Buttermilk Hosts Three Top-Tier Freestyle Events
Ever since Buttermilk Mountain started hosting the X Games in 2002, recreational skiers and spectators have grown accustomed to seeing 100-some athletes throw double corks in the superpipe and go huge off the big air jump each January. But in 2025, Buttermilk goes even huger as a winter action sports mecca, hosting not just the X Games (January 23–25) but also a leg of the Toyota US Grand Prix tour and Visa Big Air contest (January 30–February 6) and the launch of Shaun White’s The Snow League (March 7–8). The result will be an unprecedented triple bill of prestige freeski and snowboard events in Aspen.
“To do it all here in one season is going to be pretty wild,” says John Rigney, senior vice president of business development for the Aspen Skiing Company. “This is a favorite landing spot for these athletes, and it’s a nod to the people—our events crew and our parks and pipes crew—that have done such a good job here.”
In 2021, Buttermilk was the site of the X Games and a Grand Prix, as well as a last-minute replacement venue for slopestyle, halfpipe, and big air events in the freestyle ski and snowboarding world championships. But in that COVID-impacted year, the events were held with no spectators and no ancillary goings-on, making the vibe entirely different than this winter’s planned extravaganza.
The X Games have undergone an evolution in the past few years too. In late 2022, MSP Sports Capital bought a majority share of the event from founder ESPN.
The 2024 competition was the first at which all spectators were charged admission, and live music was no longer a part of the experience. This winter, tickets will again be required for up-close viewing—with a half-off discount for locals—and live music returns (though not in the format of the massive headliner concerts of the past, when artists like Snoop Dogg and the Chainsmokers took the stage in front of tens of thousands).
More significantly for the athletes, X Games announced a new partnership with US Ski and Snowboard last summer to create the Winter X Games Series. Traditionally, participation in the X Games has been invite-only, but the series will guarantee spots to winners of certain competitions, like the Toyota US Grand Prix, US-hosted World Cup events, and the US Revolution Tour, aimed at up-and-coming 13- to 19-year-olds.
“The X Games is a very important part of the snowboard and freeski ecosystem, and so for us to work more collaboratively with them was an opportunity,” says Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of US Ski and Snowboard—the governing body for snowsports competition in this country. “I think on both sides, there’s an interest in giving more opportunities to the next generation of younger athletes to participate.”
The X Games Series will debut in full next winter, but this season brings a soft launch, with an X Games Street Style Pro event added to the US Grand Prix’s Copper Mountain stop in mid-December. The winners of the street style, as well as of that Grand Prix’s halfpipe comp, will earn invites to the X Games in Aspen the following month.
When the US Grand Prix rolls into Aspen five days after the X Games, Buttermilk’s pipe and park will be primed for the more than 200 athletes the event draws. But, despite some overlap with X Games competitors, no one should have an advantage in slopestyle, says Rigney, since the course’s top section—before the huge, final jumps—will be altered before each competition.
The major-league action quiets for just a bit as the developing athlete-focused Revolution Tour takes place at Buttermilk (February 8–12), the middle one of three stops. And then the world’s elite snowboarders return with the debut of The Snow League, the first of four international stops on this new tour.
Conceived by three-time Olympic gold medalist and snowboarding legend Shaun White, The Snow League will have a field of 36 invited athletes from 15 countries, with an overall men’s and women’s champion named at the end of the season. It’s the first-ever professional winter sports league for snowboarding and freeskiing, according to Snow League rep Jen Peros. In addition to White’s star power, there’s another big draw: a $1.5 million total prize purse.
“Aspen is one of his favorite places to ride,” says Peros of White’s decision to launch the league here. Indeed, White won his first X Games medals (silver in halfpipe and slopestyle) at Buttermilk in 2002 when he was just 15. The Aspen comp will feature halfpipe and slopestyle snowboarding; the other three events will cater to both freeskiers and snowboarders. Though details were still being hammered out in November, The Snow League will also include other elements—
music, parties, gatherings of industry luminaries—around Aspen.
Whether you catch one event or all at Buttermilk this winter, be prepared for a frenzy of freestyle action like you’ve never seen before. It might even inspire you to hit one of the resort’s terrain parks yourself.
The best place to spectate for all three events is at the base of Buttermilk (no lift passes needed). The X Games require ticketed admission and will have grandstands for seating (from $50). The Toyota US Grand Prix and The Snow League are free to watch. The latter will also be broadcast in an hour-long special on NBC. Pro tip: While the base area will be busy, Buttermilk’s slopes will likely be emptier, making it a prime time to ski the mountain. And you’ll be able to see some of the action from the Summit Express chairlift.
By: Cindy HirshfeldI Aspen Sojourner I December 30, 2024