Gnu rider Forest Bailey wins gold in Snowboard Street at his first ever Winter X Games appearance. Forest absolutely pickled the rail set up with a standout 270 to frontside on the metal cargo container into the concrete Jersey barrier and a set of handrails and ledges riding his very own Gnu Psychedelic Park Pickle.
He showed up to Aspen just one hour before Thursday’s elimination round fresh off two weeks of riding powder at Mt. Baker. The Vermonter’s skate influenced take on snowboarding is decidedly un-kosher. He rides hard, wins contests (even X Games!), wears sweaters, is salty and has achieved supreme balance through asymmetry. Congrats Forest!!
“I can’t believe this,” said an overwhelmed Bailey. “I never thought I would come to X Games let alone win a medal. X Games 2012 was sick; the setup was awesome and the crowd was awesome.”
Bailey’s total score of 88 was five points better than Minnesota’s Ryan Paul, who finished with 83 points and the silver. Truckee, California’s Nick Visconti’s score of 76 earned him the bronze.
Returning for a second year, the Snowboard Street contest features 10 of the world’s best street athletes putting their skills to the test on urban-inspired terrain features. Athletes are judged on aggressive execution of maneuvers, degree of difficulty of maneuvers, variety of maneuvers, originality and style.