Last night was the first night of the Winter X Games competitions in Aspen, Colorado. The mens ski slopestyle was an event not to be missed. All the big names were out and some new guys too. in the end it came down to the battle between the young rookie, Nick Goepper, and the experienced X Games competitor Tom Wallisch.

Wallisch stomped his final slope run. ‘Nuff Said. 

Wallisch took the lead early on in the final with a score of 93.66, which consisted of 3 runs per skier with the top run taking the cake, but was later one upped by 17 year old Goepper who put down the run of his life scoring 94.66. Wallisch’s final run not only put him back into the lead, but through stomping most likely the best run Ski Slopestyle at Winter X has ever seen, Wallisch put up a score of 96.00, the highest score ever in this event. Goepper’s final run couldn’t compete with the perfect flow and “going big” factor that Wallisch put down in the top rail section and Goepper had to settle for second.

This isn’t the first win for Wallisch this season, infact, had he lost, it would have been the first event he didn’t place first in this year. He has taken every event he has entered this year, and if you take a look at his winning run from Winter X you’ll understand why.

That being said, 17 year old Goepper is not far behind Wallisch and you can expect only progression from him in the next few years.

Here’s a video of Nick Goepper’s qualifying run which put him in first at qualifies.

Here are a few videos from Atomic Skiing of the first two days of practice at Winter X Games 16. You can get an idea of the slopestyle course and halfpipe that will be used in competitions this weekend as well as a behind the scenes look into what is going through the heads of riders in the days before the events.

A Brief History

The X Games was origionally introduced as the Extreme Games in 1995 by ESPN and was held in Rhode Island. There were 27 events in 9 different categories which are completely different than those today: Bungy Jumping, Eco-Challenge, In-line Skating, Skateboarding, Skysurfing, Sport Climbing, Street Luge, Biking and Water Sports. Over the years the (now) X Games morphed into sporting events for BMX, Moto Cross, Skateboarding and even Rally Racing and in 1997 the first Winter X Games. Today the Winter X Games include various Skiing, Snowboarding and Snowmobiling events.

X Games Criticism 

Though there is a lot of hype around the X Games, there is also a number of people who dislike the X Games. The judging systems have been criticized for being unfair for example how some riders have admitted to throwing up their arms after a run because they feel they get high scores.

Another controversy was over the 2009 Winter X  Snowboard Big Air Final when the “public” voted for the winner via text messaging. Sadly enough, though ESPN broadcasts the event internationally, only residents of the United States could vote. This resulted in an upset over Travis Rice’s Double Cork 1080 with a nice added revert getting 92% of the votes over Mikkel Bangs switch BS 1260 as well as Torstien Horgmo who also threw a 1260. Todd Richards, one of the pioneers of snowboarding even stated in order to win, “Torstien would need to cure aids and herpes to win plus do a 14.000.000 (rotation)”.

There are plenty of other criticisms over the X Games, the commercialization of action sports being one, but it’s still a great event to watch on TV in terms of pushing the limits and see a handful of each sports top athletes ride together and have fun.

X Games 16 kicks off today in Aspen, Colorado. The events run from January 26th to 29th and showcase some of the best winter action sports athletes as they compete on some of the best competition courses out there. You can find the Eastern Timezone Tune In Schedule here, and if your in another part of the world, well you’ll have to figure it out yourself (like myself).

What do you think about the X Games? Like? Dislike? Tell us below?

I get the feeling this won’t generate the same buzz as a Lindsey Vonn post on Unofficial yet it’s definitely worth a look. When it comes to sanctioned freeskiing competitions Tom Wallisch is a tough act to follow. With the first stop of this season’s Dew Tour now in the books Tom finds himself in a familiar position: on top of the podium. Couldn’t make it to Breckenfridge to freeze off your little keester and take in only a portion of the action live? Not to worry, Unofficial is bringing the best of the action to you. The scoop on Tom’s winning run: he makes it look all too easy. Here’s the take-away for all you aspiring freeskiing slopestylers out there: practice, practice, practice. Props to the Breck Park Crew: that slope course looked awesome – nice combo of rail and jump features, mixed throughout, rather than the oh-so typical start with rails/boxes and finish with 3-4 pack of jumps.

Inspired? Get out there and play. Hey, with low snowfall, now’s the perfect time to practice those Switch Un-Natural Double Cork 1080s. Congrats Tom Wallisch – pushing the bar again and again.

Couple other notes on the video: 1) All the action goes down in the first 1:15. 2) Don’t forget there’s an option on the YouTube video window to watch this in HD. 3)  Can someone fill me in on why the announcer exclaims, “Oh Papi!!”?

  10 skiers were nominated by the US Ski & Snowboard Association for the first ever US freeski slopestyle team this morning.  These ladies and gentlemen will be competing in the … Read More

Thursday August 25 Caviahue Resort hosted its first ever King of the Park competition. Formerly held at Cerro Bayo, this year in its fifth installation the King of the Park competition replaced jib sets and rails with two tables for a slopestyle and big air format.
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Saturday was the biggest day at Whistler Crankworx!  Not only was a large cheese being rolled down a hill, there was also the Red Bull Joyride event (formally known as the Monster Slopstyle).  The weather was perfect the course was insane, everyone was here to throw down.  There were huge tricks (back whips, doubles, 360 whips) and of course  huge bails (1:40 Holy S!#T Outch). Judging by the fact that on any side of the course you couldn’t see dirt shows how many spectators came up from Vancouver to check out the event. I’d guess that this what the biggest Crankworx turnout yet, over 20 thousand people came to watch this event.

Local BrandonSemenuk got 1st and took home $25k

2^nd was Cam Zink,

3rd Anthony Messere,

4th Greg Watts,

5th Geoff Gulevich.

It was one hell of a show.

It’s 12:30 on Monday in Durban, South Africa and the IOC has just voted to include ski and snowboard slopestyle in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. For … Read More

The FIS plans for the 2014 Olympic snowboard and freestyle skiing venue at the Sochi resort of Rosa Khutor.  photo:  www.espn.com To looker’s right in the top image, the gates … Read More

On Monday April 18th the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival continued with Monster Energy’s “The Show” And the Boarderstyle Time Trial.  Going down in the Blackcomb boarder cross course, riders tied up their tightest boots and waxed their stiffest board and hit the track.  The race part of the event was basically like a normal boardercross the only difference was at then end of the track there was a jump and the Oakley box where the “racers” could throw down.  Stay Tuned to Unofficial as Telus really gets going!  More Parties, More Events, More Awesomeness!

Last week legendary snowboarder Terje Haakonsen and event organizers from the Arctic Challenge wrote an open letter to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) about snowboarding in the Olympics, specifically the … Read More