Winter X-Games Best Tricks: Aspen

At the center of my weekend in Aspen, which was filled with every sort of sensory overload imaginable, was the competition itself. This was the 11th Winter X Games, and it was the most innovative and impressive to date. Attendance records were shattered– there were a reported 31,200 people at Saturday night’s snowboard superpipe qualifying round alone. The name of the game at Winter X is high speed, big air, crazy crashes, style, power, finesse, and infinite combinations of these elements. The evolution of this competition over the years has been a pleasure to watch. Where it was before somewhat marginalized and unknown to the world at large, it is now mainstreamed and respected, lending its ideas to other vaunted competitions like the Olympics. Because I know many of you weren’t able to view the X Games (whether in person or on T.V.), I’ve decided to compile my picks for ‘best trick.’ After the jump, you will see a small slice of what makes the X Games the juicy and delicious pie it is. Enjoy…

Probably the single most impressive feat I saw this weekend was Aleksander Nordgaard’s record breaking 106 ft. backflip in the snowmobile freestyle competition. It was the first year for this competition in Winter X, and the athletes definitely showed up with the talent and balls to make this sport an X Games staple. Please note: the machine that Aleksander is ‘flipping’ weighs about 500 pounds…

Local Aspen/Boulder guy Peter Olenick stuck what has to be the most difficult trick to have ever been attempted in skier superpipe– dubbed the ‘Whisky Flip,’ its a monstrous double backflip with a 180 thrown in at the last minute so he can land in a forward position. I always knew Peter liked to drink ‘doubles.’ Notice the numbers on the height meter next to Peety O…

Jon Olsson’s “kangaroo flip” had me bouncing up in the air. Jon learned the trick on a water ramp in Australia last winter– it’s basically a double rodeo 900… go figure. He stuck it clean every time he attempted it in the Men’s Slopestyle Skiing Finals on Sunday…

I know this final trick doesn’t have any flips, doesn’t involve over 1000 degrees of rotation, and doesn’t have a fancy name, but It embodies all of the grace, smoothness, and height that is the essence of snowboarding– it’s olympian JJ Thomas and his colossal and silky frontside air in the Men’s Snowboard Superpipe finals…