Steamboat Local Hugs Extreme World Record at X Games

"Some are comparing the situation to NFL players partaking in the Pro Bowl a week before the Super Bowl. But the Pro Bowl never paved the way for the Super Bowl."

The 14th edition of the Winter X Games kicks off today in Aspen, Colo., through the weekend and will feature every possible U.S. Olympian, those who were named to the halfpipe, snowboard cross and ski cross teams. They are the last major competition before the Vancouver Games.

Three out of every four years, the X Games are THE major competition for these athletes. That's why the planet's best still take part in the X Games in an Olympic year -- and plan on treating the event just as seriously as the Olympics. To wit, Shaun White to the Denver Post: "I can't really half-represent anything."
So you can plan on seeing those new double corks, and the even-newer Double McTwist. Prepare for crashes on the X course to be just as real as the one that threatened U.S. ski cross star Casey Puckett's season, and even more frequent since X Games ski/snowboard cross races feature six riders, as opposed to four in the Olympics.

World Record of  Different Kind at the X Games

Dagny McKinley, a Steamboat Springs resident, is trying to set a Guinness world record for most hugs in a 24-hour time frame. McKinley said she needed to embrace 5,001 people to set the record.

As of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aspen time, the 36-year-old McKinley had embraced more than 2,400 people. She had until 8:30 a.m. Friday to accomplish the feat.

McKinley set up a booth near the bottom of the stairs leading to the superpipe, embracing any willing spectator. Some shied away, but most were all too willing to give her a hug and sign her sheet to document her feat.

So, why the X Games to fulfill this quota of hugs?
"I think Aspen, all in all, has been really welcoming of it," McKinley said. "I figured this would be an open crowd, kind of a younger crowd, open to hugging. It's been awesome from all ages."

Inn at Aspen in the heart of the action

ResortQuest's very own Inn at Aspen Hotel is in the absolute hub of all the action. The X Games are held at the Buttermilk Ski Area in Aspen and each year, ESPN books out the entire hotel as the staging ground for all the incredible action on the ground, on the web, on TV and across the world! The Inn is the only ski-in/ski-out lodging at Buttermilk Ski Resort.

Live your Olympic - or X Games - Dreams in Steamboat!

ResortQuest Steamboat invites you to stay with us and save 30% off lodging, and to live your Winter Olympic Dreams in our very own Ski Town USA!  This lodging package includes FREE $200 Gift Certificate to use on any of Steamboat's winter activities. Ski, skate, luge, twirl, luge - or tube - just like an Olympian in Steamboat!