One by one, amateur skiers and snowboarders shuffled through the gates of a chairlift named Summit Express. They took a seat before heading up Buttermilk Mountain in Colorado. Just off to their right, meanwhile, some of the finest athletes in snow sports were flying into the sky, too.
Over nearly five hours, one Saturday in March, Olympic stars scaled the 22ft walls of a halfpipe carved into the mountains of Aspen, Colorado. They went head-to-head, trading death-defying tricks, drawing gasps from those watching below.
Every now and then, concerts kicked off beside the halfpipe and fans danced in bibs and beanies. Welcome to The Snow League, the brainchild of Olympic legend Shaun White.
The Snow League claims to be ‘the future of winter sports competition,’ the first professional league dedicated to snowboarding and freeskiing, where ‘the next generation of superstars’ compete for a season purse of $2.2million.
Last month, the Daily Mail travelled to Aspen to witness the action from the edge of the halfpipe, from down on the snow and up in the VIP lounge, where White watched the latest creation of a remarkable career.
The format was simple enough: over two days, 32 snowboarders competed for points and a prize pot totaling nearly $400,000.
American snowboarder Sonora Alba competes in the halfpipe competition of The Snow League
Winter Olympics legend Shaun White is joined by Odell Beckham Jr and Wyclef Jean in Aspen
The top eight made it through qualifying to finals day. There, they went head-to-head in three-run shootouts – quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
Each runs lasted barely 30 seconds, as athletes soared into the sky and contorted their body to complete a dizzying number of flips and turns and grabs. All to impress the judges, who score their runs based on criteria such as amplitude – how high they climb above the lip of the halfpipe.
It was mesmerizing to watch up close. It can also be brutal as athletes put their bodies on the line.
This week, the first season of the Snow League concludes in the Swiss Alps. The competition began in Aspen in March 20205 before heading to Beijing in December. Just days after the Winter Olympics, Snow League returned to Aspen and this week a king and queen will be crowned in Laax.
It should be a long weekend of fun. In Aspen, Snow League fans could enjoy performances by Canadian DJ DeadMau5 and parties at the iconic St Regis resport, where rooms cost up to $8,000 a night. Finals Day included a halftime show from NEIL FRANCES and a closing party led by Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean.
There was also some snowboarding. The men’s roster includes newly-crowned Olympic gold medalist, Yuto Totsuka of Japan, and his compatriot Ryusei Yamada. Yamada took bronze in Milan.
In fact, 10 of the top 12 finishers at the recent Winter Olympics are part of The Snow League. They include Americans Jake Pates – who finished eighth in Milan – and American teenage sensation Alessandro Barbieri.
It is a similar story in the women’s competition, where Choi Ga-on and Mitsuki Ono – who took gold and bronze in Milan, respectively – lead a star-studded field.
The freeski competition will return at Laax, with Chinese-American superstar Eileen Gu currently leading the women’s competition.
In Aspen, the women’s halfpipe was won by 16-year-old sensation Sara Shimizu of Japan, while the men’s competition came down to a clash between compatriots Yamada and Totsuka.
Wyclef Jean performs a concert at the Snow League event in Aspen, Colorado in March
(L-R) Maddie Mastro, Sara Shimizu and Sena Tomita are among the stars to take part
The Daily Mail was among the crowd in Aspen for the penultimate event of season one
At the end of a long, punishing day of competition, both Olympic stars suffered nasty falls with Yamada catching the lip of the halfpipe on his final run.
It was a brutal reminder of the risks every time these athletes take to the skies. But not enough to deny him victory on a day when the sun shone and the altitude was not the only thing that took the breath away.
Among those in the crowd were NFL star Odell Beckham Jr and a handful of lucky hotel guests. Marriott is a partner of The Snow League and through its ‘Marriott Bonvoy Outdoors’ platform, the hotel giant offers stays and experiences – ‘Moments’ – to its members.
All they have to do? Bid their loyalty points to secure private chef dinners, tickets to sporting events, a stay in Marriott’s Postcard Cabins around the country. Or a morning on the slopes with snowboarding royalty.
In Aspen, the day after the Snow League final, a small group of Marriott members had the chance to snowboard with White and a couple of young Olympic stars: Barbieri and Canada’s Brooke D’Hondt.
Perhaps predictably, they were led to the snow park, where White and Barbieri showed off more tricks. This week, fans in Switzerland will have their own chance to watch up close.
