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Tristan Feinberg — and the kids and pros around him alike — couldn’t stop smiling.
The snow gods smiled upon them too, keeping the Buttermilk halfpipe clear on Saturday for the first community halfpipe Rodeo, an effort by the 21-year-old pro skier to bring the general community into his sport. And if the stream of skiers and boarders, young and old, were any indication, he’s off to a good start.
“I’m super hyped on all these smiles on all these kids definitely makes my heart really happy,” Feinberg said. “Riding up on the snowmobile, just looking back and seeing all the kids is definitely something special. … We’ve got a bunch of sick people here and I’m jazzed. It just makes me really excited to continue pushing the limit and creating opportunities for the community and growing the sport.”
Tristan Feinberg, far left, Alex Ferreira and other pro freeskiers and snowboarders lead a train of community members down the Buttermilk halfpipe in the first community halfpipe Rodeo on Saturday. A strong contingent of mostly Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club youth athletes showed out for the inaugural edition of the free-to-attend event.
Rachel Bock/Aspen Daily News
The keynote moment came when Feinberg, U.S. Ski Team teammate and fellow local pro Alex Ferreira and all the other pro skiers and snowboarders led a chain of dozens of community members down the pipe, a stream that lasted minutes.
The event was created by Feinberg — in conjunction with Aspen Skiing Co. and Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club — to create more access not just to the halfpipe (one of the handful of its caliber across the globe) but to the athletes that put on the best show climbing the vertical walls.
What was initially scheduled to be a pro-only jam at the beginning of the day in the morning turned into an additional open jam, with many of the young athletes dropping in solo and testing out the bowl of the pipe on their own or with AVSC/SkiCo assistance in between laps from Feinberg and friends.
Around noon, however, the pros had tens of teal AVSC jackets bobbing alongside them on their hikes back up the pipe.
“I was talking to a couple groms up there, talking to them about how to drop in and stuff,” Feinberg said. “A large conversation that I have with a lot of people about halfpipe, they’re always like, ‘OK, how do you do this, how do you this?’ I’m like, ‘Anyone can do this, it’s just a matter of being able to convince yourself.’ It’s 95% mental, 5% physical.”
Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club athlete Will Halsey slides out after a crash in the Buttermilk halfpipe during the inaugural community Rodeo put on by pro skier Tristan Feinberg on Saturday.
Rich Allen/Aspen Daily News
Feinberg coaches with AVSC when his schedule allows and has gotten to know some of the young up-and-comers. He noted a big part of starting a free community event is simply introducing new people to the pipe, though a strong contingent of the public that came to the first iteration of Rodeo seemed to have some familiarity.
AVSC Freestyle Program Director Eric Knight noted that the local culture produces a lot of children who are more apt to dropping off a 22-foot wall, but noted that events like this help build the community around the sport.
"Creating some heroes and Tristan’s vision for it is building the halfpipe community,” Knight said. “The pros aren’t always so approachable to kids in the comps like X Games unless you have VIP tickets. You’re not getting to hang out with them. [Here,] they’re riding with some kids, already they’re intersecting and coaching them up on the pipe and everything. So that’s pretty cool to see that connection take place.”
Tristan Feinberg smiles after watching a youth participant finish a run during the inaugural halfpipe Rodeo at Buttermilk on Saturday.
Rich Allen/Aspen Daily News
With a busy calendar in the pipe this winter — between X Games, U.S. Grand Prix, Revolution Tour and Snow League, chronologically — access to the pipe in general has been limited to begin with, regardless of stature in the sport, Knight added.
Through Feinberg’s fundraising for the event, he said the excess is going to a scholarship to be given out to an AVSC athlete at the end of the year. He did not yet have a firm number on what the value of that scholarship will be. He also received some donations of gear to hand out, and had a DJ on site and SkiCo personnel worked the grill, turning out burgers and hot dogs.
SkiCo officials noted optimism about making the Rodeo an annual event earlier in the week, but also wanted to see how the first iteration went. Feinberg, meanwhile, already has his mind on continuing to improve it — and access to the sport as a whole — in the coming years.
“I’m just thinking a lot about how I’m going to continue to grow this and open up the opportunities and just enhance the riding,” Feinberg said. “Just figuring out ways we can do it better and keep the community happy, and also just brainstorming other ways we can do things like this to activate kids in other domains in the valley.”