Let me really explore the boundaries of what I can do and the tricks that I’ve contemplated over years, and never really had the chance or inspiration to try.
~ Shaun White
Project X is not a sexually deviant playhouse, nor is it an alien research base. For those of you who don’t know, Red Bull and Silverton Mountain partnered to provide Shaun White with the most innovative sport-advancing facility to date. Project X is that arena of freshness: a perfectly produced 550′ long monster pipe with a 20′ by 30′ foam pit at the end.
With Silverton being the only snow area designed exclusively for advanced and expert skiers and riders, they have less patrons all year than most resorts have in a day. It’s also the highest ski area with some of the most prime powder in the nation. So considering all of these factors, why wouldn’t Shaun and Red Bull go straight to Silverton?
They were sneaky, stealthy, sexy assassins putting the whole venture together. Before creating any of the snow structure they had to flood the basin with pow produced by means of large 25lb charges (bombs), which instigated 30 avalanches and allowed for 250,000 cubic yards of snow to be molded into Project X. Then consider the 8,000lb steel structure made into a diesel foam pit.
34 hours in the pipe developing new tricks never seen before, Shaun White learned in hours what otherwise could have taken years. If you go to the Project X site and meander over to the New Tricks section, you can see his Front Double Cork Ten, Switch Back 900, Double Back Rodeo, and Cab Double Cork Ten practiced and then gracefully executed.
“There was an element of ‘What the hell do we do with it?’ but I had a wish list of the kind of tricks I wanted to do. And every single trick I set out to do, I can now do, which is awesome. Trial and error was really how we found out what was possible. You look at what other people have done and try to improve on that or add variations. Or you just wonder, what if? What if I just kept flipping? That was the luxury of the foam pit, because you would never try it otherwise, you would just beyond hurt yourself. The first tricks I attempted were just hideous.”
Even though Justin Hynes spells it Sean, here’s a link to the Staying on Top interview I quoted.
- Get On The Scene -
Project X launched Shaun White even further ahead of the game. Unfair ahead. If there’s a way, Shaun has the will.
Can you imagine the freedom to practice in an ultimately optimal facility, my snowboarder amigo?
