Photography: Michael Hobson
Last week the best in winter action sports flocked to Buttermilk Mountain for the 2017 Aspen X Games! Check out all the highlights from the events; from the winners to the musical talent it was a weekend packed with action!
It was a long weekend on the slopes of Buttermilk Mountain last week. Thousands flock to the popular and famous Colorado mountain town of Aspen throughout the year. But last week brought the best of the best in extreme winter sports. If you didn’t make it to the 2017 Aspen X Games, fear not! OCN has the lowdown on the world’s best action sports, music and festival experience the extreme event brought to the majestic Buttermilk mountain. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Aspen X Games without the amazing athletes. Boarders, skiers, snowmobilers, and the newly added snowbikes were brought from all over the world to compete in the games. Events included: Men’s and Women’s skiing and snowboarding Slopestyle, Big Air, and SuperPipe. Snowmobile SnoCross and the newly added Snow BikeCross were also included. The superpipe is an impressive feat in and of itself, for both the athletes AND the spectators. In all it’s glory it is 567-feet long, and 66-feet wide with 22 foot walls. You could very well stick to the bottom of the pipe. But to get the full spectating experience, hiking up the side of the pipe at basically a 75 degree angle is a MUST. Both men and women, skiers and snowboarders, flipped, switched and showed off their skills ramping off those 22 ft. walls at supersonic speeds. We caught the women’s ski superpipe on Friday and it was a particularly rough start for the athletes. The below-freezing temperatures turned the pipe into a crusty ice rink. Almost every athlete took a tumble toward the food of the pipe, some particularly more painful looking than others. Regardless of the spills, Sochi silver medalist and women skiing role model Marie Martinod took home the gold with an impressive 89.33. Colorado native, Aaron Blunck snatched up the gold medal for men’s skiing superpipe as well. Doing Colorado proud! [gallery size="medium" columns="4" ids="8146,8165,8163,8172,8160,8200,8170,8164,8196,8198,8201,8195,8197"] As for the superpipe snowboarders, there were plenty of amazing tricks and impressive flips to see. Thursday was the men’s chance to show off what they have been perfecting for this exact event. 22-year-old Aussie, Scotty James, took home the gold with an impressive 90 points, miles ahead of the silver and bronze winners. Women’s finals were on Saturday, with Elena Hight, making her thirteenth X Games appearance this year, grabbing the gold with 87.33 points.It was a big year for the female athletes in particular.
Women joined the men in Big Air for the first time ever this year in Aspen. High-flying tricks were a spectacle as athletes soared off the 80-foot jump. Women’s Snowboarding Big Air was won by 16 year old Hailey Langland on Thursday, while Max Parrot took the gold for Men’s Big Air boarders on Friday. For the skiers, Men’s Big Air was won by Brit James Woods. For Women’s, the gold was won by Lisa Zimmermann, the first woman to land a double cork 1260 (Nov. 2012). [gallery size="large" ids="8203,8205,8207,8155,8206,8149,8150,8204"] Snow Bikes made their X Games debut on Friday the 27th. The event included an impressive course and even more impressive athletes. Snow Bikes replace the wheels of a motorcycle with rear tracks (like a snowmobile, but narrower) coupled with a front ski. The race course allowed for big jumps, impressive tricks and tons of high-speed action. Naturally, snow bike pioneer, Brock Hoyer took home the gold. Possibly the most anticipated event was Snowmobile Best Trick Finals. The elusive double back flip was on everyone’s minds as engines revved and visors were lowered. Literally the holy grail of freestyle snowmobiling, it wasn’t a matter of if but when someone was going to attempt the trick. Freestyling pioneer Colton Moore knew the danger of flipping a 500-pound sled not once but TWICE mid-air, but taking adrenaline pumping risks like that is what the X Games is all about. Moore’s brother Caleb suffered a fatal injury at the 2013 Winter X Games by over rotating a single backflip. Attempting the double this year, Colten was bucked off his machine and treated at a hospital for a lower back injury. [gallery ids="8180,8137,8136,8209"] We give these outstanding athletes an immense amount of respect for putting their lives and limbs on the line for their passions. Their drive to do the best and better than themselves is more than inspiring. The X Games is all about pushing limits and bringing out all you have to the snow. Though the Gold for Best Trick finals went to Daniel Boden, he dedicated his medal to Moore and another pioneer Heath Frisby (who’s snowmobile broke on his first run).CONTINUE FOR THE DOWN LOW ON THE MUSIC THAT SHOOK THE MOUNTAIN...
Aside from the games, the musical talent was nothing to scoff at either. The festival events were kicked off by the baron of bass himself, Bassnectar. The stage area was packed to the gills with Bassheads from all over, anxiously awaiting to lean themselves over the rails and head-bang to their hearts content. Igniting the night with four roaring columns of fire, it’s undoubtable Lorin Ashton heated the crowd up, despite the -7 degree weather. [gallery size="large" ids="8175,8178,8174,8177,8176"] Day two had two top artists, well, ‘top’ is subjective, depending on who you ask. Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals took the stage in the afternoon. Shaking up the energy of the audience with his hit Come Down, the crowd was jumping and loving the sound of the talented singer, songwriter, rapper, drummer and record producer. .Paak was recently signed to Aftermath Entertainment, Anderson .Paak’s passion and immense talent shone through. The positive energy of the performance revived the chilly audience. The backdrop of the mountains surrounding Aspen made for a perfect setting to sing along to One Love. [gallery size="large" ids="8189,8182,8188,8185,8183,8187"] The Chainsmoker’s performance was the musical equivalent to soggy wonder-bread. While the radio-infesting pair definitely had a huge crowd, the overall energy of the performance fell as flat as Britney Spears at the 2007 VMA’s. The past few festivals we have covered, the Chainsmokers keep popping up on lineups like a bad Tinder date that just can’t take a hint. Don't get me wrong I was a huge fan of the group 4 years ago! Unfortunately though, the duo has turned into the Smash Mouth of EDM. Cutting into the performance with several quarter-energy “Are you Ready!?!”s and several “One-Two-Three-Let’s Go!!”s didn’t make up for the sleepy off-key vocals and clumsy transitions from song to song. Sorry CS’s but come summer, I think everyone will be ready to Let You Go. [caption id="attachment_8190" align="aligncenter" width="635"]
This was basically their expression the whole show...[/caption]
The entire weekend was wrapped up with a performance by G Eazy on Sunday. The rapper performed a special mini-performance at the base of the Superpipe on Saturday. Which was a great treat for those who attended the events for the Games only. Sunday was capped with a full performance filled with high energy, sick lines and crazy beats.
All in all the greatest show on snow was naturally a huge success. The athletes brought out their absolute best to win that illustrious golden gondola medal. If you couldn’t make it out this year, keep an eye out for next year’s events. While you have to buy a ticket for the musical shows, the sporting events at the X Games are free to attend and enjoy!
