Parents worry about X-games and injuries
Risky business: X-Games infatuation stirs up worries
By Jason Blevins
Denver Post Staff Writer
Aspen - Brothers Scott and Eric Angus sculpt the snowy ramp perfectly.
The Aspen High School students drag their snowboards up the slope at Buttermilk ski area. The sun is setting on the dormant mountain as they race - one by one - toward their handcrafted ramp. They soar onto a handrail of the staircase below the Tiehack lift and slide down to pavement 18 steps below.
Sometimes they grease the rail, like they did the past two weekends at local snowboarding competitions where they each won two first- place medals. Other times they crash hard, grinding their flesh down the steel-grate stairs.
The brothers, born and raised in Aspen, are part of a trend that troubles some Aspen High parents and administrators. In a survey last year, those parents and school leaders identified the risks facing students at Aspen High. Ranking up there with sex, drugs and alcohol was a risk principal Kendall Evans calls the "X Games Factor."
The ninth annual Winter X Games bring more than 230 of the world's top winter action sports athletes to Aspen competing for medals and prize money in four sports: Moto X, skiing, snowboard and snowmobiling. Competition starts today and goes through Tuesday. A year ago, an X Games record 66,500 fans witnessed the four-day event.
Celebrity teenage and 20-something athletes who fly high above halfpipes and through terrain parks on skis and snowboards as part of the Aspen-based Winter X Games have inspired an increasing number of local students to soar higher and ride harder. That idolization has led to an increasing number of teenagers hobbling through Aspen High.
Scott Angus brushes off a particularly hard landing that leaves welts and a giant raspberry on his back. It's just part of the game for the 18-year-old, who has suffered more than 17 broken bones or sprained muscles in the past decade in his quest to become a professional rider.
"Being injured kind of creates the drive for me to get better," said Scott, his pain secondary to anger at performing less than perfectly.
"Everyone gets hurt," said 15-year-old Eric, who broke a bone in his knee last year and who can rattle off the names of several friends who have injured themselves in the line of resort-town duty on the slopes.
Evans now ranks the risk of X Games-fueled injuries up there with booze, dope and sexual promiscuity.
In his 10 years at Aspen High, Evans has seen plenty of ski-related injuries. But today's injuries aren't just the blown knees and broken arms of yesteryear. He sees more neck, back and head injuries. It worries him that some thrill-seeking students consider the risk of terrible injury to be part of the path to on-mountain stardom.
"We are seeing kids taking a lot of risk in the terrain park. ... Some of that can be catastrophic," said Evans, noting a 15- year-old student who recently broke his back and pelvis in the terrain park at Buttermilk ski area. "Injury is a badge of honor. It's absolutely a status symbol. We all take some risk when we go up on the mountain, but once you start flipping upside down, you really accelerate that risk. I'm not sure we've realized the impact of the X Games yet."
Evans hasn't tallied increases in injuries or tried to find figures that support his anecdotally anchored worry. But, he said, he doesn't wait until a student dies in a drunken-driving accident before educating teens about drinking and driving.
"We are not going to wait until there is a catastrophic injury before we get concerned," Evans said.
He's not down on the X Games, though. He lets his students out of school to view the event, which ranks as the top contest among today's new- school winter athletes. He says that students who handle themselves well on the mountain tend to bring that steadiness to other aspects of their lives.
Some parents tend to consider ski and snowboard injuries as part of life in a resort town.
"We spend $3,500 a year for the opportunity for our kids to break their bones," said Jackie Boughton, whose twin sons at Aspen High are members of the elite - and pricey - Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club. They have have suffered injuries almost every year they have spent on snowboards.
"I think it's part of the process," she said. "Yes, sometimes it creeps up and bites you. But it's about letting them pursue their passion."
Just like all risks that saddle today's teenagers, it all boils down to personal judgment.
With proper training, judgment can be honed to match skills in the terrain park, says Eric Knight, who coaches 70 local teenagers on the freestyle ski team in the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club.
Heading into the terrain park to go big without lots of training "is akin to handing a 15-year-old the keys to a Formula One car and telling them to have fun," Knight said.
Karen and Craig Angus watch ski videos with their sons. They make sure to note that the athletes have spent years and probably several attempts before acing their tricks on film. But the couple revel in the accomplishments of their kids.
"They've had more injuries than I've ever had. I still support them," said Karen Angus, a counselor at Aspen High for the past 20 years. "It's really up to their own judgment. I'd rather them play golf. But I tried that. It didn't work."
