Aspen – Claudia Bouvier’s right eye was nearly swollen shut.
“It was the 9 to the face,” said the 19-year-old Boulder skier, describing her failed 900-degree rotation off the giant final jump – known as the “money booter” – in the past weekend’s Aspen-Snowmass Open.
The inaugural event on the same snowy features as last month’s X Games featured more than 300 skiers and snowboarders from eight countries. Every aspiring ripper was hoping their display could land them under the bright lights the next time X illuminates Glitter Gulch and maybe even the brightest lights in Whistler, British Columbia, in four years.
“I watched the X Games and I decided I needed to come here,” said 15- year-old New Zealand skier Jossi Stone, whose fluid ski style and mammoth airs have led many to consider him the next Tanner Hall. “It’s so sick to come here and ride the same pipe the best in the world were riding only a couple weeks ago.”
All the athletes pushed themselves to their limit. Some further. The sled-toting ski patrollers at Buttermilk ski area were busy with plenty of broken bones, bloodied noses and blown knees. Many times the communal gasps from spectators outblared Guns N’ Roses on the speakers.
It wasn’t the minimal cash prizes that fueled the young athletes to push their bodies to the brink. It surely wasn’t a desire to beat their fellow riders. It wasn’t the medals either.
“I guess I am part of the next generation of girls coming up,” said Bouvier, a Vail-bred former racer who finished second in the women’s slopestyle contest. “I’m just trying to get as high as the bar that’s already been set.”
The athlete’s reward, it seemed, was the high-fives of fellow rippers and the notion that their sometimes sacrificial efforts were widening the breadth of what were once niche sports – slipping and flying down halfpipes, rails and massive jumps.
“I dreamed I would be their age when this sport is where it is today,” said Rex Thomas, a founding father of freeskiing who manages ski maker Atomic’s international team of freeskiers. “I love the fact these kids are getting opportunities like this that I never had.”
The youngest competitors slapped ski poles and mitted hands with their heroes. The bigger name heroes pushed their younger counterparts to keep their shared passions inflamed and their sports thriving. Every skier and boarder applauded each other’s effort, even if the performance booted them from a podium finish. That’s a unique aspect of freeskiing and snowboarding comps: No matter who wins the bling, the sport wins.
“I try to give them advice and tips and get ’em stoked. Yeah, they’ll be my biggest competition coming up, but it’s what we have to do,” said Oregon’s Sammy Carlson, a 17-year-old skier who last year emerged from the shadows of jib skiing as one of the most skilled skiers in the pipe and on the slopestyle course.
Not even two years ago, Carlson was one of those young unknowns, eagerly chasing the biggest players in the game. With advice and tips from stars like Peter Olenick, the 21-year-old veteran champion from Carbondale who won last weekend’s slopestyle and placed second in the pipe, Carlson has started winning their gold medals.
“This is the place for kids from all over the world to come and be discovered and compete on the same terrain and same level as their sports’ top athletes,” said Ryan Miller, Aspen Skiing Co.’s event marketing manager who spent five years building the hugely popular U.S. Freeskiing Open as an employee with now-defunct Freeze magazine.
The first Aspen-Snowmass Open was unique because it combined men’s and women’s snowboarding and skiing contests. Also, it was open to all comers, unlike the invitation-only contests like the Freeskiing Open and the X Games. That means it was a rare opportunity for the rising stars of snowsports. In two years, these are the X Games medalists. In four years, they are the Olympians.
“This is one of the biggest competitions of the year for sure, because I get to ride against some really good riders,” said Matt Ladley, a diminutive 14-year-old snowboarder from Steamboat whose strong 900s in the pipe earned him fourth in men’s slopestyle, beating more than 100 boarders. “The Olympics would be so cool. It would be such an honor. I’m gonna get there.”
