Winter X Games 15 Are Upon Us!

Groomers have been busy on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Co. The Winter X Games are upon us once again, and the competition will kick off at 10:00am MST tomorrow morning. ESPN will begin their coverage around noon, and will be providing us with live 24 hour coverage throughout the four day event. ESPN.com will be streaming live video and live chat for the duration, and the site has initiated it's "X Countdown" (12 hours, 58 minutes, 15 seconds to go!) I am SO STOKED! I think I watched every second of the WX 14, including the 1am-2am X-Center wrap-ups. I will be a little busier this year, but I will be religiously checking ESPN.com for daily highlight steams.

Louie Vito does an aerial above the halfpipe during the Men's Snowboard Superpipe Eliminations at Winter X Games 14 at Buttermilk on January 28, 2010 in Aspen, Colorado. Vito finished seventh to advance to the finals. Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images. Jan 28, 2010

Many WX competitors have been showing off their skills at the Dew Tour, recently held in Breckenridge CO and at Killington in VT. There were some wicked good performances from the freeskiers this year, my favorite of which is Bobby Brown. Brown blew us away at last years WX 14. He scored perfect 100s and stole the gold in BOTH freeski slopestyle and big air competitions last year, becoming the first freeskier in X Games history to win two comps in the same year. In his big air performance he landed the first ever switch double misty 1440. Brown showed his colors again in this season's Dew Tour by ranking first in the freeski slopestyle comp. Russ Henshaw only ranked fourth, but I'm expecting to see great things from him at WX 15. As for this Dew Tour's freeski superpipe, Kevin Rolland (FR) and Simon Dumont(US) tied in score for the top two positions. Rolland took the gold in last year's WX superpipe comp, and Dumont dominated the gold medal in both the 2004 and 2005 WX.

Louie Vito was looking great at the Dew Tour, scoring perfect 100s in the men's snowboard superpipe category at both the Nike Open and Killington comps. Next up on the rankings list is JJ Thomas, who has fifteen years of competing under his board. A female superpipe boarder that I'm eager to see out there is Kelly Clark, who ripped up the Dew Tour pipe, earning her a nomination for "Powerbar Performance of the Year."

There will be a lot of talent on the slopes this year at the Winter X Games 15. If you are anywhere near Aspen right now, you should be at Buttermilk Mountain bright and early in the morning. Since the X Games are FREE to spectators, there is no excuse not to partake in the buzz. If you can't make the trip until next year, then hopefully I will see you there (providing that my dreams come true and I make it out there.) Until then, tune in and RIDE HARD!

 For all WX 15 info, go to espn.go.com/x-games