View from corral of a Buttermilk lift and the jumbotron. Image: Brett Ploss.

Report from January 27-28, 2024

The X Games

Overview of X Games event venue. Image: X Games Website.

The Aspen airport is located steps from the base of Buttermilk Mountain where the X games are held. Although this weekend is pricy, so many fans not within driving distance fly into Denver and make the four hour drive.

We left early Saturday to get into town and take a few laps on Aspen Mountain before Men’s Slopestyle at 10:30am. The mountain was not crowded which made for some nice morning laps off of Ruthie’s.

From the base there were signs to the bus loading for Buttermilk Mountain. There is a separate shuttle this weekend since the crowds going to the games are high.

We arrived to the event seeing DJs, tents, and activities for all ages.

New this year were corral passes for $30 during the day and $45 at night. These tickets let you get closer to the base which provided an area with less crowds. There are still free zones available to spectate. To get very close with a VIP or XIP pass will run around $1000+ per day.

Few of the last slopestyle jump from the corral. Andri Raggetli in white jacket. Image: Brett Ploss.

From our spot, I was able to see the base of the third jump on the slopestyle course. During the day, we watched men’s slopestyle, women’s snowboard knuckle huck, women’s ski knuckle huck.

This was the first year knuckle huck was added to both disciplines of women’s athletes. In the past, it has been a hit for the male competitors.

From our spot in the crowd, we were able to see the events well with a large screen for the tricks athletes completed out of view.

The women who competed in knuckle huck were impressive, some took airs big and went past the painted lines on the jump.

Later that night were women’s ski superpipe, women’s ski big air, men’s snowboard big air and men’s ski knuckle huck. We were able to get back to our same spot with the night corral tickets.

From our location, we were within feet of the athletes and could hear them talking about their runs. This was a great experience for someone who has watched the games/athletes their whole life.

Getting back to Aspen was easy with constant busses arriving at the end of the night to a line that was set up and managed well.

Highlights

Taiga Hasegawa loading on a snowmobile on his way to another run. Image: Brett Ploss.

Eileen Gu’s half pipe win
Taiga Hasegawa spinning faster than I could count to win men’s big air
Rell Harwood winning women’s big air
Colby Stevenson/Henrik Harlaut/Jesper Tjader all going big at men’s knuckle huck to place in that order
Full Results

Aspen Mountain

With a gondola in the town of Aspen, Aspen Mountain boasts 675 acres + 153 new acres = 828 acres, 3,267 vertical feet and 76 trails.

Aspen added a new high speed quad lift, Hero’s over the summer. It accesses terrain to lookers left and added 153 acres to the resort.

Getting over to the lift from the top of Silver Queen Gondola is easy by skiing right and looking for the new trails.

Similar to the new Mahogany lift in Steamboat, Hero’s is not groomed. For those of us who love bumps, the new terrain is amazing. Access is mostly expert terrain with a blue cut through the middle.

A great addition to the mountain with new views I’ve never seen in the past.