Denver Magazine / Denver Magazine March 2009 / Pipe Dreams

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Pipe Dreams

On a cold and snowstorming Sunday night in January, Shaun White stood alone at the top of Buttermilk Mountain's now infamous superpipe. The powder had been collecting since practice, when White explained that yes, the pipe was particularly slow, and yes, he was having a bit of trouble seeing. By his last run of the evening, White had been visibly frustrated during the final event of X Games 13, atypically crashing on his first and second runs and sitting seventh out of eight in the standings. The Flying Tomato was nowhere near his game.

Kevin Pearce, a 21-year-old from Vermont, sat in first place, his score of 90.66 looking undefeatable as he sat at the bottom of the hill, waiting for White to make his final descent. "It was tough having to sit at the bottom of the mountain and watch Shaun take the final run," Pearce said during his press conference. "I know he always throws it down in the end. It is not a position I want to be in ever again."

Now, two months removed from snow-boarding's biggest spectacle, we all know what happened. White put together an amazing run, scoring a 91.66 and walking away with his 14th gold medal while becoming the first man to win the superpipe competition in consecutive years. Yet despite the drama, perhaps the only shocking thing about White's come-from-behind win is the lack of people who saw him do it. Attendance (68,100 this year) declined a bit more than six percent from last year's numbers (72,500 in 2008), and the usually sold-out occupancy rates in Aspen's lodges and condos peaked at 85 percent for the four-day event. Prior to the start of this year's games, ESPN and Aspen Skiing Company agreed to a contract extension that will keep the world's most popular winter sports event in Colorado through 2012, but is Shaun White enough to keep enthusiasts coming?

Although the withering economy and the weather kept people away "” ESPN nearly had to keep spectators from climbing the pipe for Sunday night's event in an effort to make the thinning crowd at the base of the mountain look large for the cameras "” listless crowds and fan reactions to the White miracle may be evidence of a much deeper problem. While spectators stood in corral lines after White's win, X Games producers provided a sneak preview of his new documentary, Don't Look Down. One left wondering what would have played on the giant screens if White had actually lost to Pearce, and Pearce had not only played White's foil, but rained on ESPN's all-White-all-the-time programming. After all, what are the Yankees without the Red Sox, Ali without Frazier, or Magic without Bird?

As the athletes begin to prepare for the 2010 Olympics, Pearce looks to be White's only obstacle to winning a second gold. Perhaps it's time to take a look at White vs. Pearce.