Faces of X Games Aspen: Fans make return to the Buttermilk Ski Area venue

**Crowds go wild during the women’s snowboard big air finals on the first day of the Winter X Games in Aspen Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)**

Under bluebird skies Saturday, fans flocked to the X Games Aspen venue at the base of Buttermilk. After a year without fans because of the pandemic, thousands returned and were treated to lots of action and great weather.

Athletes said Friday night and again Saturday that having the crowds fill the bottom of the superpipe and the slopestyle course has given them a bit more and it’s much different than the silence of 2021. Last year was a lot more stoic, with just about 500 people allowed inside the “bubble” and no screaming hoards.

“As awesome as it was to do Aspen last year, not to have fans and that energy as part of it, it was missed,” X Games vice president Tim Reed said. “So we are all thrilled to have the fans back.”

Shannon Springhorn and fiancé Garrett Clark gush over their new engagement after Clark proposed at the bottom of the Big Air jump after the women’s ski big air finals at the 2022 X Games in Aspen on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. The two have been together for 7 years and said that this was their dream trip. Springhorn was so shocked at the proposal and was thrilled. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)

**The crowd screams for Hanna Faulhaber as she drops in for her final run during her X Games debut in Aspen on Friday, Nov. 21, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)**

**Large, light-up Wendy’s french fries are arranged by a crew preparing the X Games village for spectators and the start of finals on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)**

**People dance along with the DJ in X Games village at the base of Buttermilk in Aspen on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)**

**Fans watch the women’s ski superpipe finals as Svea Irving gets air during the 2022 Winter X Games in Aspen on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)**

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Aspen and Snowmass Village make the Aspen Times’ work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.

News