You may have caught ESPN’s Winter X Games this last weekend broadcasted from Aspen, Colorado. This was it’s 12th year and It has become quite the production - 1 million TV viewers, 75,000 spectators and over 250 athletes were expected. While you were watching, you no doubt caught plenty of 1080s, rodeos, and whiskey flips. Even a 1260 compliments of the Flying Tomato, aka Shaun White. And maybe saw Big Air skier Jon Olsson’s gold medal-winning “switch hexelfoot 900.” But while you watched your favorite athletes shred, did it dawn on you the role Big Bear played in X Game history?

The first-ever ESPN Winter X Games was held over 10 years ago in 1997 at Snow Summit Mountain Resort, right here in Big Bear Lake, California. Competitions included snowboarding, ice climbing, snow mountain bike racing, and shovel racing. Yeah, you read that right, Super Modified Shovel Racing. And if you were here then with the 38,000 other spectators, you would have caught John Strader’s insane shovel wipeout in one of the most bizarre events in Winter X history. 
During one of the shovel races, which looks a lot like a drag race, Strader’s “shovel” completely wipes out, wrecking shovel and body. 
Strader’s injuries were severe - he suffered a broken back and internal bleeding. Surprisingly, shovel racing  hasn’t returned to the X Game line up. And one year of X Games was enough for Snow Summit.

Wait -  why were you sitting at home watching others ride on TV anyway? Storms scare you away? We’ll cut you some slack. Don’t just watch, participate.  Play hooky this week and enjoy all the fresh snow from the series of recent storms. But leave the shovel at home. On second thought, bring it in case you need to dig your car out in the morning.

Ran Dall