Mons Røisland method grab during Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle. *Credit: SnowBrains.*

The Winter X Games are much more than just a weekend of skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling competitions. It is an entire production that takes an army to plan, implement, and execute. From the athletes to media and TV production to security, medical staff, and the physical building/maintaining each of each course, there is so much that goes into the making of X Games. The 25th annual Aspen Winter X Games is officially wrapped, and across 18 unique disciplines, 54 medals have been awarded.

To start the day, since competitions didn’t kick off until 10:30am, I took a few laps around Buttermilk. With nearly a foot of snow on Saturday, the groomers were soft, the tree runs were full of snow, and vibes were high. I lapped the park, and although the snow was a bit slower, I was still able to cruise through most of the rail section and the solo jump without an issue. As discussed in my Buttermilk conditions report from a few days ago, I am a huge fan of the park at this mountain; its layout makes the ride through low-stress and leaves you wanting to come back for more.

Related: Buttermilk Ski Resort, Aspen, CO, Report: Park Laps, Tiehack, and a Storm a-Brewin’

In yesterday’s Day Two Recap, I explained how technical the Men’s Ski Slopestyle competition is. The Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle field, however, featured a loaded roster top to bottom and was judged similarly. It felt like any one of the competitors could have left with the gold medal, and throughout the competition, the podium was a revolving door with nearly half of the athletes entering the top three at some point. It was an intensely dramatic event with a fireworks finish.

Red Gerard had an opportunity to three-peat here, something that hasn’t been done in Slopestyle for 20 years since Shaun White, but Mark “Sparky” McMorris wanted revenge. In 2024, when McMorris was in position for a Slopestyle three-peat, Gerard prevented that by claiming gold. This year, Gerard had a position to take gold for a three-peat, but on his last run, Mark McMorris came through in the clutch and scored the best of the day, a 96.33. Talk about a full-circle moment: iron sharpening iron. Although rivals on the course, the two are good friends, and watching them go head-to-head was spectacular.

Also coming out of the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals, Marcus Kleveland took home his first X Games medal in three years, a second-place silver, dropping Gerard to third. For almost a decade now, the Norwegian snowboarder has been one of my favorites to watch, whether in competition or on his YouTube channel, which he keeps up to date.

“It feels amazing, it feels so good to be back on the podium. It’s been a rough two years, but I’m feeling amazing right now. This is what we work for, and it was amazing to put one down in weather like this. I feel like the whole course was tricky to ride. I’ve been battling this course so much this week, and today was the only day that I actually put together a run. No time for celebration, Knuckle Huck tonight and flying back home to Norway tomorrow for three days before heading out to Italy for the Olympics”.

All of the gentlemen in this field were phenomenal today, and many of them will be on the global stage in short order for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

marcus kleveland pow — Marcus Kleveland leaning into a turn after landing a massive *1440* in Men’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck. *Credit: SnowBrains.*

For some mid-day eye candy, the women in Snowboard Knuckle Huck and Ski Big Air provided. Ski Big Air is always such a highly touted event, and it rightfully should be. Skiers gain so much sheer velocity into a gargantuan jump and then spin as fast as humanly possible. Today, during Women’s Ski Big Air, it was dumping snow, which added another layer of difficulty to the event. Mathilde Gremaud, who already has three Big Air X Games gold medals, claimed yet another with a nose butter 1260 spin. To pre-spin a jump that big adds a huge flight risk to the trick, as almost all mistakes occur during takeoff. As Gremaud rode to the bottom to learn her score, her body language reflected all the emotions and hard work that must have gone into making that trick.

For Women’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck, Cocomo Murase claimed her third medal of the weekend, snatching the silver spot with a floaty frontside 540. As a reminder, Knuckle Huck is a jam session event where riders jump over the roller next to the big air jump, rather than going off the jump itself, and still land at the same spot. Murase won her first X Games medal back in 2018 as a 13-year-old (as the youngest of all time) and now has 14 X Games medals in total. Watching her compete in three separate disciplines over the weekend and podium in each of them proves how versatile an athlete she is. By being so dominant at such a young age, Cocomo Murase is ensuring she will remain in the competitive snowboarding scene for a while and may end up as one of the GOATs when it is all said and done.

Cocomo silver — Cocomo Murase donning her 14th X Games medal. *Credit: SnowBrains.*

One of the highest energy, fan-favorite events is the Men’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck, where the world-renowned Jordan Brand athlete Zeb Powell has pushed boundaries for years. Although he did not podium, Zeb laid out some gravity-defying moves in a behemoth snow squall that rolled through Aspen during competition. For a portion of the contest, the crowd could not even see the athletes performing their stunts just a few hundred feet up the hill, which somehow only added to the fun. It was the quintessential X Games atmosphere.

Related: Pro Snowboarder Zeb Powell Signs Deal with Nike’s Iconic Jordan Brand

From Finland, your Men’s 2026 X Games Knuckle Huck gold medalist, Rene Rinnekangas, explained to me that there is no real way to train specifically for this event. Knuckle Huck is all about having a unique style and performing tricks that are often drawn up on the fly as a response to what the other riders are putting down. For example, the Icelander who took silver, Halldór Halgason, strapped into a miniature board and front-flipped through a hula-hoop. Rene said this about Knuckle Huck:

“It is a dream come true just to get invited to X Games and ride with your idols, and Knuckle Huck is one of my favorite events. When I failed on the first jump over the knuckle, I had to try something new. Thank you and a big shoutout to SnowBrains!“

Rene portrait — Ladies and gentlemen, Rene Rinnekangas. Photo taken immediately after winning gold. *Credit: SnowBrains.*

The only way for X Games to end is with a bang. The Men’s Ski SuperPipe Final was not only that, it was a heavyweight championship bout between two of the greatest pipe skiers of this generation. Alex Ferreira and Nick Goepper went toe-to-toe until the final run of the night; that is when Finley Melville Ives, who was already in first place at this point, separated himself even further from the two runner-ups. These three specific athletes were gaining so much amplitude out of the halfpipe that I was genuinely getting nervous watching. The whole crowd seemed on edge, and there were loud pops of cheers similar to that of a breakaway slam dunk in basketball. The 19-year-old from New Zealand won gold with an impeccable, near-perfect run where he shot up over 20 feet above the rim of the halfpipe and landed a switch 900, switch 1440, and at least one 1620.

After the event, I talked with bronze medalist and hometown hero Alex Ferreira about the new no-victory-laps format and how it feels to compete and win a medal in front of the home crowd. Ferreira is an Aspen local, so to be a winner on the X Games stage and have family and friends there to cheer you on is a feeling that not many will experience in life.

“No victory laps is good vibes and keeps it interesting. It definitely kept me on my toes, because I was in the third place position and I have to wait for someone else who is not on the podium like ‘oh god, here we go!’ It is the best feeling ever [bringing home a medal in front of the home crowd]. This is my ninth medal: three gold, three silver, three bronze. Three is my favorite number, so vibes are high, bro. I am very, very happy”.

The Men’s Ski SuperPipe Finals were unbelievable to watch as poles were whipping, snapping, and flying around in celebration. I unapologetically declare that this was the most action-packed event of the weekend.

mens superpipe champs — The 2026 X Games Men’s Ski SuperPipe podium. (Nick Goepper – Silver. Finley Melville Ives – Gold. Alex Ferreira – Bronze). *Credit: SnowBrains.*

Shoutout to Aspen, Colorado, and everyone who worked so hard to make the 2026 Winter X Games happen. In every single moment, there was such a nice contrast of experienced and new talent, explosiveness and technicality, and being locked in versus having fun. The 25th annual Aspen Winter X Games featured 27 X Games Rookies out of 114 total athletes from 20 different countries, all of whom deserve the utmost respect for putting their bodies on the line, interacting with the crowd, and most importantly, representing what it means to be a winter athlete. I urge every single person reading this to get out to the X Games at least once. It is an experience that cannot be matched. It is more than competitions. It is the town of Aspen, the crowd, the athletes, and the sheer surge of magic that comes to Aspen every January. Thank you, Aspen. Thank you, X Games.