Winter X Games in Aspen

On Thursday night I arrived in Aspen for the 11th annual ESPN Winter X Games. I arrived just in time to see a few of the final runs of the women’s snowboarding superpipe. However, my attention was sidetracked as it was my first time at the X Games and the scene is amazing. I didn’t realize that it is ESPN’s largest production bringing in over 25,000 people. What’s impressive is that it’s all FREE! …even the parking. They even let you bring stuff into the venue! …like cameras! Since I was able to bring my camera in most of the stories will come from the photos. It’s been 48 hours here and I’m still speechless of what I should write, but I guarantee the photos will do a lot of talking.

To be at the Winter X Games is second to only one dream (of the same category), and that’s attending the Stanley Cup winning game. It’s the 11th Winter X and I have probably watched every one of them except the first couple before snowboarding consumed my life. I remember watching and reading about Shaun White before he was even a teenager, even though I’m only a few years older than him, he’s some sort of role model. What he has done for snowboarding in the modern era is unprecedented. He has single-handedly brought snowboarding to the forefront of American culture. The celebrity he has become is out of this world, and there is no place in the world and no time in the year that it is more visible than at the X Games. This is the heart of snowboard culture, the culture that I love. To be here is a dream come true, and as the photos bring out more stories, it will show that to be here has been a dream, within a dream, and within another dream.

This is one prime place to throw out as big of a thank you as possible to Jeep for supporting me on this trip. Jeep is the biggest sponsor of Winter X this year. Going to the X Games didn’t even cross my mind until… I got an e-mail from my Jeep contacts asking me if I could make it to the X Games. The idea didn’t come to my mind even once. I’m not sure why, probably just because I’ve been so immersed in my trip. That night I found out… I couldn’t sleep, as restless as can be. How great is it that The Hometown Invasion Tour brought me to the X Games? I wouldn’t have guessed it. Jeep’s booth at the games is fantastic! It’s the “Jeep Tag Shop” where several graffiti or tagging artists will tag just about anything for you. From my advertising background they did a great job finding a fit with the snowboard culture. And then there was the totally decked out Jeep Rubicon. I shall put it on my birthday wish list.

In addition to all these mumbled paragraphs there’s one other quick topic to mention, professional snowboarding. Now of course there are other sports at the Winter X Games, but snowboarding is my passion, my love, and will someday be my life. To see Danny Davis (Tear it up Danny! Thanks for representing Michigan and being an amazing up and coming rider), Danny Kass, John Jackson, Shaun White, Antti Autti, Travis Rice (Rice’s hero), Jussi Oksanen, and so many more is amazing. Seeing it on television does not compare. The amplitude, speed, style, and consistency will stick in my mind forever because it sets a new bar of what I need to achieve when I strap my board back on. Watching a 1260, double rodeo 1080, double back flip, and especially a nice stylish huge 720 in person is much more than you can imagine from a television. It’s going to be very hard to conclude my snowboard season with this as I head to Nebraska then south to Texas. More than ever it makes me want to push myself snowboarding.

Once again, a big THANK YOU to the folks at Jeep who have been so supportive not only of my trip, but of snowboarding which is a lifestyle and sport I love.