The design and build of the WX 2012 venue
This week, the most accomplished winter action sports athletes will flock to Aspen, Colo. for Winter X Games 2012. Awaiting their arrival loom some of the most challenging courses in the business, designed and built by Chris Gunnarson, Chris Castaneda and their crew at Snow Park Technologies. With approximately 5,000 man hours invested in the build, the Winter X venue is a force to be reckoned with. Want a sneak peek at what ski, snowboard and snowmobile athletes will find in Aspen this year? Here it is.
Slopestyle
Perhaps the most exciting addition to the Winter X courses for 2012 is man-made light. For the first time in WX history, the men's Slopestyle events will be held in the evening, under the lights; 330,000 Watts of power will light the way for the best jumpers and jibbers around. The Slopestyle course is more jump-heavy than in years past, with four jumps (referred to as the "Financial District") and just two jib sections. Riders greet the first jib section, which features a 25-foot-tall Red Bull wallride, straight out of the gate. In the second jib section they will jib a bright-blue Jeep on their way to the four-jump Financial District, which culminates with the 80-foot Money Booter.
Big Air
The Big Air jump is an 80-foot step-up jump, built specifically with triple corks in mind. The jump has been moved back to the skier's right of the SuperPipe, near the bottom of the Slopestyle course.
SuperPipe
The SuperPipe in Aspen is so good, that the specs for the pipe have remained the same for three years now. Last year's silver medalist Torin Yater-Wallace calls the pipe "Perfect." The walls of the 22-foot-tall SuperPipe are currently being groomed to perfection by pipe guru Frank Wells. The course has an 18-degree pitch, which gives athletes the speed they need for the huge tricks they will be throwing above the 22-foot lip (Shaun White threw a 19-foot, 11-inch method in his winning run at Winter X 2011). In the 66-foot-wide, 567-foot-long SuperPipe, skiers and snowboarders will get between six and seven hits each run.
X Course
The 2012 X Course will follow much the same route as it did in 2011. Racers will face 4,060 feet of X Course, bumping and gliding their way over rollers, berms, jumps and gaps to the finish line. Six athletes will start each heat, but with such a challenging course it is almost certain that not all will finish. The start gates are actually suspended in the air and athletes will launch themselves approximately 14 feet to snow, where they will fight for the holeshot. Some of the X Course's most stand-out features are the 13-foot banked turns that are cut by the Zaugg, the same machine that cuts the SuperPipe. The finish-line jump features three take-offs that offer 50, 65 and 80-foot options.
Snowmobile Freestyle/Best Trick
With SnoCross removed from the roster for WX 2012, the Freestyle course has room to breathe. The course will feature four SuperKicker jumps (approximately 70-feet long) and one BAR jump (Big Ass Ramp) that is approximately 100-feet long. Best trick will feature one landing with multiple take-off options, as riders will need different gap lengths to execute different tricks.
