Once again, the biggest show in skiing has taken over Aspen, CO: The Winter X Games 14. The first official day of practice at Buttermilk saw competitors take on the feature known as the Superpipe. Akin to skiing into the mouth of an icy dragon, the 22-foot, impossibly long superpipe has been painstakingly crafted by Frank Wells and SPT.
With the temps falling into the “cold ass” range, the competitors spent the evening flowing and getting used to the pipe, as this is the first 22-foot pipe competition of the year. Dumont, Olenick, Margetts, Riddle, were all boosting, while other competitors chose to flow. Jossi and Byron Wells, Dumont, Olenick, Margetts and Bertoni all started to get a wee bit technical. Men and women, skiers and snowboarders all shredded the pipe in perfect unison while the beat master DJ played songs that surely paralleled the Billboard Top 100.
Unfortunately, Jess Cumming and Mike Riddle both took spills today, so we await their status tomorrow if they will be scratched from the event. If so, we wish the both of them a speedy recovery. And if not, we hope to see them out and about at tomorrow’s practice sessions.
Tonight was just the first of many mayhem filled days and nights to come. Right now, the epicenter of competitive freeskiing is in Aspen, CO. The world’s eyes will descend upon the small mountain town, in hopes of glimpsing one of the sports legends or rising stars. Stay tuned for all your X Games coverage, right here at Freeskier.com Up tomorrow, slopestyle previews.
