Snowboarding World Championships Coming to Colorado
People come from all over the world to ski Colorado's slopes, but now the best snowboarders in the world are coming here to compete.
The International Ski Federation reports the FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships have been moved from China to Aspen because of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several snowboarding events had been scheduled to take place later this month in Zhangjiakou. With the change in location, these events will take place March 8-16 at Aspen. Events include slopestyle, half-pipe, and big air events.
While ski conditions at some Colorado resorts haven't been the greatest so far this winter, Aspen Snowmass is reporting a base of 55 inches with 95 out of 98 trails open and all 22 lifts operating. I'm not a skier, but with 3,246 out of 3,342 acres open for skiing and snowboarding, I would guess conditions at Aspen are really good.
Some of the athletes competing at the world championships were in Aspen last month for the Winter X Games. The United States dominated the Winter X Games, taking a total of 10 medals, including 6 gold. Canda was next in the medal count with six, though none were gold. Norway and Japan each took four medals while China won three.
Following the conclusion of the world championships, Aspen will be hosting four World Cup competitions including Snowboard slopestyle, Snowboard halfpipe, Freeski slopestyle, and Freeski halfpipe events. That competition is scheduled to take place March 18-21.
While it has felt more like spring than winter here in western Colorado, there is still a lot of winter left to enjoy - especially if you are a ski and snowboard enthusiasts. Hopefully, a month from now the conditions on the slopes at Aspen will be even better than they are now as the top winter athletes from around the world converge on Colorado.