What's happening in Snowboarding at Winter X

Big Air - 24 men and 20 women
Competitors take three jumps, judged on amplitude, execution, difficulty, landings and use of jumps, from a 60-foot kicker. Last year's winners, Peter Line of Kirkland, Wash. and Tara Dakides, of Laguna Niguel, Calif. look to defend their titles. Last year, Tara clinched the gold with her signature back flip and Peter won with a frontside 900 and solid grabs.

Snowboarder X - 30 men and 30 women
In a three-round bracketed competition, six riders at a time race down a course approximately 2,200 feet in length. Drew Neilson of North Vancouver, B.C. and Leslee Olson of Bend, Ore. came out on top last year, both of them winning close races.

Slopestyle - 24 men and 20 women
Riding a course with more than nine solid hits, including picnic benches, table tops, gaps, and rails, competitors take three runs and are judged on amplitude, execution, difficulty, landings and use of the course. Last year's winners, Kevin Jones of Truckee, Calif. and Tara Dakides, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., rode smoothly and with technical expertise.

SuperPipe - 24 men and 20 women
With a new best of three runs format, this competition is fast and furious. Riding on a pipe 50-feet wide and 400-foot long, rodeo 900s, 720s and double grabbing airs-to-fakies can be performed in succession. Todd Richards and Stine Brun Kjeldaas were last year's gold medal winners.

Look for: Andrew Crawford, of Sandy, Utah, who impressed us last year in the Slopestyle competition with his significant bag of tricks.

Overheard: "The hometown crown was great, everyone was going nuts, yelling our names and watching us?best crowd we've seen all year, for sure." - Vermont native Ross Powers, 2000 Winter X Games SuperPipe Silver Medal Winner.

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