Words by Jeff Schmuck
Photos by John Vandervalk (http://www.majestyphoto.com)
It's that time of year again. The biggest competition of the year, the Winter X Games, kicks off today in Aspen, Colorado. The NS crew is en route to the Superbowl of our sport (or are already there) as you read this, and will be providing you with the ever reliable and daily coverage you've come to expect from us and that we enjoy giving you. But before we get started, we figured we'd give you the lowdown on what's going down over the next five days in Aspen.
This year will be the 13th year of Winter X Games and all the on-hill festivities will be going down at Buttermilk Mountain. This year's event will include the always exciting and entertaining Men's and Women's Superpipe, Men's Slopestyle and Men's Big Air, along with a new addition this year in Women's Slopestyle.
Things will kick off with a bang later today as Men's Superpipe Eliminations take place this evening under the lights beginning at 5:30pm MST, and then Superpipe Finals go down right off the bat this year tomorrow night at 7:15pm MST.
For those of you already in Aspen or who will be making the trek to X, here's the full schedule of all the skiing that will be going down (all times are in MST)...
Wednesday, January 21
4:00 PM - 5:15 PM Ski Superpipe Practice (Men)
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Ski Superpipe Elimination (Men)
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Ski Big Air Practice
Thursday, January 22
12:30 PM - 4:00 PM Ski Slopestyle Practice (Men)
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Ski Superpipe Practice (Women)
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Ski Superpipe Practice (Men)
7:15 PM - 8:30 PM Ski Superpipe Final (Men)
Friday, January 23
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Skiing Slopestyle Practice (Men & Women)
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM Ski Superpipe Practice (Women)
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Ski Superpipe Final (Women)
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Ski Big Air Practice
Saturday, January 24
9:00 - 10:00 AM Skiing Slopestyle Practice (Men & Women)
10:30 - 11:00 AM Skiing Slopestyle Practice (Women)
11:00 - 11:45 AM Skiing Slopestyle Final (Women)
7:00 PM - 8:15 PM Skiing Big Air Practice
8:30 PM - 9:00 PM Ski Big Air Final
Sunday, January 25
9:00 - 10:45 AM Ski Slopestyle Practice (Men)
1:00 PM - 2:15 PM Ski Slopestyle Practice (Men)
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM Ski Slopestyle Elimination & Final (Men)
As we mentioned, we'll be providing you with daily updates (sometimes two or three a day) on everything that's going down, and in addition to our coverage of the actual event, be sure to glue yourself to the site at 7pm MST on Friday, January 23rd as we'll be broadcasting the Powder Awards live from the Jerome Hotel in downtown Aspen courtesy of our good friends at Powder Magazine.
Mark Abma, Luke Van Valin, Uncle E & Jon Olsson at last year's Powder Awards
And for those of you who can't make it to Aspen and love our beautiful words and pictures but want to watch it on TV as well, here's the schedule of when you can check out all the skiing on ESPN (all times are in EST)...
Thursday, January 22
9:00 - 11:00 PM - Skiing Superpipe Men's Final
Saturday, January 24
9:00 - 11:00 PM - Skiing Big Air Final
Sunday, January 25
2:00 - 6:00 PM - Skiing Slopestyle Elimination & Final
For the full spectator and television schedule of other events, log on to ESPN's X Games website.
And last but certainly not least, here's the current list of invited riders that are scheduled to compete...
Simon Dumont
Men's Ski Superpipe
Xavier Bertoni
Simon Dumont
Justin Dorey
Tanner Hall
Peter Olenick
AJ Kemppainen
Mike Riddle
Kalle Leinonen
Jossi Wells
Colby West
Dan Marion
Tucker Perkins
Taylor Seaton
Duncan Adams
Byron Wells
Jossi Wells
Matt Margetts
Matt Hayward
Taylor Seaton
Women's Ski Superpipe
Sarah Burke
Jess Cumming
Virginie Faivre
Jen Hudak
Mirjam Jaeger
Angeli VanLaanen
Grete Eliassen
Roz Groenewoud
Women's Ski Slopestyle
Sarah Burke
Keri Herman
Kristi Leskinen
Megan Olenick
Anna Segal
Grete Eliassen
Kim Lammare
Kaya Turski
Tucker Perkins
Ski Big Air
Simon Dumont
PK Hunder
Jon Olsson
Jacob Wester
Peter Olenick
Men's Ski Slopestyle
Anders Backe
Matt Walker
Charles Gagnier
Andreas Hatveit
Jon Olsson
Tanner Rainville
Jossi Wells
Colby West
JF Houle
Russ Henshaw
Phil Casabon
Peter Olenick
Sammy Carlson
Simon Dumont
Tanner Hall
Colby West
PK Hunder
JF Houle
*This list is subject to change and there are alternates for some of the events (including TJ Schiller, who is alternate #1 for slopestyle), and as soon as we can get our hands on the full alternate list we'll be sure to keep you in the loop.
That's all for now. Make your picks in the comments below and stay tuned to NS for the most bangin' coverage available online of Winter X Games 13 (including more episodes of NSTV!), beginning with our first update later tonight on Men's Superpipe Eliminations.
Justin Dorey
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