The Line of the Week !! – 11 Year Old Ripper

Aspen Spora blasts out of a cannon at Northstar

The Line of the Week
Northstar-at-Tahoe

11 Year Old Ripper

It was my first time meeting the unofficial mayor of Northstar Ski Resort. I thought I knew a bunch of people in Tahoe, but after walking through the village I realized that I was documenting a legend in the making. Every ten paces or so we were high fived and greeted by someone else. From young to old, boy to girl, snowboarder to skier they all seemed to know Aspen Spora. Aspen is pretty much the “Doogie Howser” of park and pipe skiing.

At just over 4.5 feet tall, Aspen let’s his skiing speak for itself. He took first place in the USASA Rail Jam this past weekend and competes in events all over the area. Both well spoken and well mannered it is no wonder that he was just asked to be the pipe forerunner at the 2012 X Games later this month in Aspen, Colorado.

I picked him up at his place and quickly realized that he was going to be a joy to work with. On the lift I had better conversations with this 11 year old ripper than half the bro-bra’s at Squaw. From his 360 grabs to rail slides, he worked the park with cool, steady calm.

A day earlier they had taken out the biggest hit in the park which made 540′s and backflips a no-go. Aspen’s major beef was that the day we shot Danny Davis had rented out the half pipe which meant that he could not air out of the pipe for the camera.

Aspen slides a rail in the Northstar park

Stay tuned for Aspen Spora to light up comps in the near future!

“I’ve been skiing for 9 yrs. my favorite thing about skiing is that its fun and that you always want to push it to the next level.  My dream has always been to be a pro skier, you see pros just doing things that you couldn’t even imagine. When you land a trick that you’ve wanted for years it just gives you a feeling of invincibility, give it a fist pump, YEAH!!! I look up to the pros because they can do so many tricks. I just want to strive to that level. When I think about just ME, I think of how far I’ve came with the sport. It feels amazing. This year I enrolled in an online school.  It lets me live my dream. Ski, school, repeat, ski, school, repeat, Ski, school, repeat, ski, school, repeat, Ski, school, repeat, ski, school, repeat, Ski, school, repeat.” – Aspen Spora

Aspen Spora

To  see more of shots of Aspen, check out:
http://ryansalmphotography.photoshelter.com/gallery/Aspen-Spora/

The Line of the Week is a weekly photo piece by Ryan Salm featuring some of Tahoe’s finest athletes doing whatever we deem rad. We will be using the term “Line” loosely to describe anything resembling chutes, big airs, pointers or any general madness. All images are the property and copyright of Ryan Salm Photography. All images are only to be used in conjunction with the Line of the Week. Any other usage must be cleared in writing by Ryan Salm.