It's In Aspen...
There's all kinds of exciting stuff happening this year at Winter X Games VI and a big part of that excitement comes from the fine sport of snowboarding. The first thing that comes to mind is simply the fact that they're in Aspen. I mean Aspen? It seems like Aspen was the exclusive playground for the rich and famous. But now this beautiful mountain town is home to more than just vacation palaces fit for MTV Cribs. Even though these homes are only used for about two weeks out of the year, the people paying for them resisted the youth driven culture of snowboarding. They didn't want a bunch of unruly punks coming to their mountain and hangin' in their town. That is of course until their own children became those "unruly punks." I mean it wasn't until late last season that Aspen Mountain even allowed snowboarding. And now they have the Winter X Games.

The Maroon Bells overlooking Buttermilk Mountain.

Terje Signed Up...
Another thing that's exciting about snowboarding in Winter X Games VI is the roster of competitors. I mean you've got first timers like Marc Frank Montoya bringing some flava' to the field, hometown girls like Gretchen Bleiler gathering support from the local chicks who rip and of course there's the return of Terje. That's right Haakon is scheduled to compete in all three disciplines. His name was added to the list last minute and not since '99 have we seen his skills at Winter X. Given Terje's views on competitions and his past history with actually competing in the ones he's entered I guess the real question is; will he actually ride? We're all probably curious as to whether or not he's still got it, my money is that he does.

Terje in mid Haakon Flip at the Arctic Challenge.

Palmer Might Show...
Then there is Shaun Palmer. He's been training in his own private superpipe, getting back his old bag o' tricks and maybe even some new ones. Rumors have it that he wants to come to Winter X and compete in all three disciplines. Maybe he heard about Terje and wants a piece of him on the BoarderX course, maybe he wants to medal in yet another Winter X discipline, maybe he just wants to party in Aspen. Whatever the speculation, the same question still comes to mind; will he actually show? Only time will tell.

Pizalm with one of his many Winter X podium appearances.

No More Big Air...
Probably the biggest surprise to many followers of the Winter X Games is the fact that Big Air is no longer a snowboarding discipline. Everybody has his or her own opinion on this one but the real reason is that ski areas offer pipes and parks, not just one huge kicker. And when sessioning the park there's plenty of big air, so why not just show off your big air moves within a slopestyle run where you have to keep your line tight all the way through? So only having superpipe and slopestyle makes sense because that's what we ride, pipe and park.

Todd Richards gettin' down with his bad self in last year's Slopestyle.

Exciting Indeed...
A new town, new courses, new competitors and talk of outstanding entries. Winter X Games VI in Aspen is going to be exciting for all the right reasons.

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