Winter X Games: The place where dreams can fly
- Details
- Created on Friday, 28 January 2011 07:00
- Written by Dena Rosenberry
While Shaun White probably was napping in a slopeside chalet Thursday afternoon in Aspen, Blair Wallace, 7, was in a mini terrain park at Buttermilk ski area.
Slipping and skidding off a long metal “box” about 6 inches off the snow, rarely landing well, Blair slid on his belly about as far down the shallow incline as he ever stayed upright.
See photos from the Winter X Games at Buttermilk.
Over and over he hiked the small hill to try again. White, who has two Olympic gold medals in snowboarding and 10 at the Winter X Games, is his hero.
“We gonna see Shaun White. He’s here,” Blair announced between runs. “We’re going to be right by the (superpipe) and it’s gonna be sick.”
Read about how on-slope tricks continue to get wilder with more amplitude.
Behind him, on giant TV screens, freestyle snowmobilers launched through the air, flipping their monster machines off a giant ramp and landing yards and yards below.
See a video interview with Shaun White at the Winter X Games.
The Winter X Games, in its 15th year, has taken over the front face of Buttermilk ski area near Aspen through Sunday. It’s an international snow sports event with a bit of a rock show-carnival atmosphere. Sure, snowboard maker Burton has a booth here, but so does a video camera maker and Warheads, the candy company.
This also is a place where kids can meet their idols, copy their style and dare to attempt their in-park moves.
“This is absolutely the best kids event ever,” Tori Campisi, of Aspen, said as sons Charlie, 9, and Cooper, 11, waited to show their stuff in a free competition for young skiers. The XFest SnowPark, in the shadow of the massive pro slopestyle hill, is a sort of Little League for snow riders. Younger brother Tyger and sister Carson, watching their siblings’ every move, are “futures,” Campisi says.
“We were here last night.” The proud mom whips out her cell phone and flicks through photos.
In one frame, kids crowd around skier Torin Yater-Wallace of Aspen, who at 15 is the youngest competitor in Winter X Games history. They’re all smiling.
“It was great,” Campisi says.
Minutes later, Charlie hits the kid-size box in competition. He spins off the backside. “Charlie Campisi, getting pretty ambitious,” a commentator announces to the crowd.
Family, friends and other young skiers and snowboarders line the fence around the snow park, five and six people deep. Cell phones and handy cams are pointed toward the rails, boxes and small wall as the pint-size competitors copy their heroes. The kids’ first competitive moves are captured in pixels to share with distant relatives and, maybe one day, in a “making of a champion” video feature.
“They all say one day they’ll compete here (at the X Games),” Campisi says. She shrugs as if to say, “why not?”
“And here comes Cooper Campisi,” the commentator intones. “Stylish moves on the down bar.”
Mom beams.
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