Shaun White

It was nearing midnight when he walked into the room, a kid in a black newsboy cap and checkered scarf, all red hair and childish smile, the class clown home from the high school dance. Somebody asked Shaun White to describe his ability "in a nutshell." White immediately started moving his hands around his face in mock terror. "Oh, no!" he said. "I'm in a nutshell!" Somebody else asked him about the best parts of the Olympics. "Honestly, it's about getting our gear," he said.

Shaun White is not the dominant force he once was in the superpipe. But that's only because of an emerging star named Kevin Pearce. Finally, a rivalry snowboarding fans can appreciate. But the edge still belongs to White, 22, who also remains the coolest competitor on the planet. A week after being upstaged by Pearce late in the European Open, White on Sunday pulled out a dramatic triumph of his own at the Winter X Games -- the world's biggest non-Olympics stage.

This is the kid who's going to rip through the framework of action sports? This kid with the ski-pole physique and the red mop atop his head? A kid who, until recently, couldn't use the car or truck he'd won in competition because he wasn't old enough to drive? Oh yes, they say, Shaun White is the one. "LeBron James is essentially the Shaun White of basketball," said Kurt Hoy, editor of Trans- World Snowboarding magazine.

Unofficial weekend forecast for Truckee: complete Whiteout. That's because Shaun White is here to write another chapter in his remarkable biography -- and to pocket the attendant spare change. Townsfolk point out that Truckee means "Everything is all right" in Paiute, and barring injury, White, 22, will depart Monday expressing a presumably hipper version of that sentiment.

Inside his personal tour bus, a vehicle that will chauffeur him around Los Angeles while he plays games on a PlayStation2, watches video feeds of practice runs and listens to Led Zeppelin on the surround-sound stereo system, Shaun White is lounging on a plush sofa. "Did you see the leopard print?" He points excitedly to his queen-sized bed in the back of the bus.

Shaun White was admittedly rattled, this being his first Olympics and with so much expected of an athlete who during the last three months has been unbeatable. He stood atop the U-shaped halfpipe for his first run and could not turn his attention away from the thousands of people watching from the stands, or from the five rings plastered on flags and banners throughout the venue, signifying the magnitude of the day. "I never really felt that before," he said later.

SHAUN WHITE is possibly the biggest action sports star in the land. The flame-haired athlete from Carlsbad has had quite a run since he won an Olympic gold medal for snowboarding in 2006, nabbing an ESPY award from ESPN earlier this month, appearing in a documentary about his life titled "Don't Look Down," designing outerwear for Burton and developing his own snowboarding video games.

ASPEN, Colo. -- At one point during his first run, as snow flew horizontally across the superpipe, Shaun White seemed to freeze in a midair pose. The stylish stalefish 540 was merely a capper to a difficult routine that included consecutive 1080s, and the judges awarded the Carlsbad snowboarder 93 points. It was a score that nobody else, on this increasingly stormy Sunday night, during the final event of Winter X Games 12, could come close to matching.

When Shaun White first started snowboarding, he could zip down the halfpipe easily enough, but he was too young and much too small to keep lugging his board back to the top. He looked around at all the big people and, like that, his problem was solved. "I established this new thing where I'd get to the bottom and just jump on random backs and get a free ride back up," he says with a laugh. "It was great." Ten years later, White, at 16, is 5 feet 6 and nearly 130 pounds.

Mother Nature chose a rotten time to deliver to the Rockies a much-needed dumping: the busiest day of Winter X Games 13. And she delivered the worst kind of snow on an unseasonably balmy Saturday: wet and lumpy, mixed with rain, making fans sponge-like and causing generally fearless extreme athletes to worry about getting down Buttermilk Mountain safely. Conditions were hazardous to poor, and weather was at least partially responsible for sending two competitors to Aspen Valley Hospital.

It was nearing midnight when he walked into the room, a kid in a black newsboy cap and checkered scarf, all red hair and childish smile, the class clown home from the high school dance. Somebody asked Shaun White to describe his ability "in a nutshell." White immediately started moving his hands around his face in mock terror. "Oh, no!" he said. "I'm in a nutshell!" Somebody else asked him about the best parts of the Olympics. "Honestly, it's about getting our gear," he said.

Unofficial weekend forecast for Truckee: complete Whiteout. That's because Shaun White is here to write another chapter in his remarkable biography -- and to pocket the attendant spare change. Townsfolk point out that Truckee means "Everything is all right" in Paiute, and barring injury, White, 22, will depart Monday expressing a presumably hipper version of that sentiment.

Shaun White is not the dominant force he once was in the superpipe. But that's only because of an emerging star named Kevin Pearce. Finally, a rivalry snowboarding fans can appreciate. But the edge still belongs to White, 22, who also remains the coolest competitor on the planet. A week after being upstaged by Pearce late in the European Open, White on Sunday pulled out a dramatic triumph of his own at the Winter X Games -- the world's biggest non-Olympics stage.

Mother Nature chose a rotten time to deliver to the Rockies a much-needed dumping: the busiest day of Winter X Games 13. And she delivered the worst kind of snow on an unseasonably balmy Saturday: wet and lumpy, mixed with rain, making fans sponge-like and causing generally fearless extreme athletes to worry about getting down Buttermilk Mountain safely. Conditions were hazardous to poor, and weather was at least partially responsible for sending two competitors to Aspen Valley Hospital.

SHAUN WHITE is possibly the biggest action sports star in the land. The flame-haired athlete from Carlsbad has had quite a run since he won an Olympic gold medal for snowboarding in 2006, nabbing an ESPY award from ESPN earlier this month, appearing in a documentary about his life titled "Don't Look Down," designing outerwear for Burton and developing his own snowboarding video games.

It's not going to happen, apparently, but dropping Barry Bonds into the mix would add much-needed intrigue to the slow-speed chase that is the National League West race between the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks. . . . Nobody seems willing to take a flier on Bonds, who a year ago Thursday was playing in the All-Star game. . . .

ASPEN, Colo. -- At one point during his first run, as snow flew horizontally across the superpipe, Shaun White seemed to freeze in a midair pose. The stylish stalefish 540 was merely a capper to a difficult routine that included consecutive 1080s, and the judges awarded the Carlsbad snowboarder 93 points. It was a score that nobody else, on this increasingly stormy Sunday night, during the final event of Winter X Games 12, could come close to matching.

On the bright side, the fans loved Shaun White. "I was proposed to, like, three times," he said, after coming up just short Sunday night in the X Games superpipe competition. Indeed, it was clear that although Steve Fisher won the gold, it was White, the red-haired star of the 2006 Turin Olympics, who has won the hearts. "Did you accept any of those proposals?" a reporter asked. "Almost," White said with a nod and a smile. "One of them was really tempting.

Inside his personal tour bus, a vehicle that will chauffeur him around Los Angeles while he plays games on a PlayStation2, watches video feeds of practice runs and listens to Led Zeppelin on the surround-sound stereo system, Shaun White is lounging on a plush sofa. "Did you see the leopard print?" He points excitedly to his queen-sized bed in the back of the bus.

Shaun White was admittedly rattled, this being his first Olympics and with so much expected of an athlete who during the last three months has been unbeatable. He stood atop the U-shaped halfpipe for his first run and could not turn his attention away from the thousands of people watching from the stands, or from the five rings plastered on flags and banners throughout the venue, signifying the magnitude of the day. "I never really felt that before," he said later.