It was exciting to attend the events at the Aspen Winter X Games.  After getting the inside look of how ESPN set up the equipment on day 1 of the X Games, I was definitely ready to see what all the hype was about. 

As I walked through the gates and was padded down rather quickly by the security guard, I proceeded forward to have my backpack checked.  

A little upset at having my free Monster energy drink confiscated that I received earlier (although the sign clearly stated that beverages were allowed as long as they were non-alcoholic and were sealed), I pushed forward and began to take a look at what all the chaos was about.  Free promotional gear was constantly being given out by the vendors lined up like pack rats along the side lines of the walkway.  While grazing through the tents I had acquired 1 koozie, over 6 posters, 2 cds, 2 different maps, 2 bottles of hot sauce, a backpack, a handful of stickers and even a tattoo…random right?  

Events at the 2012 Winter X Games in Aspen

Making my way to the Skiing Slopestyle Women’s Finals, I broke out my camera and immediately began taking snapshots of the insane stunts occurring by these 18-24 year old kids.  

After taking a handful of pictures, I suddenly realized what was occurring in front of me and my jaw nearly dropped to the ground!  Sure, I’m only 22 as well, but then again I’m not doing a Switch 1260-jump over an insanely high ramp either!  Gathering my composure, I snapped wildly and almost uncontrollably at nearly every skier flying over these large mounds of snow.

After watching a few more runs and even a few wipe outs (don’t worry no one got hurt! 😉 ), I noticed that some action was occurring over in the SuperPipe so made my way over there.  Now just to give you an idea of how big the “SuperPipe” is take a look at the next picture…

This insanely long, high, and steep pipe is over 22 feet tall and over 500 feet long!  This means that when you see people like this…

…that means they are going over 30 feet in the air…and doing flips, spins and everything else imaginable!  Crazy right? Wrong!  This is awesome!  After watching these guys owning the pipe I heard the very familiar sound of engines rumbling in the distance…this meant the snowmobile athletes were beginning to warm up.  Not to rat on the other competitors or anything, because everything they are doing definitely gives them major props, but I wasn’t going to miss ANY of the snowmobile runs after last nights brief preview!

As I rushed over to the sidelines of the Snowmobile Freestyle Big Air Course, the athletes were just beginning to make their first jumps.  Nothing extremely exciting occurred at first, just a few jumps and maybe them letting go of the handlebars…big deal.  

This nearly resulted in me being slightly turned off of the snowmobiling competition but just as I was about to put down my camera I should have known better because this happened:

And this…

And this…

And even a little of this…

…I obviously ate all of my previous thoughts.  This is some crazy stuff right?!?!  People were jumping everywhere, at MANY different heights and completing many different stunts!  I love all of it.  Talking about living in the moment these guys know how to take it to the limits!  

Although I wasn’t able to be there for the actual competition later that evening (yes even I have to work), I got word that Colten Moore ended up winning the Gold Medal even after crashing during the second heat as he let go of a double grab in midair and couldn’t recover.  Surprisingly walking away with any serious injury, he later won!  Talk about inspirational!

As it was getting closer for me to head back home and get ready for my “normal job” (at least what I consider normal), I left the sidelines of the competition and began making my way back to the gate entrances.  Passing by the Red Bull tent, I noticed that they earlier they wouldn’t allow anyone to go in but now people were rushing inside.  Rushing over to the front entrance, I found out they were allowing a brief amount of people to go inside and check it out…and I made it in!

All I’ve got to say is that it was a big party inside with a DJ, free RedBulls, multiple game systems set up on multiple big screens and many  hot chicks.  Needless to say, I’m going to make a single statement to bring on the conclusion of this article:  “I had a really good time!”  If you’d like to take a look at the upcoming events, take a look at my following blog posts:

Day 3: Aspen Winter X Games insiders look from the VIP Tent

Video Breakdown & Major Wipeouts at the Aspen X Games

If given the chance, would you attend the Winter X Games in Aspen Colorado?