Aspen/Snowmass Village, Colorado (May 13, 2002) - The world's premiere winter action sports event, the ESPN Winter X Games, will return to Aspen, Colorado in 2003 after a successful first year at the resort. Winter X Games VII will take place January 30 - February 2 and will be held on Aspen's Buttermilk Mountain. Winter X Games VII events are free and open to the public.

Last year's Winter X Games featured the talents of more than 250 of the world's top action sports athletes competing for medals and more than $500,000 in prize money in the sports of Snowboarding (Slopestyle, Snowboarder X and SuperPipe, men and women); Skiing (Skier X - men and women, Slopestyle and SuperPipe), Snowmobiling (HillCross and SnoCross), Moto X (Big Air) and UltraCross (ski and snowboard combined event). Winter X Games VI in Aspen drew a crowd of close to 40,000 spectators over the four-day event - the biggest winter sporting event Aspen has ever hosted.

Winter X Games VII will be televised January 30 - February 5 on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports with more than 17 hours of original programming. The Games are telecast in 10 languages to more than 145 countries and territories, reaching more than 110 million homes around the world.

ESPN recently unveiled the first broadband and on-demand subscription service dedicated to action sports, EXPN, Action Sports On Demand, and will launch the service in conjunction with Winter X Games VII. The new service will provide X Games content and other action sports video, audio, music and information to action sports fans.

Famous for its history, diverse terrain, restaurants and nightlife, Aspen/Snowmass is one of the most well-known resort destinations in the world. Four mountains - Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk - offer a combined 4,803 acres of terrain - three terrain parks, two halfpipes and more than 300 marked trails - via 39 lifts. Like last year, Buttermilk is home to all Winter X Games VII venues.

ESPN, The Worldwide Leader in Action Sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. The X Games, Winter X Games, EXPN 2Day, Tony Hawk's Gigantic Skatepark Tour and EXPN Invitational events are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2.

Highlights from Winter X Games VI in Aspen, and detailed information on Winter X Games VII as it becomes available, can be found on expn.com and aspensnowmass.com.

— Posted by Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Staff