What: First-annual Winter Gravity Games

Where: Copper Mountain, Colorado

Atmosphere: Sun, sun, sun, one cloud on Friday around 2 p.m., a lot more sun, and hundreds of stoked fans with goggle tans

Events Exposed:Superpipe, slopestyle, rail jam, boardercross

What It Takes: Spin to win. With Elena Hight and Hannah Teter spinning consistent 9s in recent pipe competitions, Gretchen Bleiler needed only to keep up her TTGS (Technical Trick Guru Status) by perfecting the art of the 900, and she did—winning the superpipe gold along with 20,000 buckaroos. Teter and Hight came in second and third, respectively. On the Jib Jam side of things, the only thing I can really say is that Leanne Pelosi has big huevos.She made frontside and backside boardsliding look easy. Leslee Olson used her old-school hard-boot racing skills to keep herself ahead of the pack during the BoarderX, snagging her own Gravity Games gold medal. Janna Meyen represented Oregon, the current land of no snow, and absolutely killed it at the slopestyle on Friday. Meyen’s always had style, and she always will. That is why she’s so dope, and that is what it takes to win.

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The Goods, The Bads, and The Uglies: Jurrasic 5 playing an amazing free show after the women’s superpipe competition, with thousands in attendance. There were even breakdancers and old people having heart attacks. And, of course, there was the ever-impressive Andy Finch wearing boardshorts, flip-flops, and a borrowed hoodie as though he were a gaper at a surf comp, rather than a super-pro at a rather large snowboard event. Andy, Andy, Andy…

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