At ESPN's Winter X Games, extreme sports are the big lure, but another attraction is extreme comfort offered to the VIP guests.

ESPN's annual Winter X Games is a four-day fan-fest for extreme sports addicts at Buttermilk Mountain, but don't be fooled by the cutting-edge crowd and radical athletes running around town, it's still in Aspen after all, which means star treatment for the VIPs on hand.

Case and point: The VIP tent for ESPN honchos and staff, and X Games partners and sponsors. The tent is also a hotspot for athletes and their family members, too.

What makes the tent so terrific? One thing is the endless food supplied by Epicurean Catering for the estimated 400 VIPs who cycle through the tent daily during the games.

Known for cooking up the finest fare for high-profile weddings, exclusive cocktail parties, black-tie affairs and countless charity functions around Denver the past 25 years, few folks are aware of Epicurean's annual X Games trek.

This year, Wesley Guzman led the catering company's fifth trip to Aspen X to keep the "chuck wagon" overflowing with "chow" in the Wild West-themed tent.

The theme was the brainchild of Janine Troutman, owner of The Scene décor company in Aspen.

"When ESPN first approaches me each year, I have three themes I present to them," said Troutman. "This year's theme was the Wild X West, which came about because I thought of the X Games athletes as modern-day cowboys – to the extreme."

Troutman, who has handled the décor for the VIP tent the past four years, knows how to impress a VIP crowd – she's been the catering and event manager for Aspen's legendary Caribou Club for nine years. That's where ESPN party planners got their hands on her.

The western décor included a makeshift "jail" and "sheriff's office" featuring wanted posters of many of the 2008 athletes – Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark and Tucker Hibbert, to name a few; "The Saloon," where Tommy Knocker Brewery beer is always on tap; and the "X West Corral," a cozy space filled with leather sectionals, puffy pillows and wooden rockers, where patrons can put their feet up and see live feeds of the X Games action on flat screen TVs throughout the tent.

The X Games are always extreme – and the VIP tent is the only way to escape the hoopla and enjoy the events in extreme comfort.