The Brotherhood of the POW / PVA 2011

Its a BIG night if Colby wears the harness cam. click 4 pix.The Powder Video Awards (PVA) is the biggest night in skiing. Its the Oscars of the ski world. Powder Magazine, the best eye-candy provider in the biz, went full throttle for the 2011 PVA's. The Historic Wheeler Opera House in Aspen provided a new and exciting venue for the awards.  Erected in 1889, The Wheeler probably has never rocked harder than last Friday night. It was...

 The Brotherhood of the POW.

The White Carpet was traversed by the very best BIG Mountain skiers, filmers, photographers and their peeps.  Tuxedo's were replaced by sponsor 's hoodies, bandanas, head phones and knit caps.   Legendary rippers like Seth Morrison, Tanner Hall , Ingrid Backstrom and Sage Cattbriga-Alosa ambled their way up the stairs at The Wheeler. Production companies including Matchstick Productions (MSP Films), Teton Gravity Research (TGR) and Poor Boyz Productions brought their film crews and the best photographers on snow were represented in force.  

Click 4 all the results.  2011 PVA Results

Mitch "Rad" Scott took over duty on the mic. and kept the show moving.  Coveted  PVA Awards for Best Jib, Best Line, Best Manmade Air, Best Powder, Best POV etc .were dolled out to the superstars of skiing.  "The most outstanding POWDER skiers in the world are in Aspen tonight...and i'm proud to be sitting amongst them" admitted Andy Party, Editor of AspenSpin.com  Dana Flahr winner of the Full throttle Award explained "we all love it when its soft and deep", to which Party added "you can't put a number on someone else's fun-o-meter".

Best Photo winner: Dave Mosson.The PVA's are always a special event. Powder mag 's annual awards extravaganza attracts skiing talent from all over N. America. It's a gathering of the tribe. Skiers from Whistler, Squaw, AK,  Utah, Mammoth, Sun Valley, Montana,Telluride and even Vail.  The sickest birds on the planet show up in Aspen to share The Brotherhood of the POW.  These are people who "send it" for a living. Its not just the on-screen performers, its also the filmers and shooters who risk their lives in the "no fall zone" to get the stuff on camera.  It's clear that everyone in the room digs powder. It's a celebration unlike any other, its a special bond, a commonality, a kinship.......

The Brotherhood of the POW.Click 4 pix.

2 time winner Ahmet Dadali (best jib and breakthrough performer)with Kyle Decker and their ladies. Click 4 pix.Suzanne and The Samsung /Verizon/ Powder Girlz. click for pix.Readers Choice Winner: Tom Wallisch. Power to the People.

The Party Train

When Aspen is rolling there is no other party train like it.  The pedestrian mall is in close proximity to over 100 drinking establishments. During X Games there are several additional sponsor-related venues.  You can get your swagga on and still walk or take the bus anywhere.  The dirty little secret is printed on t-shirts; Aspen, a drinking town with a skiing problem.  Luckily there was no fresh POW...so AspenSpin was able to turn it on one more time.  We went non-alcholic and non-energy drink all weekend in an effort to keep up with the pace.  We had some good times and snapped some great pix.   Click the links to see the photos.

OAKLEY MEDIA BASH (+1) 

MARLEY SAFE HOUSE   

               BIG BOI 

BACKBONE MEDIA LOUNGE

Doing it all @ X Games 15.

X Games 15 in Aspen, Colorado is history.  It was the most action-packed four days of the season in Aspen.  The athletic competition is the nucleus of the weekend, but like all major sporting events in America the promotional machine attached is a BIG part of it. The action in Aspen was non-stop.....24/7 ..... brah.  We tried to take in as much of the pomp and circumstance as possible.  We have tons of photos to share.  Click the links below to see all the party pix from AspenSpin.   Special Thanks to A-Spin sponsor Raifie Bass and professional photographer Daniel Huerlimann for sharing their pix.

Click 4 AspenSpin party pix:        Let the X GAMES Begin.

                                                 SUPERBOWL of SNOWSPORTS

Shaun White contemplates how HUGE to throw in practice. Photo: Raifie Bass / AspenSpin.com Cliick for more pix.Wild Horses. Photo: Daniel Huerlimann / Beelde Click 4 more pix.So BIG, so smooth and so stylie. Photo: Raifie Bass / AspenSpin.comBaboon shot. Photo: Daniel Huerlimann / BeeldeWhoa Nelly!!! Photo: Raifie Bass / AspenSpin.comBIG Air in the BIG Time. X Games 15, Aspen Co. Photo: Daniel Huerlimann / BeeldeGretchen Bleiler and the Aspen groms. Winter X Games 15. Photo:AspenSpin.com

Progression, Amplitude, Shredability, Mega Mo and Money Booters.

Shaun White 4-peated while wearing ladies pants and a black leather. Photo: Eric Bakke / ESPN ImagesThe X Games is the Olympics of Action Sports..... and its a MACHINE. Winter X Games 15 is the 10th Anniversary of Winter X Games in Aspen. Its been a wild, wild ride.  ESPN's baby is "all growed up".  Aspen /Snowmass and ButterMilk are locked in as the site for the 2012 X Games....but ESPN has been non-committal about an extension past next year. The seemingly symbiotic relationship may be on thin ice. AspenSpin's spyder senses indicate a change of venue may be coming after 2012...we'll see if that 's the call.  X Games has been good to Aspen, and Aspen has been good to X Games. One result.....Aspen Spin has some sick pix coming soon.

ESPN's X Games brings many things to Aspen....most obviously....a younger demographic.  On Saturday, a record 41,800 fans attended the X Games and for the weekend a roof shattering 114,200 souls came to B-Milk. We're not sure how the numbers were tabulated or who was on the clicker...but it was crowded.  Security at Buttermilk was slightly overwhelmed and buses into the games were temporarily halted. 

The crowds were dense and the on-course competition was fierce. Rock star Shaun White 4-peated in super pipe. Seasoned pro's like Sarah Burke (4th Gold), Tucker Hibbert (5-peat) and Lindsey Jacobellis (4-peat) added Gold medals to their hardware collections.  Young guns such as  Big Air Skier Alex Schlopy,  Stylie French Canadian Sebastian Toutant and 15 year old Aspen local Torin Yater-Wallace took center stage with breakthrough performances.  A changing of the guard seemed to occur right before out eyes.  The weather in Aspen was picture-perfect all weekend.  The "non-alchololic" family friendly, schwag-heavy events at Buttermilk yielded to major league partying in town.  Music was abundant.. Lance Herbstrong, The Mile Markers, Big Boi and The Marley Family  and O.A.R. were a few of the acts gigging in Aspen.  Sponsor parties, autograph signings and  un-limited free stuff was everywhere.  A-Town was swingin' for the fences, but Ajax was empty.

X Games is BIG Air...and like the Olympics its BIG biz.  The partnership between ESPN and Aspen Skiing Company is a combination of business titans.  ESPN is a division of the powerful media conglomerate Disney and Aspen Ski Co. is a privately held asset belonging to the billionaire Crown Family.  Both entities like to be in control...so the fact that they work in harmony is testimony to the HUGENESS of the business opportunities at X.  Sponsors who want to stay relevant with the action sports demo line up to participate.  Jeep, US Navy, Oakley, Samsung, The North Face and more.  Other consumer brands who are not "official "sponsors rent spots along the X Fest corridor or in the Gondola Plaza in town.  Still more brands go the grass-roots route and set up "pop up" promotions in all kinds of crazy spaces---even in the trunks of their cars.  The schwag flows like beer---and everyone knows the beer flows like wine and beautiful women instinctivly flock  here like the salmon of Capistrano...i'm talking about a little place called Asssspen.

ESPN completely takes over Buttermilk  for a month and re-tools the smallest of our 4 mountains.  Aspen/Snowmass gets phenomenal TV exposure, a connection with a younger demographic and boat lodes of dollars from tourists and promoters.  The town of Aspen takes a beating as many of our younger guests forfeit their security deposits upon entering the Roaring Fork Valley.  The partying is excessive and the cops are much busier than usual.  While it's mostly good clean fun... A-spin never condones binge drinking. Aspen will miss Winter X Games in 2013 if ESPN decides to take The Machine to Canada...or some other "not as cool" location.  However, that is indeed our prediction....2012 will be the final X Games in Aspen.  It's been a fantastic run, and honestly we hope A-Spin is reading the tea leaves incorrectly this time.  

Our pix will be up soon.

Daniel Bodin took two Golds at X Games 15 in Aspen. Photo: Eric Bakke / Espn Images

Shaun White combines BIG Air and BIG Biz at X Games 15 in Aspen. Photo: Christain Pondella/ESPN Images.Yeeeeeaah. 15 year old Aspen Local is the youngest medalist in X Games history. Photo: Tomas Zuccareno /ESPN Images

Winter X Games 15, Aspen, Colorado

Winter X Games 15 in Aspen, Colorado moves at the speed of light.  AspenSpin is about 2000 photos behind.   Men's skiing SuperPipe Podium .  Gold:  Kevin Rolland,  Silver: Torin Yater-Wallace, Bronze: Simon Dumont.  Rolland is a repeat Winner is SuperPipe, Yater-Wallace is a 15 year-old Aspen Local and the youngest male medalist in X Games history and Dumont is one of the kings of the sport. Photo: Eric Bakke / ESPN Images.