The Winter X Games have been a staple in Colorado since 2002, as daredevil skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers take to the slopes—and the skies—on Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain. Denver’s own Bobby Brown made a name for himself at last year’s X Games, winning two gold medals, including one in the big air event, when he nailed a switch dub misty 12, “an impossible combination of spins and flips that makes keeping track of where you are in the third dimension laughably difficult,” writes ESPN. Now, Brown enters this year’s events as the man to beat, making our list of the state’s finest extreme winter athletes in this month’s 5280.

More than 84,000 spectators turned out to watch last year’s X Games—the best turnout ever, reports the Aspen Daily News. But despite the games’ long-standing ties with Colorado, organizers say it’s unclear whether the run at Buttermilk will continue after the contract expires next year. “We’re interested beyond 2012, we’re in discussions, but at this point we don’t have anything to announce as far as an extension,” says Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle.