After winning the women's superpipe in 2003, Gretchen Bleiler was slowed by a torn ACL last year. Donald Miralle/Getty Images

By Yi-Wyn Yen, SI.com

Halfpipe snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler created a big buzz at Winter X Games last year when she appeared on the February 2004 cover of FHM in a painted-on bikini decorated with red X's. This year, the snowboard queen is again making noise, but this time in the pipe. During the women's practice session Friday, the Aspen resident was the only rider to pull a frontside 900 and soared high above riders like Hannah Teter and Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark in her runs.

Bleiler, 23, is keeping mum on a new combination trick she plans to unveil Saturday night in the women's superpipe final. "Gretchen is going to dominate all the other girls," says one top pro rider. "She was like, in a Shaun White league."

Speaking of the Flying Tomato, the 18-year-old snowboarder will be returning this year after skipping Winter X Eight last year. Like Bleiler, White tore his ACL last season and was unable to defend his '03 superpipe title.

Snowboarders united

Riders complained about having to share the slopestyle course with the women and not being able to practice right before an event, but the biggest beef they have is the paltry purse that the X Games offers.

On Friday, when asked by an ESPN crew what he thought of the X Games, competitor and X Games announcer Todd Richards mouthed off that ESPN makes millions and yet only provides $23,000 in prize money for podium finishers, with $10,000 going to the winner.

Slopestyle rider Eddie Wall agrees that the majority of pro snowboarders are upset that they are getting a raw deal from ESPN. Wall, of Carlsbad, Calif., said he was more psyched about his win at a local rail contest this week than competing in Winter X. There wasn't stiff competition when he beat out nine others at a makeshift rail ramp in the parking lot of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas during the SIA trade show. Wall won $10,000, a 125-cc motorbike and a 42" screen plasma TV.

The handful of fans watching the event goaded Wall to ride his new bike around the parking lot. As soon as Wall revved up his bike, he jerked the handlebar and dislocated his right shoulder. "The crowd thought I was going to ride around like Ricky Carmichael."

Competing, not competing

Freeride skier Tanner Hall, who last month riled many downhill skiers when he trashed-talked Bode Miller's World Cup victories to Freeskier magazine, was spotted Friday night at the swanky Sky Bar in downtown Aspen sucking Dom Perignon. Citing a busy filming schedule, Tanner said he wasn't competing in this year -- but just a few hours later he was going at the ski superpipe hot and heavy. 

For the first time in her eight years competing in the slopestyle event, five-time X Games gold medalist Tara Dakides failed to advance to the top-10 in the women's slopestyle event. She was taken out by an ESPN cameraman during a preliminary run Friday.

Salt Lake City bronze medalist Chris Klug withdrew from the snowboard X event after breaking his clavicle during a preliminary run Friday. The Aspen resident, worried that he might hit the fans, caught an edge as he flew across the finish line and grabbed his shoulder. Klug, 32, is expected to be out for six weeks and will not attend a training session with the U.S. Olympic snowboard team in Slovenia next week. This was the first related snowboarder cross injury for the former liver transplant recipient, who is training for the 2006 Olympics in Turino, Italy.

Protest of the week

If you plan to drive from Denver International Airport to Aspen, try to book a flight into Aspen instead. The drive is typically 3½ hours, but it takes twice as long if you follow Avis' GPS unit. Friday I was 20 miles from Aspen when the road was suddenly blocked off with four feet of snow because Independence Pass, or Colorado Highway 82E, closes during the winter. My stupid GPS did not factor that in, and I had to backtrack 125 miles, which took an extra three hours. The moral of the story is don't rent from Avis.