NEWS: What's Extreme Anyway? by Shanti Sosienski Today I learned what "extreme" means after opening my eyes at 5:30 in the morning and spending the entire day until 8:00 this evening traveling to the X Games, which are taking place in Crested Butte, Colorado at this very moment as I type away. I know, I know, you are playing the world's smallest violin for me, but wait there's more. Rob Kingwill throwing the official X Games sign. I am an X Games virgin and not afraid to admit it. Not only have I never attended an X Games, but I don't have cable and so I missed out on the overplayed reruns of the event that ran all last year on ESPN2. This year I decided to change all of that though and attend, but of course every hotel in town was sold out long before I even thought about this circus. So now I am the budgie journalist who isn't even on it enough to couch tour. No, I am so late in the game that at this very moment I am on the floor in a packed condo in Crested Butte, Colorado. Now you're playing the world's smallest violin for me, but wait it gets better. Not only was there no lodging left, but there were no flights left to Gunnison, the nearest town to Crested Butte, because the X Games people bought up all of the tickets. I heard even the athletes had a hard time getting here. Instead I got to fly into the Denver International Airport and drive the grueling four-plus hours through the windy back roads of Colorado to get here. Now you really feel sorry for me don't you? Well, whatever, I am here now and ready to cover it all. The ice climbing, snowbiking, snollerblading, snowboarding chaos that has been all mashed together into four days. It's eight degrees outside and storms are predicted all weekend at this Mountain Dew-like American Olympic-styled game that has cost producers at least ten million dollars. This all could either be a lot of fun or just another example of corporate America wasting a lot of money on a handful of freestyle sports. But what is extreme really? Rob Kingwill defined extreme as, "J.P Walker getting disqualified for jumping off the lift today." According to Kingwill, Walker was trying to get in the spirit of it all and be Extreme in the slopestyle practice by jumping off of the lift into powder puffs and riding the course below. "He stuck it three times and on the fourth time he didn't stick it. His extreme levels weren't high enoughand so they pulled his pass I guess. Too bad, he was riding eXtremely well until he got busted." WHY ARE THE X GAMES AT CRESTED BUTTE? This year organizer have decided to hold the Games in Crested Butte because it's known for its "extreme" terrain. This is all fine and dandy except for the fact that getting here can be a judged event all unto itself and once you find your way to B.F.E. Crested Butte, you'll see there isn't much here. Crested Butte has always reminded me of one of those underground type ski areas that everyone always talks about, but few have been too. It's the kind of place that someone says they are moving too, and then you never hear from them again. Unlike many resorts in Colorado, C.B doesn't have a freeway like I-70 buzzing by the gondola nor does it have a lear jet runway or a helicopter launch pad perched nearby for the lifestyles of the rich and famous to bring all of their friends in. It's hard to get here and locals are trying to keep it that way, however, after this media extravaganza who knows. WHAT THE LOCALS THINK According to a local named Willow who I picked up hitchhiking on my way out of Gunnison, the town is having a very mixed reaction to the X-folkers, some of whom have been camping out in this bump of a town hidden in the Rockies since the mountain opened. "Some people, mainly the hardcores, are pretty bummed at all of the chaos the X Games has brought in," she told me on the ride up the treacherous windy, icy road that crept up the hillside toward Crested Butte. "I think it's pretty good though. The businesses are stoked cause they really need the money. This place has been trying to upgrade for years but there are a lot of people really opposed to change here." So, before I even get to Crested Butte I can already feel for this little Patagonia-wearing, dread head do, Grateful Dead listening kind of village that has undoubtedly been overrun with producers, and directors, cameramen, soundmen, coordinators, specialists, and the list goes on. This is show bizness baby, what can you do about it? WINTER X MESSAGE BOARDS: Your area to say anything you want about the Winter X Games. '97 WINTER X GAMES: Remember the '97 Winter X Games? Here's last year's coverage in case you don't. SOL NAVIGATION: SOL | Scoop | Hardware | Industry | Circleplus | Push | Travel | Interact | School | Weather | Terrain | Compete | Mediator © 1997, InterZine Productions. All rights reserved.