So I guess the big news in Boarder X this year is the fact that Shaun "six Winter X Games gold medals already" Palmer took first in his semi-final heat, sliding out flat on his chest in an out of control spin, knocking himself unconscious in the process. But more on that later.

The weather, beautiful. The location, Aspen. The conditions, perfect. If you looked up at any part of the day all you could see was blue, and all that blue in the sky made visibility what I like to call super primo excellente. So everything was just great.

Watching Boarder X in person is really a great thing, you get a true appreciation of how much these guys are hauling ass around turns, keeping speed over crazy tables and doubles, all the while six riders deep. And don't forget the 115-foot table waiting for everybody right before the finish.

Ine out in front of the pack.

The course was very fast without that many controlled banking turns. The women put on a strong show and displayed some serious board control as they moved through the brackets and into the finals. These chicks seriously rip. The final round saw Ine Poetzl in the lead with Erin Simmons a close second, moving into the monster table at the end. Both Ine and Erin hit the knuckle on the final push towards the finish (as many other men and women did) and ended up sliding part edge and part butt into the finish. Despite this less than perfect ending the results held true as Tanja Frieden kept control over the final table and came in a close third. Go girls go!

"It's fun. At the beginning I was thinking that it was kind of small but then when I started to double all the stuff I realized how fast it was," said the winner, Ine Poetzl. "The triple at the top is crazy, you really have to pre-ollie that one, otherwise you land on the third transition. The course is in nice shape but they could slow it down with some airtime jumps."

From left to right - Erin Simmons, Ine Poetzl and Tanja Frieden.

Now for the men. The first news would be that Terje actually did compete but he got eliminated in the quarterfinals after a ninth place qualifying run. Maybe the pipe will treat him better. Next would be that heavy hitter Drew Neilson had a scary run in with Xavier Delerue in the same semifinal heat where the infamous Palmer knockout took place just two years ago.

"I'll be back next year and I hope I don't have bad luck in the semi finals," said Neilson. "Xavier hit my helmet down in front of my face on mistake. When I was coming over the last four of those off-camber whoops, he didn't mean to but he swung his arms to pump when I crossed behind him in the air, and he accidentally knocked my visor down into my face. I couldn't see a damn thing and I just started bouncing and I bounced right out of the course. I guess it wasn't meant to be right? I still had a good time though, and I'm just glad we're not in Vermont" he added with a laugh.

Philippe took that hole shot all the way to the finish.

OK, now on the same run, Palmer grabbed the hole shot and was far in the lead coming over the last set of doubles when he got a little squirley coming into the last table. He took off a bit off balance with his weight going towards his nose in the air, and everybody knew something was a little off. He landed halfway down the tranny, compressed his board, caught an edge and went straight to his face with the force of a downed elephant. Palmer had so much speed that his momentum took him across the finish line, still on his chest but totally unconscious. Once conscious, he went to the medical attention area to watch the crash from a special feed. While there, he asked friends like Mike Jones (who came over from the MotoX practice area once he heard Shaun was out) what happened because he couldn't remember his run. After a couple of minutes and words of encouragement he mounted up the snowmobile and shot for the top. Would he actually come back to race the finals? That's what was on everybody's mind. In the end, his coaches, and senses, kicked in and he decided to bow out.

"I'm still retiring, I still went out on top," said Palmer. "I didn't get the gold but I crossed the finish line first in both my heats. I just want to say goodbye to all my fans and pass the torch to somebody else."

Shaun's goal was to come to Winter X and win gold in a final Boarder X, then retire. He sure went out with a bang.

So now the finals. French speaking Philippe Conte, making his first Winter X appearance took the hole shot and didn't look back. He did however have some stiff competition on the top of the course from Winter X V bronze medalist Seth Wescott who was showing solid recovery from a torn ACL. But in the end Philippe just rode faster and by the bottom of the course the only thing taking him out of gold was a bad fall. But that didn't happen and Mr. Conte threw a big roost to shut down his speed at the finish line while the cameras came a runnin' for that post-win money shot. Philippe was a little disappointed that he didn't have a chance to race The Palm though.

From left to right - Seth Wescott, Philippe Conte and Berti Denervaud.

"I've known this guy for a while now and I've never raced the X Games before and it's a pity because I really wanted to fight this guy. We've been fighting before, and I can get him sometimes (laughs). My goal here was to get him like I did last season at another Swatch Boardercross race, so I have to come back next season (laughs)."

Yes Philippe, I guess you will, but unfortunately Shaun won't be returning.

Check out the Boarder X Full Results

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