When over 50 thousand rowdy college students pile onto a snowy mountain in subzero temperatures, the word “extreme” is completely fitting.

The 16th annual Winter X Games were held in Aspen last weekend. College students from all over the country traveled to the Colorado mountains to experience the biggest extreme sporting event of the year.

“The X Games experience is not only a fun sporting event, it’s a cultural hotspot,” CMU junior Chris Rupinski said. “It’s fun to see the athletes in their own game being cheered on by the many pumped fans.”

The Winter X Games are located at Buttermilk Ski Resort, which is within ten miles of Aspen. Over 100 thousand people gather at the resort during the four-day event, watching a variety of snow sports as well as browsing product booths and absorbing the wild winter atmosphere.

“The best part of the X Games is interacting with other people who are as pumped on action sports as you are,” Rupinski said. “There is so much to see and do.”

With companies such as Red Bull and Burton marketing to college students for the event, the X Games generate enough revenue from concessions and advertising to keep admission free. With free admission, college students can make their trip to Aspen more financially feasible. College kids are free to spend their extra cash on ski passes, food, beer and lodging.

Even though the Winter X Games are all about having fun in a crazy environment, fans and competitors took time to honor those killed while trying to make X Games history. On Thursday night, nearly 20 thousand spectators and athletes held a moment of silence in memory of legendary freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who recently died after suffering severe injuries during a crash in practice. Burke’s fellow competitors lit candles and skied down the gigantic X Games superpipe.

“The memorial gave me goosebumps,” Rupinski said. “Sarah was an innovator and a role model for her sport, and she will be missed greatly.”

Once the memorial was over, the events began. Extreme sports celebrities such as Gretchen Blelier, Bobby Brown and Shaun White wowed the crowd with their exceptional skills, and snowmobiler Heath Frisbee shocked fans by performing the first snowmobile front flip in X Games history. Fans left the event excited and inspired by X Games grandeur.

“It’s something every person in Colorado should live and feel at least once,” Rupinski said. “I will always remember the shock and awe of all the events and all the joy it spread.”