If past winter X-Games are anything to go by Whistler is in for a rocking party next week when the first-ever global championships come to Whistler Mountain.
Not only is it the first X-Games to be run as a team event, it is the first one to come to Canada.
"We are really, really psyched to be up in Whistler, said Chris Stiepock, general manager of ESPN Original Entertainment Events which created and organizes the games.
"Whistler is just a slice of heaven so we are very psyched to get up there."
At the last Winter X-Games in Aspen in February about 36,700 fans showed up in the first three days.
The resort known more for its celebrities drew youths with pierced everythings, wacky hair and baggy clothing to watch athletes as they searched for ways to get higher and complete more dangerous tricks.
Some of the tricks done in past years which took athletes to the medal podium wouldn’t even get riders into the finals now.
In the last year more women have landed 900s than ever before.
That’s certainly the goal of local rider Maelle Ricker who will represent Canada in the women’s snowboard superpipe.
"I’d really like to be able to land this new trick I have been trying to do – the Frontside 900," said 24-year-old Ricker, a member of Canadian National Snowboard Team, Olympian, and former X-Games gold medal winner.
"It’s a trick where I take off on my toe-edge and spin two and a half rotations around. It’s something I am working on."
The event, which runs May 16-18, is the first-ever multi-sport, multi-nation, multi-venue team competition in action sports history.
Whistler will host the ski superpipe and the snowboard superpipe while simultaneously in San Antonio, Texas athletes will compete in aggressive in-line skate, bike stunt, Moto X Freestyle and skateboard.
Teams come from the U.S. Europe, Canada, South America, Asia and Australia.
The regions will be represented by two athletes for each competition except women’s ski superpipe, which will only have one competitor from each region.
Each athlete receives 12 points for their team based on the final leader board position within their sport discipline. Results from each competition at both venues will be combined for an overall team score.
At the end of the games one of the six teams will be crowned X Games Global Champion.
The team focus is a new idea for ESPN, which will broadcast 12 original hours of coverage between May 17 and 21 with a one-hour special on ABC May 24. TSN will also broadcast the event at a later date.
"We have noticed in our events, whether it is our winter or summer ones, that there is indeed a spirit of regionalism," said Stiepock.
"Skateboarders who come from Latin or South America tend to rally together and bicycle stunt athletes who come from Canada tend to rally together. It is only natural.
"So even though these sports are individualistic in nature we thought this (team) concept had some potential."
What pushed the idea from the drawing board to the event calendar was the incredible popularity of the snowboarding events at the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
"That really got the attention of senior management in ESPN," said Stiepock.
"When they inquired as to the possibility of a format that was team orientated with action sports we were ready."
But it is definitely an idea the competitors will have to get used to. While most plan to cheer on their teammates, all see it as an individual event.
"I think it will make it more fun because you will be cheering on other members of your team," said Ricker.
"But as far as how I will approach the contest it will be just like any other one."
Her sentiments were echoed by Pierre Luc Gagnon, considered one of the best vert skateboarders in the world.
"I’m just going there, focus on what I have to do personally," he told Canadian Press.
"I’m not going to think about that global thing. If it happens great. If it doesn’t, I’m not going to care about it."
Canada will be represented by Ricker and Natasza Zurek in the women’s snowboard superpipe, Justin Lamoureux and Guillaume Morisset in the men’s snowboard superpipe, Philippe Belanger and Philippe Larose in the men’s ski superpipe, Sarah Burke in the women’s ski superpipe, Rick McCrank and Dan Pageau in skateboard park, Gagnon and Max Dufour in skateboard vert, Benoit Milot and Mike Samson in the Moto X Freestyle, John Heaton and Dave Osato in the bike stunt park, Dustin Guenther and Rob Sigaty in the bike stunt vert, Nicky Adams and Matt Donald in the aggressive in-line skate park, and Jon Bergeron and Elmer Pillon in aggressive in-line skate vert.
Spectators will have to go up the Village Gondola to the glacier on Whistler to catch the action. Adult tickets will be $42 if you plan to ski and $19 if you just plan to watch.
Action on the slopes is not all that is on offer.
There will also be free live bands in Whistler village Friday through Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m.
The medal ceremony will be broadcast live to San Antonio Sunday and interactive television will allow both sites to talk to each other. This live chat will also take place during the events.
The Whistler Mountain Bike Park will host its grand opening on Saturday as will the Whistler Skateboard Park. Both will host special appearances by professional riders and other goodies.
There will be barbecues, a snowskate park and ski and snowboard demo booths at the top of the Whistler Gondola and action sports movie premiers in Whistler Village will round out the weekend’s activities.
"It is a fantastic thing for a family to come to," said Stiepock.
"There are tons of interactive elements to the events. For example, up on Whistler kids can try out a snow-skate park. They can just waltz on down past the halfpipe and sign a waiver and check out a helmet and a snow-skate and go do what they want to do, and this is the kind of thing the X-Games has become.
"It has become a festival of lifestyle, sports and culture that is free."
For snowboard competitor Natasza Zurek it is chance to compete in excellent conditions against and with her friends.
"I’m looking froward to spending some time with my friends who I am going to be competing against, and looking forward to good weather and a good pipe," said 25-year-old Zurek, a member of the Canadian Snowboard Team, Olympian, and TransWorld Snowboarding’s 2002 Rider’s Poll Awards Best Female Halfpipe Rider.
With ESPN behind the event Zurek is expecting the best of conditions on a mountain she calls home.
"We have had a lot of snow there and I think the conditions will be good there this year," she said.
"I am hoping to place in the top three but I just want to have fun and do my hard tricks and land them. I want to do flips – the McTwist and the Frontside Haakon."
For more information on the games go to www.espneventmedia.com .
