ASPEN — In the frequently frenetic, blurred and always action-packed world of extreme sports, one steadfast reality has become clear: The Winter X Games are flipping over snowmobiling.
And the buzz about the sport is even louder as some elite snowmobile riders coming this week to Buttermilk Mountain have been talking about flipping a 450-pound machine — twice.
Minnesota’s Levi LaVallee said Wednesday that he will give it a go Friday night in the X Games’ new “best trick” event for snowmobiles. The notion of a double backflip on a snowmobile — akin to what motocross rider Travis Pastrana did at the 2006 Summer X Games on a dirt bike — has been brought up by snowmobilers for months. No one yet has tried it in competition.
“I don’t think the idea is ridiculous at all. It’s gnarly,” said Paul Thacker, who briefly held the distance jumping world record of 271 feet. “But it’s definitely mathematically possible, and there are some guys out there that I think have the skills to put it to snow.”
He mentioned Dane Ferguson, a fellow Alaskan, whom he said “is just crazy enough to give it a shot.”
Currently, there are four riders entered in the best-trick event — LaVallee, Ferguson, Joe Parsons and Jimmy Fejes.
LaVallee said the double backflip requires huge air to fit both spins between leaving the ramp and hitting the snow. He credits the possibility of accomplishing a double back to his backyard foam pit, a giant above- ground container brimming with foam blocks, where he practices.
“It is the coolest toy on earth,” said the 26-year-old snowmobile racer. “And it’s a great tool. The progression is so fast with those things, because you are able to try absolutely ridiculous stuff. One year a guy does a Superman flip, and the next year everyone looks at it like, ‘No big deal. What’s next?’ Enter the double back.”
There are fewer than a dozen riders in the world capable of landing even a single flip right now. A failed attempt at two could lead to a crippling injury or even kill a contestant.
Still, the sight of what amounts to a 450-pound sofa on skis rotating upside down about 40 feet in the air induces a surreal trance like no other — except, of course, seeing it flip twice.
“You look at the X Games as a whole, and everything out there is dangerous,” said Chris Burandt of Kremmling, the 2007 X Games gold medalist in snowmobile freestyle. “Those guys boosting 20 feet out of the superpipe — like 40 feet total off the ground — that’s pretty ridiculous. But if you put a 450-pound snowmobile into the mix, it kind of heightens the danger a little bit, I’d say.”
Burandt, 30, is considered one of the pioneers of freestyle snowmobiling. The Thornton High School graduate wasn’t the first to land a flip on a snowmobile — that credit goes to California snowmobiler Jim Rippey, who first pulled off the feat in 2000 — but Burandt’s ensuing mastery of that trick and several others has earned him accolades as arguably the world’s best all-around rider.
His 110-foot flip in 2007 won the X Games gold in dramatic fashion, and until the second rotation is added to the mix, it remains the benchmark two years after freestyle snowmobile competition debuted at Winter X 11.
But even Burandt had a hard time wrapping his brain around the single flip in the early going. He spent days jumping into a friend’s foam pit, progressing from BMX bike to motorcycle to snowmobile, before eventually landing the trick on snow.
“At first, the flip was really hard for me because everything about it is wrong. Everything is backwards,” he said. “When we go off a ramp, it’s natural to correct yourself to land right. Now you’re wanting to go the other way, and everything looks backwards when you’re upside down. You see the ground above you and the sky below you and all this crazy stuff that you’re not used to seeing. . . . But like everything else, you get comfortable with it.”
The new best-trick contest brings the number of Winter X snowmobile events to four, including snocross, free style and the Burandt-invented speed and style contest airing tonight.
“Freestyle snowmobilers have the respect of that crowd, and yet they are also drawing the snowboard and ski crowd,” X Games general manager Chris Stiepock said.
Respect should be an abundant commodity when the consequences of a failed flip are considered. It’s been a full year since Burandt has been upside down. He still suffers from the mental anguish of a multi-day concussion after being knocked unconscious in a crash while practicing the flip for Winter X Games 12.
“There are guys that are out there pushing the sport, and I used to be one of those guys, but now I’m moving on and going just a little more safe,” he said, adding that the risk is no longer worth the $25,000 first-place reward. “Unfortunately, injuries are going to happen to everybody. It’s just something you accept and try to keep to a minimum.”
During a recent training day at Burandt’s compound outside of Kremmling, he and other top riders — Thacker, Sam Rogers and Justin Hoyer — took turns launching their 600cc sleds off ramps and performing their arsenal of tricks onto a man-made mound of dirt and wood chips, their substitute for snow away from the X Games venue.
According to the riders, the icy landings at Aspen are far less forgiving.
“One of the first things anyone says after they see us just jumping off ramps normally is, ‘You guys are nuts,’ let alone when they see us hucking backflips,” Burandt said. “Everyone can relate because pretty much everyone has been on a snowmobile at least once, maybe when they were 12 or whatever, but they just can’t imagine doing a backflip or even going off a ramp on a snowmobile. Even just straight air on these things is pretty spectacular to watch.”
Staff writer Jason Blevins contributed to this report.
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
Going big first
A look at some of the momentous tricks that have been pulled off at the X Games:
1999 skateboard, Tony Hawk’s 900: After 10 failed attempts, Hawk lands 2 1/2 rotations after time expires in the best trick competition.
2000 bike stunt, Dave Mirra’s double backflip: “Miracle Boy” was the first to land the move in competition.
2002 moto X, Mike Metzger’s back-to-back backflips: Metzger landed the first motorcycle backflip in X Games history over an 80-foot gap, later landing two in a row.
2006 moto X, Travis Pastrana’s double backflip: The X Games veteran is the first to land the double on a motorcycle in competition.
Scott Willoughby
X Games schedule
TODAY
10 a.m.-noon: Women’s snowboard superpipe elimination
2-2:30 p.m.: Snowmobile speed and style seeding
7-7:45 p.m.: Snowmobile speed and style final
7:15-8:30 p.m.: Men’s ski superpipe final
8:30-9 p.m.: Snowboard big air final
FRIDAY
9:30-11 a.m.: Men’s, women’s snowboardcross seeding
10-11:30 a.m.: Women’s snowboard slopestyle elimination
12:30-2 p.m.: Men’s and women’s skicross seeding; men’s snowboard slopestyle elimination
2-4 p.m.: Mono skicross qualifying
5:30-6:30 p.m.: Women’s ski superpipe final
7:30-8:30 p.m.: Snocross first round
7:45-9 p.m.: Women’s snowboard superpipe final
9-9:30 p.m.: Snowmobile next trick final
SATURDAY
11-11:45 a.m.: Women’s skiing slopestyle final
1-1:45 p.m.: Women’s snowboard slopestyle final
1-2:30 p.m.: Men’s and women’s snowboardcross final
2:30-4 p.m.: Men’s snowboard slopestyle final
6:30-8 p.m.: Men’s snowboard superpipe elimination
7:15-7:25 p.m.: Snocross last chance qualifier
8-8:30 p.m.: Snocross final
8:30-9 p.m.: Ski big air final
SUNDAY
11 a.m.-1 p.m.: Men’s and women’s skier X elimination
Noon-2 p.m.: Men’s and women’s skier X final
1-2:30 p.m: Snowmobile freestyle elimination
2:30-3:15 p.m.: Mono-ski X semifinals and final
2:30-4 p.m.: Men’s ski slopestyle final
7-7:45 p.m.: Snowmobile freestyle final
7:30-9 p.m.: Men’s snowboard superpipe final
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, in one instance, it had an incorrect year for Chris Burandt’s 2007 backflip.
