Trees line the way for skiers and snowboarders on Breckenridge, Colorado’s Peak 9 slopes.

A snowboarder adjusts his snowboard before his run.

Skiers and snowboarders make their way down the slopes.

Skiers and snowboarders rest in the lodging area at the foot of the mountain.

Skier Taylor Hayes sleeps during the drive from the Peak 9 slopes in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Lights line the path on the slopes for skiers and snowboarders.

Photos taken by Cassie Hayes.

The X-Games have become increasingly popular over the years, gaining a massive following and seeming to produce more extreme sports athletes among youth in the United States. Athletes are decked out with sponsors, and the competition receives special focus from certain corporations such as Red Bull. Many notable artists performed in Aspen during the games, including deadmau5 and Twenty One Pilots.

There was an absence at this year’s games. Snowboarder Shaun White has competed in every Winter X-Games since 2000, except for 2014 when he decided to stay home in order to train for the Olympics. When questioned about his absence, ESPN, who owns the Winter X-Games, stated that White was simply not invited. White is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a 15-time X-Games gold medalist.

But possibly the biggest story this year would be the success of a 13-year old girl from Estonia in her X-Games debut. Kelly Sildaru made history by taking the gold medal in the Women’s Ski Slopestyle event. Some have drawn comparisons between Sildaru and White, who was also 13 when he made his X-Games debut. White, however, finished in ninth place in his first event. Sildaru also won the Women’s Freeski Slopestyle event at the Dew Tour in November. She is the youngest athlete ever to take the gold medal in an X-Games competition.

Another famous snowboarder Mark McMorris, won his sixth Winter X-Games gold medal in the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle. He was also awarded the silver medal in the Snowboarding Big Air event. Bobby Brown finished second in the Ski Big Air event, and Ben Ferguson took silver in the Snowboarding SuperPipe event, one of the fan favorites.

Some big names were absent while others were established as the Winter X-Games came to a close.

The first slalom skiing competition took place in 1767 when Norwegian military men challenged each other to a downhill skiing competition on dangerous terrain that went in between trees. It continued to evolve, and in 1866, a race in Oslo merged different ski forms such as cross-country, jumping and slalom. This event saw the rise of skiers using poles to stop and turn and being awarded points for style. Arnold Lunn established the rules of modern slalom in 1922. These rules changed the scoring process so riders are rewarded based only on time, and they created the use of gates instead of single poles.

A typical slalom skiing course is equipped with anywhere between 40 and 80 gates. A gate consists of two poles the skier must pass through. During the initial days of slalom skiing, the poles were rigid, made of materials such as bamboo, which forced the skiers to pass their entire bodies through the gates. Modern obstacles are made of hard plastics and sit on hinges that allow the skier to knock the poles down as they pass through. This process is referred to as blocking. With the development of these new poles, only the skier’s feet and skis have to pass through the gates, allowing the rider to take a more direct path down the course.

Changes in the rules and setups of slalom skiing led to new developments in equipment. In the 1980s, skiers began to use more padding and safety gear, such as shin pads, hand guards and helmets, to protect them during the process of blocking. The Fédération Internationale de Ski, the governing group of international winter sports, place a minimum ski length of 165cm for men and 155cm for women since smaller skis where found to be more difficult to recover on.

Bode Miller, American alpine skier, is ranked as the number one Olympic male skier. He has won six medals in three different Winter Olympics: two silvers at the Salt Lake City 2002, all three ranking medals at Vancouver 2010 and a bronze at Sochi 2014. Aside from his Olympic accomplishments, Miller has acquired six World Cup titles and four World Championships.

Photo courtesy of: http://giphy.com/gifs/olympics-skiing-jimmy-huega-2eCn0392SRgiI