Skrillex brought beats to Buttermilk for X Games Aspen 2015. Photo courtesy Tomas Zuccareno/ESPN Images
When X Games Aspen 2015 wrapped up Sunday night in Colorado, it closed the curtain on the biggest, most-viewed Winter X Games yet. It showed there’s new blood waiting in line to take the torch from respective elders, added technology advancements in terms of media coverage, and even brought in the XBox generation to open it up to an even broader audience. Following are a few tidbits from the trenches.
It’s entertainment
Sure, it’s the athletes who draw the biggest buzz. But this year X Games execs spiced things up by enhancing their musical offerings with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Skrillex, Chromeo, and Wiz Khalifa—just a microphone cord’s length away from the action-packed competition. No word on if the performers hit the slopes themselves, but many went on to perform at downtown Aspen’s coveted Belly Up club in the weekend’s wee hours.
It’s family friendly
The X Games are truly an event for the whole family. Nowhere is this more evident than in athletes posing for photos and signing autographs with adoring kids immediately after their final runs while heading to the exit area. Add in a glow-in-the-dark corn hole arena; stations prompting attendees to throw footballs, hit hockey pucks, and shoot basketballs for prizes; and countless interactive booths for onlookers of all ages and the result is an event for everyone from groms to grandmothers.
It’s popular
The estimated attendance at Saturday evening’s Big Air Finals, held in conjunction with the Skrillex and Chromeo concerts, came in at a whopping 48,500 people, a new record. Local authorities say the number dwarfs the entire population of Aspen’s Roaring Fork Valley, which currently stands at 32,500.
Hop on the bus, Gus
Held at Buttermilk, one of Aspen Ski Corp’s four world-class resorts, the X Games venue isn’t big on parking. No matter. Organizers borrowed buses from across the West to shuttle viewers from remote lots flanking the event. Above retro-fitted X Games logos, bus signs read everything from Arches and Bryce National Parks to Moab River Runners.
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The athletes are tough
The athletes put it all out there for their shot at fame and glory. So much so that onlookers cringed at a spate of falls in the Men’s GoPro Big Air Finals Saturday evening, which was eventually won by Vincent Gagnier. But the athletes would bounce back up, wave to the crowd, and then get towed up behind a snowmobile for their next run, most of them nailing their moves the second time.
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There’s a new generation
Competing in his first major event since he bowed out of the Sochi Olympics with a fourth-place showing, perennial favorite Shaun White could place no better than that at this year’s SuperPipe Snowboard event, with a score of 82 to gold medalist Danny Davis’s wining 93.66. Then, in Women’s SuperPipe, Kelly Clark, going for her unprecedented sixth X Games gold, took fourth while 14-year-old Chloe Kim took the gold, becoming the youngest athlete ever to win X Games gold.
There’s a whole lotta love
This played out when Colten Moore won the gold in the Snowmobile Speed & Style event with a score of 90.62 to Joe Parsons’ 83. But more important, he was riding in memory of his brother, Caleb, who died in the same event in 2013. Moore also won the event in 2014 on the anniversary of his brother’s death.
X Boxers come to X Games
In an effort to continue attracting a younger demographic, this year ESPN used its X Games venue to host a Major League Gaming eGaming tournament, drawing players from all over the world to an XBox game tent at the event’s base. Some of the world’s best battled it out to announcers’ calls in Counter Strike and Call of Duty while the action sport athletes flew through the air just outside. MLG cofounder Mike Sepso estimates more than 2 million people watched the action online.
Fine leather-bound couches to sip those cocktails on … if you can pony up the $250 for VIP at X Games Aspen. Photo courtesy Eric Lars Bakke/ESPN Images
It’s dry…
While it is a raging party, don’t go to the Games expecting to drink. It’s alcohol-free, which is probably wise. Big spenders can pony up $250 to get a gold pass into a bar where you still have to buy your drinks, or the elite can gain access to a food- and libation-filled VIP tent, but other than that you’re on the wagon for the evening. Even the concerts curtailed imbibing; you were allowed two beers, getting an X marked on the back of your hand for each one to show you’re not bending the rules.
But the town’s not
According to city sales tax figures, the X Games weekend racks up almost $1 million in liquor sales throughout the four-day event. What’s trending? According to liquor store The Wine Cellar, Fireball and beer are the beverage of choice among attendees, with tequila-and-soda cocktails close on their heels.
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It’s high tech
This year marked the first year ESPN used GoPro-equipped drones to help capture the footage, which took some serious negotiating with authorities from the nearby private-jet-filled Aspen airport. In another high-tech move, the footage employed GoPro’s newest technology enabling the footage to be broadcast live.
Ty Mahan and Hannah Teter (who pushed for the event’s inclusion months ago) competing in the Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding final during X Games Aspen 2015; Photo courtesy Tomas Zuccareno/ESPN Images
There are no barriers
Showing that there are no barriers to participation, this year’s X Games included a Special Olympics Dual Slalom for the first time, pairing a Special Olympics athlete with an X Games athlete to compete in a dual giant slalom race. In its inaugural showing, the duo of Chris Klug and Henry Meece took home gold in the Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding event, with the silver going to Hannah Teter and Daina Shilts and the bronze to Scotty James and Zachary Elder. And in the Snowboard X Adaptive event, Mike Schultz, a six-time X Games gold medalist in adaptive snowmobiling and motocross events, took to riding thanks to a Moto Knee he designed in conjunction with St. Cloud, Minnesota’s BioDapt Inc. The event was eventually won by Keith Gabel.
For more X Games coverage, click here.
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