Watches, Boards & Wyclef Jean: The Snow League Takes Aspen By Storm

Winter sports are never as exciting — or as immediately death-defying — as during the Winter Olympics. Every four years, fans ooh and ahh at toe loops, skeleton rides, and the 20-foot halfpipe jumps made by snowboarding phenoms. Shaun White, perhaps the most famous snowboarder alive, wants more for his sport. His latest venture, The Snow League, is set to position snowboarding as not a once-every-four-years event you pay attention to, but a seasonal sporting event not unlike the MLB or NBA — but reimagined as the bougie, work-hard-play-hard sport it is.

Downhill sports have always been tied to luxury, so Aspen made the ideal backdrop for the second year of The Snow League’s championships. Skiing is usually the place you’ll find Prada snowsuits and multimillion-dollar partnerships, but White wants the punk-rock snowboarders to get in on the luxury market too. “The winter sports space is huge. [There are] over 130 million participants in winter sports with a higher household income than golf,” White told us over drinks at Aspen’s Caribou Club. “You have this huge market, and you have people that want to spend and enjoy the mountains and this experience.”

So an experience he gave. Leveling up from last year’s inaugural Snow League meant bringing in more partners like Hublot, who are longtime partners of Aspen Snowmass and the outfitters of the luxury sun deck that overlooked the halfpipe festivities. Jeep, American Express, and Pacifico were all represented too, helping to round out the party offerings. Oh, and White enlisted Tiffany & Co. to make the custom trophy, which brings Snow League into direct conversation with the trophies of the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup. Not bad company to be in.

Speaking of company, besides the Olympic medalists who turned around from Milano-Cortina to Aspen in record time, there were lots of Kemo Sabe-sporting fans at Buttermilk for the championships, where Japanese Ryusei Yamada took home the Tiffany & Co. trophy and Wyclef Jean took to the stage to perform his greatest hits for a sun-kissed crowd. Seeing White in the VIP lounge alongside Sara Sampaio, Jimmy Tatro, and Odell Beckham Jr., he was all smiles. His nerves of throwing a great party were settled by seeing everyone jump to “Ready or Not.”

If Aspen is known for anything besides its four mountains and luxury shopping, it’s partying, a language we are well-versed in. The Snow Lodge was NYLON’s playground one weekend, and the next, it was the Snow League afterparty, where yurts saw Olympic medalists and Hublot executives pouring one another champagne and watching as the crowd went from manageable to chaotic, culminating in another surprise performance from Lupe Fiasco. As the sun set over the St. Regis, guests snapped pics of their timepieces paired with their best apres-ski ‘fits, and as partygoers filed out of the hotel and into the cold streets of Aspen, there was already talk of returning next year. The Snow League and all its trappings — whether you participate in the bottle-popping or just want to see Kaishu Hirano get 25 feet of air — is here to stay.