The 2012 Winter X Games is hosted every year in Aspen Colorado.  As a local in the community, one of the many perks is getting to see more of the behind the scenes setup before it all begins.

Walking around the premises, I could feel the tension in the air just about as much as I could feel my toes getting numb.  

Looking around, everyone was set at a pace somewhere in between a walk and a run trying to get everything ready for the big events.  

The next day marked the beginning of the 2012 Winter X Games here in Aspen, Colorado and I was oh so lucky as to choose this as my travel destination for the winter!

Surrounded by a midst of almost, but not quite nearly anxiety as all the ESPN employees prepped their gear for the days practice runs, I broke out my camera and starting taking pictures to give you a better idea of what it’s like the day before the X Games Madness!  Enjoy!

The 2012 Winter X Games in Aspen

Marking the entrance to the X Games, where there is no line today, the next 4 days is going to be a totally different story!

All of the vendor’s were nearly ready for opening day tomorrow.  This was only a small portion of vendors that were plastered all over the site.

The Freestyle course was wicked!  I can’t wait till I get to the point where I can try this out!

Here you can take a peek at some of the athletes checking out the course although it’s starting to get dark out at this point.

Would you make that jump?  I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me tomorrow.

The snowmobile course was wicked as well!  Talking to a friend of mine that attended the X Games last year, he told me that one “team” of two guys rode on the same snowmobile…and cut a backflip!  How awesome is that??

Here is one of the ESPN guys getting ready for the athletes to start their first practice run before the big competition.

As the sun began to settle down for the evening, we were blessed with this beautiful painting of purples, blues, pinks, and whites just before the action began.

While watching them practice, I witnessed athletes doing all kinds of crazy tricks….over 30 ft in the air!  Whether it had been a back flip, 360, or anything else I was just amazed at the skills of the competitors.

The super pipe is by far the one course I’m looking forward to besides the big air competition on Friday!  Stay posted because over the next few days while the competition is occurring I’ll be posting many photos and updates of this years Winter X Games!  If you’d like to check them out, you can visit the following links:

Day 2: 2012 Aspen Winter X Games Events

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

Video Breakdown & Major Wipeouts at the Aspen X Games

Have you ever been to the Winter X Games in Aspen Colorado?