Winter X Recap

By Alyssa Roenigk | January 26, 2009 |

From Park City to Aspen. Not a bad overnight turnaround. This year’s Winter X Games were special for many reasons. Here are a few. (Because I am now doing the Aspen to Tampa overnight turnaround for Super Bowl XLIII, this entry is going to be short and list-like.)

Levi LaValle’s double backflip. The moment women’s halfpipe finals ended, I ran to the freestyle course to get as close to the landing as possible. I couldn’t miss the second first double backflip ever. Especially after writing a book about the first one! Levi had a bit too much distance on his landing, missed most of the transition and was bounced from his sled on the landing, which was clean otherwise. He pulled the trick and should have won the contest.

The women’s halfpipe contest was progressive, but had way too many falls. This was the first year the X Games had a 22-foot superpipe, instead of the previous 18-foot pipe. This is what these athletes will compete on in Vancouver, so they need to spend more time in the bigger pipe. Unfortunately, there is only one other 22-footer in the U.S., in Park City, Utah.

I thought men’s snowboard superpipe was going to play out exactly as I had predicted in my feature on Kevin Pearce. It didn’t, he took second to White. I’m not a judge, but I thought Pearce’s run was better. So did a lot of the folks watching at the bottom of the pipe (where I was) and at home.

My niece Karlee, my mom Joy and cousin Lauren all came out to Aspen for the weekend. That was a blast. They got to watch events like VIPs, meet athletes, get autographs and play in three days of constant snowfall. It was fun to show a few first-timers around the Winter X Games (and one of my favorite snow cities in the country).

I finally won the NAVY snowboard! Every year, the NAVY sponsors a booth at Winter X and gives out a snowboard to a male and female who win their pull-up contest. In the past, the top five pull-uppers were put into a drawing and the winner got a board. I was always in the drawing, but never won the board. This year, there was no drawing. The top male and female simply won the board. That was Friday. The rest of the week, I spent time getting autographs and plan to auction the board off for charity. I think I am going to save it and get it inked up at summer X, as well. Stay tuned.

Now, I’m off to Tampa. From snow sports to the Super Bowl …

LITTLE MISS ASPEN. (MY MOM)