Every year in the last weeks of January, the crowds of people begin to pour into Aspen for the X Games, and the town becomes full of beer drinking 20 something-year-olds. For the first time in the New Year, Aspen becomes painfully crowded and I vow to retreat to the depths of my bedroom to attempt to avoid the madness, and I stay there until it is 100% necessary to venture out and into town. However, after a few hours, I feel almost required to go out and enjoy the events in our town like a true aspen native, although to be completely honest, the experience is never that great.

My issue is not with the games themselves. I enjoy going to the concerts with friends, or watching an event or two that I find interesting, or of course one with any local athlete. No, my issue with is with the crowds of tourists that come pouring in from all over the country.

Unlike the fur-clad, wine drinking, full-body-snowsuit wearing tourists that come to Aspen for the holidays, these tourists are loud and obnoxious. They are often marked by hoodies with the name of their current college on the front or back, and a can of cheap beer permanently attached to their hand. They often ask questions such as “Hey – short brunette chick…where would I find Main Street?” or “Where’s the nearest pot shop?”. (Yes, I have been asked both of these questions).

Now, if these tourists only inhabited the town of Aspen it wouldn’t be so bad, but each year, a house across the street from me gets rented out to a group of 15 or so twenty-year-olds. During the four days that they stay there every year, I will wake at least once to beer cans and other miscellaneous items being thrown down my window well at about 3am. They arrive during, you guessed it, finals week, and before my math final last year, I was woken in the early hours of the morning by these people out on my sidewalk. However, I got up at 4am and studied, so I guess thank you noisy tourists.

As an AHS student, I feel virtually compelled to like X Games, even though I’m not genuinely excited. I almost always end up buying concert tickets, and after crowding into a small booth at bumps with a minimum of eleven or twelve other people, and for most of the time thinking, “why am I here?” Why do I do this? Well, because for me, winter would not be winter without the hustle and the hassle of X Games. Although I have a heightened dislike for them, I can’t imagine not going. Judging by our school’s heightened enthusiasm, I feel as if I am one of the only ones that feels this way, but maybe not. No matter what, despite my feelings, every year I rally, face the crowds, and fulfill my obligation to X Games, as any true Aspen resident does.