Shaun White is the most recognized name in American snowboarding history.

He’s a three-time Olympic gold medal winner, a 13-time Winter X-Games gold medal winner and the owner of active lifestyle brand Whitespace.

White also has two other ventures cooking in his snowboard kitchen; The Snow League and stake in SNÖBAHN Action Sports Centers.

White spoke with several people, and did some tricks on his skateboard, at SNÖBAHN Thornton on Tuesday, teasing youngsters and action sports lovers with a park session and details about the first Snow League competition this weekend in Aspen.

The Snow League

“The snow league is something that, gosh, I wished was around when I was competing, you know,” White said. “We’ve got the world’s best snowboarders, and we’re bringing it to the world’s best resorts. We’re doing the biggest prize purse that’s ever been seen in the sport and it’s gonna be amazing.”

The format is head-to-head in a bracket form like March Madness, with each athlete taking three runs and the best two out of those three runs tally up a score; highest run score moves on.

The second- and third-place athletes from each heat will get a second chance to qualify with a two run Last Chance Qualifier.

“There’ll be some upsets, there’s ups and downs,” White said. “But when you drop in, if you choose to drop it on the left wall, the second run, you’re forced to drop in on the right wall, which naturally changes up the order of tricks that you have to do.”

The Snow League details if you go

The Buttermilk event features two full days of snowboard halfpipe competition at Buttermilk, with fans invited to experience qualifying action Friday, featuring all 36 athletes while Saturday is Finals Day, with eight men and eight women vying for the podium.

NBC Sports will present the event live on Peacock, starting at 9:30 a.m., Friday and 9:30 a.m., Saturday.

NBC Sports’ Todd Harris and Tina Dixon will call the event, joined by snowboard editor and photographer Tom Monterosso (analyst) and professional snowboarder and influential podcast host Chris Grenier (reporter). Olympic snowboarding judge Connor Manning will also serve as a scoring analyst. Jac Collinsworth will host the event.

Qualifying Day admission is $20 and advance reservations are required. Finals Day tickets on Saturday are $60. Children 12 and under enter free with a paid adult. Legendary hip-hop artist Big Boi will perform on Finals Day as well.

SNÖBAHNing into the future

White in Colorado this week, stopping off at the Thornton SNÖBAHN to demonstrate the action sports center’s new training and coaching programs.

He’s passing on his snowboarding knowledge through training and coaching programs.

“I kept thinking, what if I had access to something like this growing up?” White said. “You get the full skate park, there’s trampoline parks, there’s learn to ride, there’s ski and snowboarding.”

White is the youngest in a family of five and said going to the mountain with a large family can be expensive, saying… “You can come here in a controlled environment, where it’s not cold, and you’re not fiddling with gloves, and boots, and goggles, and all that stuff. You can introduce someone to the sport in a way that they’re excited about it.”

White partnered with SNÖBAHN in part because he loves the facility and the goal the company is striving for.

“Coming to skate, hang with the kids, it’s definitely a fun business to be in,” White said. “And it’s fun to be able to come and experience it with everybody from the professionals to beginners to in between.”

White has skated the whole park before Tuesday’s event, but did take to the skatepark for a while before departing. White got into skateboarding at a young age, and mentioned he use to skate in the same skate park as skateboarding Godfather Tony Hawk, taking tips from Hawk.

Whitespace brand, Cortina ’26 and who’s hot in snowboarding

Whitespace – Now that White is retired from professional competition, he has time to focus on his company Whitespace, a lifestyle brand he launched around the 2022 Olympics, ones he competed in for his last go through the superpipe in China.

“I had ridden for companies my entire life, and I’ve learned so much from them, but when you’re joining with the brand you’re kinda stuck to their slogan and their color palette and their way of doing things,” White said. “I just thought ‘how amazing would it be to start my own company and really steer the ship from the beginning?'”

White wanted to put something (a brand) out there he felt would be new, interesting and push the envelope on the products he was to make.

2026 Cortina Olympics – With the 2026 Cortina, Italy, Olympic Games less than a year away, White is looking forward to his involvement at the Games.

“It’s crazy how quick it comes back,” White said. “Cortina Olympics in Italy, I’m really excited about it. Hoping to have some Whitespace athletes in the games. I definitely gotta warm up my vocals because I’ve been asked to do a little on camera broadcast stuff.”

The 2026 Cortina Games will be 20 years removed from White’s first Olympics where he won his first gold medal in superpipe in Torino, Italy, in 2006.

Who’s hot and upcoming – Paizley White, @snowboardpaz, is one snowboarder to watch White said.

“We have one young snowboarder in particular named Paizley White, not my daughter or sister, but she’s just incredible,” White said jokingly. “And not only is she super talented, but, you can just see when she rides, she’s got the joy, she’s got the the fulfillment, she’s gonna be doing big things in the future.”