Our favorite time of year has finally commenced — IT’S X GAMES ASPEN WEEK and we are HYPED!
Promising to be bigger and better than ever this year, ESPN’s annual winter action sports competition, X Games Aspen 2023, will feature the world’s top action sports athletes competing in the disciplines of Ski and Snowboard at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado.
The three-day event will also feature an enhanced festival village experience, offering spectators a unique and wide-ranging interactive experience to complement the X Games competitions. If that’s not enough to add to the fun, the festival village will include a music stage with performances by Kaskade, Yung Gravy, MOD Sun, Night Tales, girlfriends and Madds!
Celeb Secrets is headed back to Aspen later this week to get you breaking news on all things sports and music, but before the best show on snow begins, we’re giving you a run-down of what you can expect from this year’s X Games.
Be sure to tune into ESPN and ABC, along with X Games’ YouTube and Twitch pages beginning this Thursday, January 26 @ 3PM ET to catch the competitions (and kickoff press conference) right in your living room. A full schedule can be found on X Games’ official website.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for breaking updates straight from Buttermilk Mountain!
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
The Competitions
Kicking off Friday (January 23rd) and wrapping on Sunday (January 26th), over 90 world-class athletes will be competing in various ski and snowboard events for medals, prize money, and of course the bragging rights that come with it. The best part? Each competition is absolutely free and open to the public if you’re in Aspen AND will be streaming on ESPN platforms for everyone wanting to watch from home.
This year, X Games is taking things to the next level with its disciplines. Fan favorites such as Slopestyle, Big Air, and SuperPipe for both men and women will be marquee events for this year’s X Games, along with the return of Ski and Snowboard Knuckle Huck and the Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding competition. Be sure to visit Xgames.com for the updated schedule of the competitions as well as the previews of the courses.
(Photo by Trevor Brown, Jr. / ESPN Images)
The Music
Aside from the competitions, our favorite part about X Games Aspen is seeing some of our favorite artists live — outside in the middle of a ski mountain. This year, Kaskade, Yung Gravy, MOD Sun, girlfriends, Night Tales and MADDS are all expected to take the stage, guaranteeing to bring some fire to the chilly base of Buttermilk Mountain. Check out the schedule of when they’re slated to perform below, with a full list of details here.
- Kaskade – Friday, January 27th @ 6:30PM MT
- Night Tales – Friday, January 27th @ 4:15PM MT
- Yung Gravy – Saturday, January 28th @ 7:00PM MT
- MOD Sun – Saturday, January 28th @ 3:45PM MT
- girlfriends — Sunday, January 29th @ 3:30PM MT
- Madds — Sunday, January 29th @ 2:15PM MT
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
The Amazing Athletes
Over 90 athletes are touching down in Aspen this week to prepare for what could be one of the most important (and exhilarating) competitions of their lives. This year’s roster is uber talented, as some of the best skiers and snowboarders in the world will all be under one roof to show off a mixture of both their incredible skills and steeze.
Gold medalists Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Marcus Kleveland, Mark McMorris, Sena Tomita, Scotty James, Tess Ledeux, Eileen Gu, Kelly Sildaru, Alex Hall, Andri Ragettli and Quinn Wolferman received an automatic invite to the contests this season, with other athletes like Zeb Powell, David Wise, Anna Gasser, Brita Sigourney, Colby Stevenson, Alex Ferreira and Red Gerard getting the call to begin making their way down to Buttermilk Mountain at the end of the month.
Out of all the athletes competing this year, Celeb Secrets compiled a list of athletes you should keep your eye on this weekend — skiers Eileen Gu and Alex Hall; and snowboarders Zeb Powell, Marcus Kleveland and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. To see a full list of invited athletes, click here.
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
Eileen Gu
Eileen Gu isn’t just an accomplished skier with X Games and Olympic gold, she’s becoming a global rockstar — and her 1.6 million Instagram following is nearly twice as large as any other athlete competing at X Games Aspen 2023. The San Francisco native, who represents China in international competitions, is a freshman at Stanford University with a 4.0 GPA despite a full course load that included quantum physics. The 19-year-old also is an accomplished fashion model with a slew of magazine covers, speaks multiple languages, plays piano and even took 2nd in her age group after entering the San Francisco Half Marathon on a whim last summer. She’s favored for 3 gold medals a X Games this year, which would make her the first to win 3 gold medals at the same three-day event in history.
You can follow Eileen on Instagram at @eileen_gu_.
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
Zeb Powell
A breakout star of the undisciplined Knuckle Huck discipline, Zeb Powell casually claimed gold in his debut X Games appearance at X Games Aspen 2020, wearing heart-shaped pink sunglasses he found on the ground moments before the contest. He has come to embody everything people love about Knuckle Huck: wild, stylish, creative, unconventional, innovative, unpredictable. Zeb’s path took him from North Carolina — hardly a snowboard hotbed — to a scholarship student at the famed Stratton Mountain School, where he sharpened his skills. The attention from his X Games victory put a spotlight on how few Black athletes are represented in professional snowboarding, and it lit a fire inside him to start initiatives like the Slide-In Tour and Culture Shifters to help change the face of snowboarding.
You can follow Zeb on Instagram at @zebpowelll.
(Photo by Matt Morning / ESPN Images)
Alex Hall
Alex Hall is the first male skier to medal in 3 disciplines at the same X Games, doing it last year at X Games Aspen 2022 — Big Air gold and Slopestyle and Knuckle Huck bronze. He’s also the first to earn gold in 4 different X Games Ski disciplines: Slopestyle, Big Air, Knuckle Huck and Real Ski.
The 24-year-old owns 9 total X Games medals and put down the gold medal run at the 2022 Beijing Olympics in the Slopestyle discipline.
Alex grew up in Switzerland, where his parents are professors at the University of Zurich, but the American went to high school in Park City, Utah. He speaks 4 languages, including fluent Swiss German. Between ski trips, Hall crashes with his grandpa Charles, age 99, in Salt Lake City.
You can follow Alex on Instagram at @alexhallskiing.
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott
New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has become perhaps the best competitor in women’s snowboarding, as she’s already collected 7 X Games medals since her rookie appearance in 2018. Still just 21, Zoi took double gold at X Games Aspen 2022, where she became the first woman to land back-to-back double corks in ski or snowboard competition. The hard-charging Kiwi is pushing progression in the backcountry, too, with impressive big mountain lines in high-profile films serving as testament to her immense all-around skill. When not snowboarding, New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist can sometimes be found on exotic surf trips or relaxing away from it all in her hometown of Wanaka.
You can follow Zoi on Instagram at @zoisynnott.
(Photo by Gabriel Christus / ESPN Images)
Marcus Kleveland
Marcus is one of the most creative, playful and stylish snowboarders in the world. The 23-year-old already owns 10 X Games medals, and he has a legit chance to be the first X Games winter athlete with 3 gold at one X Games. He’ll be the favorite in Big Air, Slopestyle and Knuckle Huck at Aspen 2023.
After bursting onto the scene by winning Slopestyle at X Games Aspen 2017 and using the first quadruple cork landed in competition to add Big Air silver, the then-teen’s career was derailed for more than a year by a shattered kneecap in December of 2018. However, the Norwegian made a remarkable recovery and now is one of the most influential riders in the sport.
You can follow Marcus on Instagram at @marcuskleveland.
(Photo by Tamara Susa / ESPN Images)
X FEST at Buttermilk Mountain
X Games Aspen will once again showcase X Fest, a three-day interactive festival offering sponsor activations, interactive Chill Zone, music, athlete autograph signings throughout the base of Buttermilk Mountain. With so many things to do on the grounds, fans of all ages will have fun from sunrise to sunset.
X Fest will also feature a Pacifico Beer Garden on The Lodge patio and on the Home Team BBQ patio on the back side of The Inn at Aspen. Visit various Concession vendors in X Fest including Home Team BBQ and Aspen Mini Donuts. ATM machines are located inside The Lodge, lower level.
