said he always brings at least one girl along on his tours for "Rad TV." This time around Laura Berry, a 16-year-old snowboarder from England, was the only girl.

"She is one of the most important snowboarders in the U.K.," Stevenson said. "That's actually what Snowboarder Magazine said about her. She's nuts, man. She can hit a 15-stair handrail."

Ben Kilner, a 16-year-old snowboarder from Aberdeen, Scotland, tried out for the 2006 Olympics.

"I didn't manage to get quite enough points," Kilner said.

"He was this close," Stevenson said as he pinched his index finger and thumb together.

The group is finding a real adventure in Colorado skiing, even in the late season.

"Breckenridge had some real nice kickers," Murray said. "The parks here are so much more advanced than the ones in Europe."